03/17/2008 The CX-1 advanced placement system is capable of placing SiP, MCM and other mixed-technology applications. The CX-1 is built on the base of a standard SMT machine, but with highly accurate glass linear encoders. Special software periodically checks and calibrates to ensure ultra-high accuracy.
03/17/2008 A new, expanded range of SN100C soldering materials are now available, including no-clean ePaste for general reflow purposes, ePaste, a special low voiding paste for critical applications such as die attach in which heat transfer though the joint must be maximized; and a high-performance solder paste with a general purpose "P500" flux medium.
03/17/2008 The advanced viewing capabilities of the Revolution X-ray inspection system include a Quad View facility and dual LCD monitors to enhance its viewing capabilities and usability. The Quad View facility allows four images to be displayed at once, which enables a more thorough inspection of substrates and is a useful tool for image comparison for operators.
03/17/2008 Mar. 17, 2008 - IBM says it has developed a silicon broadband optical switch, a key component to enable on-chip optical interconnects. The device helps "direct traffic" of electrical signals, converted into light pulses so optical messages can efficiently get form one processor core to another -- enabling up to 100x more information to be sent between cores, using 10x less power.
03/17/2008 March 17, 2008 - Intel has given a nod to four dozen of its key suppliers from its roster of thousands of supply-chain partners, ranging from capital equipment manufacturers to materials, components, and service providers, as the 2007 winners of its awards for Preferred Quality Supplier (PQS) and Supplier Continuous Quality Improvement (SCQI).
03/17/2008 Silicon MEMS microphone installations, which doubled between 2005 and 2006 to reach 20% of mobile phones manufactured, stalled in 2007, according to The Information Network (TIN).
03/17/2008 This Nanotechnology Customer Partnership initiative is a forum to share ideas, experiences, and insights among individual users and the USPTO.
03/17/2008 Tegal Corp., a designer and manufacturer of plasma etch and deposition systems used in the production of integrated circuits, MEMS, and nanotechnology devices, has signed an agreement with WESI Technology (China) for sales distribution as well as service and technical support of Tegal's plasma etch and PVD products in China and Taiwan.
03/17/2008 ; The North Carolina Economic Investment Committee has awarded a job development investment grant (JDIG) to Tessera Technologies Inc., a provider of miniaturization technologies for the electronics industry. This grant will support Tessera's consumer optics plans, enabling the company to add 185 jobs and invest approximately $30 million in its Charlotte-based wafer-level optics facilities during the next five years.
03/17/2008 March 17, 2008 -- /FDA/ -- Commissioner of Food and Drugs Dr. Andrew C. von Eschenbach announced March 10, after a national search, the appointment of Janet Woodcock, M.D., as director of the agency's Center for Drug Evaluation and Research.
03/16/2008 ; Wafer bumping is often separated into two different categories: flip chip bumping and wafer-level chip scale packaging (WLCSP). This categorization and affiliated nomenclature is mainly based on solder bump size and the type of equipment used to create them. "Flip chip" refers to bumps on semiconductor wafers in the range of 50-200 µm in height. "WLCSP" refers to bumps that are in the range of 200-500 µm.
03/15/2008 Third Wave Technologies Inc. has received clearance from the US Food and Drug Administration of its InPlex CF Molecular Test. The test simultaneously detects and identifies cystic fibrosis mutations in patient DNA samples.
03/15/2008 Governor Edward G. Rendell's drive to make Pennsylvania home to groundbreaking technological innovation will continue with $10 million in state investments in six projects.
03/14/2008 Mar. 14, 2008 - Sales of array processing equipment for TFT-LCD manufacturing is expected to rebound to 20% growth in 2008 after slumping ~50% over the past two years, as a prolonged supply glut swings to an industrywide shortage, according to analyst firm The Information Network.
03/14/2008 ; A U.S.-based personal computer maker has qualified Dow Corning's TC-5121 thermally conductive compound for use in its manufacturing operations in China. TC-5121, introduced in December, is designed for mid-range electronic systems such as desktop computers and graphic processing units.
03/14/2008 ; The Georgia Institute of Technology (GIT) will be hosting the Industry-Academia Consortium Workshop on Nano Materials, Components, Packaging and Systems (NanoPack) on April 15, 2008, at the Microsystems Packaging Research Center at GIT in Atlanta, GA. For information and registration, go to www.prc.gatech.edu/events/nanopack.
03/14/2008 Space Micro Inc. has been awarded a Phase I SBIR Contract from the US Air Force, AFRL, for research and development of a novel miniaturized space weather instrument.
03/13/2008 Mar. 13, 2008 - Ten outperforming suppliers have been honored with awards by Singapore chipmaker Chartered Semiconductor, for their efforts providing equipment, materials, and service. Dainippon Screen Singapore Pte. Ltd., Sumco Techxiv, and IBM Singapore Pte Ltd were named top suppliers for 2007 in their respective categories.
03/13/2008 Mar. 13, 2008 - JSR says it has achieved 32nm line and space patterns for 22nm node semiconductor devices with a new "freezing material" used in double patterning. Results were presented at last month's SPIE Advanced Lithography conference.
