Qorvo takes strategic stake in MEMS vendor Cavendish
The deal with Qorvo and TriQuint includes the terms under which Cavendish has granted TriQuint the exclusive right, but not the obligation, to acquire Cavendish with an option period lasting until June 30, 2017 (see Qorvo 10-Q form) or until 60 days after a certain undisclosed product enters pre-production, which ever is sooner.
Qorvo Inc. was formed by the merger of two wireless semiconductor companies – RF Micro Devices Inc. (Greensboro, NC) and TriQuint Inc. (Hillsboro, Or.) – which came into effect on Jan. 1, 2015.
Cavendish Kinetics said the latest tranche of funding would be used to accelerate the development of its next generation RF components. The latest round brings the amount raise by the 21-year-old startup to more than $68 million.
Cavendish designs micron-scale physical switches that can provide better isolation and better RF transmission characteristics than conventional solid-state switches. Such switching has become beneficial as the complexity of mobile phone radio front-ends has increased with the necessity to serve multiple standards in multiple bands.
The next generation of RF components adds a range of RF MEMS switches to its growing portfolio of industry leading RF MEMS tuners, the company said. Together the new components will enable a broader range of radio front-end applications, including the tuning of antennas, filters and power amplifiers as well as low loss switching of the RF signal path.
“There is a critical need for low loss RF switching as OEMs design radios for 4G and 5G capability, and commercializing our ultra-low loss RF MEMS switch to meet this need is a major focus for Cavendish, now that our first generation RF MEMS tuners have fully ramped and are shipping commercially,” said Paul Dal Santo, CEO of Cavendish Kinetics, in a statement. “Our RF MEMS switches will deliver a 10x improved ‘figure of merit’ compared to what today’s SOI [silicon-on-insulator] switches can achieve, transforming the way LTE radios are designed.”
Samples of Cavendish’s new generation of RF MEMS components will be available in the first quarter of 2016, and ramp into volume production in the second half of 2016, the company said.
Next: Cavendish progress
Cavendish has a long history having started in Cambridge England as a spin off founded by Professor Charles Smith from the Cavendish physics laboratory there in 1994 offering micromechanical switching. It initially tried to market the technology as suitable for memories before moving its headquarters to Hertogenbosch, The Netherlands.
In 2010 and 2011 the company transferred its operations to San Jose and received funding in a round led by Qualcomm Ventures who joined earlier investors Tallwood Ventures, Wellington Partners and Celtic Venture Partners. It also began to concentrate on the advantages of its MEMS relay as an isolating switch for RF signal paths in mobile phones.
In 2014 the company launched its first RF MEMS switch products and the company announced in June 2015 that it was gaining design wins for them when used as tuning elements for antennas in multiband LTE smartphones.
Related links and articles:
News articles:
Cavendish RF MEMS released to manufacturing
RF MEMS tuner gains design wins in LTE phones
SP12T MEMS switch achieves one billion operations
MEMS RF switch maker raised $7m to come to market
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