Alliance Fiber Optic Products, Inc. to increase cleanroom space
Alliance Fiber Optic Products, Inc (AFOP; Sunnyvale, CA) plans to expand its cleanroom facilities for manufacturing of MICS DWDM filter multiplexers and other products near it headquarters. The company acquired 10,000 square feet of space in a building adjacent to the Sunnyvale facility. According to company officials, the space will help AFOP meet its customer demands. AFOP is a supplier of fiber-optic network components and subsystems.—JVP
Nai Tai expands Canadian facility
Nai Tai Electronics Inc. is adding a five-story, 138,000-square-foot factory to it's Vancouver, B.C., campus. The new building will house a cleanroom for advanced chip-on-glass and chip-on-board machinery, surface-mount-technology production lines and research and development space. Construction is expected to be complete by March 2002.—JVP
Samsung's fabulous construction
Sources indicate that Korea's Samsung Electronics will begin construction of its first 300mm fab—Fab 11—this month. The firm's eleventh fab will have both 200mm and 300mm lines. Samsung will start processing 300mm wafers in the second half of 2001 with an initial production capacity of 5000 wafers/month. The fab will process 256-Mb and 512-Mb DRAMs with 0.15-micron design rules.
Toshiba backs out of Motorola joint venture
According to sources at Toshiba (Tokyo), Tohoku Semiconductor (Sendai, Miyagi) Prefecture, a semiconductor manufacturing firm jointly owned by Toshiba and Motorola, will become Motorola's wholly owned subsidiary in January. Toshiba will sell all the stock of the joint venture to Motorola. Toshiba has wanted to cut off the venture as a part of Toshiba's restructuring of its semiconductor business. However, Motorola needs a wholly owned semiconductor manufacturing facility based in Japan, because Nippon Motorola's semiconductor plant in Aizu Wakamatsu, Fukushima Prefecture, has been sold to ON Semiconductor. After purchasing all the stocks of the joint venture, Motorola will expand the Sendai facility.
Final farewells
As planned, the Tokyo-based Ultra Clean Society (UCS) is disbanding this fall. For the past 12 years, the association has the R&D of a wide-range of enabling technologies that support semiconductor manufacturing, and, in particular, contamination control. UCS's final commemorative symposium was held in Tokyo from September 24-25, 2000. Further information can be found at: [email protected]. The American Vacuum Society (AVS) final UCS session will be held October 6 in Boston.
Nippon Foundry postpones 300mm fab to increase 200mm
Just weeks after announcing its plans to construct a 300mm plant, Nippon Foundry, of Tateyama City, Chiba Prefecture, a wholly owned subsidiary of Taiwan's UMC, said it has decided to construct a 200mm fab instead. Completion of the 300mm plant will be postponed to 2003; construction is slated to begin in 2002. The new 200mm facility will have a production capacity of 6,000 to 7,000 wafers per month and will be located adjacent to the existing plant.
If you missed CleanRooms West, conference proceedings are available. Order them by calling 603-891-9267.