Epiwafer foundry and substrate maker IQE plc of Cardiff, Wales, UK says that during first-quarter 2015 it received multiple new long-term purchase orders worth up to $3m for its antimonide substrate materials.
The purchase orders are from a number of different customers and for a combination of large-diameter indium antimonide (InSb) and gallium antimonide (GaSb) substrate materials.
InSb and GaSb materials form the key enabling technology base for a range of consumer, defence, security, medical and industrial applications, including heat sensing, thermal imaging, infrared sensors, lasers, LEDs and thermovoltaic (TPV) systems for converting heat into electrical energy.
"These new orders for our infrared business unit demonstrate the growing demand for photonic devices, with a particular trend towards infrared materials for sensing, imaging and other thermal-based applications," says Dr Mark Furlong, VP of IQE's Infrared business unit.
IQE reckons that, due to its US (Galaxy) and UK (Wafer Technology) operations using multiple production tools (pullers) to offer the industry's largest antimonide wafer production capacity, its Infrared business unit is uniquely positioned in providing a secure, dual-sourced supply of InSb and GaSb materials to the semiconductor industry.
"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," Furlong adds.
