IQE

Last updated
IQE PLC
Company type Public
AIM: IQE
Industry Semiconductors
Founded1988;36 years ago (1988) in Cardiff, Wales, UK
Founders
  • Drew Nelson
  • Michael Scott
Headquarters
Cardiff   OOjs UI icon edit-ltr-progressive.svg
,
United Kingdom  OOjs UI icon edit-ltr-progressive.svg
Area served
Global
Key people
Americo Lemos (CEO)
Products Epitaxial wafers
RevenueIncrease2.svg £167.5 million (2021)
Decrease2.svg£−72.9 million (2021)
Decrease2.svg£−74.5 million (2021)
Total assets Decrease2.svg£296.1 million (2021)
Total equity Decrease2.svg£175.1 million (2021)
Number of employees
685 (end 2021)
Website iqep.com
Footnotes /references
[1]

IQE PLC is a British semiconductor company founded 1988 in Cardiff, Wales, which manufactures advanced epitaxial wafers for a wide range of technology applications for wireless, optoelectronic, electronic and solar devices. IQE specialises in advanced silicon and compound semiconductor materials based on gallium arsenide (GaAs), indium phosphide (InP), gallium nitride (GaN) and silicon.[ citation needed ] The company is the largest independent outsource producer of epiwafers manufactured by metalorganic vapour phase epitaxy (MOCVD), molecular beam epitaxy (MBE) and chemical vapor deposition (CVD).[ citation needed ]

Contents

The company is headquartered in Cardiff with an Innovation Centre and factories in Newport, Wales, Cardiff, Wales and Milton Keynes in the United Kingdom; Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, Taunton, Massachusetts, and Greensboro, North Carolina in the United States; and Taiwan in Asia.[ citation needed ]

History

IQE was founded by Drew Nelson and Michael Scott in 1988 as Epitaxial Products International (EPI). Initially, the company specialised in producing epitaxial wafers for optoelectronic devices used primarily in fiber optic telecommunications. Metal Organic Chemical Vapor Deposition (MOCVD) technology was used to produce semiconductor lasers, light-emitting diodes (LEDs) and photodetectors designed to operate at wavelengths of 1300 nm and 1550 nm utilised for long distance fiber optic communications.[ citation needed ]

In 1999, Epitaxial Products International merged with Pennsylvania-based Quantum Epitaxial Designs (QED) to form IQE. [2] QED was founded by Tom Hierl. [3]

Also in 1999, the newly merged entity underwent an initial public offering (IPO) on the European EASDAQ (NASDAQ Europe) stock exchange, followed a year later by a listing on the London Stock Exchange.[ citation needed ]

The merger with QED brought to the group a range of new manufacturing tools based on molecular beam epitaxy (MBE) technology and a range of products for the wireless telecommunications. Following the merger, IQE became the first independent outsource manufacturer of both optoelectronic and radio frequency (RF) epitaxial wafers produced using both MOCVD and MBE technologies. The Bethlehem facility specialised in a number of wireless products including pseudomorphic high electron mobility transistors (pHEMTs) and metal semiconductor field-effect transistors (MESFETs).[ citation needed ]

In 2000, the company formed a new, wholly owned subsidiary company specialising in silicon based epitaxy. IQE Silicon was established in a new facility adjacent to the group's headquarters and European manufacturing base in Cardiff, Wales, UK. The new subsidiary used chemical vapor deposition (CVD) tools to produce silicon and germanium epitaxial wafers for enhanced silicon processing performance, microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) and nanotechnology applications. [4]

Also in 2000, the group acquired Wafer Technology based in Milton Keynes, UK. The acquisition provided the group with in-house production of gallium arsenide (GaAs) and indium phosphide (InP) substrates as well as adding capabilities for gallium antimonide (GaSb) and indium antimonide (InSb) for infrared applications. [5]

In 2006, the Group acquired the Electronic Materials Division from Emcore, providing IQE with its second US operation based in Somerset, NJ. This acquisition added further MOCVD capacity and complementary radio frequency (RF) products including heterojunction bipolar transistors (HBTs) and bipolar field-effect transistors (BiFETs). [6]

Also in 2006, the group made a further acquisition in the form of Singapore based MBET technologies which provided the group with complete multi-site, multi-technology and multi-product capabilities to form the world's largest independent contract manufacturer of epitaxial wafers. [7] In 2009 the group added new free-standing gallium nitride (GaN) substrate capability with the acquisition of NanoGaN, a spin out start-up from the University of Bath. [8] [9]

In 2012, IQE Group acquired Galaxy Compound Semiconductors, based in Spokane, Washington, US, and MBE epitaxy manufacturing unit of RFMD, based in Greensboro, North Carolina, US. [10]

The company made a stock exchange announcement on 12 November 2018 that shipments of its product would be materially reduced, also materially affecting profitability, causing the share price to plunge. [11]

The joint venture CSDC was acquired by IQE in October 2019. IQE had held 51% of shares through MBE Technologies at the time it was formed in March 2015. [12] [13]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gallium arsenide</span> Chemical compound

Gallium arsenide (GaAs) is a III-V direct band gap semiconductor with a zinc blende crystal structure.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Monolithic microwave integrated circuit</span>

Monolithic microwave integrated circuit, or MMIC, is a type of integrated circuit (IC) device that operates at microwave frequencies. These devices typically perform functions such as microwave mixing, power amplification, low-noise amplification, and high-frequency switching. Inputs and outputs on MMIC devices are frequently matched to a characteristic impedance of 50 ohms. This makes them easier to use, as cascading of MMICs does not then require an external matching network. Additionally, most microwave test equipment is designed to operate in a 50-ohm environment.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Epitaxy</span> Crystal growth process relative to the substrate

Epitaxy refers to a type of crystal growth or material deposition in which new crystalline layers are formed with one or more well-defined orientations with respect to the crystalline seed layer. The deposited crystalline film is called an epitaxial film or epitaxial layer. The relative orientation(s) of the epitaxial layer to the seed layer is defined in terms of the orientation of the crystal lattice of each material. For most epitaxial growths, the new layer is usually crystalline and each crystallographic domain of the overlayer must have a well-defined orientation relative to the substrate crystal structure. Epitaxy can involve single-crystal structures, although grain-to-grain epitaxy has been observed in granular films. For most technological applications, single-domain epitaxy, which is the growth of an overlayer crystal with one well-defined orientation with respect to the substrate crystal, is preferred. Epitaxy can also play an important role while growing superlattice structures.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Molecular-beam epitaxy</span> Crystal growth process

Molecular-beam epitaxy (MBE) is an epitaxy method for thin-film deposition of single crystals. MBE is widely used in the manufacture of semiconductor devices, including transistors, and it is considered one of the fundamental tools for the development of nanotechnologies. MBE is used to fabricate diodes and MOSFETs at microwave frequencies, and to manufacture the lasers used to read optical discs.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gallium nitride</span> Chemical compound

Gallium nitride is a binary III/V direct bandgap semiconductor commonly used in blue light-emitting diodes since the 1990s. The compound is a very hard material that has a Wurtzite crystal structure. Its wide band gap of 3.4 eV affords it special properties for applications in optoelectronic, high-power and high-frequency devices. For example, GaN is the substrate which makes violet (405 nm) laser diodes possible, without requiring nonlinear optical frequency-doubling.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Indium phosphide</span> Chemical compound

Indium phosphide (InP) is a binary semiconductor composed of indium and phosphorus. It has a face-centered cubic ("zincblende") crystal structure, identical to that of GaAs and most of the III-V semiconductors.

The heterojunction bipolar transistor (HBT) is a type of bipolar junction transistor (BJT) which uses differing semiconductor materials for the emitter and base regions, creating a heterojunction. The HBT improves on the BJT in that it can handle signals of very high frequencies, up to several hundred GHz. It is commonly used in modern ultrafast circuits, mostly radio frequency (RF) systems, and in applications requiring a high power efficiency, such as RF power amplifiers in cellular phones. The idea of employing a heterojunction is as old as the conventional BJT, dating back to a patent from 1951. Detailed theory of heterojunction bipolar transistor was developed by Herbert Kroemer in 1957.

An epitaxial wafer is a wafer of semiconducting material made by epitaxial growth (epitaxy) for use in photonics, microelectronics, spintronics, or photovoltaics. The epi layer may be the same material as the substrate, typically monocrystaline silicon, or it may be a silicon dioxide (SoI) or a more exotic material with specific desirable qualities. The purpose of epitaxy is to perfect the crystal structure over the bare substrate below and improve the wafer surface's electrical characteristics, making it suitable for highly complex microprocessors and memory devices.

Indium gallium arsenide (InGaAs) is a ternary alloy of indium arsenide (InAs) and gallium arsenide (GaAs). Indium and gallium are group III elements of the periodic table while arsenic is a group V element. Alloys made of these chemical groups are referred to as "III-V" compounds. InGaAs has properties intermediate between those of GaAs and InAs. InGaAs is a room-temperature semiconductor with applications in electronics and photonics.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Metalorganic vapour-phase epitaxy</span> Method of producing thin films (polycrystalline and single crystal)

Metalorganic vapour-phase epitaxy (MOVPE), also known as organometallic vapour-phase epitaxy (OMVPE) or metalorganic chemical vapour deposition (MOCVD), is a chemical vapour deposition method used to produce single- or polycrystalline thin films. It is a process for growing crystalline layers to create complex semiconductor multilayer structures. In contrast to molecular-beam epitaxy (MBE), the growth of crystals is by chemical reaction and not physical deposition. This takes place not in vacuum, but from the gas phase at moderate pressures. As such, this technique is preferred for the formation of devices incorporating thermodynamically metastable alloys, and it has become a major process in the manufacture of optoelectronics, such as Light-emitting diodes, its most widespread application. It was first demonstrated in 1967 at North American Aviation Autonetics Division in Anaheim CA by Harold M. Manasevit.

Chemical beam epitaxy (CBE) forms an important class of deposition techniques for semiconductor layer systems, especially III-V semiconductor systems. This form of epitaxial growth is performed in an ultrahigh vacuum system. The reactants are in the form of molecular beams of reactive gases, typically as the hydride or a metalorganic. The term CBE is often used interchangeably with metal-organic molecular beam epitaxy (MOMBE). The nomenclature does differentiate between the two processes, however. When used in the strictest sense, CBE refers to the technique in which both components are obtained from gaseous sources, while MOMBE refers to the technique in which the group III component is obtained from a gaseous source and the group V component from a solid source.

Soitec is an international company based in France, that manufactures substrates used in the creation of semiconductors.

Indium gallium aluminium nitride is a GaN-based compound semiconductor. It is usually prepared by epitaxial growth, such as metalorganic chemical vapour deposition (MOCVD), molecular-beam epitaxy (MBE), pulsed laser deposition (PLD), etc. This material is used for specialist opto-electronics applications, often in blue laser diodes and LEDs.

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ferdinand-Braun-Institut</span>

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Indium aluminium nitride (InAlN) is a direct bandgap semiconductor material used in the manufacture of electronic and photonic devices. It is part of the III-V group of semiconductors, being an alloy of indium nitride and aluminium nitride, and is closely related to the more widely used gallium nitride. It is of special interest in applications requiring good stability and reliability, owing to its large direct bandgap and ability to maintain operation at temperatures of up to 1000 °C., making it of particular interest to areas such as the space industry. InAlN high-electron-mobility transistors (HEMTs) are attractive candidates for such applications owing to the ability of InAlN to lattice-match to gallium nitride, eliminating a reported failure route in the closely related aluminium gallium nitride HEMTs.

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Gallium indium antimonide, also known as indium gallium antimonide, GaInSb, or InGaSb (GaxIn1-xSb), is a ternary III-V semiconductor compound. It can be considered as an alloy between gallium antimonide and indium antimonide. The alloy can contain any ratio between gallium and indium. GaInSb refers generally to any composition of the alloy.

References

  1. "IQE plc Annual Report & Accounts 2022" (PDF). IQE. Retrieved 4 July 2023.
  2. "IQE plc — the world's leading merchant epiwafer supplier". III-Vs Review. 14: 10–11. 2000-01-01. doi:10.1016/S0961-1290(01)80012-0. ISSN   0961-1290.
  3. "IQE Loses CTO, COO". EDN. 2003-03-10. Retrieved 2023-12-20.
  4. "IQE Announce The Formation Of IQE Silicon Compounds - News". Compound Semiconductor. 2000-11-30. Retrieved 2023-12-20.
  5. "IQE ACQUIRES WAFER TECHNOLOGY LIMITED - News". Compound Semiconductor. 2000-11-23. Retrieved 2023-12-20.
  6. "IQE closes acquisition of EMD after raising £12m". www.semiconductor-today.com. 2006-08-21. Retrieved 2023-12-20.
  7. "IQE acquires Singapore epiwafer foundry MBE Technology for £7.5m". www.semiconductor-today.com. 2006-12-22. Retrieved 2023-12-21.
  8. "IQE to Acquire NanoGaN". www.photonics.com. 2009-10-06. Retrieved 2023-12-21.
  9. "IQE to acquire UK developer of GaN wafer technology". LEDs Magazine. 2009-10-05. Retrieved 2023-12-21.
  10. "IQE buys infrared firm, raises 21 mln s". reuters.com. 2010-09-30. Retrieved 2023-12-20.
  11. Arathi S Nair (12 November 2018). "Apple supplier IQE warns on full-year results". Reuters .
  12. "IQE acquires full ownership of CSDC joint venture". www.semiconductor-today.com. 2019-10-10. Retrieved 2024-03-11.
  13. "UK's IQE to take over Singapore joint venture". reuters.com. 2019-10-10. Retrieved 2024-03-11.