Schaumburg, IL and Boulder, CO – 19 December
2006 – Motorola (NYSE:MOT) and Phiar Corporation announced Phiar’s
metal-double-insulator-metal (MIIM) diodes have surpassed Motorola’s millimetre
wave frequency performance benchmarks, marking a significant milestone in the
companies’ joint agreement to develop next generation MIIM diodes for millimetre
wave frequency applications.
For the past year, Motorola Labs and Phiar have been working together to
develop high performance, commercially viable electronic circuits that can be
incorporated with tiny antennas to deliver high-speed millimetre wave receive
arrays. The technology can potentially reduce cost, size, and improve
performance for applications associated with high-speed communications,
automotive collision avoidance and navigation, homeland security weapons
detection and medical imaging.
“We’ve validated the performance of Phiar devices in our labs. The response of
the Phiar diodes surpasses that of our benchmarks of commercially available
diodes for millimetre wave detector applications,” says Dr. Vida Ilderem, Vice
President, Embedded Systems Research, Motorola Labs. “We’re excited about this
technology and its potential impact on future generations of wireless
applications and solutions from Motorola.”
Today’s mass market semiconductor technologies enable devices running in the
megahertz (MHz) frequency range and pushing to enter the low end gigahertz
(GHz) frequency range of operation, Motorola and Phiar are developing circuits
that are capable of operating in the hundreds of GHz and potentially into the
terahertz (THz) range, at data rates of tens of gigabits per second.
The joint development utilizes Phiar’s Metal-Insulator technology and
Motorola’s millimetre wave (60 GHz) circuits and systems technology, modelling
and simulation, device and circuit characterization and advanced prototyping
capabilities.
“We are delighted that our diodes have met, and in fact, shown on average a 70%
better voltage responsivity than Motorola’s performance benchmark devices,”
said Bob Goodman, Phiar’s president and CEO. “Having reached this milestone
with a much lower cost solution puts us in a very favourable position in the
marketplace. It proves metal-insulator technology is a viable alternative to
higher priced, exotic-semiconductor devices.”
The next generation MIIM diodes can be broadly incorporated with circuits that
use standard CMOS manufacturing as well as other semiconductor and printed
circuit technologies. The technology is compatible with multiple standards and
substrates and has the potential to greatly improve speed and simplify
interconnects, both lowering cost and improving performance. By the end of
2007, Motorola and Phiar plan to have a receiver prototype of this technology
demonstrating wireless video streamlining at multi-Gbps data rates.
About Phiar Corporation
Phiar is developing low cost, nano-scale devices that take performance beyond
the physical limits of semiconductors. Phiar’s metal-insulator technology can
be integrated into supporting CMOS chip dies, or manufactured on a wide range
of other substrates. Natively operating from DC to 3 THz, Phiar’s technology is
a compact, practical replacement for costly compound semiconductors in GHz
applications and cryogenic devices in the emerging THz field. Phiar is funded
by Menlo Ventures. For more information, visit www.phiar.com.
Source: Motorola press release
