Atmel Corporation Acquires FS Chip Design, Expands Expertise in Low-IF Wireless RFIC Design.Business Editors/High-Tech Writers SAN JOSE San Jose, city, United States San Jose (sănəzā`, săn hōzā`), city (1990 pop. 782,248), seat of Santa Clara co., W central Calif.; founded 1777, inc. 1850. , Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Aug. 15, 2000 Atmel Corporation (Nasdaq:ATML ATML Automatic Test Markup Language ATML Automated Test Markup Language ) headquartered in San Jose, California San Jose (IPA: /ˌsænhoʊˈzeɪ/) is the third-largest city in California, and the tenth-largest in the United States. It is the county seat of Santa Clara County. today announced that it has acquired FS Chip Design GmbH, an independent Radio Frequency (RF) design center based near Dusseldorf, Germany. The new design center will be named Atmel Duisburg, GmbH. Atmel has previously worked with FS on numerous customer-specific and standard product RF integrated circuits Integrated circuits Miniature electronic circuits produced within and upon a single semiconductor crystal, usually silicon. Integrated circuits range in complexity from simple logic circuits and amplifiers, about 1/20 in. (1. . This acquisition will enable Atmel to pursue more system-level integration RFICs in CMOS (Complementary Metal Oxide Semiconductor) Pronounced "c-moss." The most widely used integrated circuit design. It is found in almost every electronic product from handheld devices to mainframes. , BiCMOS and Silicon Germanium (SiGe) A semiconductor material made from silicon and germanium. Germanium is very similar to silicon, but when one layer is grown on top of the other to form the base of the transistor, the resulting transistor can switch faster and yield higher performance. BiCMOS process technologies. "Our customers are demanding higher integration, higher performance, and lower cost. FS has proven design expertise in Low-IF radio architectures, which have inherent advantages in realizing such products. In addition, FS is a sizeable well-rounded group, encompassing RF, analog, and complex digital circuit design, as well as systems expertise, advanced CAD capabilities, and software development. Our past experience in working with FS Chip Design on wireless programs has been very positive. This strong team will be an asset to the Atmel RF Wireless family. In the future, nearly all aspects of life will be enhanced by portable wireless technology, from cellular phones to vehicle safety and navigation systems, to the wireless web, to wireless home lighting and climate control," commented Tony Giraudo, Vice President and General Manager of Security and RF Wireless Products at Atmel. Low-IF receiver architectures are quickly gaining popularity as a preferred solution to many portable wireless applications, since it allows for a significant reduction in the amount of external components and pincount for high integration radio transceivers. And, it does so without the manufacturing sensitivity and significant computational complexity required for a production-worthy Zero-IF receiver architecture. Low-IF radio architectures have been successfully implemented for DECT (Digital Enhanced Cordless Telecommunications) A cordless phone standard mostly used in Europe; however, DECT 6.0 is increasingly used worldwide. The first DECT standards were introduced by ETSI in 1992, and DECT phones have been used as cordless home phones as , GSM, and unlicensed ISM See ISM band. transceivers, offering reasonable receiver sensitivity, image rejection, and adjacent channel rejection. In addition to acceptable receiver characteristics, Low-IF transceivers can reduce a manufacturer's bill of materials The list of components that make up a system. For example, a bill of materials for a house would include the cement block, lumber, shingles, doors, windows, plumbing, electric, heating and so on. by 20-30%. "Atmel has impressed us with their wireless knowledge, advanced modular process technologies, and low-cost manufacturing capabilities during our prior developments with them. This acquisition provides us with access to advanced processes, especially Silicon Germanium BiCMOS, sophisticated evaluation and testing resources, and large OEM (Original Equipment Manufacturer) The rebranding of equipment and selling it. The term initially referred to the company that made the products (the "original" manufacturer), but eventually became widely used to refer to the organization that buys the products and customers that were not available to us as an independent design center. We look forward to contributing to Atmel's continued success in the portable wireless market," said Mario Muhren, Managing Director for Atmel Duisburg, GmbH. Founded in 1984, Atmel Corporation is headquartered in San Jose, California with principal manufacturing facilities in Colorado Springs, Colorado The City of Colorado Springs is the second most populous city (after Denver) in the state of Colorado and the 48th most populous city in the United States.[4] The city is the county seat of El Paso County. ; Irving, Texas; Grenoble, Nantes and Rousset, France; and Heilbronn, Germany. Atmel designs, manufactures and markets on a worldwide basis advanced logic, mixed-signal, nonvolatile memory, and RF semiconductors. Atmel is also a leading provider of system-level integration semiconductor solutions using advanced CMOS, BiCMOS, bipolar and SiGe process technologies. The Atmel in Duisburg is Atmel's twenty-sixth design center. Further information can be retrieved from Atmel's web site at http://www.atmel.com. Atmel product and financial information are available from its Fax-on-Demand service. In North America call 800/292-8635 or Internationally, call 408/441-0732. Requests may be made via e-mail to literature@atmel.com or by visiting Atmel's web site at www.atmel.com. Note to Editors: Atmel, the Atmel logo and combinations thereof and others contained herein, are trademarks of Atmel Corporation. Terms and product names in this document may be the trademarks of others. |
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