05/28/2008 May 28, 2008 - A group of more than 30 companies in the US, Europe, and Asia have organized a new association to share information and ideas, and develop business deals and strategic partnerships.
05/28/2008 May 28, 2008 - Qcept Technologies and European R&D organization CEA-Leti have inked a deal to investigate techniques for characterizing leading-edge semiconductor materials and processes, including high-/low-k dielectrics, atomic layer deposition (ALD), fully silicided (FUSI) metal gates, and advanced cleaning technologies.
05/28/2008 May 28, 2008 - Japan's Electric Industry Co. is spinning off its chipmaking operation into a new company and giving a majority ownership to Rohm Co., a move that illustrates the history of Japan's chip industry since the 1980s and the hazard of trying to do business at the leading-edge of technology.
05/27/2008 May 27, 2008 - Japan's top seven chip companies -- Toshiba, Elpida, Sony, Renesas, NEC Electronics, Matsushita, and Fujitsu Microelectronics -- plan to cut their combined capex by 21.8% in fiscal 2008 to ¥806.7B (US $7.81B), mainly due to a shift away from the weak memory market, notes the Nikkei Business Daily.
05/27/2008 May 27, 2008 - Taiwan electronics congolomerate Tatung reportedly plans to add a high-margin photovoltaics segment to its arsenal by year's end.
05/27/2008 May 27, 2008 - Worldwide semiconductor utilization held steady at around 90% in 1Q08, though a closer look at the numbers shows a surge of leading-edge capacity coming online at the start of the year, according to the latest quarterly statistics from Semiconductor International Capacity Statistics (SICAS).
05/27/2008 The 58th Electronic Components Technology Conference (ECTC), an international conference that brings together the best in packaging, components and microelectronic systems in science, technology and education gets under way Wednesday, May 27, in Lake Buena Vista, FL, with more than 340 technical papers being presented in 36 oral sessions, two poster sessions and a special student poster session.
05/27/2008 Barry Industries has introduced a line of semiconductor packaging featuring high temperature cofired ceramic (HTCC) technology for aerospace, RF/microwave, semiconductor, and optoelectronic devices.
05/27/2008 May 27, 2008 -- The EC-funded Micro-Nanosystems European Network (MINOS-EURONET), which concludes this month, worked to showcase micro/nanotechnology R&D capabilities from new member states for a better integration of their research activities into the European Research Area (ERA).
05/27/2008 May 26, 2008 -- Catalyx Nanotech says it has begun manufacturing Platelet Graphite Nanofibers (PGNF) at a fraction of competitors' costs on a small commercial scale. "A myriad of environmentally friendly applications for PGNF have not previously been economically viable due to their high cost," the company says. Further, Catalyx plans to open a 35 ton/year capacity plant in late 2008 to produce nanoparticulate polymers, ceramics, and precious/transition metals.
05/27/2008 May 27, 2008 -- The Micromachined Diamond Device Initiative (MIDDI), led by UK researchers at Element Six Ltd in collaboration with the Institute of Photonics at The University of Strathclyde has concluded, and its "successful outcomes have already underpinned the formation of a new subsidiary by Element Six. Diamond Microwave Devices Ltd is aiming to develop the world's first commercial high frequency, high power diamond transistors," the partners say.
05/23/2008 May 23, 2008 - Researchers at the U. of California/San Diego say they have created solar cells "spiked" with nanowires in a proof-of-concept experiment that could show the way to improved efficiency in thin-flim solar cells.
05/23/2008 by Katherine Derbyshire, contributing editor, Solid State Technology
May 23, 2008 - Controlling the interface between the metal gate and the hafnium-based dielectric has been one of the most difficult issues for high-k integration schemes. ASM now says it has ALD processes for both LaOx and AlOx, and that its Polygon platform and Pulsar process modules offer a reliable platform for sequential deposition of dielectric and cap layers in a gate-first process.
05/23/2008 The conservative mood of the industry and impending fab projects that were put on hold unitl early 2009 resulted in a book-to-bill ratio of .81 for April 2008, according to Stan Myers, CEO of SEMI. This reflects an 8% drop in bookings and 2% drop in billings since March for North America based manufacturers of semiconductor equipment. A book-to-bill of 0.81 means that $81 worth of orders were received for every $100 of product billed for the month.
05/22/2008 by James Montgomery, News Editor, Solid State Technology
May 22, 2008 - A new report published in the journal Nature Nanotechnologies is raising alarms about apparent health risks associated with carbon nanotubes (CNT), similar to those seen with asbestos. But efforts are already underway to look more closely at potential issues, according to Walt Trybula, former SEMATECH immersion lithography guru and now at Texas State U., in an email exchange with WaferNEWS.
05/22/2008 by Debra Vogler, senior technical editor, Solid State Technology
May 22, 2008 - In the final ConFab 2008 session, amid the verbal volleying about whether 450mm manufacturing is needed and how would it be financed, ISMI's associate director Joe Draina reported on the progress being made in a number of areas, including the silicon wafer readiness project, wafer manufacturing infrastructure readiness, and a 450mm factory integration testbed.
05/22/2008 by Ed Korczynski, senior technical editor, Solid State Technology
May 22, 2008 - Philips arguably pioneered the fab-lite business model 20 years ago, and was one of the earliest investors and customers of TSMC. Its chip spinoff NXP Semiconductor continues the relationship with R&D and arguably most-favored customer status at the world's leading foundry. Peter Yates, SVP at NXP, talked at this week's Confab about his company's strategy to navigate troubled-waters in many nimble ships.
05/22/2008 by Pete Singer, Editor-in-Chief, Solid State Technology
May 22, 2008 - For a 450mm wafer-size transition to happen, suppliers need to be convinced that their initial investments will translate into sales and won't eat into their 300mm business. But speaking at the Confab, SEMI standards VP John Ellis indicated that suppliers still think there's no benefit to them -- and he presented new data showing that the cost modeling is flawed, and that investments are better used elsewhere.
05/22/2008 The "3D Integration North American Tour" came to San Jose on May 15 after stops in Durham, NC and Dallas, TX. The event, hosted by SUSS MicroTec, Surface Technology Systems (STS) and NEXX Systems outlined the current state of the art in through silicon vias (TSVs) and related technology.
