Monthly Archives: March 2001

PORTSMOUTH, NH — PureSoft Solutions, a subsidiary of First Scientific, Inc., announced a distribution agreement with VWR Scientific Products, one of the world’s largest distributors of laboratory and cleanroom products.

Following a January product launch at their National Sales Meeting, VWR Scientific Products has begun distributing PureCleanse’s antimicrobial handwash, antimicrobial First-Aid antiseptic spray, antimicrobial hand towelettes and an antimicrobial foaming instant hand sanitizer, as well as the hard surface disinfectant and PureBathe, an all-purpose hand/body wash and shampoo.

The products are targeted to pharmaceutical, cleanroom, industrial and university laboratories throughout the United States.

“The PureSoft product offering gives VWR Scientific Products a unique opportunity to provide the laboratory market with best-in-class antimicrobial skin-care, disinfecting and all-purpose cleansing products at a great price/performance combination,” said David Wilich, president of PureSoft Solutions and executive vice president of sales for PureSoft and First Scientific. “In particular, the PureCleanse with MicrobNZ range of products offers unparalleled antimicrobial protection while being extremely kind to the hands. In addition, PureBathe and our hard surface disinfectant provide the performance and value required for high-volume usage.”

MicrobNZ is highly efficacious, long lasting with a high degree of persistence, and fast-acting against a broad spectrum of pathogens, including Escherichia coli, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Staphylococcus aureus and drug resistant bacteria. The MicrobNZ formulation, which surpasses Food and Drug Administration (FDA) protocols required for classification as a Health Care Personnel Handwash and as a First-Aid Antiseptic (21 CFR 333), has also been proven to significantly moisturize and condition skin.

LIBERTY CORNER, N.J — Fedders Corporation, a leading global manufacturer of air treatment products, including air conditioners, air cleaners, dehumidifiers and humidifiers, and thermal technology products, announced that it has acquired Polenz GmbH, the premier air treatment products distributor in Germany, from Senior plc.

Headquartered in Norderstedt, Polenz distributes a broad line of heating, ventilating, and air conditioning products.

Polenz has ten sales offices and service centers located throughout Germany and distributes products under leading industry brand names as well as under its own brands.

Commenting on the acquisition, Fedders Chief Executive Officer, Sal Giordano, Jr. stated, “Polenz’s well-established distribution of air treatment products in Germany should enable Fedders to expand sales of its commercial and industrial products, including cleanroom fan filter units for the semi-conductor, medical, and pharmaceutical industries, environmental control systems for the wireless telecom industry, and advanced electronic air cleaning and humidification systems.”

Ulrich Thaufelder, Managing Director of Polenz GmbH, commented, “We are pleased to be a part of Fedders Corporation, a company that has over 100 years experience in heat transfer. Fedders products perfectly complement our existing products and distribution and we look forward to serving a broader part of the air treatment market.”

Polenz had 54 million DM (US$25.6 million) in revenues in 2000. The purchase price was not disclosed.

U.S. scientists have created the first plastic that can conduct electricity without resistance, according to the published reports.

The breakthrough could lead to the creation of plastic components for a new generation of quantum mechanics-based, ultra-fast components, the Associated Press recently reported

“It opens new vistas for coming studies,” said Olle Inganas of

Linkoping University in Sweden in a prepared statement.

However, researchers who conducted the study at Bell Labs in Murray Hill, N.J., said practical uses for the plastic are a ways off. According to the researchers, superconducting properties are apparent only when the material is cooled to minus 455 degrees Fahrenheit, or about 4 degrees above absolute zero.

In the experiment, researchers used a plastic called

Polythiophene and created a solution containing the polymer and sprayed it in a thin film onto a layer of aluminum oxide and gold. Electrons were pulled through the plastic without disruption by the electric field created by the metal mixture.

The results were published in the current issue of the journal

Nature.

Scientists at Bell Labs and other research centers are currently searching for other plastics that have superconducting properties at much warmer temperatures using similar methods.

DUBLIN, OH — Ashland Specialty Chemical Company announced the formation of Ashland Taiwan Co., Ltd. (ATCL). Simultaneously, it announced the opening of its first applications laboratory for technical support of its strippers and etch residue removers in Asia.

Ashland’s cleanroom applications laboratory is the first such facility opened in Taiwan by any supplier of strippers and etch residue removers, and the first opened by anyone in the entire region outside of Japan.

ATCL will sell Ashland-ACT photoresist stripper products in Taiwan and provide technical support for customers throughout Asia. ATCL’s prime location makes it an especially convenient resource for semiconductor manufacturers in the nearby Science Park. Ashland Specialty Chemical’s Electronic Chemicals Division (ECD) also has applications facilities in Japan, and in California, Ohio and Pennsylvania in the United States. It is planning to open another such facility in Europe next year.

“Our new applications lab in Taiwan is equipped with the latest and most sophisticated process equipment. This enables us to offer the same advanced level of technical support — including copper and 300mm wafer process technologies — that Ashland is known for providing at its other applications centers,” Shon said. “Backed by the expansive Ashland-ACT product line and our fine new facilities, our technicians stand ready to assist customers with finding the solutions to today’s increasing demands for peak performance,” he added.

Ashland’s growing Electronic Chemicals Division operations have their regional headquarters in Singapore, where Marcello Boldrini is based as ECD’s business director for Asia.

Boldrini noted Ashland’s string of accomplishments, saying: “We are pleased to be making this additional new investment in the Asian region, which again shows Ashland’s commitment to the global semiconductor marketplace. This follows our opening of a manufacturing facility for photoresist strippers and etch residue removers in Pyongtaek, Korea in 1999 and then expanding that facility last year. More recently, there was the opening of a $25 million (USD) wet process chemicals manufacturing facility in the Tahfa Industrial Complex in southern Taiwan, in which Ashland and Union Petrochemical Corp. each hold a 50-percent interest. Our manufacturing and business network is stronger than ever and continues to provide the products and services that will assist the semiconductor industry’s progress in this new century.”

Ashland-ACT is a business unit of Ashland Specialty Chemical Company’s Electronic Chemicals Division.

WESTLAKE VILLAGE, CA — Diodes Inc.said that net income for the first quarter of 2001 will be lower than previously expected due to continuing softness in demand, particularly in the computing and communications sectors.

Late in the fourth quarter of 2000, Diodes, and the semiconductor industry as a whole, experienced a sharp inventory correction in these key markets, which has continued in the first quarter of 2001. As a result, management now expects revenues to be in the range of $24 to$26 million for the first quarter of 2001, as compared with $26.1 million in the fourth quarter of 2000. Net income is anticipated to be in the range of $500,000 to $700,000, as compared with $2.8 million in the previous quarter.

The impact to earnings is largely attributable to reduced capacity utilization of the company’s manufacturing assets and changes in product mix, both of which have had a negative impact on gross margins. Due to market conditions, capacity utilization at Diodes’ FabTech subsidiary has decreased 45 percent, as compared with the previous year, while Diodes-China’s utilization has decreased 15 percent.

“The past few months have been challenging, as the industry was hit with a quick and deep inventory correction,” said Diodes President and Chief Executive Officer C.H. Chen. “The risks of becoming a fully integrated manufacturer are amplified in an industry-wide slowdown because of the fixed costs associated with manufacturing facilities.

“Management has responded to this cyclical downturn by implementing programs to cut operating costs, including reducing our worldwide workforce by 26 percent, primarily at the FabTech and Diodes-China manufacturing facilities. We will continue to actively adjust our cost structure as dictated by market conditions, but are pleased that our SG&A expenses for the quarter have decreased to less than 15 percent of revenues, compared to 16 percent in 2000.”

Diodes completed its first strategic acquisition when it acquired FabTech Inc. of Kansas City, Mo., in the fourth quarter of 2000. The 70,000-square-foot wafer foundry, with its 16,000-square-foot cleanroom, and experienced engineering team contribute to the company’s strategic goal of becoming a vertically integrated manufacturer and supplier of discrete semiconductors.

Looking forward, Chen stated, “It is important to note that we believe we have maintained our market share in our discrete semiconductor products, and we are cautiously optimistic as we are just beginning to enter new markets such as Europe and have expanded our Asian sales force.

“Long term, we believe that we will continue to generate value for our shareholders and customers, not just from our expanded Diodes-China manufacturing and FabTech’s foundry assets, but also by the addition of a true technology component to Diodes. It is unfortunate that the market conditions changed just as we started our initiative, but this will not stop us from achieving our goal of becoming a total solution provider.

“We reiterate that this is a multi-year initiative that will increase our ability to serve our customers’ needs, while establishing Diodes Inc. at the forefront of the next generation of discrete technologies.”

TAMPA, FL — The GMP Institute has moved its operations from Cincinnati, Ohio to the International Society for Pharmaceutical Engineering (ISPE) headquarters in Tampa, Fla. The move follows the January 2000 acquisition of the Institute by ISPE and will benefit GMP Institute clients and ISPE members, as well as the larger healthcare technology community, since together the two organizations will offer a wider range of products and services from one convenient location.

Both organizations, now headquartered in Tampa, bring together more than 40 years of experience in training and education for the healthcare manufacturing industry. The acquisition has led to an increase in the scope of training programs ISPE offers. As a division of ISPE, the GMP Institute provides industry professionals with valuable GMP training that enables professionals and their companies to manufacture and deliver high-quality products and services.

Since 1977, the GMP Institute has helped organizations and individuals successfully coordinate, control, and continuously improve performance by integrating the four GMP goals of productivity, quality, health and safety, and regulatory compliance. The GMP Institute has provided ongoing competency training by offering a structured curriculum of workshops, on-site training, publications, and products.

ISPE remains the Society of choice for more than 13,000 healthcare technology professionals across 63 countries. Through forums, educational services, and publications, the Society provides members with opportunities to develop technical knowledge, exchange practical experience, and work together to enhance industry practices.

ISPE President/CEO Robert P. Best considers the acquisition an excellent service for ISPE and its members since it offers another dimension to the educational courses offered by ISPE.

?The GMP Institute is an educational organization that fits perfectly into ISPE?s strategic plan. As the Society continues to expand more into basic training, we seek to offer members additional services and programs that will help them improve performance,? Best notes.

ISPE Director of Training Kathleen Anderson says the move is another way the Society will better serve not only its membership and customers, but healthcare manufacturing companies and other industry organizations as well.

?Now that ISPE and the GMP Institute have united at the Tampa headquarters, we are providing a one-stop-shopping opportunity for our members and customers since we now have a wider variety of education and training selections available all at one location,? Anderson says.

March 14, 2001–Fremont, California–Citing the sharp economic slowdown and accompanying inventory corrections in worldwide technology markets, Asyst Technologies, Inc. has revised its expectations for revenues in the fourth quarter of fiscal year 2001(ending March 31, 2001), and announced that a workforce reduction of 17% will take place.

The company now anticipates that fourth quarter revenues will be approximately 15% lower than the previous sequential quarter, yet as much as 15% above the $94 million revenues reported a year ago. Previous company guidance, provided on January 25, 2001, anticipated flat sequential revenues from the third to the fourth quarter. All revenue expectations are stated before the impact of the adoption of Staff Accounting Bulletin No. 101, and before accounting for the recent acquisitions of Advanced Machine Programming and Semifab, Inc.

“Weak global economic conditions are affecting business across the board in our customers’ fabs, and they are in turn reducing their capital spending,” says Mihir Parikh, Asyst’s chairman and chief executive officer. “Although we cannot predict the length of the current slowdown, we continue to capture additional opportunities in the 300mm interfaces, portal and FOUP product arenas, further demonstrating our 300mm market leadership.”

The company further reports that the uncertainty surrounding current industry dynamics prevents it from providing meaningful guidance at this time for the fourth quarter of fiscal 2001 with reference to gross margin, operating expenses as a percent of revenue or net income.

To accommodate lowered revenue expectations, the company has implemented several cost-reduction measures, including reducing worldwide headcount by approximately 17% and lowering non-essential discretionary spending. The headcount reductions affected both temporary and regular full-time positions and were implemented during the past 2 weeks.

March 14, 2001–Jasper, Indiana–Kimball International, Inc. today announced the opening of its new 40,000-sq.-ft. microelectronics facility in Valencia, CA. As Kimball Electronics Group’s (KEG) Microelectronics Center of Excellence, the facility will support wafer and die processing, design and manufacturing of standard and custom monolithic devices, multi-chip modules (MCM’s), chip-on-board (COB), and surface mount (SMT) assemblies.

“Our microelectronics capability plays an important role in providing advanced packaging technologies to support our customers’ requirements,” says Don Charron, president of Kimball Electronics Group.

Kimball International’s Electronic Contract Assemblies business segment provides design engineering, manufacturing, packaging, and distribution of electronic assemblies, circuit boards, multi-chip modules, and semiconductor components on a contract basis to a variety of industries on a global scale.

March 14, 2001–Washington, DC–The Semiconductor Industry Association (SIA) today announced that it is doubling the size of its Focus Center Research Program, a collaborative research and development effort involving a number of the nation’s top universities. The Focus Center–funded jointly by the U.S. semiconductor industry (50%), the semiconductor equipment manufacturing industry (25%), and the U.S. Department of Defense (25%)–will channel more than $500 million into leading U.S. research universities over a 10-year period to ensure continued advancements in microelectronics technology.

Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) will lead research into advanced materials, structures, and devices that extend the life of planar-bulk CMOS silicon. This is the mainstream technology used by the semiconductor industry today. The group will also explore new switching technology beyond silicon CMOS. Joining MIT are: University of California, Berkeley; Princeton; Purdue; Stanford, SUNY – Albany; UCLA; University of Texas, Austin; and University of Virginia.

Carnegie Mellon University (CMU) will lead a team studying circuits, systems, and software design, targeting circuit analysis and synthesis, system level technologies, and application methodologies for future computing devices. Joining CMU are: MIT; Stanford; University of California, Berkeley; Columbia; University of Illinois; Princeton; Rochester Polytechnic Institute; and the University of Washington.

“This program demonstrates how successful a collaborative relationship between industry, government, and academia can be,” says Dr. John Kelly, chairman of the SIA Board of Directors and senior vice president and group executive of IBM. “With the growing importance of technology to the economy, it is essential that we work together where it makes sense to drive fundamental advances.”

“Semiconductors are the technological underpinnings of the Information Age. Joining great universities with the long-term horizon of the Focus Center Research Program allows us to explore the frontiers of technology and return with practical solutions,” explains Dr. Craig Barrett, chairman of the SIA Focus Center Research Program and president and CEO of Intel Corp. “The Focus Center Research Program is the largest sustained university research program in the world focused on semiconductors, the building blocks of computers, the Internet, wireless, and telecommunications.”

The Focus Center Research Program, established by the Semiconductor Industry Association in 1998, is forming and expanding a national network of universities conducting cutting-edge semiconductor research deemed critical to the growth of the technology industries and the nation’s economy. The program is managed by the Microelectronics Advanced Research Corp., a subsidiary of the Semiconductor Research Corp. (SRC), based in Research Triangle Park, NC, for the industry, and by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) on behalf of the U.S. Department of Defense.

March 14, 2001–Milpitas, California–NuTool, Inc. has been granted a U.S. patent covering a process for depositing interconnect material in submicron structures of an IC, creating a planar film while preventing unwanted accumulation of the film on the wafer’s surface. The first application is for copper interconnect, the new material in use for the most advanced ICs.

“We are excited about our patent, as it establishes NuTool as the preeminent supplier of ECMD Technology. By depositing and planarizing copper efficiently in a single process, we reduce the necessity for chemical mechanical planarization (CMP) by more than 50%,” says Homayoun Talieh, founder and chief executive officer of NuTool, Inc. “Furthermore, this technology significantly reduces production costs for chipmakers, while improving yield and performance.”

NuTool’s technology currently is in advanced beta testing systems with several of the world’s top 10 semiconductor manufacturers. Results have demonstrated that the patented electrochemical mechanical deposition process is less expensive and produces fewer defects than conventional electroplating techniques now in use, according to NuTool.