Apr 28 2010
Silicon Laboratories Inc. (Nasdaq: SLAB) today announced the acquisition of Silicon Valley-based Silicon Clocks, an early stage company creating innovative microelectromechanical system (MEMS) technology. Silicon Clocks' CMEMS (CMOS+MEMS) technology is aligned with Silicon Labs' efforts to leverage its CMOS-based timing products into high-volume applications such as consumer electronics.
Silicon Clocks pioneered the development of a MEMS process technology that allows for the fabrication of MEMS resonators and other sensor structures directly on top of standard CMOS wafers. This approach will eliminate the need for boutique semiconductor processing and enables new levels of performance, integration, and size by eliminating the electrical parasitics and packaging issues associated with traditional solutions that co-package a standalone MEMS device and an IC.
"The Silicon Clocks team has created a very innovative MEMS technology that is designed to be compatible with standard CMOS mixed-signal ICs, enabling a new category of timing products that reduce system cost and optimize performance in a tiny footprint," said Mark Downing, vice president of business development and corporate strategy for Silicon Laboratories. "In addition, we believe this is a strategic technology platform uniquely capable of integrating several different MEMS with their associated CMOS circuitry on the same monolithic die."
Silicon Clocks will augment Silicon Labs' R&D team and bring 20 key patents to the company.