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Press Releases Nanotech Semiconductor announces certification of its MOST® driver and receiver circuits Witley Park, Surrey, England, February 6, 2006 Nanotech Semiconductor Ltd. ("Nanotech") today announced the RMCtech certification of Firecomm's MOST-certified Fiber Optic Transceivers ("FOTs"), which incorporate Nanotech’s MOST® transmitter and receiver ICs. Nanotech's NT21010 receiver IC and NT21046 transmitter IC, are state-of-the-art, low cost 'logic' CMOS devices that significantly exceed the requirements of the MOST 1.1 physical layer specification for the POF optical interface. The NT21046 transmitter IC is capable of driving all optical emitter types including LEDs, RCLEDs and VCSELs and is designed for ultra low current consumption whilst requiring no external components within the FOT Module. On-chip temperature compensation enables a constant optical output power over temperature and Peaking and Pulse Width Adjustment (PWA) features are also included. All features are mask programmable to give the customer complete flexibility at the lowest possible production cost. Firecomms' FMC110R FOT, which includes the NT21046, clearly demonstrates the excellent power savings with 30% lower current consumption than other solutions. The NT21010 receiver IC has demonstrated an industry-best sensitivity down to -33dBm, depending on the PD and FOT packaging used. Again it requires no external components. A novel Transimpedance Amplifier plus Limiting Amplifier (TIA+LA) architecture permits a very wide range of photodiode capacitances, from 1pF to 12pF. The IC will enter into an ultra-low-power 'sleep mode' in the absence of any optical data and exit 'sleep mode' when an optical signal is detected. Firecomms' FMC110D receiver FOT incorporates the NT21010 and is MOST compliant over an ambient temperature range of -40ºC to 95ºC. The IC will support even higher ambient temperatures, e.g. to the next step in automotive applications at 105ºC. It guarantees a minimum of 5dB better sensitivity than Competitor's Receivers, on a like-for-like basis. "These devices enable by far the best fiber link budget performance and are fully compliant with the latest MOST® specifications," says Steve Cliffe, Nanotech's VP Sales and Marketing. "The increase in link budget will allow for at least 2 additional in-line connectors in the MOST® network, which has previously held up the adoption of MOST by some car makers". Nanotech's CEO Gary Steele commented, "These ICs clearly provide customers with the best performance, at the lowest possible cost - this formula being more or less the company's motto! We are very pleased to see the first customer certification for these products, and look forward to helping further FOT customers through this process over the coming months." Additional markets – Digital Audio/Toslink®: The MOST® physical layer is a super-set of the Digital Audio standards used in DVD recorders/players, personal MP3 players etc., which therefore provide additional markets shipping at many millions per month. Gary Steele added, "With MOST® nodes shipping at over 10million p.a., and Digital Audio nearly 10 times that, these products provide an excellent platform for Nanotech to seriously ramp its production capabilities, which will have knock-on advantages in every other market we plan to serve".
About Nanotech Semiconductor: Nanotech is a UK based fabless chip company, focused on Analog and mixed-signal ICs for fiber-optics based communications. Its mission is to bring fresh innovation to fiber-optic transceiver modules and optical links to dramatically improve the Price and Performance of existing chipsets, replacing Bipolar/BiCMOS/SiGe ICs with pure-CMOS. About Firecomms: Firecomms, a compound semiconductor company, develops visible light sources and sensors that light the way for next-generation consumer devices, automotive and home networks, and medical equipment. The company’s world-class photonics communications products are revolutionizing the consumer electronics market by using visible light to enable high-speed optical data transmission and capture. These devices provide the groundwork that will revolutionize optical data communications for small area networks, such as in-car networks and home networks. About Atlantic Bridge Ventures: Atlantic Bridge Ventures is a new pan European fund with offices in Dublin and London focused on making early and mid stage technology investments in semiconductors and software across Europe with a strong focus on a US exit model. Atlantic Bridge is comprised of a cohesive, dedicated team of experienced professionals who are committed to the success of the investee companies. All of our team members come from an industry background and have first hand experience of the challenges involved in growing technology companies from the startup stage into profitable businesses. Many of these companies have had successful exits either on the public markets or through trade sale. Atlantic Bridge is regulated by the FSA. MOST is a registered trademark of the MOST Cooperation. TOSLINK is a registered trademark of Toshiba Corporation. — ENDS —
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