02/01/2008 ; Motorola Inc. has announced it is exploring the structural and strategic realignment of its businesses to better equip its Mobile Devices business. The company's alternatives may include the separation of Mobile Devices from its other businesses in order to permit each business to grow and better serve its customers.
02/01/2008 by Katherine Derbyshire, Contributing Editor, Solid State Technology
Feb. 1, 2008 - Recent interest in thin-film solar cells is driven in part by the high-cost limited supply of bulk polysilicon, the starting material for both integrated circuits and bulk silicon solar cells. Simply using less silicon would reduce cost, but it's not that simple. Instead, the industry is looking at thinner wafers (vs. reduced area), smaller Al contacts, and even thin-film layer transfer techniques.
02/01/2008 ; Following a successful series of events held in Europe, MEMUNITY has announced its eighth workshop under the title "Critical Success Factors for Commercialization: Production Test of MEMS at Wafer Level". The workshop will be held on March 13 at the Institute for Microelectronic and Micromechanical Systems (IMMS) in Ilmenau, Germany.
02/01/2008 ; Electro Scientific Industries Inc., a provider of photonic and laser systems for micro-engineering applications, regrets to announce the passing of former senior VP Edward J. Swenson on January 28. He began his tenure with ESI in 1961, and worked his way up the chain of command throughout the years from applications engineer, earning numerous patents along the way.
02/01/2008 Feb. 1, 2008 - Within discussions about its 4Q07 results and 2008 outlook, SMIC indicated it will set up a new independent unit in Shenzhen to run new 200mm-300mm lines, the latter utilizing 45nm process technology recently licensed from IBM, and both drawing on significant support from the municipal government.
02/01/2008 IMEC officially established IMEC Taiwan in the Hsinchu Science Park. The firm, initially a representative office, is expected to grow into an R&D center within the coming months.
02/01/2008 Contamination control is an international industry. And, as you read this special show issue of CleanRooms magazine, there can be no doubt as to the international breadth and scale of the contamination control profession.
02/01/2008 The cleanroom industry must consider the current global energy situation and its impact on manufacturing in order to forge a path to energy efficiency.
02/01/2008 Just in time for Christmas last year, Lam Research (Fremont, CA) gave itself a present: the company announced it was buying the SEZ Group (Zurich, Switzerland) in an all-cash deal valued at 641 million Swiss francs (about $568 million).
02/01/2008 Contract manufacturers are realizing that risk assessments demonstrating the absence of cross-contamination between products are essential for regulatory inspection.
02/01/2008 The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is requesting nearly $2.4 billion “to protect and promote public health” as part of the President’s fiscal year 2009 (FY09) budget.
02/01/2008 by Bob Haavind, Editorial Director, Solid State Technology Jan. 31, 2008 - TSMC founder Morris Chang's speech at December's IEDM predicted healthy growth for semiconductors as they become "ubiquitous," with different values from different chip technologies. In a separate chat with reporters, he also opined about the global economy and sweeping changes in the semiconductor industry, including how foundries work with their design customers and the key to future SoC success.
01/31/2008 January 29, 2008 -- /PRNewswire/ -- CONCORD, CA AND EDEN PRAIRIE, MN -- March Plasma Systems, a Nordson company , and Harland Medical Systems, Inc. continue to build on their joint business relationship. Harland Medical Systems has agreed to license March Plasma Systems application methods and surface materials for medical device markets.
