Abstract

In the 80's, almost all the GaAs IC companies offered on a commercial basis to fabricate prototype MMIC's designed or not by the customer himself into the foundry proprietary processes. Most of the leading GaAs IC companies have today discontinued their foundry service to focus on large volume production of standard parts like power amplifiers for mobilecom terminals. However the traditional custom foundry business is well alive and kicking and will reach 250 MEuros in 2000 representing 20 % of the total GaAs MMIC market. It is no longer limited to prototyping but also includes small to medium volume production of customer specific ICs (CSICs). The various GaAs custom foundry services are reviewed in detail including process guarantees, CAD support and the "known good die" issue. The economics of a GaAs foundry service is revisited and a business perspective for the coming years is given.