Ion Implant Services Signs Sipex to Chip Industry's First "Insourcing" Deal for Process Technology

May 02, 2000 - San Jose, CA

IISSM to Operate Multiple Implanters Inside Sipex' New California Fab


Sunnyvale, Calif.-- Ion Implant Services (IISSM), the leading supplier of ion implantation services for the semiconductor industry, has contracted with Sipex, Inc., a Milpitas, California, chipmaker, to provide all of Sipex' ion implantation requirements at their new facility. IIS'SM contract with Sipex is believed to be the semiconductor industry's first "insourcing" alliance involving mainstream front-end process equipment. Insourcing is a business concept that puts specialized expert technology providers to work inside semiconductor companies' manufacturing plants.

Sipex CEO and Chairman, James Donegan, said, "After many years of relying on offshore foundries for the majority of our chip fabrication, during the industry downturn we built a new fab which is now coming on stream. Our new fab provides us with the ability to effectively control cost and our own destiny as well as develop manufacturing processes that allow us to design proprietary high performance analog products. Since fab efficiency is so critical to our business results, we must look for new opportunities to leverage world-class manufacturing methods in managing our operation.

"Working with IISSM to 'insource' their cost-effective ion implant services is a key step in this direction. By putting IIS'sSM 22 years of implant expertise to work inside our fab, we eliminate the heavy overhead of staying on the leading edge of implant technology, and also avoid the steep learning curve and cost of investing in our own equipment and technology. IISSM is already processing Sipex wafers at their Sunnyvale facility and we will continue to use this site for peak loading and process development, adding to the efficiency and reliability of our operation," Donegan said.

Under the new arrangement, IISSM will own and operate multiple implanters inside the Sipex fab, which is ramping to an eventual capacity of 15,000 to 18,000 wafer starts per month. Sipex Corp. makes high performance analog integrated circuits focused on power management and interface drivers for analog displays, using BiCMOS, BiPolar and high voltage differential wafer process technologies.

Dr. Wesley Weisenberger, CEO of IISSM, said "Sipex is an ideal site to launch the insourcing of our ion implant process business. Although Sipex is in the heart of labor-pressed Silicon Valley, IISSM will provide trained technologists and implant experts to operate the implant part of their fab using operating systems and efficiencies already proven over a large customer base (~130) in our own fab operations. Under our insourcing program, we offer Sipex and other customers a lower cost per implant wafer pass, which underlines our confidence that we can deliver the required yield and output with fewer people and less equipment. We've demonstrated these efficiencies in our own fab and will be implementing these same ISO-9002 qualified systems and processes in customers' fabs."

"Our insourcing program will tie into the customers host fab management system, but IISSM will provide its own proprietary scheduling system which has been fine-tuned to maximize fab utilization in the implant area. All IISSM sites will be electronically connected to monitor site efficiencies and address logistical, productivity, scheduling, SPC, yield, maintenance and commercial issues. Having centralized resources at IIS'SM own fab sites is an essential part of providing high value technology and services at lower costs to customers' fabs. Sipex will enjoy the benefits of this process from the outset of production, whether implants are done at IISSM or in the Sipex fab," Weisenberger said.