Press Releases

Kent to apply his deep industry knowledge and experience to lead SkyWater’s technical vision and development strategy

BLOOMINGTON, Minn. – June 22, 2020 – SkyWater Technology, the innovator’s trusted foundry partner, today announced that John P. Kent has been appointed as Executive Vice President, Technology Development and Design Enablement to further establish SkyWater as the technology authority for relevant process R&D innovation and the realization of those technologies into comprehensive semiconductor manufacturing platforms. Kent will apply his deep industry knowledge and experience to lead SkyWater’s technical vision and strategy for developing the technologies that enable customers to achieve successful silicon in current and future designs.

Kent’s 40 plus years of experience in the semiconductor industry include demonstrated successes in technology development, operations and leadership positions. He has managed effective technical organizations and critical resources across multiple geographies.  He joins SkyWater from GLOBALFOUNDRIES where he served as Vice President, Foundry IP; Customer Design Enablement in Malta, New York. Kent and his team developed and enabled critical IP for several of GLOBALFOUNDRIES’ technology offerings.

“John is joining our team at an exciting time as we continue to expand our technology roadmaps, design enablement capabilities and partnerships to help drive the company to the next level,” said Thomas Sonderman, SkyWater President. “John’s extensive industry experience and proven success in technology development will enhance our position in the industry as a Technology Foundry – seamlessly blending process R&D with scalable high-volume manufacturing of advanced technologies in the same world-class U.S facility.”

According to Kent, “I’m thrilled to become part of SkyWater’s leadership team to help evolve the company’s technology innovation and continue building its market partner ecosystem. By combining SkyWater’s process technology expertise with its customer’s own device/application expertise in a secure IP environment, the company is in a unique position to offer defense and commercial customers something they can’t find elsewhere.”

Prior to GLOBALFOUNDRIES, Kent’s industry experience includes executive level positions with KLA-Tencor in the Wafer Inspection Group, and technology development leadership positions at Rambus and AMIS (now ON Semiconductor). Previously, for more than two decades he held a variety of positions at IBM Microelectronics with responsibilities for the development of planar metallization/insulator technologies; deep-UV and i-line lithography and DRAM process development.  Mid-career, he was responsible for DRAM / embedded DRAM and memory yield, design & product engineering with his teams. Kent holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Chemical Engineering from Michigan State University and is a Senior Grade member of the American Institute of Chemical Engineers (AiChE) as well as a Senior Member of IEEE.

About SkyWater Technology

SkyWater is the only U.S.-owned and U.S.-based pure play semiconductor foundry and is a DoD-accredited Trusted supplier, specializing in custom design and development services, design IP, and volume manufacturing for integrated circuits and micro devices. Through its Technology Foundry model, SkyWater’s world-class operations and unique processing capabilities enable mixed-signal CMOS, power, rad-hard and ROIC solutions. SkyWater’s Innovation Engineering Services empower development of superconducting and 3D ICs, along with carbon nanotube, photonic and MEMS devices. The company serves customers in growing markets such as aerospace & defense, automotive, biomedical, cloud & computing, consumer, industrial and IoT. For more information, please visit: www.skywatertechnology.com/.

SkyWater Company Contact: Ross Miller | 952.851.5063 | ross.miller@skywatertechnology.com

SkyWater Media Contact: Lauri Julian | 949.280.5602 | lauri.julian@skywatertechnology.com

Collaboration will extend the domestic manufacturing supply capabilities of the U.S. and enable long-term access to cutting-edge, secure semiconductor solutions

Santa Clara, Calif., and BLOOMINGTON, Minn. – June 18, 2020 – GLOBALFOUNDRIES^® (GF^®), the world’s leading specialty foundry and a longtime supplier of microelectronics to the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD), and SkyWater Technology, a U.S.-based and owned Trusted Foundry, today announced the companies have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) to manufacture secure solutions for the U.S. defense industrial base and cooperate on development of emerging technologies. The partnership will strengthen domestic supply and provide secure access to advanced technologies, while extending the availability and sustainability of Trusted semiconductor manufacturing in the U.S.

GF’s proven track record as a longtime supplier of secure semiconductor solutions for the defense industry dovetails with SkyWater’s focus on developing capabilities for enabling critical microelectronics technologies for national security applications. Notably, SkyWater is bringing to market a 90nm Strategic Rad-Hard process technology via an up to $170M DoD investment which, when combined with diverse GF platforms, will provide a richer portfolio of key defense technology offerings. The collaboration is also exploring possibilities for dual fab processing that would streamline access to secure technologies for defense programs. Additionally, as a part of the MOU, GF and SkyWater will align technology roadmaps and leverage unique and complementary capabilities for development and high-volume production path to market for advanced computing, artificial intelligence and related technologies.

“SkyWater’s strategic relationship with the U.S. government provides distinct value and through this developing partnership accelerates our collective commitment to strengthen domestic manufacturing capabilities while streamlining access for aerospace and defense clients,” said Mike Hogan, senior vice president and general manager of AIM SBU and Aerospace and Defense at GF. “As Trusted semiconductor manufacturers, we are in a unique position to extend the availability of advanced technologies, while ensuring a secure eco-system for dual domestic sourcing to serve the U.S. government and its technology needs for the future.”

“GF’s support of defense programs is long and distinguished and we’re excited to begin a new chapter of cooperation to enhance our support for this important community,” said Dr. Brad Ferguson, Chief Technology Officer and Sr. Government Relations Executive at SkyWater Technology. “This MOU shows proactive industry cooperation that can complement developing government policy focused on restoring American leadership for semiconductor manufacturing.”

Senator Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.), a longtime partner with the Essex-based fab, said, “This partnership helps strengthen a secure supply chain for our nation’s most sensitive technology. Americans and Vermonters especially have long been leaders in designing and manufacturing highly advanced technology. The agreement announced today will improve U.S. competitiveness and leadership in this vital sector.”

Minnesota Congressman, Dean Phillips, stated, “I’m on a mission to inspire collaboration and bring more of our hard-earned tax dollars back to Minnesota. I’m pleased that the agreement between SkyWater in Bloomington and GlobalFoundries accomplishes both. This partnership will help ensure that Minnesota continues to be a national leader in advanced technology and high-skill job creation.”

About SkyWater Technology

SkyWater is the only U.S.-owned and U.S.-based pure play semiconductor foundry and is a DoD-accredited Trusted supplier, specializing in custom design and development services, design IP, and volume manufacturing for integrated circuits and micro devices. Through its Technology Foundry model, SkyWater’s world-class operations and unique processing capabilities enable mixed-signal CMOS, power, rad-hard and ROIC solutions. SkyWater’s Innovation Engineering Services empower development of superconducting and 3D ICs, along with carbon nanotube, photonic and MEMS devices. The company serves customers in growing markets such as aerospace & defense, automotive, biomedical, cloud & computing, consumer, industrial, and IoT. For more information, please visit: www.skywatertechnology.com.

About GF

GLOBALFOUNDRIES (GF) is the world’s leading specialty foundry. GF delivers differentiated feature-rich solutions that enable its clients to develop innovative products for high-growth market segments. GF provides a broad range of platforms and features with a unique mix of design, development and fabrication services. With an at-scale manufacturing footprint spanning the U.S., Europe and Asia, GF has the flexibility and agility to meet the dynamic needs of clients across the globe. GF is owned by Mubadala Investment Company. For more information, visit: www.globalfoundries.com.

GF Contact:
Erica McGill
GLOBALFOUNDRIES
(518) 795-5240
erica.mcgill@globalfoundries.com

SkyWater Contacts:
Ross Miller
Director of Marketing
(952) 851-5063
ross.miller@skywatertechnology.com

Lauri Julian
Public Relations Specialist
(949) 280-5602
lauri.julian@skywatertechnology.com

MPW Shuttles for Early Access Partners to begin Q4 of 2020

BLOOMINGTON, Minn. – June 11, 2020 – SkyWater Technology, the innovator’s trusted foundry partner, announced it has licensed MIT Lincoln Laboratory’s 90 nanometer (nm) fully depleted silicon-on-insulator (FDSOI) complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor (CMOS) process to produce radiation-hardened (rad-hard) electronics which can withstand harsh radiation environments. Radiation effects rapidly degrade microelectronics, and unmitigated, can cause compromised performance, malfunctions or complete failure. Lincoln Laboratory has developed this FDSOI process for making integrated circuits resistant to damage and malfunction caused by extreme radiation levels.

Transferring MIT Lincoln Laboratory’s proven 90 nm FDSOI process into SkyWater’s Trusted fab will enable accelerated delivery on a previously announced up to $170 million Department of Defense (DOD)-funded program at SkyWater to enhance microelectronics capabilities for the Department and develop a new 90 nm Strategic Rad-Hard by Process manufacturing flow. This investment was made under DOD’s Trusted and Assured Microelectronics (T&AM) program which is developing enhanced sources of microelectronics for the Department’s unique needs. The T&AM program seeks to collaborate with industry and key laboratory partners to provide sustainable, assured technology solutions for national security and defense.

“Our 90-nanometer FDSOI CMOS process has matured and scaled, and we are pleased to join with SkyWater to offer this capability for those who need integrated circuits that operate in extreme environments,” said Dr. Pascale Gouker, a senior staff member at Lincoln Laboratory. “For many years, a large team has worked on this technology to be at this point where it will be offered by a commercially-focused foundry to address both government and non-defense related opportunities for rad-hard electronics.”

Lincoln Laboratory began working on fully depleted silicon-on-insulator technology in the mid-1990s under DARPA sponsorship. In the ensuing years, variants of the Laboratory’s FDSOI technology were optimized for operation under specialized conditions, such as radio frequency range, extremely low power, and for cryogenic, high-temperature, and extreme radiation environments. This extreme-radiation capability is the basis of the current technology transfer to SkyWater.

“We are excited to accelerate our support of DOD objectives with the transfer of this proven FDSOI process from Lincoln Laboratory,” said Dr. Brad Ferguson, SkyWater Chief Technology Officer. “This effort will enable an unprecedented spectrum of Strategic Rad-Hard solutions for system designers while also extending a range of hardened capabilities for medical, commercial space and other extreme environment applications.”

SkyWater customers participating in its Early Access Partner Program will have the first opportunity to begin running test chips on MPW Shuttles ahead of final technology qualification. For customers currently in, or entering chip design phases, this is a significant opportunity to evaluate the increased circuit density and improved speed, power, and performance capabilities of this next generation technology.

In addition, SkyWater will offer this technology as part of a flexible platform offering called Rad-SoC^TM which, bolstered by an ecosystem of partners, will enhance access to proven IP and streamline product development cycles, ultimately accelerating time to market. Moreover, manufacturing of these specialized ICs in SkyWater’s commercially-focused volume fab will provide high yield and production quality.

For more information about SkyWater’s Early Access Partner (EAP) Program, rad-hard manufacturing capabilities, or the developing Rad-SoC platform, please contact: swfoundry@skywatertechnology.com or sign up at www.skywatertechnology.com/rad-hard-eap.

About SkyWater Technology

SkyWater is the only U.S.-owned and U.S.-based pure play semiconductor foundry and is a DoD-accredited Trusted supplier, specializing in custom design and development services, design IP, and volume manufacturing for integrated circuits and micro devices. Through its Technology Foundry model, SkyWater’s world-class operations and unique processing capabilities enable mixed-signal CMOS, power, rad-hard and ROIC solutions. SkyWater’s Innovation Engineering Services empower development of superconducting and 3D ICs, along with carbon nanotube, photonic and MEMS devices. The company serves customers in growing markets such as aerospace & defense, automotive, biomedical, cloud & computing, consumer, industrial, and IoT. For more information, please visit: www.skywatertechnology.com/.

SkyWater Company Contact: Ross Miller | 952.851.5063 | ross.miller@skywatertechnology.com

SkyWater Media Contact: Lauri Julian | 949.280.5602 | lauri.julian@skywatertechnology.com

BLOOMINGTON, Minn. – June 2, 2020 – SkyWater Technology, the innovator’s trusted foundry partner, today announced it has signed an agreement for a deep reactive-ion etching (DRIE) process tool from SPTS Technologies, a KLA company and a leading supplier of advanced wafer processing solutions and deep silicon etch technology. DRIE is a highly anisotropic etch process used to create deep penetration, steep-sided holes, and trenches in wafers/substrates, typically with high aspect ratios. The new etcher will enable SkyWater with critical capabilities needed to support through-silicon vias (TSVs) and various types of cavity and trench etches critical for features in silicon interposers, photonics, power transistors and MEMS applications.

The SPTS Omega^® fxP 200mm Rapier^™ plasma etch system for DRIE enables use of the Bosch Process which is an industry proven technique that leverages dynamic sequencing of etch process parameters enabling control of plasma properties over time to select desired etch regimes. In addition to enabling high aspect ratio feature definition, the etch platform can be highly effective for slope and taper definitions, surface smoothing comparable to CMP processing, and extreme wafer thinning as well as ultra-small-dimension-kerf die singulation.

The Bosch process has proven to be a key enabler across a range of applications and will allow SkyWater to expand support for custom processing in growing markets including power management, acoustic and microfluidic MEMS, silicon photonics waveguides and a wide range of advanced packaging applications requiring TSVs. Moreover, this capability is a strong complement to the existing diverse processing technologies available at SkyWater and further enables advanced development for emerging architectures.

“This new etching platform enhances the core process capabilities at SkyWater that are enabling innovators who value agile development in a quality environment and rapid time to volume manufacturing. It also highlights our commitment to supporting growing critical needs of the increasingly diverse technology development community,” said Gregg Damminga, Vice President of Technology Development, SkyWater Technology.

“We are pleased to bring this important capability to SkyWater’s foundry environment and be part of their exciting technology portfolio,” said Kevin Crofton, President of SPTS Technologies and Senior Vice President at KLA Corporation.

The tool will be available for processing in Q3. For more information, please contact: swfoundry@skywatertechnology.com.

About SkyWater Technology About SkyWater Technology

SkyWater is the only U.S.-owned and U.S.-based pure play semiconductor foundry and is a DoD-accredited Trusted supplier, specializing in custom design and development services, design IP, and volume manufacturing for integrated circuits and micro devices. Through its Technology Foundry model, SkyWater’s world-class operations and unique processing capabilities enable mixed-signal CMOS, power, rad-hard and ROIC solutions. SkyWater’s Innovation Engineering Services empower development of superconducting and 3D ICs, along with carbon nanotube, photonic and MEMS devices. The company serves customers in growing markets such as aerospace & defense, automotive, biomedical, cloud & computing, consumer, industrial, and IoT. For more information, please visit: www.skywatertechnology.com/.

SkyWater Company Contact: Ross Miller | 952.851.5063 | ross.miller@skywatertechnology.com

SkyWater Media Contact: Lauri Julian | 949.280.5602 | lauri.julian@skywatertechnology.com

Smartphone-enabled wireless patch provides self-health monitoring and public health contact tracing to support roadmap to reopen the country

BLOOMINGTON, Minn. – May 26, 2020 – SkyWater Technology, the innovator’s trusted foundry partner, announced today it was chosen by investment firm, Asymmetric Return Capital (ARC) and Linear ASICs, a fabless analog and mixed-signal semiconductor company, to volume manufacture a microchip with temperature sensing capabilities used in a low-cost, smartphone-enabled wireless patch that assists in the remote detection of COVID-19. The patch monitors elevated body temperatures which can indicate early onset of the virus. It is a small, circular-shaped adhesive device, approximately the same thickness, size, and flexibility of a small Band-Aid^®. The patch is placed on the skin and wirelessly paired to a mobile device.

The temperature sensing chip being produced by U.S.-based SkyWater is planned to be used as part of a health monitoring solution being developed through additional partnerships with AI innovator, SensiML, a subsidiary of QuickLogic and Upward Health, an in-home and virtual care medical provider. This solution is intended to provide an end-to-end tool that enables early detection of physiological indicators tied to COVID-19 such as fever and unique cough patterns. The platform is also intended to allow integration with contact tracing applications such as the upcoming exposure notification systems from Apple and Google. Other benefits range from helping people get back to work safely to reduced anxiety and less spread of the virus to safer patient care.

“Now that temperature checks are becoming ubiquitous in return-to-work policies, a domestic supply of low-cost, no-touch thermometers is critical,” said Bryan Wisk, ARC Founding Partner. “SkyWater and Linear ASICs have enabled us to develop a high volume of wireless temperature sensing tags that can remotely monitor temperature and keep those with symptoms at home.  This will be especially important as we head into flu season later this year.”

As businesses reopen, health monitoring will play a critical role in supporting necessary behavior modifications to improve safety for workers and individuals in our communities. In this interim period where widespread testing and an approved vaccine are not yet available, this wearable self-monitoring solution will enable large segments of the population to consistently check their temperatures and helps public health officials identify community spread to prevent larger outbreaks. The solution is expected to aid businesses, governments, and other organizations in developing effective return to normal policies and action plans.

“Given the opportunity to address a critical need that has national interest, we were able to respond with rapid development of this vital temperature sensing solution in a U.S. manufacturing facility,” said Thomas Sonderman, SkyWater president. “Our Technology Foundry business model enables us to provide volume manufacturing with IP security in a flexible and agile environment which facilitates rapid time to market and minimizes supply chain disruption risks by offering a domestic sourcing option.”

Over the last year, ARC, Linear ASICs and SkyWater have spearheaded a U.S.-based technology development and manufacturing consortium that is focused on leveraging key supply chain elements to support rapid product development while maintaining supply chain transparency, assurance of supply, and integrity of intellectual property. In light of the COVID-19 outbreak, crisis response activities and policies have further shed light on distributed supply chain dynamics which have been a point of reconsideration following recent global trade conflicts. For this immediate COVID-19 application, the consortium was able to respond with unusual speed by quickly pivoting

complementary technologies already on their way to the market for the food industry, consumer wearables, and wireless battery management systems for the transportation industry.

SkyWater’s 130 nm mixed-signal ASIC process (S130) was selected as the best ASIC platform to develop the temperature sensor due to its long heritage of providing an ideal combination of analog and digital performance at the right value point.  “We are pleased to collaborate with ARC on this important health monitoring solution and to work within SkyWater’s ecosystem to quickly conceptualize, streamline development  and move this product quickly into the market,” said Mike Ward, CEO, Linear ASICs.

SkyWater is certified to the ISO 13485 Quality Standard for Medical Devices to support the design, development and fabrication of biochip applications in a wide range of emerging biomedical market segments.

About SkyWater Technology

SkyWater is the only U.S.-owned and U.S.-based pure play semiconductor foundry and is a DoD-accredited Trusted supplier, specializing in custom design and development services, design IP, and volume manufacturing for integrated circuits and micro devices. Through its Technology Foundry model, SkyWater’s world-class operations and unique processing capabilities enable mixed-signal CMOS, power, rad-hard and ROIC solutions. SkyWater’s Innovation Engineering Services empower development of superconducting and 3D ICs, along with carbon nanotube, photonic and MEMS devices. The company serves customers in growing markets such as aerospace & defense, automotive, biomedical, cloud & computing, consumer, industrial, and IoT. For more information, please visit: www.skywatertechnology.com/.

SkyWater Company Contact: Ross Miller | 952.851.5063 | ross.miller@skywatertechnology.com

SkyWater Media Contact: Lauri Julian | 949.280.5602 | lauri.julian@skywatertechnology.com

Licensing agreement also makes technology available as a standard foundry process flow with industry first, near zero reverse recovery charge

BLOOMINGTON, MN, March 10, 2020 – SkyWater Technology, the innovator’s trusted foundry partner, and Applied Novel Devices Inc, a designer, developer and supplier of novel semiconductor device technologies (“AND”), today announced the companies have entered into a licensing and manufacturing agreement to offer an improved standard process flow for Si power MOSFETs (metal oxide semiconductor field-effect transistors).  The partnership will enable AND to bring new power device products to market based on its proprietary and patented technologies and SkyWater’s high volume manufacturing capabilities. The licensing agreement will also enable SkyWater to offer the technology as a standard foundry process flow to improve system-level performance for low-voltage (12V – 30V) applications. At the Applied Power Electronics Conference (APEC 2020), SkyWater plans to showcase this collaboration and its manufacturing services for discrete power devices which are in high demand due to the explosion of wireless and battery powered connected devices.

AND’s high-performance Si power MOSFETs are based on novel channel and substrate engineering to improve critical power MOSFET figures of merit. These products offer low R_DS(on) combined with low output capacitance/charge, low gate drive down to 2.5 V and an industry-first near zero reverse recovery charge enabling low switching losses in applications. Low R_DS(on) and reverse recovery will enable improved efficiency and, in some cases, reduced part counts, yielding lower cost and higher efficiency switching systems in applications such as power supplies and motor controls. Combination of low R_DS(on), low gate drive, and low output charge will also enable performance improvements in soft/resonant switching applications. Further, the thin body design makes the devices more robust against temperature variations and is anticipated to provide inherent radiation hardened characteristics.

Power MOSFETs are a class of discrete transistor devices specially designed for switching higher voltage/current signals typically used in power delivery circuits for a vast range of industrial, automotive and consumer applications. With the rise of semiconductor content across vertical markets and increase in wireless and battery powered IoT type devices, efficient power management solutions are in higher demand than ever.

“We were attracted to SkyWater as a partner due to the flexibility and strength of their process development organization which enables us to rapidly bring our unique products to market,” said Leo Mathew, Co-Founder & CEO, Applied Novel Devices. “After working for several years on this novel device technology, we are very excited to bring it to realization in an IP secure manufacturing environment.”

“As we build our portfolio of power management solutions, this partnership with AND is making highly relevant U.S. manufactured technology available to our foundry customers,” said Dr. Brad Ferguson, Chief Technology Officer. “This engagement is the exact type in which the Technology Foundry model excels – we’re taking a new technology, creating a standard process flow, and delivering it to the market on a commercial scale.”

In addition to MOSFETs, SkyWater also supports power management applications with IGBT and TVS diode manufacturing services as well as high-voltage (HV) CMOS for PMICs (power management integrated circuits). Near the end of 2020 the company will be releasing a 130 nm BCD (Bipolar-CMOS-DMOS) with NVM (non-volatile memory) process flow to enable power management SoCs critical for enabling smart devices across multiple categories.

For more information on SkyWater’s power management process offerings, please contact: swfoundry@skywatertechnology.com.

About Applied Novel Devices

Applied Novel Devices (AND) was founded in 2008 and is based in Austin, Texas. AND develops new semiconductor device architectures that address the next generation of applications using its novel process technologies for discrete and integrated power products. AND has developed the tools and technologies for thin-crystalline semiconductor devices and has targeted power MOSFETs and flexible electronics as early applications for this technology. In addition, AND has innovations to improve the device architecture for discrete and CMOS logic devices. AND is introducing power discrete devices to market with these technologies to be followed with products addressing RF and digital CMOS.

About SkyWater Technology

SkyWater is a solely U.S.-based and U.S.-owned, DMEA-accredited Category 1A Trusted Foundry. Through its Technology Foundry model, SkyWater provides custom design and development services, design IP, and volume manufacturing for integrated circuits and micro devices. The Company’s world-class operations and unique processing capabilities enable mixed-signal CMOS, rad-hard and ROIC solutions. SkyWater’s Innovation Engineering Services empower development of superconducting and 3D ICs, along with carbon nanotube, photonic and MEMS devices. SkyWater serves customers in growing markets such as aerospace & defense, automotive, cloud & computing, consumer, industrial, IoT and medical. For more information, please visit: www.skywatertechnology.com/.

Applied Novel Devices (AND) Contact: Leo Mathew | leomathew@appliednoveldevices.com

SkyWater Company Contact: Ross Miller | 952.851.5063 | ross.miller@skywatertechnology.com

SkyWater Media Contact: Lauri Julian | 949.280.5602 | lauri.julian@skywatertechnology.com

Litecky’s leadership and industry expertise to drive SkyWater’s revenue strategies, customer diversification and value creation to propel growth for the company  

 BLOOMINGTON, MN, March 5, 2020 – SkyWater Technology, the innovator’s trusted foundry partner, today announced that Mark Litecky has been appointed as SkyWater’s Chief Revenue Officer (CRO). In this newly created role, he will be responsible for growing and expanding the revenue strategies, systems and programs needed to drive profitable and predictable growth for the company.  Litecky will leverage SkyWater’s current momentum to further expand its diversified customer relationships and accelerate growth across the markets it serves to drive ever increasing enterprise value.

“I’m very pleased that Mark will be joining SkyWater to lead the next phase of our sales and marketing strategy: creating new revenue streams, broadening our customer mix and firmly establishing the SkyWater brand as a differentiated value creator for our industry,” said Thomas Sonderman, SkyWater President. “With the addition of Mark’s proven leadership, we will build upon SkyWater’s first three years of excellent progress and accelerate delivery of vital accomplishments for our business and customers.”

Litecky’s 30 plus years of experience has focused on growing revenue and profits by building and aligning revenue generating teams to meet the needs of targeted markets and customers while bringing existing and new technologies to market. With a history of success in sales, marketing and business development roles, Litecky’s industry expertise has focused on providing complete solutions to meet customers’ requirements. His leadership skills include organizational development, technology development, engineering and operations. In addition, he has been directly involved in multiple transactions requiring due diligence and the integration of acquisitions.

“I’m truly excited to join SkyWater, especially at this time in the company’s evolution with so much opportunity ahead to diversify and expand the business,” said Litecky. “I look forward to utilizing my decades of industry experience to grow SkyWater’s revenue and profits while aligning resources to successfully execute the company’s programs and further develop its strategic vision.”

Litecky’s industry experience includes executive level leadership roles with large, middle market and early stage technology companies such as GCM, Interlink Electronics, Soligie (Molex), Starkey Labs, August Technology (Rudolph Technologies), NT International (Entegris), and Rosemount Inc. (Emerson Process Controls). He has a broad background in a diverse set of markets including industrial, aerospace, space exploration, medical technology, sensors, IoT, electronics & microelectronics, and printed & hybrid flexible electronics.  Litecky holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Electrical Engineering from the University of Minnesota.

About SkyWater Technology

SkyWater is a solely U.S.-based and U.S.-owned, DMEA-accredited Category 1A Trusted Foundry. Through its Technology Foundry model, SkyWater provides custom design and development services, design IP, and volume manufacturing for integrated circuits and micro devices. The Company’s world-class operations and unique processing capabilities enable mixed-signal CMOS, rad-hard and ROIC solutions. SkyWater’s Innovation Engineering Services empower development of superconducting and 3D ICs, along with carbon nanotube, photonic and MEMS devices. SkyWater serves customers in growing markets such as aerospace & defense, automotive, cloud & computing, consumer, industrial, IoT and medical. For more information, please visit: www.skywatertechnology.com/.

SkyWater Company Contact: Ross Miller | 952.851.5063 | ross.miller@skywatertechnology.com

SkyWater Media Contact: Lauri Julian | 949.280.5602 | lauri.julian@skywatertechnology.com

• Broadens SkyWater’s production capabilities for Strategic Rad-Hard electronics
• Enables Cu interconnect process for enhanced mixed-signal device performance and interposers for advanced packaging technologies
• SkyWater to expand facility and clean room to support new technology capabilities

BLOOMINGTON, MN, October 21, 2019 – SkyWater Technology, the innovator’s trusted partner for a competitive edge, announced the US Department of Defense (DOD) is planning to invest up to $170 million for a multi-phase project to enhance microelectronics capabilities for the DoD and the Strategic Radiation Hardened (Rad-Hard) market. SkyWater will be expanding its Trusted Foundry facility to add clean room area and supporting infrastructure to enable this and other complementary technologies. The initial phase is funded at $80 million and SkyWater will leverage this investment to develop a new 90 nm rad-hard electronics production capability to complement its existing 90 nm rad-tolerant offering. In addition, it will fund SkyWater to add copper (Cu) dual-damascene interconnect technology to the facility which marks a significant advancement for the company’s mixed-signal and interposer offerings. Future phases of the effort include options for more advanced microelectronics capabilities.

SkyWater’s expanded rad-hard process will be based on PDSOI (partially depleted silicon on insulator) technology and will enhance reliability of critical microelectronic devices in harsh conditions such as space and military field deployments. This enhancement to SkyWater’s U.S. production operation will extend new offerings for the company’s aerospace and defense customers, ensuring manufacturing excellence and high efficiency for this unique chip category. Additionally, with SkyWater’s strong focus on commercial markets, this postures the company to address non-defense related opportunities for hardened electronics such as commercial space operations, medical imaging and other applications in extreme environments.

The new Cu interconnect option at SkyWater increases IC (integrated circuit) performance with lower resistance and higher speed and interconnect density by exploiting the intrinsic electrical conductivity advantages of copper as compared to aluminum. This benefits mixed-signal technologies through higher density logic circuits and reduced losses in analog/RF circuits, ultimately improving system performance and efficiency. The new interconnect capability is critical to support the company’s roadmap for more advanced node geometries beyond 90 nm.

“We are very pleased to expand our support of DoD objectives with this new Strategic Rad-Hard foundry offering while also extending commercialization capabilities for related technologies,” said Dr. Brad Ferguson, SkyWater Chief Technology Officer and head of SkyWater’s government relations efforts.

Dr. Ferguson added, “The addition of copper interconnect represents an important material processing capability that SkyWater needs to support node scaling to 65 nm and 45 nm and aligns with our customers’ technology roadmaps. Also, by entering the copper interposer market, we can help narrow the existing gap in North America for advanced packaging solutions and increase the breadth of our technology offerings.”

“As a solely US owned and operated Technology Foundry, we are committed to supporting aerospace and defense customers. This investment marks a deepening of our relationship with this community, reinforces the credibility of our business model and expands our technology platforms allowing us to also increase the scope of our serviceable commercial markets,” said Thomas Sonderman, SkyWater President.

SkyWater’s new PDSOI technology platform for rad-hard applications will be presented at the RHET (Radiation Hardened Electronics Technology) conference on November 6, 2019 by Paul Chopelas, SkyWater Senior Director of Sales. Additional information on SkyWater’s new rad-hard process as well as its interposer and high performance mixed-signal offerings is available by contacting swfoundry@skywatertechnology.com.

About SkyWater Technology

SkyWater is a solely U.S.-based and owned, DMEA-accredited Category 1A Trusted Foundry. Through its Technology Foundry model, SkyWater provides custom design and development services, exclusive design IP, and volume manufacturing for integrated circuits and micro devices. The Company’s world-class operations and unique processing capabilities enable mixed-signal CMOS, rad-hard and ROIC solutions. SkyWater’s Innovation Engineering Services empower development of superconducting and 3D ICs, along with carbon nanotube, photonic and MEMS devices. SkyWater serves customers in growing markets such as aerospace & defense, automotive, cloud & computing, consumer, industrial, IoT and medical. For more information, please visit: www.skywatertechnology.com/.

SkyWater Company Contact: Ross Miller | 952.851.5063 | ross.miller@skywatertechnology.com
SkyWater Media Contact: Lauri Julian | 949.280.5602 | lauri.julian@skywatertechnology.com

BLOOMINGTON, MN and HONG KONG, September 26, 2019 – SkyWater Technology, the innovators’ trusted partner for a competitive edge, today announced that Steifpower Technology, a fabless power semiconductor provider, has chosen SkyWater as its manufacturing partner for discrete power devices, addressing the strong demand for efficient power management in systems with increasing connectivity, sensor and semiconductor content. Specifically, the companies will collaborate to design and manufacture power MOSFETs (metal oxide semiconductor field-effect transistors), IGBTs (insulated-gate bipolar transistors), and related power discrete devices, targeting Tier 1 automotive customers.

Steifpower, with over 30 years of power semiconductor experience, is utilizing SkyWater’s Integrated process Flow Transfer (SWIFT) services to rapidly ramp production, meeting its end customers’ product development milestones. The initial engagement is focused on transferring a high performance power MOSFET with excellent low Ciss (input capacitance) characteristics for better switching frequency as well as the lowest R_DS(on) (device operating resistance) on the market for better efficiency in applications up to 200V.

In addition, SkyWater will process Steifpower’s advanced IGBTs with best in class switch frequency and embedded backside diode for applications up to 1700V. These high efficiency devices with very low power losses provide several advantages for vehicles such as better fuel consumption and decreased CO₂ emissions, increased operating temperature, higher alternator efficiency, and better heat dissipation with lower forward voltage (voltage drop).

According to Yole Développement, the total power MOSFET market continues to grow and is estimated to be $7.5 billion USD in 2020, a 3.4% CAGR from 2016 to 2020. Yole also sees substantial growth for the IGBT market, with electronic vehicles and charging stations driving silicon IGBTs, estimating market growth of 10-12.5% per year between 2016 and 2022.

“The automotive industry is seeing record levels of semiconductor content to support exciting capabilities for safety, efficiency and convenience,” said Dr. Brad Ferguson, SkyWater’s Chief Technology Officer.  “This trend drives strong demand for high efficiency onboard power management like that enabled by Steifpower’s technology.  We are very pleased about our collaboration with Steifpower which positions us to better address these key markets.”

“SkyWater’s Technology Foundry model and expertise in developing custom process flows is well aligned with Steifpower’s needs to support new products on our technology roadmap,” said Domenico Lo Verde, Founder & Managing Director. “We are excited to be working with SkyWater on this and other projects in the future.”

About Steifpower Technology

Steifpower is a fabless power devices design company. The company is formed by a team of professional that have very rich experience in power industry and keep innovating new device structure and manufacturing method to optimize power system efficiency. Steifpower offers a wide range of power devices and the major focusing areas are consumer electronics, computing, home appliances, Electric-vehicles, Solar power and motor control. For more information, please visit our web site: www.steifpower.com.

About SkyWater Technology

SkyWater is a solely U.S.-based and owned, DMEA-accredited Category 1A Trusted Foundry. Through its Technology Foundry model, SkyWater provides custom design and development services, exclusive design IP, and volume manufacturing for integrated circuits and micro devices. The Company’s world-class operations and unique processing capabilities enable mixed-signal CMOS, rad-hard and ROIC solutions. SkyWater’s Innovation Engineering Services empower development of superconducting and 3D ICs, along with carbon nanotube, photonic and MEMS devices. SkyWater serves customers in growing markets such as aerospace & defense, automotive, cloud & computing, consumer, industrial, IoT and medical. For more information, please visit: www.skywatertechnology.com/.

Steifpower Company Contact: Domenico Lo Verde | +49 160.20.57.184 | +852-23360322 | domenico.lv@steifpower.com
SkyWater Company Contact: Ross Miller | 952.851.5063 | ross.miller@skywatertechnology.com
SkyWater Media Contact: Lauri Julian | 949.280.5602 | lauri.julian@skywatertechnology.com

Evatec’s next generation CLUSTERLINE^® tool supports SkyWater’s 3DSoC and carbon nanotube programs, opening new custom foundry possibilities

 TRUBBACH, Switzerland and BLOOMINGTON, Minnesota, August 29, 2019 — Evatec AG, a leading provider of thin film production solutions and SkyWater Technology Foundry, the innovators’ trusted partner for a competitive edge, today announced Evatec has delivered the latest generation of its CLUSTERLINE^® thin film deposition tool, including evaporation capability to SkyWater. This tool brings new levels of thin film performance, key to the production of carbon nanotubes and other emerging technologies.  CLUSTERLINE^® is an industry-proven, high volume single wafer processing production solution enabling integration of PVD (physical vapor deposition), highly ionized PVD, Soft Etch and PECVD (plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition) process technologies.  Along with state of the art process capabilities, it provides extensive pre- and post-treatment steps. The open system architecture allows easy tool configuration.

The latest tool from Evatec enables SkyWater with new capabilities in processing of metals and dielectrics and is important in its 3DSoC work, providing unconventional processing capabilities for a CMOS-based foundry.  This new tooling supports SkyWater’s business model as a Technology Foundry by giving innovators additional processing options to establish manufacturable process flows for emerging technologies. This capability supports on-going process development at SkyWater not only for carbon nanotubes, but photonics and MEMS device types as well where conventional PVD processes do not provide flexibility or the precision these applications require.

The latest generation of CLUSTERLINE^® extends the range of thin film deposition technologies available on traditional cluster tools.  In addition to techniques like sputter, PECVD or ALD (atomic layer deposition), it is now possible to integrate evaporation capability. Evatec’s long know-how in building both cluster systems and box coaters for evaporation has addressed the challenge of integrating evaporation technology into a compact module suitable for up to 300mm cluster tools with long life evaporation sources and simple access for maintenance.

Evatec’s Head of its Semiconductor Business Unit, Silvan Wuethrich commented, “Evaporation continues to be the process of choice for many custom applications and offers the chance to process material compositions which wouldn’t be possible otherwise. We are very pleased to be working with SkyWater which is focused on making possible the most advanced emerging technologies.”

“Evatec’s tooling allows customers to try new materials or processes quickly in a quality fab environment and opens up a whole new range of custom foundry possibilities for us,” said Gregg Damminga, Vice President of Technology Development, SkyWater. “We appreciate Evatec’s professional support and industry-proven expertise and look forward to the value they add to our development and manufacturing operations.”

For more information on Evatec’s CLUSTERLINE^® family of cluster tools, please visit: https://www.evatecnet.com/products/clusterline-platforms/clusterline300-ii.

About Evatec

Evatec delivers complete thin film production solutions in its core markets of Advanced Packaging, Power Devices, MEMS, Optoelectronics, Wireless Communication and Photonics. From 5G mobile network solutions and the new generation of micro LEDs to Gesture Recognition technology and EMI shielding for our smart phones, Evatec thin film deposition systems enable manufacture of the world’s highest performance optical, optoelectronic and semiconductor devices. Advanced Process Control (APC) technologies enables new level of thin film performance and production yield. For more information please visit www.evatecnet.com.

About SkyWater Technology Foundry

SkyWater is a solely U.S.-based and owned, DMEA-accredited Technology Foundry, providing custom design and development services, exclusive design IP, and volume manufacturing for integrated circuits and micro devices. The Company’s world-class operations and unique processing capabilities enable mixed-signal CMOS, rad-hard and ROIC solutions. SkyWater’s Innovation Engineering Services empower development of superconducting and 3D ICs, along with carbon nanotube, photonic and MEMS devices. SkyWater serves customers in growing markets such as aerospace & defense, automotive, cloud & computing, consumer, industrial, IoT and medical. For more information, please visit: www.skywatertechnology.com/.

Evatec Media Contact: Allan Jaunzens | +44 7802 784406 | allan.jaunzens@evatecnet.com
SkyWater Company Contact: Ross Miller | 952.851.5063 | ross.miller@skywatertechnology.com
SkyWater Media Contact: Lauri Julian | 949.280.5602 | lauri.julian@skywatertechnology.com