MagnaChip, National Nano Fab Center Enter into SOI RF CMOS Technology Transfer Agreement

MagnaChip Semiconductor Corporation ("MagnaChip")

, a Korea-based designer and manufacturer of analog and mixed-signal semiconductor products, and the National Nano Fab Center ("NNFC") have entered into an SOI RF CMOS technology transfer agreement which combines MagnaChip's specialty manufacturing expertise with NNFC's robust RF technology. The two companies have targeted expansion into the emerging RF front-end module ("FEM") foundry market. The technology agreement transfers 0.18um SOI RF CMOS process technology to MagnaChip. This process technology is a core component of cellular phone FEMs. FEMs can replace existing compound semiconductor and silicon solutions with approximately 30% reduced manufacturing process steps. This  reduces manufacturing cost, accelerates time to market, while addressing the specific needs of 2/3/4G and LTE cellular systems. The SOI RF CMOS technology is optimized for use in RF switches and antenna tuning applications, which have rapidly expanded as a result of the recent development trends in multiband and multimode cellular phone designs. In addition to offering excellent switch performance, this technology enables a high level of integration including control, logic, monitoring and power. The resulting FEMs are lighter, thinner, smaller compared to FEMs using compound semiconductor and can