Fred Miller, founder of West Bond Inc., passed away on April 21, 2007, from complications a week after a fall. Over 40 years ago, in 1966, Miller bootstrapped his own company West Bond, which became West Bond Inc. in 1968, giving the microelectronic world the first X-Y-Z micromanipulator breakthrough technology. Holding 48 design patents such as the “Deep Access” wire feed, he gave operators the ability to bond gold and aluminum wire as fine as 0.0007" in small, tight and deep access packages. He brought end users of his product (in his words) “a control mechanism with a single input for a human to direct microscopic movements intuitively. The immediate justification for this invention was fine wire bonding of transistors, where we could add the caveat that the human be isolated from the task of applying the delicate force required.” With over 18,000 machines sold, 146 models in six different machine generations all over the world, thousands of companies have been able to design and build circuits and make fine wire connections that once were thought to be impossible. After Miller’s retirement in 2005 West Bond has been proud to carry on the motto “continuing a tradition of quality” in product and service. Many of his original inventions and designs are still working today, over 40 years later.
Endwave Corp., a provider of high frequency RF modules for telecommunications networks, defense electronics and homeland security systems, announced the acquisition of privately-held ALC Microwave Inc. for approximately $6.6 M in cash. ALC is a provider of logarithmic amplifier subsystems to many US and international defense prime contractors. ALC delivers these unique amplifier products for use in early warning radars, threat detection equipment, electronic countermeasures and missile guidance systems. ALC, with approximately 40 employees, is located in El Dorado Hills, CA, in close proximity to Endwave’s Diamond Springs, CA operation. ALC’s revenues were approximately $5.5 M in 2006.
Tyco Electronics announced a strategic alliance with OATSystems to provide a series of radio frequency identification (RFID) solutions to a variety of vertical markets that include aerospace and defense, transportation, and industrial segments.
RF Micro Devices Inc. (RFMD), a leader in the design and manufacture of high performance radio systems and solutions for applications that drive mobile communications, announced the addition of a research and development (R&D) center in the company’s Shanghai facility. The new center will expand RFMD’s product development capacity to support original design manufacturers (ODM), original equipment manufacturers (OEM), and local and international handset manufacturers throughout the Far East. Increasing RFMD’s internal design capacity of front-end solutions and transceivers will allow for significantly improved design cycle times and reduced manufacturing and shipping costs to customers.
Microsorb Technologies, a manufacturer of RF absorbers and dielectric materials, has moved to a new location in Woonsocket, RI. Microsorb Technologies started in 1992 by a group of microwave material engineers and has become a worldwide supplier of RF absorbers and dielectric materials for both commercial and military applications. The company offers custom design and fabrication of engineered parts, with experienced technical service assistance. Microsorb Technologies’ new address is Woonsocket Industrial and Technology Center, 32 Mechanic Avenue, Unit 211, Woonsocket, RI 02895 (401) 767-2242, fax: (401) 767-2255, e-mail: engineering@microsorbtech.com or visit: www.microsorbtech.com.
SolidWorks Corp., a leader in 3D CAD technology, and COMSOL, a leader in multiphysics simulation software, have strengthened their ties: SolidWorks has named COMSOL as one of its select Solutions Partners. This program provides SolidWorks users with access to integrated products and services that can further boost productivity.
Mini-Systems Inc. (MSI) Thin Film Division has been recognized once again by Northrop Grumman Space Technology (NGST) as a “GOLD” Supplier. MSI has achieved NGST’s highest rating of “GOLD” for the third consecutive year. In order to be a recipient of this status, suppliers must maintain an increased level of product quality and on-time delivery of 99 percent. In 2005, that percentage was at 98 percent. With about 1000 vendors, MSI was one of only 71 suppliers to receive the 2006 “GOLD” Supplier Award.
Providing design engineers with several product options to best suit their applications, TT electronics IRC Advanced Film Division announced it will continue to offer both RoHS-compliant and leaded versions of the majority of its products. This offering applies to IRC’s low value current sense components, precision chips and networks.
Contracts
Agilent Technologies Inc. announced that it has been awarded a $94 M contract by the US Army Aviation and Missile Command Redstone Arsenal. Under the contract, Agilent will deliver its AN/PRM-35 Radio Test Set (RTS) over six years, beginning in 2008, to the US Army Product Manager Test, Measurement and Diagnostic Equipment organization.
Superconductor Technologies Inc. (STI) announced it was awarded a contract from the US Air Force to develop Semiconductor-Tuned High Temperature Superconducting Filters for Ultra-Sensitive Radio Frequency Receivers (SURF). The funded contract amount is $4.7 M. Upon successful completion of the initial contract, the US Air Force has an option to extend the contract for the delivery of a prototype rack-mountable system incorporating a reconfigurable, ultra-fast tuned filter. If exercised, the value of this contract extension option is $5.4 M and would be recognized over 12 months.
Herley Industries Inc. announced that it has received a $2.4 M contract award from Composite Engineering Inc. (CEi), Sacramento, CA, for its avionics suite for the BQM-167A Air Force Sub-scale Aerial Target (AFSAT). The contract includes Gulf Range Drone Control System (GRDCS) transponders, Identification Friend or Foe (IFF) transponders, Electro-Explosive Devices (EED), Integrated Flight Controllers (IFC), Radar Altimeters and Power Management Units (PMU).
Cascade Microtech Inc. announced that Peregrine Semiconductor Corp. has placed a multi-million dollar order for Cascade Microtech’s Pyramid Probe® cards for its advanced RF CMOS integrated circuit production. The probe cards, which have begun to ship to Peregrine, will be used to test Peregrine’s latest generation UltraCMOS™high power antenna switches. According to Peregrine, Cascade Microtech was selected due to the high quality advanced RF performance and reliability of its production probe card solutions.
TRAK Microwave Corp. announced that it has received a production contract from Ball Aerospace (Broomfield, CO) for the continuation of the Army Tactical Missile System (ATACMS) program. TRAK will supply its custom-designed switch network assembly that is integrated with the Ball Aerospace antenna system and then delivered to the prime contractor, Lockheed Martin. The TRAK integrated subsystem consists of a filter/limiter, low noise amplifier and switch network. The contract award was in excess of $600 K for this production phase release.
LNX Corp. announced that it has been recently selected by BAE Systemsand MiKES to supply sophisticated RF/microwave control components, valued in excess of $2 M, for the Self-Protection Electronic Warfare System (SPEWS II).
Financial News
Credence Systems Corp. reports sales of $118.8 M for the first quarter of fiscal 2007 ended February 3, 2007, compared to $121.8 M for the same period in 2006. Net loss for the quarter was $11 thousand ($0.00/per share), compared to a net loss of $4 M ($0.04/per share) for the first quarter of last year.
ANADIGICS Inc. reports sales of $49.6 M for the first quarter of 2007 ended March 31, 2007, compared to $34.7 M for the same period in 2006. Net loss for the quarter, including discontinued operations, was $1.2 M ($0.02/per share), compared to a net loss of $4.6 M ($0.12/per share) for the first quarter of last year.
Merrimac Industries Inc. reports sales of $6.2 M for the fourth quarter of 2006 ended December 30, 2006, compared to $7 M for the same period in 2005. Net loss for the fourth quarter was $1.7 M ($0.55/per share), compared to a net income of $117,000 ($0.04/per share) for the fourth quarter of 2005.
New Market Entry
Innovative Micro Technology (IMT) announced it has begun offering getter deposition services for wafer-level packaging of MEMS and other devices that require hard vacuum for device performance. In exhaustive testing, IMT has demonstrated vacuum levels equal to or surpassing other established getter deposition services. Using IMT’s proprietary getter (patent pending), IMT has routinely achieved vacuum levels below 10 mTorr in production of inorganic devices for such applications as IR emission and sensing and for resonant oscillators in biological and chemical hazard detection applications.
Personnel
iTerra Communications announced the appointment of Avi Katz as president and chief executive officer, and member of the board of directors. Katz brings to iTerra a track record of extraordinary results in leading public and private electronics manufacturers in fiercely-competitive environments. He also has detailed knowledge of the compound semiconductor technology that is the basis of iTerra’s products. Katz has managed and conducted global businesses in the US, China, India, Asia Pacific and Europe for many years, and was the chief executive officer of hardware and software companies prior to joining iTerra.
SiGe Semiconductor announced the appointment of Sohail Khan as president and chief executive officer. Khan will lead SiGe Semiconductor in its next stage of development, as the company expands its position as a leading supplier of RF front-end solutions and GPS receivers to the consumer electronic markets. Sohail Khan has more than 25 years of experience in the communications and semiconductor industry, with a track record of building large, successful global businesses, creating new products and developing new markets. Khan comes to SiGe Semiconductor from Bessemer Venture Partners, where he served as an entrepreneur in residence and operating partner, responsible for evaluating communications deals and providing assistance to portfolio companies.
RF Monolithics Inc. (RFM) announced that Joseph E. Andrulis has been appointed senior vice president and group manager to lead the company’s Wireless Solutions Group. The Wireless Solutions Group encompasses Aleier’s Enterprise Asset Management Solutions with Condition-Based Maintenance Management software, Cirronet’s embedded modules and RFM’s Virtual Wire and RFICs. Andrulis previously served as vice president of marketing for RFM, a position he has held since joining the company in December of 2004.
Applied Wave Research Inc. (AWR®) announced that Sherry Hess has been named vice president of marketing. Hess will oversee all marketing activities including corporate, product and strategy in order to further drive the company’s business worldwide. Hess joins AWR with nearly 20 years of senior management experience in the semiconductor and EDA industries. Prior to AWR, Hess was with CebaTech Inc., a startup that specializes in EDA/electronic system-level (ESL) and telecommunication intellectual property (IP). As vice president of business development, she was responsible for sales, marketing and support activities as the company transitioned from stealth R&D to successful product introduction. Before CebaTech, Hess spent more than 15 years at EDA developer Ansoft Corp., where she most recently held the position of vice president of marketing, with responsibility for internal and external marketing.
Crane Aerospace & Electronics, a segment of Crane Co., announced the appointment of Rich Weatherford as vice president of operations for the Electronics Group. In this position, Weatherford will be responsible for operations of all Electronics Group sites including locations in Redmond, WA; Fort Walton Beach, FL; Chandler, AZ; Beverly, MA; Daventry, England; and Kaohsiung, Taiwan. He will be located in Redmond. Weatherford joins Crane from Rexnord Industries Inc., Downers Grove, IL. He has over 13 years of experience building and leading manufacturing operations and is a lean manufacturing process expert.
California Eastern Laboratories (CEL) announced that Jeremy Dietz has joined the company as director of its fiber optics and optical semiconductor business unit. Dietz will be responsible for the marketing and business management of CEL’s rapidly-expanding fiber optic and optical isolation product lines. Dietz has broad experience in all of CEL’s distribution channel models: factory direct, distribution and manufacturers’ representative. He comes to CEL from Sharp Microelectronics, where he served as optoelectronics product manager.
I.F. Engineering Corp., a manufacturer of high performance RF and microwave components and distribution systems, announced the appointment of Sean Gordon as director, international sales. Based in Jerusalem, Israel, Gordon will be responsible for creating and managing I.F. Engineering’s international channel program. The Jerusalem office will afford I.F. Engineering’s clients and channel partners a location more suitable for customer and technical service. Gordon brings over 20 years sales and marketing experience, with the last 14 years in high tech RF and satellite systems. He was one of the founders and vice president of sales at Foxcom Inc. Gordon has experience in launching RF products into new territories and markets—he was responsible for setting up Foxcom’s distribution network in Europe and Asia.
Lorch Microwave announced the appointment of John Taunton as European sales manager. Taunton has more than 20 years experience in the RF and microwave industry, having held senior filter engineering positions with K&L Microwave, ERA Technology and BSC Filters. Taunton will be based out of the European sales office located near York, England.
AR RF/Microwave Instrumentation announced that Tom Eichelberger has joined the company in the role of a regional sales manager. Eichelberger has replaced John Whitney, who has been promoted to general sales manager. Eichelberger brings 28 years of experience with leading technology companies including Bell Laboratories, AT Microelectronics, Lucent Technologies and Agere Systems. His education includes BS and MS degrees in physics from Ohio State University, and an MSE degree in technology management from the Executive Master’s in Technology Management (EMTM) program at the University of Pennsylvania.
Renaissance Electronics announced the appointment of Shane Delmore to the position of product group manager, RF subsystems. Delmore joined Renaissance Electronics in August 2004 just after graduating from MIT with a bachelor of science degree. At Renaissance, he started as a member of the RF subsystems group and had a primary focus on Sprint/Nextel business development. The Renaissance Electronics RF subsystems product group has realized significant growth over the past two years. Delmore has developed plans for major expansion of the company’s RF subsystems business in 2007 and 2008.
Andrew Corp., a leader in communications systems and products, has named two of its engineers as Andrew Fellows, the company’s highest level of technical achievement in engineering. Jeffrey Strahler and Simon Hamparian, who are senior principal engineers at Andrew’s Columbus, OH and Warren, NJ facilities, respectively, together bring more than 45 years of key industry experience to the company. Their numerous accomplishments have not only contributed greatly to Andrew’s success, but have advanced the science of telecommunications engineering as well.
For contributions in the field of integrated circuit technology, Isik C. Kizilyalli, director of technology at Nitronex, has been selected as a 2007 Fellow by the Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers (IEEE). At Nitronex, a developer and manufacturer of high performance GaN RF power transistors, Kizilyalli manages the process and device technology development department.
Rep Appointments
Aeroflex and AT4 wireless have entered into a worldwide distribution agreement for the sale and support of the WiMAX RF Conformance Test (WiMAX RCT MINT T2110) and WiMAX Protocol Conformance Test (WiMAX PCT MINT T223x) systems. Under the terms of the distribution agreement, Aeroflex will provide the worldwide sales and support channel for both conformance test systems to all WiMAX technology customers, including the accredited WiMAX test laboratories. The PCT is being co-developed by the two companies under their ongoing collaborative development agreement while the RCT is being developed by AT4 wireless.
Auriga Measurement Systems LLC announced an exclusive agreement with Accelonix of Europe. Accelonix, a supplier of microelectronics capital equipment and services, will distribute Auriga’s product line in France, Portugal and Spain.
Digi-Key Corp. and Linear Technology Corp. announced the expansion of the companies’ distribution contract from a North American contract to a global contract. Linear Technology products stocked by Digi-Key include a wide range of integrated circuits. These products are featured in both its print and on-line catalogs and are available for purchase directly from Digi-Key. The distribution agreement between Linear Technology and Digi-Key enable the distributor to fulfill both the prototype and production quantity needs of its diverse customer base.
TestEquity, a manufacturer of environmental chambers, announced a new partnership agreement with TestMart, a leading marketplace operator and service provider for the IT, network maintenance, and test and measurement industries. The agreement authorizes TestMart to present a catalog of benchtop and floor standing environmental chambers.
Richardson Electronics announced a worldwide partnership to distribute a new frequency-hopping spread spectrum (FHSS) embedded wireless module developed by Radiotronix of Oklahoma City, OK. The Wi.232FHSS-250™ is the first of a new family of RF embedded modules based on the Analog Devices ADF702x RF transceiver chips.