06/20/2008 June 20, 2008 - Offering more evidence for chipmakers' belt-tightening this year, semiconductor equipment demand has slumped to three-year lows, to levels not seen since mid-2005, according to the latest monthly data from SEMI.
06/20/2008 The Swiss federal government has published a Nanotechnology Action Plan on manufactured nanomaterials that recommends measures in four areas: 1. Research; 2. Communication and public dialogue; 3 Risk assessment and regulation; and 4. Efficient use of resources. Small Times contributor Dr. Christoph Meili, CEO of Switzerland's The Innovation Society, explains.
06/20/2008 June 20, 2008 -- Luna Innovations Inc., has been awarded a $3.9 million subcontract from General Dynamics Information Technology in support of the Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) to continue work improving the performance of nanomaterials for military applications.
06/20/2008 A new tool by the Innovation Society and TÃœV SÃœD now also allows smaller companies, research institutions and retailers to gain a well-founded overview of the actual risk situation in their operations.
06/20/2008 June 20, 2008 -- Semiconductor Research Corporation (SRC), a university-research consortium for semiconductors and related technologies, joined with researchers at Stanford University to achieve CMOS-compatible working circuits on a wafer scale.
06/20/2008 June 19, 2008 - Researchers at Kobe U. and Yumex have prototyped a UV light source made without mercury and twice as efficient as existing mercury lamps, with a commercial product possibly ready in two years, according to the Nikkei Business Daily.
06/20/2008 June 19, 2008 - Spansion says it is extending its plan to hand off manufacturing and technology work to external partners in order to focus its capital investments on accelerating development of leading-edge MirrorBit flash memory technology, other "value-added, high-margin solutions," and its newest SP1 300mm flash memory fab in Aizu-Wakamatsu, Japan.
06/20/2008 June 19, 2008 - Samsung Electronics and Siltronic AG have begun operations of their 300mm wafer-making JV in Singapore, Siltronic Samsung Wafer Pte. Ltd., 18 months after construction began and two years after its formation. Monthly capacity is targeted at 300,000 wafers/month by 2010, with an overall investment of $1B.
06/20/2008 June 19, 2008 - Toshiba says it has developed a new compact model for circuit design that improves gate density for 45nm CMOS technology by 2.6× that of 65nm process technology, better than the 2.0× expected with a node migration.
06/20/2008 June 19, 2008 - Toppan Printing and IBM have forged a new development agreement covering the final phase of 32nm photomask process development, and all phases of 22nm photomask process development. Work will start this month at IBM's photomask facility in Essex Junction, VT.
06/19/2008 June 19, 2008 -- Accelrys, Inc. has released Materials Studio 4.3, the newest version of its materials modeling and simulation platform. Materials Studio 4.3 enables multiscale modeling by introducing new functionality in the areas of quantum mechanics and mesoscale modeling.
06/19/2008 Advanced Knowledge Associates (AKA), a manufacturer of miniaturized and reconfigurable system-on-module solutions, has joined the Small Form Factor special interest group (SFF-SIG), a new, non-profit industry group that develops, promotes, and supports small form factor circuit board specifications and related technologies.
06/19/2008 June 19, 2008 -- SUSS MicroTec, a supplier of process and test solutions for the semiconductor industry, has been selected by u-ITC, Korea to provide the advanced wafer bonding equipment of SUSS for its MEMS foundry. U-ITC's Incheon facility will incorporate design, manufacture, assembly and test within one location for the growing fabless MEMS market.
06/18/2008 June 18, 2008 - Startup Ben Ten Technology claims to have developed a nontoxic cleaning technology with application in reclaim processes for LCD substrate glass and silicon wafers.
06/18/2008 June 18, 2008 - At this week's VLSI Symposium in Hawaii, Fujitsu Labs and Fujitsu Microelectronics have tipped details on their development of lower-power CMOS technology logic LSIs that are "on par" with other 32nm metal gate technologies. They also say they have developed a circuit with <1μsec on/off switching to extend "off" times and reduce leakage current.
06/18/2008 June 18, 2008 -- The U.S. Display Consortium (USDC), a public/private partnership chartered with developing the flat panel display (FPD) and flexible electronics industry infrastructure, today announced a significant expansion to its 8th annual Flexible Electronics and Displays Conference, which returns February 2-5, 2009.
06/18/2008 MMFX Technologies Corporation, a materials science company that uses nanotechnology to manufacture high-strength, corrosion-resistant steel, has received a $55 million commitment in secured debt financing.
06/18/2008 June 18, 2008 -- NEXX Systems, a provider of process equipment for advanced wafer-level packaging applications, will participate in IMEC's Industrial Affiliation Program (IIAP) on 3D integration.
06/18/2008 Vectron International, a designer and manufacturer of Frequency Control, Sensor, and Hybrid Product solutions, has released its new VMEM5Q high-shock and vibration MEMS-based military clock oscillator. The VMEM5Q utilizes a small mass, high stiffness micromechanical resonator.
06/18/2008 June 18, 2008 -- Industrial Nanotech, Inc. announced that its Chinese distributor, NorthStar Power Engineering, has begun working with a major Asian automotive manufacturer to trial the company's patented NanoBoost automotive parts coating for heat control and increased fuel efficiency.
