Vitesse enters foundry business with InP processes for high-speed ICs

Vitesse enters foundry business with InP processes for high-speed ICs
CAMARILLO, Calif. -- In a major shift in strategy, Vitesse Semiconductor Corp. here today entered the foundry business by offering chip-manufacturing services based on its advanced, indium-phosphide (InP) process technology.

The Camarillo-based communications IC maker said it will gear new foundry services around its Vitesse Indium Phosphide (VIP) processes. According to Vitesse, the VIP technology is ideal for developing devices for high-speed networking and wireless applications.

The move will put Vitesse in a small but select group of companies that provide foundry-like services for InP-based technologies. Kopin Corp., TRW Inc., and others provide InP-based manufacturing outsourcing services as well.

Vitesse will also compete in the high-end, specialized foundry business against providers of competitive technologies, most notably silicon germanium (SiGe). Atmel Corp., IBM Inc.'s Microelectronics Division and several others are now providing SiGe-based foundry services for high-end networking and wireless applications.

Today's announcement is also a major shift in direction for Vitesse. In the past, the company did not provide foundry services to any degree. It primarily develops and sells devices based on its own, high-speed IC processes, such as gallium-arsenide (GaAs), CMOS and InP technologies.

Vitesse is taking a step into the foundry business in hopes of finding new revenue streams, according to semiconductor analysts. At present, Vitesse is suffering during the current downturn in the IC business, and the specialized foundry business may prove to be a new opportunity for the company. In its fiscal third quarter, ended June 30, Vitesse's revenues were $60.1 million, a 47% drop from the same period last year.

At the same time, Vitesse has big plans for its InP process on several fronts. In 1998, the company began to develop its high-end, communications chip lines around a process called InP heterojunction bipolar transistors (HBTs).

In May, the company announced that it had developed and characterized its first working devices for 40-gigabits-per-second (OC-768) applications--build around its InP technology. The company expects to begin sampling these devices in the first quarter of 2002 (see May 30 story).

"Our InP process is ideally suited to the fabrication of ICs with high breakdown voltage and fast edge rates needed for 40-gigabits-per-second," said Alan Huelsman, director of Vitesse's InP program.

The company will not only sell its own standard products based on InP, but it will also offer this process to customers in the form of foundry services. At present, the company's InP HBT-based devices are built in its 4-inch GaAs fab. Approximately 50% of those lines have been converted to InP wafers.

Vitesse's claims that its VIP process is different than other InP processes in the market today. This process uses standard process equipment and manufacturing techniques.

The company's InP process is based on a vertical NPN bipolar transistor. A single heterojunction (SHBT) transistor process is in pre-production right now, and a double heterojunction (DHBT) version will be available in the early fall.

Vitesse said its InP process, which has an Ft of 150-GHz and an Fmax of 150-GHz, is available with three layers of aluminum interconnect metal. Vitesse will offer its foundry services in two ways. Customers can sign up for a partnership agreement, which provides full access to the process and manufacturing rights at very reasonable per wafer cost. Customers can also purchase multi-project wafers for the purpose of design and process verification, said the company.