From its purpose built, state-of-the-art GaAs fab in Newton Aycliffe, UK, Filtronic Compound Semiconductors Ltd. (FCSL) runs exclusively 150 mm (6 inch) GaAs PHEMT technology. As such it is in a unique position as the only European GaAs supplier capable of manufacturing high volume, low cost GaAs components on 6 inch wafer technology. This technology offers a blend of high throughput with high finished product yields at the prices that customers demand. Currently available processes include 0.5 mm, 0.3 mm and 0.25 mm gate lengths.
The company has specialised processes that are optimised for switch technology for low cost, high volume handset and WLAN applications, a general-purpose MMIC variant capable of producing and realising a wide variety of MMIC functions and a high power discrete transistor process capable of producing 100 W transistors. Future production processes will include a 0.15 mm stepper-based technology as well as wide band gap material systems.
The company considers that the breadth and depth of European Microwave Week, with its four conferences and leading trade exhibition, addresses technological developments and issues of particular relevance to FCSL. Having predominantly focused its business on very high volume multi-throw switches for handset applications the company is intent on expanding and growing its merchant business by addressing three main market segments: wireless infrastructure, broadband fixed wireless access, and defence and instrumentation. All of these sectors of the RF and microwaves industry are addressed by EuMW, offering us the unique opportunity to establish new business contacts and to expand our network into these markets.
FSCL views European Microwave Week as truly a global event that offers us the opportunity to meet existing and new customers to introduce new product portfolios and to discuss future requirements. Today most of our business is international; hence, EuMW is ideal. Benchmarking is a key objective to stay competitive in today’s marketplace and the event offers a unique opportunity to position the company and for us to understand wider market and technology trends. Technically this event is a highlight for our engineers to expand their knowledge and to discuss technological challenges with other engineers.
The European Microwave Exhibition is also the perfect platform for promoting our commercial message and introducing our products to a wide audience. Interaction and feedback is important and we hope that the products we show this year will attract attention. Our standard product offering consists of high power amplifiers, driver amplifiers, gain blocks, low noise amplifiers, mixers, frequency multipliers and attenuators.
Our new product portfolio for wireless infrastructure is optimised for low noise figure, high linearity and low DC power consumption, which makes them ideally suited to both front end BTS Rx LNA requirements as well as the driver function within the BTS Tx chain. We have a newly introduced range of high performance MMICs or quasi-MMICs and developed a range of single ended and balanced LNAs that enable customers to realise their subsystems with a significantly reduced board real–estate.
For electronic warfare engineers working on ESM/ECM applications there is a new product portfolio comprising state-of-the-art broadband amplifiers and switches operating from DC to 20 GHz. And a family of high power amplifiers in X-band is ideally suited to phased array radar, weather radar and civilian ground-based airport tracking radars. To find out more, visit Stand 934.
FSCL supports EuMW as a silver sponsor. It is a very important week for us and we are looking forward to participate, attend and network.