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TRW Helps Australian Radio Astronmers With New Chips
pretty picture only Redondo Beach - July 8, 1999 - In a move that will speed the maturity and commercial availability of its indium phosphide (InP) integrated circuit technology, TRW has agreed to produce a set of InP chips designed by the Australian government-owned Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO), one of the world's largest scientific research organizations.

The 24-month contract with CSIRO Australia is worth about $600,000. It reflects a decision by TRW to speed the commercial insertion of its InP technology by producing chips designed by its customers for specific applications.

"This award is a win-win situation for both TRW and CSIRO," said Dwight Streit, manager of TRW's Wireless Telecomm Products organization. "It gives CSIRO experience designing and applying indium phosphide-based circuits to its science applications, while giving us the opportunity to further refine our indium phosphide fabrication process." CSIRO has been a valued customer of TRW's gallium arsenide foundry since 1993, he added.

The circuits for CSIRO Australia, which include low-noise amplifier, mixer and high-speed digital receiver chips, will be integrated in a variety of CSIRO radio astronomy and telecommunication demonstration systems. They will be fabricated in TRW's indium phosphide foundry in Redondo Beach.

"We're delighted to have the opportunity to take advantage of TRW's indium phosphide foundry capabilities," said Ron Sandland, deputy chief executive of CSIRO. "The insertion of this critical technology in CSIRO-developed systems will allow the Australian science community to remain at the forefront of radio astronomy and photonic systems research."

Indium phosphide (InP) is an advanced semiconductor material considered ideal for performing signal transmitting and receiving functions in wired and wireless communications systems. It offers higher operating speeds, lower noise figures and lower power consumption than semiconductor materials currently used for high performance microwave communications and advanced digital signal processing.

Under terms of the agreement, TRW will fabricate CSIRO-designed chips using its 0.1 micron InP high electron mobility transistor (HEMT) technology and its InP heterojunction bipolar transistor (HBT) technology. HEMT and HBT are different types of transistors that can be fabricated on indium phosphide. HEMTs are best suited to applications such as low noise amplifiers, while HBTs are better suited to applications such as digital circuits.

TRW is a leader in the design, development and production of RF integrated circuits based on indium phosphide. The company is currently developing indium phosphide-based circuits for military, scientific and commercial communications applications.

CSIRO Australia's interests cover a diverse range of areas including communications, manufacturing, minerals and energy, construction, health, environment and agriculture.

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