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IQE plc (LON:IQE) Cardiff, 7th October 2008: IQE, the leading global supplier of advanced semiconductor wafer products and wafer services to the semiconductor industry, has been welcomed as a member of a €3.5 million European programme to develop high-value photonic components for broadband access and local area networks.
Demand for media rich content and high definition video services is increasing consumer bandwidth requirements by over 30% per annum which in turn is expected to increase the demand for optical components by more than 12% CAGR according to industry forecasts.
The Vertically Integrated Systems for Information Transfer (VISIT) programme will last up to three years and will focus on strategic, high-value photonic components and subsystems for scalable economic broadband access and local area networks. The central objective of the VISIT programme is research, development, test and exploitation of system-enabling optical transmitters having a completely novel design and/or largely improved functionality as compared to current technology.
Other members of the VISIT programme are Intel (Ireland), VI Systems (Germany), Chalmers Tekniska (Sweden), The University of Cambridge (UK), University College Cork (Ireland) and the Russian Academy of Sciences (Russia).
Professor Dieter Bimberg of Technische Universitaet in Berlin said:
"It is a pleasure to welcome IQE as a member of the VISIT programme. The unique ability of IQE to supply material developed both by MBE and MOCVD technologies will further strengthen our project.
Upon completion of the programme a full supply chain from production of epitaxial wafers to test beds for measurements and prototype systems will be established. The economic impact of this work will be systematically enhanced by contributing directly to international standardization activities and roadmaps of this area."
Andrew Joel, Product Director for Optoelectronic Materials at IQE's Cardiff facility, said:
"IQE brings a wealth of experience in the growth of both edge emitting lasers and VCSELs for optical communications networks. The materials will operate at a range of wavelengths including 850nm (LAN, SAN), 980nm (very short links) and 1.3µm (LAN, Access Networks)."
Contacts:
IQE (+44 29 2083 9400)
Technical/sales: Andrew Joel sales@iqep.com Press: Chris Meadows
NOTE TO EDITORS IQE is the leading global supplier of advanced semiconductor wafers with products that cover a diverse range of applications, supported by an innovative outsourced foundry services portfolio that allows the Group to provide a 'one stop shop' for the wafer needs of the world's leading semiconductor manufacturers.
IQE uses advanced crystal growth technology (epitaxy) to manufacture and supply bespoke semiconductor wafers ('epi-wafers') to the major chip manufacturing companies, who then use these wafers to make the chips which form the key components of virtually all high technology systems. IQE is unique in being able to supply wafers using all of the leading crystal growth technology platforms.
IQE's products are found in many leading-edge consumer, communication, computing and industrial applications, including a complete range of wafer products for the wireless industry, such as mobile handsets and wireless infrastructure, Wi-Fi, WiMAX, base stations, GPS, and satellite communications; optical communications, optical storage (CD, DVD), laser optical mouse, laser printers & photocopiers, thermal imagers, leading-edge medical products, barcode, high efficiency LEDs and a variety of advanced silicon based systems.
The manufacturers of these chips are increasingly seeking to outsource wafer production to specialist foundries such as IQE in order to reduce overall wafer costs and accelerate time to market.
IQE also provides bespoke R&D services to deliver customised materials for specific applications and offers specialist technical staff to manufacture to specification either at its own facilities or on the customer's own sites. The Group is also able to leverage its global purchasing volumes to reduce the cost of raw materials. In this way IQE's outsourced services, provide compelling benefits in terms of flexibility and predictability of cost, thereby significantly reducing operating risk.
IQE operates six manufacturing facilities located in Cardiff (two) and Milton Keynes in the UK; in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania and Somerset, New Jersey in the USA; and Singapore. The Group also has 11 sales offices located in major economic centres worldwide.
