03/05/2008 FEI Co. and. have released Quanta Morphologi, a new product that combines FEI's Quanta field-emission gun (FEG) scanning electron microscope and Malvern's Morphologi particle characterization software.
03/05/2008 Axsun Technologies Inc. has a new sample interface for its MEMS-based Anavo Analyzer, which the company calls "the fastest handheld NIR spectrometer on the market."
03/04/2008 Mar. 4, 2008 - In a regulatory filing, Applied Materials says it has signed a $1.9B contract to supply thin-film photovoltaic equipment and services to an unnamed privately held foreign customer. Few details are available, but here's some thoughts about the deal's significance, and who the mystery customer might be.
03/04/2008 March 4, 2008 -- Kurt Ronse, IMEC's director of lithography, reviews that group's progress on EUV (first results on the alpha tool) and double patterning with Solid State Technology's Senior Technical Editor Debra Vogler.
03/04/2008 Mar. 4, 2008 - Visibility isn't improving much in the semiconductor industry, but Gartner Dataquest already doesn't like what it sees, particularly in the memory sector -- this time it's NAND flash -- so the analyst firm is chopping its outlook for 2008 growth nearly in half to 3.4%.
03/04/2008 PPG Industries has completed its acquisition of NanoProducts Corp., a developer and manufacturer of nanotechnology: nanomaterials and advanced inorganic nanoparticles designed to improve the physical properties of a wide range of consumer and industrial products.
03/04/2008 Semiconductor chipmaker AMD, working together with its research partner IBM, says it has produced a working test chip utilizing extreme ultraviolet (EUV) lithography for the critical first layer of metal connections across the entire chip.
03/04/2008 ; ELMOS Semiconductor AG and MagnaChip Semiconductor Ltd. have signed a cooperation agreement regarding the development of automotive semiconductor technologies. In a second step, ELMOS will use the foundry services of MagnaChip for these automotive technologies, with MagnaChip delivering processed wafers to ELMOS.
03/04/2008 Mar. 4, 2008 - Fujitsu Labs says it has successfully created a nanoscale carbon composite with a self-organizing structure by combining carbon nanotubes and graphene, combining CNTs' high thermal conductivity and high-current density tolerance with graphene's high electron mobility. The composite is synthesized at 510°C, cooler than temperatures for conventional graphene that are too high for electronic device applications.
03/04/2008 The SG-SOIC-3000 GHz sockets for SOIC chips are ZIF sockets and provide good signal integrity. The sockets are compact and can be mounted on the small footprint. The socket needs about 2.5 mm extra space around the chip than the actual chip size.
03/04/2008 March 4, 2008 -- /PRNewswire/ -- DUBLIN, OH -- Cardinal Health, a global provider of products and services that improve the safety and productivity of health care, today announced a definitive agreement to acquire the assets of privately held Enturia Inc. for $490 million.
03/04/2008 Mar, 4, 2008 - Intel has lowered its outlook for 1Q08 gross margins to 53%-55% from ~56% (vs. 58% in 4Q07), citing lower than expected pricing for NAND flash memory chips. All other expectations for the quarter remain unchanged.
03/04/2008 by Griff Resor, Resor Associates
Mar. 4, 2008 - With 38nm half-pitch seemingly the limit for single image 193nm immersion lithography, how the industry will reach the 32nm and 22nm nodes was the focus of last week's SPIE Advanced Lithography conference. Optics with double patterning, EUV, and e-beam direct write -- which will it be for 22nm? After a decade as a doubting Thomas, here's why I think the biggest IC companies will use EUV for the most difficult layers at the 22nm node.
03/03/2008 This intuitive cost-of-ownership (CoO) tool model is specifically designed to evaluate the cost of a given through-silicon-via (TSV) process flow. It has been developed using Excel so as to be widely exploitable and upgradable. This CoO tool will enable evaluation of the cost/wafer level for manufacturing TSVs using user inputs or pre-defined parameters.
03/03/2008 Mar. 3, 2008 - Qcept Technologies, an Atlanta, GA-based developer of surface inspection systems for semiconductor manufacturing, has raised another $9.5M in a Series C round of funding, led by previous investors (Siemens Venture Capital, along with Pittco Capital Management and others), bringing the overall total financing raised to roughly $25M.
03/03/2008 The PyroFlex 2 series of industrial pulsed laser platforms is capable of shaping pulse parameters to exact specifications for microprocessing applications. The platform utilizes a unique software pulse control process. It combines the advantages of proven high-reliability fiber-coupled laser diode pumping technology with the benefits of programming control, and incorporates an optional optical isolator for good pulse stability.
03/03/2008 The model DB-6100 stand-alone break processor speeds up sapphire wafer separation. Increasing quantities and continuous price pressure, resulting in cost reduction programs, is driving the die size of photonics components, especially LEDs, further down. Efficient die separation with very small compound semiconductor devices is becoming therefore more of an issue.
03/03/2008 The UV10SP-2A one-component, flexible, UV curable polymer system for bonding, sealing, and coating is a 100% reactive, moderate viscosity liquid at ambient temperatures that does not contain any solvents or other volatiles. When exposed to a UV light source, the system cures as a durable, tough, non-yellowing system that can be used as an adhesive, sealant, and coating. Maximum absorption of UV energy takes place in the 250–365-nm range.
03/03/2008 ; March is a busy travel month for the Advanced Packaging editors. In the next few weeks, we'll be reporting from Arizona, where both the BITS Workshop (March 9–12, 2008) and IMAPS' International Device Packaging Symposium, in conjunction with the Global Business Council (March 17–20, 2008), will be taking place; as well as Shanghai, where Gail Flower, editor-in-chief, will attend SEMICON China (March 18–20, 2008).
