Seoul, South Korea — MagnaChip Semiconductor Corp., a Korea-based designer and manufacturer of analog and mixed-signal semiconductor products, has ramped to mass production of Peregrine Semiconductor’s RF switch products using the latest generation “STeP5” UltraCMOS SOS (Silicon-On-Sapphire) technology. Peregrine Semiconductor Corp., based in San Diego, Calif., is a fabless provider of high-performance RF ICs.
UltraCMOS technology uses a sapphire substrate, enabling high levels of monolithic integration, which results in smaller die, higher yields and fewer external components when compared to compound semiconductor processes such as GaAS, said the companies.
Peregrine and MagnaChip have been working on the transfer of the UltraCMOS technology since mid-2007 and have implemented Peregrine’s STeP3 and STeP4 process generations at MagnaChip’s 0.35µm manufacturing facility located in Cheongju, South Korea. MagnaChip has now successfully completed the final qualification phase in the transfer of the STeP5 process generation, which has allowed the company to ramp to high-volume production.