Contact Information: Media Contacts: Venkat Bahl Discera, Inc. 408-432-8600 x228 venkat@discera.com Emilie Harris Lois Paul & Partners 512-638-5321 emilie_harris@lpp.com
Discera Wins Technology Innovation Award From The Wall Street Journal
MEMS Timing Devices Recognized as Breakthrough Technology
| Source: Discera
SAN JOSE, CA--(Marketwire - October 10, 2007) - Discera, a world leader in CMOS MEMS
oscillators, resonators, and provider of next-generation timing solutions,
is one of four semiconductor companies singled out for the prestigious and
highly competitive Technology Innovation awards by The Wall Street Journal.
Discera was named a runner up in the semiconductor category for its tiny
silicon resonators for the frequency and timing-control markets. These
devices can replace quartz timing components used in most consumer and
military electronic devices. Discera will be honored at an awards ceremony
and dinner on Oct. 24 in Redwood City, California.
The Wall Street Journal received over 800 applications for its seventh
annual awards. These applications were narrowed down to a field of 150
entries which were reviewed by a distinguished panel of judges from
business, research and academic organizations. This field was then narrowed
down to just 30 winners. To qualify, technologies had to constitute a
breakthrough from traditional methods, not just an incremental improvement.
Awards were made for each of the twelve categories reviewed, including
semiconductors. There was also an overall Gold, Silver and Bronze Award.
"We are honored to be one of the select companies recognized by The Wall
Street Journal," said Tom Willey, CEO, Discera. "This is a great validation
of the disruptive value that MEMS timing devices bring to a market where
quartz has hit a wall in terms of scalability and flexibility. Discera's
silicon resonators, which are here now and ready for commercial use by
electronics manufacturers, overcome this last hurdle of Moore's Law."
For years the concept of using MEMS as a replacement for quartz had been
theorized by academics but there were few who thought it would be possible
to overcome the challenges required for real world use. Beginning in 2001,
Discera's CTO Wan-Thai Hsu and his team moved the technology far beyond
academic research, focusing on solving real world problems (temperature
compensation, reliability and packaging). Under Hsu's technical vision and
guidance, Discera developed, qualified and began producing silicon MEMS
devices for timing applications in high volume.
The result of years of concentrated research and development, Discera's
MOS1 family of oscillators is poised to enable electronics companies to
overcome the challenges posed by quartz crystal technology, which is
pushing the limits of its scalability, costs and processing technology. The
promise of reduced costs and smaller product footprint offered by MEMS has,
until now, been offset by concerns about silicon resonators and
reliability. These concerns included frequency stability over temperature
cycling, aging, vibration operation and shock resistance. The MOS1
oscillator product family overcomes these concerns. The MOS1 family is
being used as a direct replacement of quartz crystal oscillators for timing
components in electronics devices. The product is offered by a worldwide
set of partners and distributors including Vectron and Abracon.
For more information The Wall Street Journal Innovation Awards,
visit http://online.wsj.com/page/2_1323.html.
About Discera
Discera is a fabless analog semiconductor company that offers tiny, high
performance silicon resonators for the frequency and timing control
markets. These resonators act as the heartbeat or pulse for a variety of
devices from consumer products such as cameras and MP3 players to
specialized equipment for the military. The company's PureSilicon™
resonator technology is a fundamental building block that offers, according
to Semico Research, "a better mousetrap" for creating fully integrated, low
cost, small form factor wireline and wireless products, such as
oscillators, filters, and RF components. Unlike crystal based oscillators,
Discera's PureSilicon™ based CMOS oscillators can be integrated into
other CMOS-based circuits. Founded in 2001 and headquartered in San Jose,
California, Discera is a privately held company with investments from
Ardesta, Partech, 3i, Qualcomm Ventures, Horizon Ventures, and Scale
Ventures. More information is available at www.discera.com.