Kombinat Mikroelektronik Erfurt
VEB Kombinat Mikroelektronik Erfurt was an important manufacturer of active electronic components in East Germany.
In 1971 the first integrated circuits had been manufactured — the D100C (TTL) by Halbleiterwerk Frankfurt (Oder) and the U101D (PMOS logic) by Funkwerk Erfurt.
[3] The ruling Socialist Unity Party of Germany had identified the development of the microelectronics sector as a primary goal.
[1] However, this effort was hampered by several factors: the general inefficiency of the planned economy, insufficient cooperation with other Comecon countries, and western CoCom export restrictions that prevented the importation of semiconductor manufacturing equipment.
[1] Following the German reunification, Kombinat Mikroelektronik was dissolved and operated for a time as a holding company under the name PTC-electronic AG which was 100% owned by the Treuhandanstalt.
The Thesys Gesellschaft für Mikroelektronik mbH[5][6] and the X-FAB Gesellschaft zur Fertigung von Wafern mbH were created in 1992 from parts of VEB Mikroelektronik "Karl Marx" Erfurt (which had operated under the name ERMIC GmbH from 1990 until 1992).
After several ownership changes and the sale of the foundry to X-FAB, ZMD was renamed to ZMDI and the remaining fab-less design house was ultimately sold to Integrated Device Technology in 2015.
[17][18] In Neuhaus am Rennweg, the SMD packaging of VEB Mikroelektronik "Anna Seghers" became part of Zetex Semiconductors[19] which was in turn acquired by Diodes Incorporated.
The type designations for both discrete semiconductor devices and integrated circuits were specified in state standard TGL 38015.
[2] Over time this proved inflexible and the plants started adding letters for further temperature ranges, speed classes, etc.
Following the dissolution of Kombinat Mikroelektronik in 1990, the plants in Frankfurt (Oder) and Erfurt kept using the East German integrated circuit designation until 1992 while ZMD in Dresden applied a slightly modified version until about 2005 (albeit with the date code in a 4-digit year/month format since 1991).
[41] The East German integrated circuit designation was also used by Componentes Electrónicos "Ernesto Che Guevara" in Pinar del Río in the late 1980s (e.g. A210[42]).
