Compound semiconductor cluster for North East

Compound semiconductor cluster for North East

Electronics Weekly article | By Steve Bush

The North East Advanced Material Electronics (NEAME) cluster has been formerly launched by companies in the UK’s North East, with “a mission to highlight and promote the region as a centre of excellence for advanced compound semiconductor technology design and manufacture”, according to NEAME.

The cluster led by CEOs and other senior people within the North East’s electronics industry, and has “the intention of providing a central voice both to raise the profile of the region and to help its members address their main challenges and opportunities profitably”, it said, claiming that it will contribute £447m gross value added to the region by 2026, with the potential to create and support around 4,500 jobs.

• The companies are:
• Axenic – optical modulators for satellite and aerospace communications
• Evince – microelectronics using diamond technology
• Filtronic – design and manufacture RF-to-mmWave components and subsystems for critical communication networks.
• Inex – develop and manufacture compound semiconductors and MEMS devices
• Isocom – design, manufacture, and test optoelectronic and microelectronic components
• Kromek – supply and develop radiation detectors based on cadmium zinc telluride (CZT) and other material. It has the world’s largest CZT facility at NETPark
• PragmatIC – design and manufacture of flexible integrated circuits
• Viper RF – Design and supply custom GaAs/GaN/SiGe MMICs from 1-150GHz
• II VI – engineered materials and optoelectronic components

“What has always struck me about this area, is the level of innovation that is happening every day on our doorstep,” said Filtronic CEO Richard Gibbs. “NEAME is an opportunity to showcase this region’s strength within advanced material electronics.”

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