Electronic Components
![]() Vishay Division Head Gerhard Speidel: “No mobile phone, television set or car can work without diodes.” | ![]() The precision tube sections supplied by SCHOTT are to be inserted into individual slots. |
Vital Miniatures
In diodes, special glass has the function of hermetic encapsulation. One of the leading manufacturers of these glass electrodes is Vishay Semiconductor of Austria.
Since 1965, the specialist manufacturer of electronic components (diodes, rectifiers and transistors) has been headquartered in Voecklabruck, 70 km east of Salzburg (Austria). It was only in 1998, that the company, then called Temic-Telefunken, was acquired by Vishay Intertechnology, Inc. of the United States. This group of companies, with sales of US$ 1.8 billion last year, employs 20,000 people in more than 60 factories located in 14 countries.
“The Voecklabruck plant functions as a competence center, especially for glass diodes,” said Division Head Gerhard Speidel. The development, construction and the testing of new production lines takes place at this location. The responsibility for uniform worldwide quality standards, global production planning and distribution, as well as certain areas of marketing, development and application lie in Voecklabruck. The actual transfer work is done mostly in the high-volume glass diode plants located in Gyoengyoes (Hungary) and Shanghai (China). Vishay Semiconductor employs about 2,000 workers throughout the world, a fourth of them in Voecklabruck.
The right timing for expansion

Vishay Semiconductor has doubled its manufacturing capacity to 14 billion diodes per year.
The world’s smallest diode

The blister belts with the inserted diodes are wound into reels.
![]() Quality control through an opto-electric measuring process. | ![]() Ready to be electroplated: Rectifier diodes inserted into a tray and ready for the tin bath. |
“The precision glass sections are a decisive factor for guaranteeing the best possible manufacturing process as well as the quality of the diodes. An inexact measurement, the wrong length or coarse breaks and the whole production process is slowed or can come to a total standstill in extreme cases”, explains Purchasing Director Helmut Fink. 95 percent of the glass parts processed in the Austrian, Hungarian and Chinese plants are supplied by SCHOTT Rohrglas. SCHOTT has been a reliable and high-quality supplier and development partner for three decades. For this reason, we have largely done away with inspections. We accept the supplier’s certification, testing records and random tests performed within the framework of their own QS 9000 obligations.”
Rectifier diodes meet high standards

Rectifier diodes for high voltage and high temperature applications.
Vishay Semiconductor wants to remain successful. “We try our best as suppliers not to limit the growth dynamism of our clientele”, said Speidel. The planning certainly expresses his optimism: By 2001, the annual turnover is forecast to increase by 15 percent, to about 200 million euros, with 60 percent of total sales coming from glass diodes.