01/07/2008 Camtek Ltd. has announced that it has sold three Falcon wafer inspection systems to a major global
corporation based in Europe that develops, manufactures, and markets electronic components and
modules. Two Falcons are for semiconductor wafer inspection, while the third Falcon was
customized for automated inspection of special ceramic substrates.
01/07/2008 Immersion lithography was the central theme at the 2007 [formerly IEEE] Lithography Workshop (Dec. 9-13, Puerto Rico), since 193nm immersion and double exposure/double etch appears the likely choice at 32nm. Also discussed were EUV's trio of major unsolved problems, multibeam's revival, and possible litho inspiration in magnetic discs and flat-panel displays.
01/07/2008 Jan. 7, 2008 - Metrology equipment supplier Metryx Ltd. and IMEC have formed a joint development program centering on evaluating and developing mass metrology at both the application and tool level for sub-32nm process manufacturing.
01/07/2008 Purdue University researchers have developed a new modeling technique to study and design miniature biosensors, which could help industry perfect lab-on-a-chip technology for uses ranging from medical diagnostics to environmental monitoring.
01/04/2008 Jan. 4, 2008 - Thanks to an ongoing harsh pricing environment, major DRAM manufacturers Winbond and Nanya have begun to push out equipment orders, according to a pair of reports.
01/04/2008 Jan. 4, 2008 - Days after sending out its monthly global semiconductor sales update, the SIA has revised the figures going back to September, to reflect an extra $1.35B in DRAM sales.
01/04/2008 Toshiba and SanDisk aim to increase their share of the NAND flash market by bringing down costs, as they accelerate the ramp of their new Yokkaichi Fab 4 next year, introducing 43nm geometries, high-k/metal gates, second generation 1.3NA immersion lithography, and 3 bits per cell. Executives from both companies detailed their current production plans and future roadmap for flash memory technology to SST partner Nikkei Microdevices.
01/04/2008 From deciding on HK+MG first or last (or both), to dreams and realities of semiconductor manufacturing expansion in foreign markets, and the continued winding march of technology development and industry consolidation -- 2007 was an interesting year for the semiconductor industry, especially for those of us trying to keep track of it all.
01/04/2008 Measurement Specialties Inc., a global designer and manufacturer of MEMS sensors and sensor-based systems, has acquired the Swiss-based pressure sensor maker Intersema Sensoric SA.
01/04/2008 A new strategic plan for the work of the National Nanotechnology Initiative has been released by the interagency Nanoscale Science, Engineering, and Technology (NSET) Subcommittee of the National Science and Technology Council's Committee on Technology.
01/04/2008 ; Braggone, an optoelectronics materials company, has received multimillion dollar funding from TEKES (The National Technology Agency of Finland) to commercialize their polymer materials. Semiconductor devices and flat panel displays are primary targets.
01/04/2008 ; Electro Scientific Industries Inc., a provider of photonic and laser systems for micro-engineering applications, has announced that it will directly represent its memory repair products in Japan and separate from Canon Marketing Japan Inc., its distributor, effective April 1, 2008.
01/03/2008 Jan. 3, 2008 - Japan's SUMCO (nee Sumitomo Mitsubishi Silicon Corp.), the world's No.2 silicon wafer provider, is planning to consolidate its domestic engineering staff of ~1000 workers at seven manufacturing facilities to a new R&D center at its facility in Imari, Saga Prefecture, according to the Nikkei daily.
01/03/2008 Jan. 3, 2008 - Germany's Qimonda and Taiwan's Macronix International have signed a deal to jointly develop nonvolatile memory technologies over a five-year period, sharing development costs and pooling engineering resources. Financial terms were not disclosed.
01/03/2008 Microvision Inc. will unveil at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas next week an advanced prototype of the first handheld, battery-powered, "plug-and-play" projector based on the company's single micro-mirror laser scanning display technology.
01/02/2008 Jan. 2, 2008 - Worldwide chip sales slowed in November to just a fraction of a percent vs. October, and are on pace for roughly 3% growth for all of 2007, below the Semiconductor Industry Association's (SIA) projections of 3.8% barely a month ago.
01/02/2008 Jan. 2, 2008 - Vanguard International Semiconductor Corp. has officially acquired 200mm chipmaking lines from Winbond Electronics Corp., under a deal announced in March.
01/02/2008 Jan. 2, 2008 - Global demand for semiconductor equipment made by North American-based manufacturers didn't improve much in November, according to recent data from SEMI.
Microvision Inc. will unveil at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas next week an advanced prototype of the first handheld, battery-powered, "plug-and-play" projector based on the company's single micro-mirror laser scanning display technology.