ixys

IXYS Corporation is global supplier of Power Management Semiconductors with a comprehensive range of Power MOSFET, IGBT, Bipolar and Mixed-Signal IC solutions that provide improved efficiency and reduced energy cost in a wide range of power system applications. For over 20 years, IXYS has been at the forefront of Power Semiconductor and IC technology having over 100 patents and innovations in the development of the IGBT, High Current Power MOSFETs, Fast Recovery Diodes, BiMOSFETs, Reverse Blocking IGBTs and Gate Driver ICs.

Since the beginning of the Internet boom, IXYS has been recognized as the leader in the Telecom and IT infrastructure Power Supply market with its family of "ruggedized" Power MOSFETs known as HiPerFETs tm. IXYS also achieved a leadership position in the burgeoning Factory Automation market with its innovation in Direct Bond Copper (DCB) module technology and a family of industrial rated Power Semi's and Integrated Power Modules.

IXYS is headquartered in Santa Clara, California and is a public company with its shares trading on the NASDAQ under the symbol SYXI. IXYS continues to focus on serving the global market for Power Management a $15B market, and which is one of the more attractive growth areas in the semiconductor industry. IXYS is also very well positioned in a newer market segments for power semiconductors such as "Energy Management" and "Power Quality" which is gaining more attention due to the increasing use of electricity, and the strategic importance of energy conservation worldwide.

Over the past few years IXYS has completed key strategic acquisitions aimed at broadening its market opportunity and strengthening its position in Power.

• In November 2001, IXYS acquired Westcode Ltd, which expanded IXYS into very high power with a line of Thyristors rated up to 5000 volts and 2500 amps giving IXYS a leadership technology position in Energy Management, Induction Heating, high-speed train and light rail transportation markets.
• In July 2002, IXYS acquired Clare Inc, which included the Clare Micronix ASIC group providing IXYS with an extensive mixed-signal IC, Telecom IC and Solid State Relay product offering. In addition, Clare provided IXYS with a state-of-the-Art CMOS wafer fabrication facility with capabilities to build high voltage Silicon-On Insulator (SOI) devices.
• In September 2003, IXYS acquired MicroWave Technology Inc (MWT), a leading supplier of GaAs FETs, Low Noise Amplifiers and Hybrid Modules for Wireless Infrastructure, Medical and Military Communications.

Corporate Philosophy

Today, IXYS has expanded around its "high power" centric strategy to become a more diversified supplier of medium to high power, Mixed-Signal IC, Optoelectronic and RF Semiconductors...keeping "power" as the strategic theme. From the lessons learned in the Telecom boom and bust, the company has embarked on a number of new product initiatives and acquisitions aimed at addressing a wider range of market opportunities and lessoning its dependence on any single market. With annual revenues approaching $300 million, IXYS is capitalizing on this broader suite of internal and acquired technologies and products to fuel its growth with a multi-pronged strategic agenda of New Product thrusts:

• Power Management ICs: Increase the Content in IXYS traditional served markets by developing Control, Sensing and Interface ICs that are used in conjunction with IXYS Power devices. IXYS then can bundle products more effectively into "front-to-back" solutions creating more value to the customer.
• Integrated Power Modules: Leverage IXYS power device, mixed-signal IC and DCB packaging technologies to provide superior performance and more integrated solutions.
• High Performance Devices: Maintain technology leadership in highly specialized applications such as Medical Imaging and Heart Therapy where IXYS is the dominant supplier of High Voltage IGBTs, MOSFETS, RF Power and ASICs to all the leading Medical Electronics companies around the world. IXYS also is the leader in Very High Power Thyristors for High Speed Trains. Recent acquisitions of Clare and MWT have further expanded IXYS performance position in SOI ICs and GaAs.
• Automotive, Consumer and Portable Applications: Through a suite of products including; Display Drivers, Modem ICs, Solar PVs, Power Management ICs and TrenchFETs, IXYS is amassing a comprehensive range of solutions for high growth consumer driven markets such as Flat Panel TVs, Game Consoles, PCs and home Appliances.

IXYS has a strong culture of being a technology driven company balanced with a commitment to excellent service, quality and maintaining long-term relationships with its customers. The company does not hesitate to inter into strategic collaborations with customers, providing R&D and technical assistance in the design of their hardware to encourage the incorporation of IXYS products into their systems.

Global Operations and Manufacturing

IXYS owns and operates four manufacturing facilities around the world in addition to establishing alliances with selected world class Foundries. IXYS strives to provide maximum flexibility and efficiency in order to cost effectively serve its customers on a global basis.

Internal Wafer Fabrication: IXYS has one of the largest Bipolar wafer fabrication capabilities in the world with two facilities: a medium power wafer Fab in Lampertheim, Germany and a high power Thyristor wafer Fab located in Chippenham, England. IXYS continues to invest in improving its bipolar technologies and process improvements in order to dominate the bipolar power semiconductor field, lower manufacturing cost and extend our technology leadership. There are many application areas where schottky rectifiers, fast recovery diodes and thyristors remain the only viable solution. As other companies exit the bipolar field, IXYS is enjoying significant growth.

With the Clare acquisition IXYS owns a CMOS wafer Fab located in Beverley MA. This is a State-of-the-Art MOS Fab used to build complex Silicon On Insulator (SOI) High Voltage ICs for Clare's Solid State Relays and Telecom ICs. IXYS is also expanding the use of this facility to develop advances in process technology for next generation Power devices such as 600 to 1200V HVICs, NPT and Reverse Blocking IGBTs. Having a "state-side" Wafer Fab gives IXYS an important strategic asset where IXYS can protect its proprietary technologies and offer unique flexibility and process control of devices for Medical, Mil/Aero, Telecom and other mission critical applications.

With the MWT acquisition IXYS owns a GaAs wafer Fab located is Fremont Ca. This facility is also "Space Qualified" as MWT is a major supplier of GaAs FET, Low Noise Amplifiers and Modules to the Military and Aerospace markets.

These four internal Fab capabilities enable IXYS to develop proprietary new process and device technologies in every major power device technology and especially in support of maintaining its leadership position in targeted high performance applications. In addition to IXYS internal manufacturing IXYS ...

Fab Foundry Partnerships : IXYS also utilizes outside foundries strategically located around the world to provide excellent service and lowest manufacturing cost for its high volume commercial line of Power MOSFETs, IGBTs, Driver/Power Management ICs and ASICs. IXYS has arrangements with four external wafer foundries. Our largest foundry relationship is with Samsung in Korea. IXYS relationship with Samsung extends over 17 years. IXYS products are produced in a very high volume, high quality world-class facility with the full support of Samsung engineering team. IXYS enjoys the highest yields and lowest defect rates in the industry for its Power MOSFETs. Our Asia Pacific Fab locations also enable IXYS to service the local Asia markets more cost effectively.

Assembly and Module Manufacturing: IXYS has a large automated Power Module manufacturing facility collocated with the Bipolar Wafer Fab located in Lampertheim Germany. This 170,000 square foot facility has established IXYS as one of the largest suppliers of Rectifier, Thyristor and IGBT Module solutions in Europe. IXYS also developed and manufactures it own Direct Copper Bond substrates, which are used extensively in all modules for improved thermal performance and isolation. For its standard discrete and IC packages such as; TO220, D2Pac, TO247, TO3P and SOICs IXYS utilizes the industry leading assembly subcontractors located primarily in Korea. These facilitates also perform final test and can act as a local ship to location into the South East Asian market. IXYS is now moving more of its module assembly capability to the Asia Pacific region in order to reduce cost and support the explosive growth in that region. Also, in support of its Integrated Power Module programs for Automotive and Appliance applications IXYS is entering joint partnerships in the region for high volume low cost assembly.

Expanding its Suite of Technologies

IXYS has continued to invest in new technologies through acquisition and internal R&D aimed at complimenting IXYS strengths in Power as well as expanding its market opportunity into emerging high growth markets. Some of these key technologies are as follows:

• Polar(TM) and Next Generation Trench Power MOSFETs and IGBTs - IXYS latest generation technology reduces Rds(on) by 30% and Rthjc by 25% thereby improving power density. Polar(TM) will substantially improve performance for a broad range of power supply applications. IXYS has further developed a 100 - 300V specialized family of Polar(TM), Trench FET and Trench IGBT technologies optimized for back plane and column drivers for large panel Plasma Displays. IXYS has most recently introduced a broad family of 40 to 100V Trench FETs targeted at high power automotive applications such as electric power steering, electric vehicles and other battery powered applications.
• Reverse Blocking IGBT - IXYS invented this unique device, which is similar to an IGBT but can block voltage in both directions. These devices open new horizons in power electronic switching and control topologies. They enable design engineers to create MOS based AC switches, with only two "back to back" RBIGBTs to control AC power directly off line.
• High Efficiency Solar Photo Voltaic's - IXYS is at the forefront of Solar PVs with a capability to achieve +20% efficiency. IXYS is providing a range of standard PV arrays at various voltages and currents. Clare has developed using its SOI capability monolithic PV chips housed in small packages called "Solarbulbs" tm, that operate at higher voltages up to 7V and provide up to 150uA of current for trickle charging batteries in portable device applications.
• SOI Wafer Fabrication and High Voltage ICs - Clare has perfected the capability it perform the wafer bonding and Trench processes required for SOI and uses this technology for it family of SSRs and Telecom ICs. SOI is also an important technology for achieving high voltage isolation and level translation for IXYS family of 2 and 3 phase gate drivers.
• GaAs and RF Power Amplifiers - IXYS GmbH is a leader in the development of 100 to 300V high power GaAs Schottky diodes to improve efficiency in high frequency switching power supplies. MWT offers high performance and high linearity GaAs FETs and LNAs for the Cellular and WiMax base stations, WiMax CPE and Medical applications.
• ZMOS RF Power MOSFETs - IXYS has developed a new family of high power, high frequency Power MOSFETs that can provide 500 Watts of controlled power at frequencies up to 120Mhz. These devices are used in Industrial RF Power supplies for Plasma etching in the large area display and semiconductor processing. They are also used to generate the RF power for MRI imaging.
• High Voltage and High Current LED Drivers - IXYS is developing a family of high voltage LED drivers utilizing it SOI process technology to provide a cost effective solution for use in next generation LCD TV backlight systems. This technology also meets regulatory requirements for galvanic isolation. Other LED Drivers underdevelopment include high current versions for automotive headlamp and instrument clusters having logarithmic control.
• ISOPlus tm DCB (Direct Copper Bond) Isolated Packaging - IXYS has lead the industry in providing low cost isolated versions of industry standard power packages such as the TO220 and TO247 utilizing its in-house DCB capability. This package technology is now being expanded into multi-chip Integrated Power Modules (IPM) for high volume automotive and consumer appliance applications.
• Very high Voltage IGBTs (1200 to 3500V) - IXYS is the recognized leader in very high voltage IGBTs and continues to extend is lead in this area primarily aimed at implant and portable defibrillator applications.