Mergers & acquisitions
Cypress Semiconductor has signed a definitive agreement to acquire FillFactory, a Belgian developer of active-pixel CMOS image sensor technology, for $100mn. FillFactory - an IMEC spin-off - offers a variety of high-performance custom and standard products for digital photography, high-speed imaging, machine vision and automotive applications.
FillFactory's proprietary pixel architecture has a high "fill factor", meaning that the entire area of a pixel is photosensitive, even with the three or four transistors that are required to reset and sense an image. As a result, FillFactory products have no need for the microlenses required by competitive products. High fill factors translate into smaller CMOS sensor chips and/or sensor chips with better resolution without making concessions to sensitivity.
The company has supplied a 13.85Mpixel sensor for Kodak's DCS line of professional digital cameras, a 100x135mm sensor for mammography applications that takes up an entire 200mm wafer, radiation-tolerant sensors for aerospace applications, and sensors with a true very high readout rate for high-speed scientific image analysis.
TJ Rodgers, Cypress president and CEO, comments on future development of the technology: "We aim to combine FillFactory intellectual property with existing Cypress intellectual property (IP) - such as the optical micro-electromechanical systems (MEMS) and image-processing capabilities of our Silicon Light Machines subsidiary - to lay the groundwork for new, integrated, value-added solutions."
The transaction is targeted to close in Q3 2004.
