In the News - 2009
TowerJazz Wins Defense Contract
December 2009
TowerJazz, the global specialty foundry leader, today announced its USA Aerospace and Defense Division has been awarded a contract by General Dynamics Information Technology, a business unit of General Dynamics (NYSE: GD), to support the MATES (MAnufacturing TEchnology Support) program within the U.S. Air Force for large-die read-out-integrated-circuit (ROIC) production. The MATES program contract was originally awarded to General Dynamics in 2004. TowerJazz is a leading manufacturer of ROICs which are key elements in many commercial and military detectors, sensors, and imaging systems spanning air, land, sea and space. With this award, it will enhance the ability to support production requirements of increasingly complex future ROIC designs.
Image Sensors World
TowerJazz Wins Defense Contract
December 2009
TowerJazz, the global specialty foundry leader, today announced its USA Aerospace and Defense Division has been awarded a contract by General Dynamics Information Technology, a business unit of General Dynamics (NYSE: GD), to support the MATES (MAnufacturing TEchnology Support) program within the U.S. Air Force for large-die read-out-integrated-circuit (ROIC) production. The MATES program contract was originally awarded to General Dynamics in 2004. TowerJazz is a leading manufacturer of ROICs which are key elements in many commercial and military detectors, sensors, and imaging systems spanning air, land, sea and space. With this award, it will enhance the ability to support production requirements of increasingly complex future ROIC designs.
VT Silicon Selects TowerJazz for First Fully Integrated 4G RF Front End IC
12/14/10
VT Silicon has reportedly selected TowerJazz to be its manufacturing partner for what the company says is the first silicon 4G RF Front End IC to meet the operating requirements of 4G mobile devices. VT Silicon reportedly chose TowerJazz's SiGe process instead of a more expensive GaAs to enable higher integration at a significantly lower cost. VT Silicon's 4G RF front end IC offers the company's patented Linearity Enhancement Technology (LET) and a novel RF Front End topology to achieve the power, efficiency, and linearity required by today's battery-powered 4G broadband mobile devices.
TowerJazz's Silicon Radio Platform includes a SiGe transistor that can operate at up to 200GHz, which it says is competitive with GaAs, and offers as much as 40% lower die cost. The SiGe BiCMOS technology allows the RF Front End to be integrated in a wireless device on a single piece of silicon. Furthermore, the CMOS technology allows mixed-signal and digital functions on the same chip for programmable control of RF functions, advanced sensors, and serial digital communication. VT Silicon says that the integration eliminates the need for a number of expensive discrete GaAs devices ultimately results in a reduced bill of materials.
TowerJazz switches focus in huge deal
11/22/09
The company will upgrade the fab of an Asian government defense company
TowerJazz Ltd. (Nasdaq: TSEM; TASE: TSEM) is launching a strategic shift. Until now, the Migdal Ha&39;Emek-based specialty foundry has engaged in the design and production of processors for companies in the private sector; now it will also sell know-how and technology. Sources inform "Globes" that senior executives of TowerJazz shareholder Israel Corporation (TASE: ILCO) today returned to Israel from Asia where they signed a deal estimated at $130 million, under which TowerJazz will upgrade the production facility of a government company to boost its output.
TowerJazz will offer the Asian company a comprehensive production solution, from the upgrade of clean rooms and the construction of new ones, through equipment procurement, and the design of all merger, cooling, and computerization infrastructures. Later, TowerJazz will provide management, training, and maintenance services for the fab.
Tanner EDA, Tower expand collaboration
Anne-Francoise Pele
EDA DesignLine
11/19/09
Tanner EDA and TowerJazz have joined forces to meet analog/mixed signal customers' needs for high quality power management ICs. The purpose of this collaboration is to develop Process Design Kits (PDKs) for power management device design. It is centered upon the combination of TowerJazz's advanced power management platform with Tanner EDA's specialized IC design tools.
Tanner EDA claimed that its HiPer Silicon Power Management Design Software enables designers to plan and administer power management schemes in the context of their complete design. HiPer Silicon includes features and functionality that address an A/MS designer's power management requirements such as consistent, cohesive user interface across the entire design flow.
About its power management platform, TowerJazz specified that it is a Bipolar-CMOS-DMOS (BCD) power management platform with 0.5- to 0.18-micron CMOS density and a combination of bipolar NPN and PNP devices, as well as high voltage CMOS and DMOS FETs for use in complex power management chips including driver ICs, battery and portable power management, power control for PC products, Class-D audio amplifiers, and many other consumer, communications and computing applications.
Israel's TowerJazz to collaborate with Tanner EDA
11/19/09
TEL AVIV, Nov 19 (Reuters) - Israeli chip maker TowerJazz (TSEM.TA) and Tanner EDA, a maker of electronic design automation (EDA) tools, said on Thursday they will jointly develop process design kits for analog/mixed-signal designers.
The companies did not disclose financial details, but a market source in Tel Aviv said the deal could be worth $10 million per quarter for Tower (TSEM.O) starting in 2012 or 2013.
Tower said that by working with EDA vendors such as Tanner, the companies can provide mutual customers with a power management platform and customized design capabilities to achieve more predictable designs. This will enable them to decrease design cycle time. (Reporting by Tova Cohen; Editing by David Holmes)
TowerJazz Wins Phasor Solutions
11/11/09
Newport Beach-based TowerJazz, the semiconductor foundry which was Jazz Semiconductor, said today that it has been selected by Phasor Solutions, a developer of phased array antennas for the satellite communications and radar market. TowerJazz said that it has been selected for its high performance, SiGe BiCMOS process, to manufacture Phasor's transceiver chipset. Financial impact or estimated volumes from the win was not disclosed. TowerJazz said Phasor will use its SBC18HX process, a 0.18-micron SiGe Bipolar combined with 0.18-micron CMOS process.
Tower Semiconductor outperforms global semiconductor fab business
11/3/09
When most of the leading 0.45nm fabs are still not able cross their 2008 revenues, Israel based specialized and customized semiconductor fabrication service provider Tower Jazz Semiconductor lead the pack in growth with its annual revenues in 2009 expected to grow at double digit figures compared to its 2008 revenues.
What's interesting is Tower has fabs to make chips at older technology nodes of 1 micron and more. But its process supports technologies such as SiGe, BiCMOS, RFCMOS, Image Sensor, Power Management (BCD), Embedded Non-Volatile Memory (NVM) and MEMS capabilities integrated with CMOS. This technological strength allows Tower to make true SoC chips with logic, analog, RF, sensor onboard a monolithic chip. Also, unlike TSMC and Chartered Tower doesn't look to be making commodity type chips for mobile gadgets.
Tower and Jazz Semiconductor Announce Major Achievements in First Year of Merger, Launch New Brand and Website
11/3/09
Tower Semiconductor and its U.S. subsidiary, Jazz Semiconductor, today announced major milestones achieved in the first year of the merger as well as the re-branding as TowerJazz through its "One Company, Twice as Strong" campaign. The achievements and integrated roadmaps will be presented at the Company's annual technology conference this week at its Newport Beach facility on November 5, 2009 where the new brand and website will be formally launched.
In the past year, TowerJazz has positioned itself to become the global specialty foundry leader, executing on significant opportunities targeting high growth and high margin markets, with a stronger financial base. TowerJazz was also the only foundry to achieve year over year growth in 2009 (Q3/Q3), accomplished during one of the biggest downturns in the semiconductor industry's history.
Since the closing of the merger, the Company has announced close to 20 new customer engagements including the largest revenue potential customer partnership in its history; a collaboration with Intersil to co-develop a high-performance power management platform for the manufacture of leading-edge power ICs. These wins are based upon TowerJazz's complementary and integrated process offerings, providing the broadest and most customizable technologies of any other specialty foundry along with proven design enablement capabilities, unrivaled in the industry.
CMOSIS and Tower Semiconductor target machine vision image sensor market
10/20/09
CMOSIS (Antwerp, Belgium; www.cmosis.com), a fabless developer of CMOS image sensors, and Tower Semiconductor, announced that CMOSIS is launching its first off-the-shelf, high-resolution sensor using Tower's 0.18-micron CMOS image sensor technology.
The CMV2000 image sensor aims at machine-vision applications. CMOSIS estimates the machine vision sensor market at approximately $200M (CCD and CMOS combined). The two companies say they are well-positioned to win a significant share of future industrial and professional CMOS image sensor markets because the sensor could also be used for automotive and security applications.
CMOSIS says it selected Tower's 0.18-micron process for its aggressive layout rules, allowing a novel pixel structure featuring a pixel size of 5.5 x 5.5 microns, which is needed to stay close to a 2/3-in. optical format with 2.2-Mpixel resolution and form factor. Samples of the CMV2000 are currently released to specified CMOSIS customers. Full production will ramp in early 2010. A 4-Mpixel version of the sensor will be available in the spring.
NASA Selects Jazz Semiconductor and ADSANTEC for Lunar Atmosphere and Dust Environment Explorer (LADEE) Mission
10/15/09
SiGe technology from Jazz combined with rad-hard design techniques from ADSANTEC enabling essential space applications
Jazz Semiconductor, a Tower Group Company (Nasdaq: TSEM) (TASE: TSEM) and ADSANTEC, a fabless design house, today announced their SERDES solution has been selected by NASA for its Lunar Atmosphere Dust Environment Explorer (LADEE)mission. The LADEE mission will orbit the Moon with the main objective of characterizing the lunar dust environment to determine the global density, composition, and time variability of the fragile lunar atmosphere before it is perturbed by further human activity and will deliver optical data at a rate of above 500 Mb/s. The launch date for the mission is scheduled for May 1, 2012.
"We have routinely achieved first-pass success with Jazz's industry-leading SiGe technology in delivering high speed ASICS with demanding specifications targeting both space and terrestrial applications," said Dr. Vladimir Katzman, President of ADSANTEC. "We are now excited to further broaden our partnership with Jazz by making our rad-hard and commercial grade design libraries available to other Jazz customers." Currently, ADSANTEC supplies components fabricated in Jazz Semiconductor's process technologies to several tier 1 communications customers worldwide.
Tower Semi to make power devices for Korean cars
10/12/09
Tower Semiconductor Ltd said on Monday it would be the exclusive manufacturer of power automotive devices for C&S Technology. This is the latest in a string of recent contracts for Tower in South Korea.
C&S Technology, the official automotive device supplier of audio and video systems for Hyundai Motor Co and its affiliate Kia Motors Corp, will now supply a power device to the auto manufacturers. The device can integrate multiple integrated circuits that are typically independent within the vehicle, resulting in a more cost-effective solution.
As more vehicles are being equipped with power, multimedia and network devices, the demand for automotive chips will increase. The percentage of electronic parts used in vehicles is expected to reach 40 percent by 2015 and over 30 percent will have semiconductors, Tower said.
Medigus and Tower Semiconductor Announce World's Smallest Medical Video Camera Based on Advanced CMOS Image Sensor
October 2009
Targets Fast Growing Single use Endoscopic Procedures Market, Estimated at 0.5 Billion Dollars in 2010, With a CAGR of Nearly 15% Camera's Smaller Size Lowers Cost of Endoscopic Procedures; Enables New Medical Diagnostic and Therapeutic Applications
Medigus Ltd. (TASE: MDGS) a leading developer of endoscopic and visualization medical devices, and Tower Semiconductor, Ltd. announced successful sampling of a new CMOS imager that will serve in Medigus' line of disposable miniature cameras and its new medical devices camera; the smallest of its kind in the world, designated to be incorporated into disposable endoscopes or used in various diagnostic and surgical medical applications.
"We are proud to advance our visualization capabilities with Tower, the leading specialty semiconductor manufacturer and foremost CMOS image sensor provider," said Dr. Elazar Sonnenschein, CEO for Medigus Ltd. "The new camera and its unique imager represent a dramatic breakthrough in the endoscopic medical field; it opens a wide hatch to new markets, medical applications and customers, and at the smallest size ever accessible, it will allow procedures not previously achievable. Medigus' innovative cameras will support an important unmet market need, giving both physicians and patients the most cost-effective level of technology, without compromising the quality of treatment which they deserve."
Stimulus for Success: Specialty Solutions Enable Customer Innovation
10/6/09
Ken Cheung
The theme of the 2009 Jazz Semiconductor and Tower Semiconductor conference (JaTc) is “Stimulus for Success: Specialty Solutions Enable Customer Innovation.” The one-day event will include key invited speakers as well as contributed talks, vendor exhibits, and a reception hosted by Tower and Jazz. All participants will have an opportunity to meet with leaders from academia and top executives and technical professionals in the semiconductor industry. The technology conference will take on November 5, 2009 at their Newport Beach facility.
Crocus enters STT-MRAM race
10/1/09
Anne-Francoise Pele
Crocus said its STT-MRAM technology targets high-end mobile phones, netbook computers, rotating media and solid-state disk drives, enterprise-class storage systems, network equipment, high-reliability industrial and automotive uses, as well as other applications where MRAM can solve the system problems associated with 'instant power-on' and zero-risk recovery from power interruptions. STT-MRAM is a second-generation magnetic-RAM technology that is said to solve some of the problems posed by conventional MRAM structures.
In June, Crocus expanded its foundry alliance with Tower Semiconductor Ltd. Under the terms of the alliance, Crocus said it has transferred its Thermally Assisted Switching (TAS) technology to Tower for full-scale production implementation.
Tower and Jazz Semiconductor enhances SiGe platform to offer power savings
9/29/09
Tower and Jazz announced the availability of its proprietary Deep-Silicon-Via (DSV) technology available in its 0.18-micron SiGe BiCMOS (SBC18). The new offering has been developed to provide a simpler, more innovative way to create a low-inductance ground required to reduce power consumption of power amplifiers. Unlike older Through Wafer Vias used primarily with smaller wafer sizes in GaAs-based technology, the DSV is optimized for silicon 8-inch wafer manufacturing to reduce the cost of the power amplifier. The DSV technology developed by Jazz utilizes existing equipment in its silicon CMOS wafer fabs and therefore can be scaled efficiently to high volumes without requiring complex thin wafer handling and processing.
"We continue to invest in foundry technology for the front-end module by enabling silicon solutions of components that have traditionally been built in GaAs, helping customers reduce cost and increase integration levels. This new DSV technology is the latest offering in our Silicon Radio Platform that includes SiGe power amplifiers and SOI-based silicon switch technology," said Dr. Marco Racanelli, Senior Vice President and General Manager, RF and High Performance Analog Business Group, Tower and Jazz Semiconductor.
Jazz Semiconductor offering DSV process on 180nm SiGe BiCMOS process
9/29/09
Instead of Through Wafer Via, Jazz Semiconductor, a subsidiary of Tower Semiconductor, has developed ‘Deep-Silicon-Via’ (DSV) technology that is now available in its 180nm SiGe BiCMOS process platform. The DSV technology is said to eliminate several thin wafer processing steps common with Through Wafer Vias used to create a low-inductance path for power amplifiers.
A paper entitled, "A Deep-Silicon-Via Ground for SiGe Power Amplifiers," will be presented by the company at the SiRF2010 conference in New Orleans, USA, on January 13, 2010. The paper will provide more details on the new technology including how it allows a more flexible layout than Through Wafer Via to result in smaller die size. In addition to providing an ultra low parasitic inductance path to ground of approximately 2 pH which is 1 order of magnitude smaller than the Through Wafer Via inductance, it enables new creative ways for the designer in the PA design process. For example, new design features are using DSV to provide the function of the emitter ballast resistor; to improve linearity of gain and output power; to provide a short path to ground for shunt tuning elements; and using it for lateral shielding of circuit blocks.
Jazz Semiconductor Offers Industry's First Reliability Modeling Tool to Optimize Device Performance-Lifetime Tradeoff
9/25/09
Extends Design Enablement Offerings to Customers for High Reliability Applications in Aerospace, Defense, Automotive and Medical Markets
Jazz Semiconductor, Inc., a Tower Group Company (NASDAQ: TSEM, TASE: TSEM), today announced its pioneering Reliability Modeling Tool (RMT), offered free to its customers through its eBizz Web portal. The tool is critical for high reliability applications in aerospace, defense, automotive and medical markets. It allows designers to predict device degradation over the lifetime of the product, identify the vulnerable sub-systems related to device “aging,” and make design tradeoffs between operating lifetime and performance. In effect, the RMT reduces design spins or the product development time required for higher reliability systems. The RMT integrates into the existing Jazz design flow without the need to purchase any additional simulation tools, and is currently supported in Jazz’s 0.18-micron SiGe BiCMOS platform.
Tower Semiconductor Announces Co-Development of 700V Power Platform
9/17/09
Exclusive Collaboration with GrandTek Positions Tower as a Leader in the Rapidly Emerging 700V Market
Tower Semiconductor announced co-development of a 700V power platform to address next-generation industrial LED lighting requirements. The collaboration will combine GrandTek’s 700V technology capability with Tower’s advanced power management process and leading design kits to deliver the industry’s most complete 700V foundry solution. An ultra low mask layer count will be achieved to provide the most cost-effective solution in a voltage regime with very few foundry providers. As an indication of strong market demand for 700V, SemiHow, a Korean-based fabless company has already signed on as an early adopter to use Tower’s 700V power platform for AC to DC conversion targeting the industrial LED market.
As a design services company for 700V ICs, GrandTek already has an established and well respected expertise which Tower will be building upon, adding the advanced process features from its differentiated 0.18-micron power management platform. The first step in the 700V platform will be a power process consisting of 20+ transistor types covering from 6.5V to 700V operating ranges. This base technology will be achieved with very low layers. Further development will include 5V CMOS, 1.8 CMOS, SOI, and Deep Trench.
Tower trio team to tackle 700-V ICs
9/15/09
Specialist foundry Tower Semiconductor Ltd. (Migdal Haemek, Israel) has said it will work with SemiHow Co. Ltd. (Bucheon, South Korea) and GrandTek Corp.to develop and manufacture 700-V products at Tower.
“We needed a strong technical foundry partner and we are confident Tower will enable us to meet our requirements for performance, die size and superior quality," said Hojin Lee, president of GrandTek, in a statement issued by Tower. "Tower and GrandTek's proven track records offer us a very bright future for the continued success of our products," said Hyun Bongho, chief executive officer of SemiHow in the same statement.
"By working with an experienced ultra high voltage team such as GrandTek, we are able to achieve the desired small die size in an advanced and cost-effective power platform. LED lighting is a green energy initiative that will not only provide value to customers and shareholders but also to our planet," said Avi Strum, vice president and general manager of Tower's specialty business unit.
According to DisplayBank Co, the market for industrial LED lighting is estimated to grow from $700 million to $2 billion in 2013, a CAGR of 45 percent. High voltage ICs are also required to help backlight large panel LCDs, a market that is expected to grow from $41 million in 2007 to $7 billion in 2013, a CAGR of 135 percent, Tower said.
Tower Semi wins deal to supply chips for TAEJIN
8/31/09
Israeli chip maker Tower Semiconductor said on Monday it had won a deal to manufacture voltage regulator integrated circuits for South Korean company TAEJIN Technology. TAEJIN manufactures linear and switching regulators, power supply controllers and converters among other power management products for the communication, consumer and PC sectors. Tower was chosen for its advanced power management platform to enable TAEJIN to quickly address the needs of the multi-billion dollar voltage regulators market which, according to iSuppli is expected to grow from $5 billion in 2009 to approximately $7 billion in 2013.TAEJIN offers an extensive line of power management products including linear and switching regulators, power supply controllers, and DC-DC converters. These devices are used in various consumer, computing, communication, and automotive products including xDSL, PCs, set-top boxes, LCD displays, GPS systems and many other applications. TAEJIN's voltage regulator ICs are integrated into products offered by many customers in Korea, Japan and China including LG, Sanyo, Panasonic, JVC, and VIZIO (AmTRAN), among others.
SWID Selects Jazz Semiconductor's 0.35-Micron SiGe BiCMOS Process and Models; Achieves First-Time Success for Digital Satellite Tuner
8/24/09
SWID's Fully Integrated RF Tuner Used in Set-Top-Boxes (STBs) and Mobile TVs to Receive Signals from Satellite
Jazz Semiconductor, a Tower Group Company announced that Southwest Integrated Circuit Design (SWID), a fabless IC design company, selected its 0.35-micron SiGe BiCMOS process (SBC35) and models to develop their satellite tuner LW10039, a fully integrated RF tuner for DVB-S digital satellite receiver systems. The end products utilizing SWID's tuner are set-top-boxes (STBs) and mobile TVs to receive signals from a satellite. SWID utilized Jazz's SBC35 process, which includes high performance diodes. This enables lower leakage currents and higher breakdown voltage, reducing power consumption and increasing tuning range for much better VCOs.
"The SWID team was very impressed by the tools and accurate simulation models offered by Jazz which enabled us to achieve first-time success," said Lin Fan, President of SWID. "Simply put, Jazz's process, models and tool kits are by far the best in the industry for RF IC designs. By utilizing these design enablement capabilities, we were able to reduce our design cycle time by five months."
Tower, Jazz team with SVTC on MEMS for aerospace, defense
8/20/09
Peter Clarke
Tower and Jazz Semiconductor have announced an agreement signed with SVTC Technologies to provide SVTC's aerospace and defense customers with access to Jazz process technologies and manufacturing facilities. The collaboration will make possible the integration of advanced CMOS with existing RF and mixed-signal devices, enabling multiple functions on a single piece of silicon in A&D applications such as aircraft radar and communications devices, among others.
Under the agreement, elements of Jazz's MEMS-applicable CMOS process will be made available to SVTC A&D customers to facilitate the insertion of new modules into a proven CMOS flow. In addition, Jazz will make available components of its design enablement infrastructure to facilitate SVTC customers early design activity. In addition, the companies will implement a fast transfer methodology to allow Jazz customers to perform R&D at SVTC and provide SVTC customers a fast path to production at Jazz.
"Jazz already has a very strong footprint in the aerospace and defense industry and this collaboration will enable us to bring together their advanced CMOS with our combined MEMS expertise to develop tools and processes to meet the needs of our customers' next-generation applications," said Joe Bronson, chief executive officer of SVTC, in a statement.
Jazz Semiconductor to Replace GaAs Components with SiGe Technology
8/19/09
Jazz Semiconductor, Inc., a Tower Group Company announced it is targeted at replacing GaAs components in high growth markets such as millimeter wave and front-end components of cellular phones with its enhanced SiGe BiCMOS process, IP and design enablement offerings. SiGe provides significant integration and cost advantage over GaAs, enabling products in the emerging markets of automotive collision avoidance, phased-array radar, and HDTV wireless distribution as well as established markets such as optical network and cellular phone front-end components.
Jazz is working with more than half of the top 10 IC providers in several of these market segments on SiGe solutions. The company’s process technology includes a SiGe transistor with demonstrated performance of up to 200GHz as well as noise and power performance that is competitive with GaAs while offering as much as 40% lower die cost. Also included are CMOS options to enable mixed-signal and digital functions on the same chip further reducing cost of the complete system.
To facilitate the transition from GaAs to SiGe-based designs, Jazz partnered with Agilent to provide a SiGe design kit in ADS (Advanced Design System), a leading design platform for GaAs-based products, speeding time-to-market for customers targeting applications up to and beyond 60 to 77GHz.
Intersil targets power management ICs with Tower manufacturing deal
8/13/09
Suzanne Deffree
Intersil will manufacture its power ICs in Tower's 200-mm facility in Migdal Ha'emek, Israel.
Analog and mixed-signal specialist Intersil Corp and foundry Tower Semiconductor Ltd today announced they will work together to develop a new power management specialty process technology platform. Through the multiyear agreement, California-based Intersil will use the platform to manufacture its power ICs in Tower’s 200-mm facility in Migdal Ha’emek, Israel. Intersil already has an established relationship with Jazz Semiconductor, Tower’s wholly owned subsidiary, based on previous generation power management platforms.
The manufacturing end of the agreement will be based on Tower’s bipolar-CMOS-DMOS (BCD) power process, which includes a Y-flash zero mask adder non-volatile memory solution. Intersil is clearly targeting growth in the power management IC market with the deal. According to a 2007 to 2012 Gartner forecast, power management ICs will continue to be the fastest growth segment of any analog IC category.
"We are very pleased to extend our long-standing partnership to jointly develop a robust and innovative power management platform to address the next-generation needs of power products,” said Sagar Pushpala, Intersil's senior VP of worldwide operations, in a statement. “Tower provides best-in-class BCD process technology, which enables Intersil to offer highly differentiated power management and non-volatile memory solutions.”
8/6/09
Dongwoon Anatech, an analog semiconductor provider in Korea, has selected Tower Semiconductor Ltd as its sole manufacturing partner for high volume, energy saving LED lighting devices used in both home and industrial applications. Tower was chosen for its 20V to 60V scalable LDMOS power management process technology which is claimed to provide design optimization and the lowest die size at any given breakdown voltage.
Dongwoon Anatech selected Tower's power management platform as it fully satisfied the company's requirements for quality, price, die size and best chance of design success. Dong Cheol, Kim, CEO and president of Dongwoon Anatech, said: "We have used many other fabs, but we found Tower to have the best customer support and superb design services, parameter, and modeling accuracy which is an extremely important element for a successful and on-time design."
Tower's power management process includes 20V to 60V scalable Rdson NLDMOS/PLDMOS devices as well as advanced CMOS and bipolar NPN devices needed in today's complex power management ICs. It also includes RF and thermal modeling, predictive parasitic extraction switch, high voltage ESD solutions, and extremely dense 5V and 1.8V digital cell libraries for "digital intensive" designs. The nearly released additional options of deep trench isolation, NBL and ultra low Rdson will push the offering over 100V while providing better lateral and vertical isolation required for high power applications.
8/3/09
Medigus, a leading developer of endoscopic and visualization medical devices, and Tower Semiconductor today announced successful sampling of a new CMOS imager that will serve in Medigus' line of disposable miniature cameras and its new medical devices camera; the smallest of its kind in the world, designated to be incorporated into disposable endoscopes or used in various diagnostic and surgical medical applications.
The CMOS imager offers a high performance product at a low cost and combines superb sensitivity, resolution and dynamic versatility, allowing customers a variety of potential medical applications in growing markets such as Gastroenterology, Natural Orifice Transluminal Endoscopy Surgery, Bronchoscopy, Orthopedics and ENT. The new camera encompasses tiny electronics and objective lenses developed by Medigus, along with Tower's CMOS imager measuring only 700 x 700 microns.
The imager was developed using Tower's advanced sensor design and production technologies, while the camera was developed using Medigus' electronic, optic and integration platform technologies. The camera features dedicated bio-compatible components suitable for medical device applications and will enable new medical diagnostic and therapeutic markets in which the use of current video cameras is not feasible due to their size.
Tower Semi's Jazz gets deal with Entropic
7/21/09
Jazz Semiconductor, a Tower Group and the leader in Analog-Intensive Mixed-Signal (AIMS) foundry solutions, and Entropic Communications Inc (Nasdaq:ENTR), a leading provider of silicon and software solutions to enable connected home entertainment, today announced volume production of Entropic's EN4020, the company's new multi-mode hybrid silicon tuner.
The EN4020 uses Jazz's cost-effective 0.18-micron CMOS process (CA18QD) and its world class RF modeling design kit to develop small yet effective inductors essential for silicon tuner products. The EN4020 multi-mode silicon tuner supports worldwide standards and is targeted at high volume can tuners as well as high performance digital TV (DTV) and cable/terrestrial set-top box (STB) products.
'In 2009, we are estimating that the fixed reception silicon tuner market is 170M units, with that number nearly doubling to over 300M units by 2013,' said Hiroko Ishii, analyst at Techno Systems Research Inc. “Fueling that growth is demand for high performance DTV and cable/terrestrial set-top boxes as well as a significant shift in designs moving from discrete solutions to integrated silicon tuners.”
Jazz Semi, Entropic Hit Volume Production
7/21/09
Newport Beach-based Jazz Semiconductor and San Diego-based Entropic Communications announced this morning that the two firms have entered into volume production of Entropic's new multi-mode, hybrid silicon tuner chip. The two firms said that Entropic's tuner--which is used for digital TV and set-top box applications--is using Jazz's 0.18-micron CMOS processes. Complex RF designs like Entropic's silicon tuner solutions require high quality design tools to achieve fast time-to-market and first time silicon success.
Tower Semiconductor’s Power Management Process Selected by 3PEAKIC Microelectronics to Manufacture Energy Saving LED Driver ICs
7/13/09
3PEAKIC Microelectronics Inc., a provider of high-end analog and mixed-signal electronic products, and Tower Semiconductor announced Tower will manufacture 3PEAKIC’s energy saving light emitting diode (LED) driver ICs used for backlight LED panels in handheld devices such as cell phones, PDAs and personal navigation devices (PNDs). LEDs present many advantages over traditional light sources including lower energy consumption, longer lifetime, and smaller size as well as faster switching, useful in communications technology.
According to Strategies Unlimited, the LED lighting market is forecast to exceed $5 billion in 2012, corresponding to a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 28% from 2008 to 2012. In addition, during 2009, iSuppli reports that the LED market revenue growth is expected to outshine the overall semiconductor market.
“We found Tower’s power management process to be ideal for LED driver ICs as it includes an industry first scalable Rdson versus breakdown voltage design kit technology to reduce on-resistance and size of power cells,” said Dr. Zhixu Zhou, President of 3PEAKIC Microelectronics Inc. “Tower has been instrumental in offering excellent process technology and customer support in manufacturing our wafers and also working with us to develop and win the market.”
UCSD and Jazz Semiconductor Develop 2-Antenna Quad-Beam 11-15 GHz Phased Array RFIC targeted at Satellite Systems and Advanced Radars
7/2/09
High Speed SiGe Process Replaces 8 GaAs Chips, Lowering Cost and Increasing Integration
The University of California, San Diego (UCSD), provider of a leading program in microwave and millimeter-wave RFICs and mixed-signal, and Jazz Semiconductor have collaborated to develop a two-antenna quad-beam RFIC phased array receiver covering the 11-15 GHz frequency range. First time success was achieved using Jazz Semiconductor’s high performance 0.18-micron SiGe BiCMOS process and its own proprietary models, kit and DIRECT MPW (Multiproject Wafer) program. The chip was designed and tested by the Electrical and Computer Engineering School at UCSD, and was sponsored by the DARPA RF VLSI program, Dr. Mark Rosker, Program Monitor.
“UCSD believes that the quad-beam phased array receiver will enable high-performance phased arrays for satellite communications by integrating many functions on the same silicon chip and replacing several GaAs ICs, drastically lowering the cost of phased array assembly,” said Dr. Gabriel M. Rebeiz, Professor of Electrical Engineering at UCSD, a co-developer of this chip. “Our success in developing this first-of-a-kind chip depended largely on Jazz’s 0.18-micron SiGe BiCMOS process, models and design kit. We view Jazz as a leading specialty foundry with unrivaled design enablement capabilities.”
“The chip is currently being transitioned by the U.S. Office of Naval Research to a 1000+ element phased-array capable of four simultaneous beams at Ku-Band, and a contract to a leading U.S. defense company was recently issued based on this chip,” added Dr. Rebeiz.
Panavision, Tower Semiconductor Intro Image Sensors
7/1/09
The two companies announce the production of the DLIS-2K family of single port re-configurable linear image sensors with 120 MHz pixel readout.
Panavision Imaging and Tower Semiconductor, Ltd., a leading global specialty foundry, today announced production of Panavision's family of DLIS-2K re-configurable line scan CMOS image sensors. The DLIS-2K sensors were developed using Tower's Advanced Photo Diode (APD) pixel process and pixel IP with Panavision's patented Imager Architecture. These re-configurable linear image sensors offer high performance at a low cost and combine high sensitivity, high speed, and versatility to address many applications in consumer, industrial, automotive, and scientific markets.
"Our goal is to address the expanding bar code and touch screen markets with a programmable image sensor at a highly competitive price point. Tower's CMOS Image Sensor technology and manufacturing capabilities are world-class and the close interaction between our design team and Tower's engineers helped us to achieve quick ramp to production," said Jeffrey Zarnowski, CTO for Panavision Imaging LLC.
Tower, Panavision partner for linear image sensors
John Walko
6/30/09
Foundry Tower Semiconductor has started making, on its 0.18 micron CMOS process, reconfigurable linear image sensors for Panavision Imaging that are said to be the fastest of its type. The DLIS-2K line scan sensors were developed using Tower's photo diode pixel process (APD) and pixel IP with Panavision's proprietary imager architecture.
The quad line sensors with 11-bit A/D and Correlated Multi-Sampling (CMS) for enhanced sensitivity are targeted for use in spectroscopy, barcode, touch screen, OCR, machine vision, measurement, and similar applications. The design provides ambient light subtraction, oversampling, non-destructive read mode, binning of different integrations, auto-thresholding and a high resolution mode with a 120MHz pixel readout.
“We are pleased that Panavision’s family of linear image sensors is in production as these products will greatly advance the capabilities of a myriad of devices in various markets. By combining our Advanced Photo Diode (APD) pixel process and pixel IP with Panavision’s patented Imager Architecture, we have enabled imaging characteristics previously not attainable in linear imagers,” said Dr. Avi Strum, Vice President and General Manager of Tower’s Specialty Business Unit at Tower Semiconductor.
Tower to manufacture MRAM from Crocus
Tower will hold an equity position in early stage MRAM developer Crocus and claims the deal readies it to be first foundry with MRAM capability
6/19/09
Suzanne Deffree
MRAM developer Crocus Technology and foundry Tower Semiconductor have announced an agreement to port Crocus' MRAM process technology into Tower's 200-mm Fab2 facility. In addition to collaborating on the process port, which Tower claimed readies it to be the first foundry with MRAM capability, the Israel-based company is taking an equity position in the Sunnyvale, Calif-based Crocus, valued at $1.25 million.
"Transitioning from an incubation setting to a commercial production environment is a major leap forward for Crocus," said Jean-Pierre Braun, co-founder and CEO of Crocus, in a statement Thursday. "Tower is known as a leading foundry in non-volatile memory (NVM) solutions and is an ideal partner to make this a very successful high margin business for both companies."
Tower invests in Crocus, tips MRAM foundry deal
6/18/09
Mark LaPedus
Moving closer to commercial production, MRAM startup Crocus Technology Inc. has announced it received new funding from Entreprises et Patrimoine in the amount of 1.3 million euro ($1.8 million US) and expanded its foundry alliance with Israel's Tower Semiconductor Ltd. (company will hold a 1.25 million equity position in the company).
The announcement completes the establishment of Crocus' wafer manufacturing capability. Under the plan, Tower will port Crocus' MRAM technology into its 130-nm foundry process, with a migration path to 90-nm. As part of the exclusive agreement, Tower will perform all manufacturing steps required for Crocus' MRAM technology within its Fab 2 plant, a 200-mm facility. Tower and Crocus will each dedicate specific equipment in Tower's fab.
The Tower deal, coupled with the new funding, is aimed to support Crocus' development and market introduction of its first MRAM products. MRAM (Magnetoresistive random access memory) is a technology that uses the magnetism of electron spin to provide non-volatility without wear-out.
Israel's Tower Semi gets contract from Crocus Tech
6/18/09
Tower Semiconductor announced an agreement to port Crocus' MRAM process technology into Tower's manufacturing environment. In addition to collaborating on the process port, Tower further reaffirmed the value it sees in Crocus' unique MRAM technology by taking an equity position valued at $1.25 million.
MRAM has broad applicability both as standalone and embedded memory. The integration into Tower's copper 130nm logic process sets the stage for bringing to market leading edge single chip memory products as well as for embedding MRAM into complex SOCs for market segments such as microcontrollers, automotive and communications.
In addition, embedded MRAM effectively targets the integrated memory components of the SOC and ASIC markets, which together constitute over $10 billion in semiconductor revenues.
Jazz Semiconductor Achieves ISO/TS 16949 Automotive Quality Management System Certification
6/16/09
Jazz Semiconductor announced its ISO/TS 16949 certification, the highest international quality standard for the automotive industry. This represents a critical milestone in the company's strategic roadmap and has paved the way for increased presence in the automotive market. Furthermore, it demonstrates their commitment to meeting the most stringent standards for manufacturing processes and work procedures, resulting in the highest quality semiconductor products in the industry.
"With this certification, all of Tower/Jazz facilities are now working under the same high standards of qualification. Tower also attained the Quality Automotive certification, and both companies have already achieved other world-class quality standards such as Environmental Management, Health & Safety, and Information Security," said Don Cerney, Vice President, Worldwide Quality and Reliability, Tower Semiconductor. "Compliance with these leading industry systems standards is testimony to our dedication to maintaining and continuously improving quality and performance which benefits all of our partners and customers."
May 2009
Tower Semiconductor Ltd. and Applied Materials, Inc. announced today that they have signed a five-year contract to support all Applied Materials wafer processing systems at Tower's Fab 2 manufacturing facility in Migdal Haemek, Israel. Through its Applied Performance Service program, the most cost-effective and flexible service offering in the semiconductor industry, Applied will provide Tower with committed system uptime at a low, predictable cost that varies with factory loading - a critical benefit at a time of uncertain market conditions.
Jazz Semiconductor's DIRECT Multiproject Wafer (MPW) Shuttle Program enables rapid design verification and faster time-to-market
5/27/09
Jazz Semiconductor, announced its DIRECT Multiproject Wafer (MPW) shuttle program offering customers quick and low-cost prototyping with access to high performance processes. The program provides a vehicle to develop new designs in CMOS, SiGe and SOI and bring these to market quickly, without incurring the full cost of a complete mask set.
The DIRECT MPW program offered by Jazz is especially advantageous for Aerospace and Defense (A&D) customers requiring ITAR protection by handling projects directly at its U.S. headquarters without access by a third party. The company's A&D support, operations and logistics team is specifically designed to support low volume production for critical Military Programs at its ISO 9001 US-based manufacturing facility.
Tower Semi's Jazz expands tuner output for flat TVs
5/21/09
Xceive Corporation, the market leader in hybrid silicon tuners with proven success in PC, television and the digital home, and Jazz Semiconductor, a Tower Group ( TWGP - news - people ) company (NASDAQ: TSEM, TASE: TSEM), and the leader in Analog-Intensive Mixed-Signal (AIMS) foundry solutions today announced volume production with Xceive's Silicon Tuner, the XC5000, recently selected by LG for its high-end flat panel TVs.
SOFTWARE TOOLS: Power management targeted with scalable RDS(on) design tool
5/20/09
Paul Buckley
Power Management DesignLine Europe
Tower Semiconductor and its fully owned US subsidiary Jazz Semiconductor, Inc., (Santa Clara, California) are claiming an industry first with the introduction of scalable RDS(on) versus breakdown voltage design kit technology that enables 10 to 40 percent smaller die sizes and faster design cycle times targeted at the growing power management market.
New Offering Targets Aerospace/Defense and High Performance Analog Applications
4/27/09
Simucad Design Automation and Jazz Semiconductor announced the release of Process Design Kits (PDKs) for Jazz Semiconductor's 0.25um technology to address the needs of high-performance specialty markets such as those in aerospace, defense, and high-performance analog. The release complements existing Simucad PDKs for Jazz Semiconductor's 0.18um RF CMOS and SiGe BiCMOS which together provide customers a quality design environment at an affordable cost enabling a strong return on investment particularly for lower volume, specialty markets.
Simucad supports seven additional Jazz process technologies, CA18HA, CA18HR, CA18HD, SBC18HA, SBC18HX, SBC35QTA, SBC35QTS ranging from 0.18um to 0.5um.
"We are excited to continue to expand our relationship with Jazz Semiconductor to benefit our mutual customers," said Dr. Ivan Pesic, CEO of Simucad. "With our fully integrated, affordable IC design software and Jazz PDKs, customers in the Analog, Mixed-Signal, and RF design markets have everything they need to tape out high quality ICs."
Jazz Semiconductor Joins Cool Planet Project
4/22/09
To be more energy efficient in the operation of its globally competitive 24/7 fabrication facility, Jazz Semiconductor has already instituted new technology and practices that have resulted in a savings of more than 7.5 million kilowatt hours per year, resulting in the avoidance of 5,386 tons of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions - the equivalent of taking 986 cars off the road.
"We take energy efficiency very seriously," says Nabil Alali, Senior Vice President, Fab Operations and Site Facilities, Jazz Semiconductor.
"We have a designated team at Jazz that helps us collaborate for successful energy management with partner companies and vendors. We have completed projects that have improved the performance and energy efficiency of air, water, and process and production equipment systems thereby reducing consumption of water, compressed air and electricity throughout our plant."
Tower Semi's Jazz unit gets South Korean deal
4/7/09
Tower and Jazz Semiconductor announced that Cesign, a Korean-based fabless analog semiconductor company, has selected Jazz's leading-edge power management technology, a 0.25-micron Bipolar-CMOS-DMOS process (BCD25) to develop and manufacture its innovative Class-D amplifier targeted for the consumer electronics market.
Jazz's BCD25 process technology offers the first scalable Rdson versus breakdown voltage design kit technology enabling optimized area for every transistor. BCD25 provides significant cost reductions by allowing designers of power devices to achieve a significant shrink in device area size. In addition, the BCD25 process offers advanced CMOS, a combination of bipolar NPN and PNP devices, as well as high voltage LDMOS FETs that take advantage of 0.25-micron rules to reduce on-resistance and size of power cells used in complex power management chips.
Applied enters multi-year system support agreement with Tower Semiconductor
4/6/09
Tower Semiconductor Ltd. has tapped the manufacturer to support all Applied Materials wafer processing systems at Tower's Fab 2 manufacturing facility in Migdal HaEmek, Israel. The two companies have entered into a five-year support agreement that will see Applied's Performance Service program made available to Tower, offering committed system uptime at a low cost that varies with factory loading.
"By leveraging Applied's unmatched infrastructure, technology and global expertise we expect to realize substantial cost and operating efficiencies," said Shimon Dahan, Senior Vice President of Tower's worldwide operations. "We're relying on Applied to maximize tool performance and optimize maintenance cost at any load level, enabling us to focus on delivering world-class CMOS and mixed-signal foundry services to our customers while remaining competitive even when demand fluctuates."
Tower and Jazz Semiconductor Announce Technology and Marketing Conferences in Japan
2/25/09
Tower Semiconductor and its fully owned U.S. subsidiary Jazz Semiconductor announced technology and marketing conferences to be held in Japan in March, 2009. The conferences will focus on SiGe BiCMOS, RF, HPA (high performance analog), power management, embedded NVM (non-volatile memory), and Power LDMOS solutions. Tower and Jazz are reemphasizing their commitment to Japan after their successful merger which created a broader process portfolio for customer innovation.
The conferences demonstrate the companies' continued dedication to meeting customer needs for expanded process offerings, industry-leading design enablement services, and increased capacity. The merger of Tower and Jazz has created significant cross-selling opportunities from Tower to Jazz customers and from Jazz to Tower customers.
"During these challenging economic times, we are even more committed to providing our customers with the advanced and customized process technologies they need to continue to meet their critical product requirements and better sustain their business," said Russell Ellwanger, Chief Executive Officer of Tower Semiconductor. "We are confident that our differentiated process offerings will continue to be embraced by companies in Japan even during this period of economic contraction."
Tower Semiconductor outperforms industry
2/20/09
Israeli chipmaker Tower Semiconductor expects to post revenue of between $56 million and $60 million in the first quarter, its chief executive said yesterday.
CEO Russell Ellwanger said the industry median was expected to be down about 40% in the first quarter compared with the fourth quarter.
"Tower is outperforming the industry in the face of this economic downturn," he told Reuters.
Lime Microsystems Selects Jazz's 0.18-Micron SiGe Process for Its Configurable Multi-Band, Multi-Standard Transceiver Targeting WCDMA, CDMA, LTE and WiMAX Femtocells
2/17/09
Jazz and Lime Microsystems, a leading supplier of high performance, multi-standard, multi-band RF transceiver ICs, announced today that Lime has selected Jazz's 0.18-micron BiCMOS SiGe process for its first commercially available transceiver IC. The immediate availability of Lime's transceiver was announced at Mobile World Congress 2009.
Lime Microsystems' IC is a femtocell transceiver for multiple air interfaces and frequencies that can operate with worldwide cellular network standards including WiMAX, 3G and LTE, reducing costs and inventory for global OEMs. Femtocells are emerging as a technology that enables wireless phone use in homes and offices to become a viable alternative to conventional landline telephones, and solves the indoor coverage issues with 3G indoor licensed spectrum, providing more capacity, coverage and services at home. It also reduces operating and infrastructure expenses with seamless handover residential IP network backhaul. The market for femtocells is expected to grow from $434 million in 2009 to $9 billion by 2014.
"Our aim was to design an extremely innovative transceiver that meets the critical requirements for widespread adoption of femtocell technology. Jazz's SiGe BiCMOS technology and expertise in modeling enabled us to integrate high levels of functionality into our leading-edge product," said Ebrahim Bushehri, CEO of Lime Microsystems.
Tower, Triune team on power management IC platform
2/11/09
Peter Clarke
Tower Semiconductor and Triune Systems, an IC design and test development provider, plan to collaborate on developing a power management platform for Tower's foundry customers. The companies are creating intellectual property (IP) for Tower's 0.18-micron bipolar-CMOS-DMOS (BCD) process to deliver a family of low- and high-voltage power management products and IP for a variety of applications. In particular, the companies plan to develop zero mask adder non-volatile memory blocks, based on Tower's Y-Flash technology, suitable specifically for 5-V operation on high voltage platforms. High volume production for the high-voltage power management products is expected to commence in the second half of 2009.
"The collaboration with Triune Systems and its contribution to the design of the scalable Y-Flash based NVM blocks will complement our business strategy and core competencies in the consumer, medical, industrial and automotive markets," said Avi Strum, specialty business unit vice president at Tower, in a statement.
Tower Semiconductor and Triune Systems to Collaborate on Power Management Platform
2/11/09
Tower and Triune Systems are collaborating to develop the most complete power management platform in the industry. In order to meet customer demand for power supplies in consumer, medical, industrial and automotive applications, Tower's process technology combined with Triune Systems' IP will provide a complete power management platform. Through this alliance, Triune Systems has become a Tower-Authorized-Design-Center (TADC). The company is well-suited for this endeavor with expertise in power management, signal conditioning, and mixed-signal System-on-Chip (SoC) development and years of experience working on catalog and custom devices for the specific markets Tower and Triune Systems are targeting.
"As a Tower-Authorized-Design-Center, Triune Systems' expertise in design and IP development will further enhance our power management platform to allow for faster design cycles and lower cost designs," said Dr. Avi Strum, specialty business unit vice president, Tower Semiconductor. "The collaboration with Triune Systems and its contribution to the design of the scalable Y-Flash based NVM blocks will complement our business strategy and core competencies in the consumer, medical, industrial and automotive markets."
Jazz sponsors university students to test design ideas on actual silicon,
completing layout and fabrication on 180nm SiGe technology
2/9/09
Purdue Chip-to-Chip Wireless Data Link Using 40 GHz Transceiver
Wins SRC/SIA IC Design Challenge
Semiconductor Research Corporation (SRC), the world's leading university research consortium for semiconductors and related technologies, today named a team of graduate students from Purdue University as winners in the SRC/SIA IC Design Challenge. The Purdue team's winning design was for a chip-to-chip wireless data link using a 60 GHz transceiver. More than 47 teams from 28 universities competed to design circuits with potential future electronic applications.
Teams from Texas A&M University and Carnegie Mellon University took second and third places. Awards were made yesterday at the 2009 International Solid State Circuits Conference (ISSCC) in San Francisco.
The top eight teams from Phase 1 were selected in March 2008 and then competed in Phase 2 by demonstrating their design ideas on actual silicon, completing layout and fabrication on 180nm SiGe technology courtesy of sponsor Jazz Semiconductor.
High performance IC circuits often have millions of transistors and involve complex digital, mixed-signal, and sometimes RF circuits. Engineering students learning design of integrated circuits rarely get the opportunity to take a design through all the steps of circuit fabrication in an advanced technology because of the high cost involved. The contest judges selected the top three teams based on the teams' design and successful demonstration of a creative high performance application including fabrication, test, and characterization of their circuits.
Skyworks names Jazz its 2008 Foundry Supplier of the Year
2/3/09
Specialty silicon wafer foundry Tower Semiconductor Ltd of Migdal Haemek, Israel says that its wafer foundry subsidiary Jazz Semiconductor Inc of Newport Beach, CA, USA, which focuses on analog-intensive mixed-signal process technologies, has received the 2008 Foundry Supplier of the Year Award from Skyworks Solutions Inc of Woburn, MA, USA.
Skyworks designs and manufactures linear products, power amplifiers, front-end modules and radio solutions based on analog and mixed-signal semiconductors for handset and infrastructure equipment. Jazz says that it was selected as Foundry Supplier of the Year for its improved cycle times and quality, technology innovation enabling key initiatives, strong customer support and improved alignment on business strategies. Skyworks recognized Jazz's dedication to providing process technologies and design enablement capabilities to meet critical time-to-market demands quickly and cost-effectively.
Tower and Jazz Semiconductor Expand Presence in Korea
to Address Growing Customer Demand
1/22/09
Tower Semiconductor, Ltd. (NASDAQ: TSEM)(TASE: TSEM), and its fully owned U.S. subsidiary Jazz Semiconductor, Inc., today announced the appointment of Michael Song as Korea Country Manager to increase business presence and activity, focusing on the growing power management, analog/mixed-signal, image sensor and RF application markets in this region. In addition, the companies have hired Michael Yoon to serve as Technical Sales Manager in charge of providing local technical customer support.
Currently, Tower and Jazz serve integrated device manufacturers (IDMs) and fabless companies in Korea in power management and CMOS image sensors as well as analog and RF applications such as tuners, WLAN and GPS devices. The companies are focused on providing increased business and technical support to address the growing customer needs in these markets, specifically power management (PM), which is expected to grow to nearly 10 percent of the worldwide PM market in 2010, according to iSuppli.
Former Intel executive joins Tower Semiconductor as Chairman
1/6/09
S McMahon
Tower Semiconductor Ltd. has announced the appointment of Amir Elstein as Chairman of the Board of Directors. Mr. Elstein, a former General Manager of Intel Electronics Ltd., joins the company from Teva Pharmaceutical Industries, where he was a board member and Executive Vice President in the Office of the CEO. He brings over 28 years of semiconductor industry experience to the role.
Russell Ellwanger, CEO of Tower, said, "We are excited to enter into our next phase of growth with Amir's Board leadership. He is a semiconductor industry veteran with an outstanding reputation and I am confident that with Amir we will capitalize on the opportunities that the present worldwide economic situation offers to the bold."
