Jennic purchases state-of-the-art Agilent RF IC tester for on-site product validation and test development

Sheffield, UK, 12 September 2005: Jennic has announced the purchase of its first Agilent 93000 SoC series RF IC tester, to be installed at its Sheffield headquarters in the UK. This acquisition, considered to be a first for a UK fabless semiconductor company, enables Jennic to implement rapid product validation and multi-site test development for its JN5121 IEEE802.15.4 wireless microcontroller.

The installation of the tester in-house represents a major investment for Jennic. It forms part of its overall development, test and manufacturing strategy for volume shipments of the JN5121, including the hiring of additional staff. The tester enables Jennic to optimize production test costs and to accelerate the time to volume production by improved correlation between laboratory and production test programs.

The Agilent 93000 SoC series is a high throughput state-of-the-art system-on-chip RF IC tester that allows quick validation of production test programs in-house with quad site testing (the ability to test four devices simultaneously) to ensure the lowest possible test costs. Agilent has also provided Jennic with the N4010A dedicated IEEE802.15.4 bench test equipment.

DELTA, based in Denmark, will supply Jennic with volume test and packaging solutions, also using an Agilent 93000 tester, and ASE, one of the leading IC assembly houses based in Taiwan, will provide volume chip packaging services using a lead-free QFN package.

Commenting on the purchase of the Agilent tester as part of the company's overall manufacturing flow, Paul Wells, Jennic's VP of manufacturing said, "In order to meet volume delivery requirements for our single chip low power wireless microcontroller, we need to ensure we have the right manufacturing infrastructure. By making major investments in a state-of-the-art tester and establishing strong relationships with world class suppliers, we are able to source large volumes of high quality products for our customers."

About Jennic

Jennic is a fabless semiconductor company leading the wireless connectivity revolution into new applications. Its expertise in systems and software combined with world class RF and digital chip design provides low cost, highly integrated silicon solutions for the low power short range wireless data market with a focus on the IEEE802.15.4 and ZigBee standards. The company's products include state-of-the-art low power wireless microcontrollers, transceivers and low cost development platforms. Headquartered in Sheffield, UK, and employing over 60 people, Jennic is privately held and has a track record of successful silicon chip development for wireless applications over the last nine years.