Hendon Semiconductors Secures Grant to Tackle Medtech Innovation

Hendon Semiconductors Pty. Ltd. is set to expand its capabilities into the medical device arena.

The company has gained a grant (up to $605,561) from South Australia’s Economic Recovery Fund Round 1 to fund a facilities and equipment ugrade for medical product development and manufacturing. With a  $1.22 million total value, the project will enhance the company’s ability to produce medical devices through clean room and sterilization facilities additions as well as wafer to COB semiconductor processing. By leveraging existing equipment and integrating advanced technologies, the project will accelerate medical product development in South Australia and enable the production of both miniaturized and high frequency devices. It is specifically targeted to support higher reliability requirements necessary for implantable devices.
 
Hendon Semiconductors has already made significant strides in accelerating defense program developments with its cutting-edge equipment, capable of reducing prototype production lead time from 12 weeks to three days. By extending these capabilities to the medical sector, Hendon aims to revolutionize the medical device prototyping and manufacturing, and ensuring that South Australian innovations remain within the state and contribute to the local economy.
 
South Australia boasts a diverse medical device innovation sector with multiple facilities across the state, but without the local infrastructure to commercialize these innovations they are usually either manufactured offshore or licensed or sold at a low technology readiness level, limiting their economic impact, according to Hendon Semiconductors. This project aims to address these challenges by establishing capabilities that are currently unavailable in South Australia or possibly even in Australia.
 
By providing a local solution for developing and manufacturing advanced medical devices, the project will facilitate industry diversification, create high-value jobs, and enhance export potential for South Australia, the company contends.
 
Hendon Semiconductors, a division of Legend Corporation, is a long-established electronic solutions provider based outside of Adelaide, South Australia. It is an integrated circuit design and test facility as well as a designer and manufacture of both thick film hybrids and electronic printed circuit board based controls across a range of industries including defense, medical, and rail. Since its establishment as Philips Semiconductors in 1959, Hendon has been a partner for Australian electronics developers. The company has expertise in: custom integrated circuit design and testing; applications design including connectivity solutions, energy management, temperature control, lighting control, and high reliability switch mode power supplies; thick film hybrid design and manufacturing (only facility in Australia); SMT and THT assembly of PCBs and modules; proprietary testing; and extensive quality control, life test, reliability and failure analysis processes.