Press Releases

SMIC and Cascade Microtech Partner to Establish New Mixed-signal RFIC Design Service Lab in Shanghai

15 Mar 2007

Design Service Lab in Shanghai
 
Cascade Microtech's industry-leading 300mm wafer-level RF test systems chosen by SMIC to enable the next generation of wireless ICs

Shanghai  [2007-03-15] -- Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corporation (SMIC) and Cascade Microtech (NASDAQ: CSCD) today jointly announced their partnership to provide RF design engineers in China immediate access to state-of-the-art RF wafer-level test services for the development of advanced RFICs (radio-frequency integrated circuits). SMIC has opened a new design service open lab in Shanghai to support mixed-signal RFIC development. Cascade Microtech and SMIC share the goal of offering open lab services to foster the development of advanced wireless RFICs in China.

"There are more challenges designers face when developing mixed-signal RFICs in higher frequencies at geometries below 90nm," said Lee Yang, Ph.D. and Fellow, SMIC Design Service, Shanghai. "As a world-class foundry, we chose the combined Cascade Microtech and Agilent Technologies wafer prober test system to provide the design market in China with the world’s best expertise for wafer-level metrology."

"By creating this design center specifically for mixed-signal RFICs, we will bring unprecedented knowledge and expertise to this very important and rapidly growing market," said Tariq Alam, Director of Asia-Pacific Operations, Cascade Microtech.

With this collaboration, RF designers in greater China will have access to the latest wafer-level RF testing technology. The lab will be equipped with high-performance, high-frequency measurement instrumentation, including Cascade Microtech's S300 300mm probe station and M150 150mm probe station, plus state-of-the-art RF probes. The probe stations are coupled with Agilent Technology's PNA Series vector network analyzer-capable of handling 300mm wafers with frequencies up to 40 GHz. The lab will enable research groups to perform precise electrical measurements on ICs directly on-wafer and will be fully supported by applications personnel. As part of their joint effort, both companies will offer application training and workshops.