X-FAB Silicon Foundries has announced the establishing of its X-Cite Award Programme. X-Cite will allow engineering teams to experiment with more imaginative design concepts using the semiconductor processes provided by X-FAB as a foundation. Fabless semiconductor companies as well as research establishments experienced in IC development will all be eligible to enter the award programme. The winner will then be given a free prototyping run to val...

X-FAB Silicon Foundries has announced it will expand the capacity and capabilities of its Kuching-based foundry operation, X-FAB Sarawak, to meet accelerating demand for its core technologies, the 0.18 and 0.35µm process platforms. With revenue having grown 25% for each of the past two years and similar growth expected for the next two years, X-FAB plans to invest a total of $114m between 2015 and 2017. This includes capex spending amountin...

X-FAB Silicon Foundries has introduced XS018, the first specialised 0.18µm CMOS process for fast and large image sensor pixels. Unlike the 4-transistor pixels used in consumer products such as mobile phones and digital cameras, which have small sizes, the XS018 technology is the first to support high-speed large pixels required for medical and scientific applications such as computer tomography and x-ray scanners for 3D images.

Transistors that have drastically reduced flicker noise on its mixed-signal 0.35µm and 0.18µm CMOS process platforms have been introduced by X-FAB Silicon Foundries. Flicker noise in CMOS MOSFETs has been reduced in both the n-channel device in the XH035 0.35µm process and the p-channel device in the XH018 0.18µm process by a factor of five, thereby setting the industry benchmark.

X-FAB Silicon Foundries has announced the industry’s first cost-efficient 180nm SOI technology for automotive and industrial applications that need to operate in harsh environments. X-FAB’s suite of 40 and 60V high-voltage devices for its XT018 180nm SOI platform outperforms bulk CMOS technologies and provides cost savings of up to 30%.

X-FAB Silicon Foundries and Exagan have entered into a joint development agreement to industrialise Exagan’s GaN-on-silicon technology, begin producing high-speed power switching devices on 200mm wafers and establish a European production centre where the two partner companies will manufacture GaN devices for the solar, industrial, automotive and IT electronics. The two companies already have begun to demonstrate their capabilities by proce...

X-FAB Silicon Foundries has announced the expansion of its 0.18 and 0.35μm device portfolio with highly sensitive ultraviolet photodiodes, the first of its kind developed by a silicon foundry. Easily integrated into designs implemented in X-FAB’s modular XH018 and XH035 CMOS process technologies, X-FAB says that the diodes provide the highest quantum efficiency available from a silicon foundry.

X-FAB Silicon Foundries and Silicon Works jointly announced that they have reached a milestone in their strategic partnership to bring automotive sensors to the Korean market and replace current devices with domestic solutions. Mass production of their first device, a signal processing IC, is underway at X-FAB’s 200mm facility in Kuching, Malaysia.

X-FAB Silicon Foundries has announced it has reached a major milestone in further expanding its MEMS manufacturing capabilities in two of its German locations, Erfurt and Itzehoe. Driven by increased customer demand for MEMS manufacturing services, the expansion includes two new dedicated MEMS fabs with cleanroom space totaling more than 2,000 m2.

X-FAB Silicon Foundries has announced it has reached a major milestone in further expanding its MEMS manufacturing capabilities in two of its German locations, Erfurt and Itzehoe.

X-FAB Silicon Foundries today announced its new A/MS Reference Kit supporting advanced methodology for analog/mixed-signal design. The Kit enables rapid adoption of constraint-driven design, mixed-signal simulation, floorplanning, schematic-driven layout, automated routing, timing-driven digital block implementation and signoff.

X-FAB Silicon Foundries today announced it has enhanced the XP018 process with multiple options to lower chip costs for high-performance analog applications such as audio, sensor interface and 5V-environment power management applications.

X-FAB Silicon Foundries and Anvo-Systems Dresden today announced a cooperative agreement to offer high-speed non-volatile memory solutions that combine SRAM, DRAM and SONOS FLASH technologies; the compact design results in a small silicon footprint that keeps device costs low.

Responding to its customers’ needs for applications with high-temperature requirements, X-FAB Silicon Foundries today announced XH018 HT – a new module that adds high-temperature capability to its XH018 technology family. It offers the industry’s first and only 0.18 micrometer platform with high temperature (HT), high voltage (HV) and non-volatile memory (NVM) capability. X-FAB also added 13 new primitive devices with this extension, includ...