Semiconductor wafer products and services company IQE (Cardiff, England) has entered into a long-term supply contract for infrared materials with a leading global semiconductor manufacturer. The new order, which is worth approximately $1.1 million dollars over the next twelve months, represents the largest single purchase order for indium antimonide (InSb) products manufactured by IQE Infrared's UK substrate manufacturing business unit.
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Further details of the specific customer, product and application cannot be disclosed at this time due to confidentiality designed to protect the customer's IP and retain its competitive advantage. However, InSb is the infrared material of choice for a wide range of sensing devices used in a growing number of consumer, defense & security, medical, and industrial applications.
IQE Infrared supplies InSb materials to the semiconductor industry, with IQE's US (Galaxy) and UK (Wafer Technology) operations using multiple production tools (crystal growth pullers) to provide customers with a completely secure, dual-sourced supply of InSb wafers.
IQE CEO Drew Nelson said, "This is a significant new order for our world leading InSb products from a significant industry player with whom we have enjoyed a long relationship. The scale of the commitment is a result of IQE Infrared’s industry reputation for offering a high quality, volume manufacturing capability for InSb materials. Our investment in state-of-the-art crystal growth, wafer production and polishing capabilities enables us to fully meet the growing antimonide product demands of our customers, both in terms of volume and quality, across a full 2"-6" product range."
SOURCE: IQE;http://www.iqep.com/news-2014/Oct_30_14.asp