GEC Plessey Semiconductors Ltd’s new Gallium Arsenide facility at Caswell, Nottinghamshire, an old Plessey site that now also houses all the work and equipment that GEC Plc had been doing for the technology at its Hirst Research Laboratories, was opened yesterday by Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster (unfortunately, the government job is not really up to the title): the company has the capability to fabricate 3 wafers to 0.5 micron design rules, and is geared to move to 4 and 5 wafers if demand justifies it; the chips are used primarily in telecommunications equipment such as cellular telephones and GEC Marconi’s forthcoming wireless local area network transceivers, and is radar applications.
