SAN JOSE, CA and BOISE, ID — Cypress Semiconductor Corp. announced that American Semiconductor has chosen Cypress Foundry Solutions to develop and manufacture custom optical devices. In addition, American Semiconductor will transfer a specialized, custom wafer process to the Cypress Foundry Solutions wafer fabrication facility in Bloomington, Minn.
Cypress offers a unique development foundry business model as part of its fast-growing Emerging Technologies Division in which a customer can develop and optimize its process, and then scale up to production volumes, all inside of a high-yield production fab. This stable baseline manufacturing flow is key for American Semiconductor, since some of its work consists of a large format die where yield is very sensitive to the cleanliness of the manufacturing line. In addition, the foundry employs state-of-the-art process controls, such as Advanced Process Control, and Fault Detection and Classification, which provides high die yield and line yield performance.
“We selected Cypress for its long history of innovation and process development in a fab environment that can scale quickly to manufacturing volumes, all in a DMEA Category 1A Trusted Fab that can also serve defense markets,” said Doug Hackler, CEO of American Semiconductor. “Our advanced, proprietary technology, combined with Cypress’s proven, high-volume eight-inch wafer manufacturing expertise, enables us to achieve the high-yield and low-cost requirements of defense markets.”
“Having American Semiconductor select Cypress validates our commitment to high-quality, low-cost manufacturing in the U.S.,” said Michael Moore, senior director of Cypress Foundry Services. “American Semiconductor is yet another premier foundry customer for our Minnesota wafer fab, and we expect more companies will join as they see the value and service that Cypress Foundry Solutions offers.”
The agreement will leverage Cypress’s advanced process technology and transfer expertise along with its Trusted Fab accreditation and quality certifications for TS16949 and ISO14001. American Semiconductor and Cypress expect to have the single-die wafer product and the first of a series of optical devices qualified by late 2014.
