04/01/2008 I love to sit in airports and imagine what people are like outside of travel. For instance, a fellow just walked by with fur-lined ear flaps on his camo hat and flip flops on his feet.
04/01/2008 When it comes to semiconductor and MEMS devices, it is well-known that the industry is experiencing certain limitations – whether they are related to functionality, reliability or cost.
04/01/2008 SHANGHAI — Fort Washington, PA-based Kulicke & Soffa Industries, Inc. launched two next-generation wire bonders just after SEMICON China opened for public viewing.
04/01/2008 A variety of bumping technologies are in use today. Electroplating is used for fine-pitch (<250 μm) solder bumping, while robotic ball placement is used for larger pitch, lower (<100) I/O applications.
04/01/2008 The negatives of lead-free solders have triggered a growing renaissance in tried-and-true flip chip technologies, as improved equipment and new applications boost twentieth-century approaches.
04/01/2008 A Cost-effective Solution As high-volume MEMS production applications become a reality, device manufacturers are requiring low cost-of-ownership (COO) through high-yield at the wafer level and high overall equipment uptime. Several industrialized proprietary solutions have been developed to reach best performances.
03/31/2008 The Permalex Paste Manager, from Transition Automation, is a self-cleaning squeegee system based on microprocessor controlled torque actuators. Offered as a solution to the ongoing problem of solder paste sticking to squeegees inside screen printers, this electronically actuated version of the company's Paste Manager reportedly achieves 90% cleaning in 3.9 seconds for a 14? squeegee.
03/31/2008 Ironwood Electronics' LA-BGA88D-FLASH-PSRAM-01 Logic Analyzer Adapter is said to allow high-speed operation, simultaneously enabling memory device analysis in PDAs, cell phones, digital cameras and MP3 players that use Tektronix Logic Analyzer System.
03/31/2008 EP21LM-3, a two component, medium-viscosity epoxy resin system from Masterbond is suitable for high-performance bonding, encapsulation and coating. EP21LM-3 readily develops high physical strength properties including a tensile modulus greater than 100,000 psi (690 MPa) and a tensile shear strength greater than 2300 psi (16 MPa). A viscosity of 37,000 cps allows the product to flow evenly and smoothly without application of pressure.
03/31/2008 The Acoustic Surface Profile (ASP) module from Sonoscan allows its C-SAM acoustic microscopes to reveal the external surface topography of a device at the same time as its internal features. It reportedly requires no additional scanning time because profile data is taken at the same time as the acoustic image data. If a part is tilted, ASP corrects for tilt before profiling the surface.
03/31/2008 By Ritwik Chatterjee, Ph.D. and Rao Tummala, Ph.D., Georgia Tech
Ceramic substrates were the basis of high performance IC packages until 1990. Since then organic substrates have taken over. However, organic substrates seem to have reached their limits. Recent advancements using Si wafer as the substrate with through-silicon via (TSV) replacing flip chip and wire bond, and with embedded thin-film components, may allow for part or the entire system to be made of silicon.
03/31/2008 March 31, 2008 -- /HAYWARD, CA/ -- TouchMark, a division of Delphon Industries, announces that it has met the strict requirements for ISO compliance and has been awarded ISO 9001:2000 certification for its precision pad printing services.
03/31/2008 March 31 -- /PRNewswire/ -- EN HAROD, ISRAEL -- Ricor Cryogenic & Vacuum Systems, a manufacturer of semiconductor manufacturing equipment, today announces the acquisition of InnerSense Ltd.
03/28/2008 Mar. 28, 2008 - Hynix plans to produce 54nm-based DRAM chips this year on schedule, saying this will "reduce the technology gap with Samsung," according to the company's CEO, quoted by the Korea Times. Hynix is currently expected to start 54nm-based DRAM production in 3Q08, vs. Samsung's 56nm possibly starting in 2Q08.
03/28/2008 Mar. 28, 2008 - After growing at a 9% CAGR over the past five years, demand for MEMS-based semiconductor sensors and actuators is expected to accelerate to 19% CAGR through 2012, as emerging MEMS technologies find traction in new markets and applications, according to a report by IC Insights. The firm projects MEMS sensors/actuator sales will increase to $9.7B by 2012, vs. $4.1B in 2007.
