Ann: Agreement with Towerjazz for Volume Production of MEMS Chip-AKP.AX, page-43

Danny Lewin discussed the process they have followed, and as I read this at first I took this to mean that they were doing everything possible to ensure they could build in as much resilience for the manufacturing as possible. Having multiple lines capable of producing identical structures would certainly help this aim:

"As has been documented we are well into the fourth and final phase of the commercialization plan. We are about two-thirds through a fabrication run with a particular fab that is using a fabrication process flow that has been tried, tested, and refined.
We perpetually monitor and test the results as for example is evident by the recent published results whereby we cycled 4th phase test structures over a trillion times – without a single failure.
Additionally we implemented a risk mitigating approach to the fourth phase - for example we decided to independently fabricate 8 separate batches of wafers, and each batch of wafers holds a number of wafers in reserve before undergoing critical fabrication steps as to allow for the possibility of taking corrective measures should it be deemed necessary."

When I read this in conjunction with the joint release announcement I took this to mean that the 8 sets of MEMS wafers were being made on several of TowerJazz's different lines, so that AP could produce wafers on any line if required. Now I am not so sure that this is the correct interpretation. Clearly they have made 8 sets of wafers as separate process setups at different times to ensure the production works reliably every time. Whether some of these were made on entirely separate lines in separate locations is not stated, but given the aims above this is not unlikely.

Shay Kaplan indicated that TJ had multi-fab capabilities in the release:

"TowerJazz has a dedicated team with the proven technology and design enablement capabilities to meet our advanced process requirements for high performance, quality and technological support for our revolutionary product," says Shay Kaplan, Audio Pixels Chief Scientist. "In addition, their demonstrated commitment to provide expansive capacity and multi-fab sourcing makes TowerJazz an ideal partner to augment our future mass production requirements."

This is reiterated by TJ further on in the announcement:

"To provide multi-fab sourcing and extended capacity for its customers, TowerJazz operates two manufacturing facilities in Israel (150mm and 200mm), two in the U.S. (200mm) and three additional facilities in Japan (two 200mm and one 300mm) through TowerJazz Panasonic Semiconductor Co. (TPSCo), established with Panasonic Corporation of which TowerJazz has the majority holding. Through TPSCo, TowerJazz provides leading edge 45nm CMOS, 65nm RF CMOS and 65nm 1.12um pixel technologies, including the most advanced image sensor technologies...."

More info is given on TJ's Wikipedia entry:

"...The company manufactures integrated circuits for semiconductor companies such as: Avago Technologies, Fairchild Semiconductor , Intel ,International Rectifier, Panasonic, RF Micro Devices, Samsung, Skyworks Solutions, Texas Instruments and Vishay – Siliconix. For global capacity assurance, TowerJazz operates six manufacturing facilities on three continents: Fab 1 and Fab 2 (150mm and 200mm) located in Migdal Haemek, Israel, Fab 3 (200mm) located in Newport Beach, California and three additional fabs (two 200mm and one 300mm) through TPSCo located in the Hokuriku region of Japan. In addition, TowerJazz operates a worldwide design center in Netanya, Israel.
Tower Semiconductor (TowerJazz) is an Israeli public company that is traded on NASDAQ and the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange, and is included in the TA-100 Index and the TA BlueTech Index. In 2010, TowerJazz became the #1 specialty foundry by revenue, with 70% revenue growth year-over-year...^"

Fab 1

Fab 1, located in Migdal Haemek, Israel is a 150mm facility which was acquired from National Semiconductor in 1993 at the time of Tower Semiconductor’s founding. Since that time, Fab 1 has been significantly modernized and offers process geometries ranging from 1.0-micron to 0.35-micron including CMOS image sensors, embedded flash and mixed-signal technologies.
Fab 2

Fab 2, a 200mm facility was constructed in January 2001, adjacent to Fab 1 in Migdal Haemek, Israel and was designed to operate in geometries of 0.18-micron and below, using advanced CMOS technology.
Fab 3

Fab 3, located in Newport Beach, California, USA was acquired by Tower when it merged with Jazz Technologies in 2008. Jazz Semiconductor was formed in 2002 and inherited the 200mm facility that was once operated by Rockwell Semiconductor. At Fab 3, Jazz established industry leading SiGe, BiCMOS and MEMS technologies and expanded upon its heritage for on-shore, specialized foundry services focused on the Aerospace and Defense industry.
Additional three fabs through TowerJazz Panasonic Semiconductor Co. (TPSCo)

TPSCo is 51% owned by Tower Semiconductor Ltd. (NASDAQ: TSEM, TASE: TSEM) and 49% owned by Panasonic Corporation (NASDAQ ADS: PCRFY, TYO: 6752). TPSCo has three manufacturing facilities in Hokuriku, Japan (Uozu, Tonami, and Arai) which have been producing large scale integrated circuits for over 30 years. Areas of process technology focus include high dynamic range image sensors (CIS and CCD), integrated power devices (BCD, SOI and LDMOS) and high frequency silicon RFCMOS. TPSCo offers both IDMs and fabless companies over 120 qualified silicon process flows on 200mm and 300mm substrates from super micron to 45 nm, as well as internal back end processing, assembly and test services."

While MEMS is specifically mentioned as being produced in Fab 3 it is not clear if all of these locations are also capable of producing MEMS. Not being an electronics engineer I was not sure if that would be the case, but I suspected not. However, TJ's website indicates that it is capable of producing MEMS in all of its Fabs:

"TowerJazz’s world-class “Foundry MEMS enablement” solutions integrate custom MEMS with its specialty processes to address complex wireless and consumer electronics markets.


The company is focused on a collaborative partnership model and applies its foundry experience, silicon MEMS processes and customer oriented team to enable the successful and rapid implementation of both 150mm and 200mm MEMS manufacturing, including both prototype and production.
TowerJazz continues to augment its portfolio of specialty silicon technology by adding MEMS manufacturing to its existing suite of analog and RF CMOS, high speed SiGe, and high voltage technology. This enhances the ability of its customers to create and bring to market more highly integrated analog products. The company works with top tier established companies, as well as start-ups, to bring new technologies from idea to volume production.
The target applications and markets for TowerJazz’s MEMS capabilities are antenna tuning for mobile wireless, antenna tuning clock frequency references for electronics timing, and infrared measurement for sensor devices in imaging, industrial, instrumentation and control (power devices and ASICS to drive the MEMS sensors).
For example, in Israel, TowerJazz is mass producing MEMS sensors for the $3.5 billion inertial measurement unit (IMU) high end navigation market, including applications such as accelerometers, gyroscopes and power management controllers (ASICs). In the US, TowerJazz is volume producing innovative RF MEMS tuners specifically designed to overcome the antenna performance challenges experienced in today’s LTE smartphones, which have to support an ever growing number of operating modes and frequency bands. TowerJazz is also manufacturing MEMS-based silicon timing solutions that replace legacy quartz products.
MEMS and new process capabilities are being incorporated into more high volume applications at a very high rate. The MEMS fabless industry is actually higher (80-90% fabless) as compared to the CMOS fabless industry (50-75% fabless), which creates a very good opportunity for TowerJazz. The company expects to increase revenue in this area by more than five times in the next three to five years. TowerJazz is running MEMS programs in all of its fabs and the Newport Beach facility is focused on high volume, RF, IR sensors and on drive and control chips (companion CMOS chips)."

Conclusion: my suggestion that the AP chip has been made at all of TJ's sites may not be correct, but it is not impossible. Clearly however, AP's management is mindful of building resilience and redundancy into its manufacturing capabilities, and that is a good thing.