12/06/2007 December 6, 2007 - Citing an abundance of real-estate options to choose from, XsunX execs say they're prioritizing getting their tool orders ready before finalizing a deal for their first multimegawatt thin-film photovoltaic factory.
12/06/2007 Small, spherical conglomerations of tumor cells are superior to individual cells for predicting the response of malignant cells to a variety of anticancer treatments. To trap a reproducible number of cells in an environment that causes the cells to adhere to one another in discrete structures (the tumor spheroid), a Berkeley researcher has designed a microfluidics device that uses the properties of fluid flow at the nanoscale to capture cells within a U-shaped structure.
12/06/2007 More than a year after the fanfare-filled launch of the National Center for Nanoscience and Nanotechnology at the University of Madras in India, its first 11 students are still waiting to receive a nanotech education, according to a report in the Indian newspaper The Hindu.
12/06/2007 December 6, 2007 - Hynix Semiconductor expects to start mass production of 48nm-based NAND flash in 1Q08, which would give it a brief headstart on rivals Samsung and Toshiba, according to local media reports.
12/06/2007 ; Vertical Circuits Inc. (VCI), has announced a long-term license agreement with Shinko Electric Industries, enabling Shinko to utilize VCI's patented vertical interconnect pillar (VIP) technology to develop and produce next-generation chip scale 3D packaging solutions.
12/06/2007 December 5, 2007 - Hitachi Chemical plans to boost its production capacity for CMP slurry by 50% to 15,000 tons/year by next June, its second upgrade in the past year, according to the Nikkei Business Daily.
12/06/2007 December 5, 2007 - C. Uyemura & Co., an Osaka-based supplier of metal plating chemicals, has developed an additive that prevents formation of "tin whiskers" on circuit boards and other electronic components, according to the Nikkei Business Daily.
12/05/2007 December 5, 2007 - EV Group (EVG) and Brewer Science say they have demonstrated temporary wafer bonding capabilities for a wide range of backside processes, including through-silicon vias (TSVs) and backside metallization, using an approach optimized for high-temperature advanced packaging applications.
12/05/2007 December 5, 2007 - SEMATECH has laid out general info about its 300mm "next generation factory" program, describing new and updated projects within its efforts to help the industry find ways to lower costs and reduce cycle times for 300mm wafer manufacturing, and establish a "proving ground" for concepts relevant to 450mm wafer-size manufacturing.
12/05/2007 December 5, 2007 - ATMI and IBM have agreed to jointly develop and demonstrate advanced chemical formulations for highly implanted photoresist strip applications targeting 45nm, 32nm, and 22nm chipmaking processes.
12/05/2007 December 5, 2007 - TDK has developed a way to quickly expunge air inside 300mm wafer front-opening unified pods (FOUPs) when entering or leaving cleanrooms, which otherwise can oxidize and damage wafers and lower yields, notes the Nikkei Business Daily.
12/05/2007 December 5, 2007 - NXP Semiconductors says it has sold off equipment from its participation in the Crolles2 partnership, mainly used for R&D and pilot manufacturing, to an undisclosed buyer for an undisclosed price. Ownership will be transferred in two stages over the next six months.
12/05/2007 December 5, 2007 - Semiconductor equipment sales this year are turning out slightly better than expected, according to SEMI's year-end forecast update, but the outlook for 2008 now indicates the equipment sector's first year in the red since 2005.
12/05/2007 EV Group, which supplies wafer-bonding and lithography equipment for the MEMS and nanotech markets, and Brewer Science Inc., have claimed a "milestone" in handling and processing of ultrathin wafers.
12/05/2007 A cooperation agreement between the Finnish national nanotechnology initiative (FinNano) and the China International Nanotech Innovation Cluster (CINIC) was inaugurated Dec. 1 in the Chinese city of Shuzou.
12/04/2007 ; Agilent Technologies Inc. and Multiprobe Inc. today announced their intent to expand the companies' strategic partnership. As a result, Agilent will sell and support Multiprobe's Multiscan atomic force prober (AFP) to customers in Asia and Japan.
12/04/2007 December 4, 2007 - Richard Templeton, president/CEO of Texas Instruments, has been awarded the 2007 Akira Inoue Award from SEMI, for his efforts and achievements in semiconductor industry environmental, health, and safety improvements.
12/04/2007 In their ongoing joint development work, EV Group (EVG) and Brewer Science Inc. unveiled they have demonstrated temporary wafer bonding capabilities for a wide range of backside processes, including through-silicon vias (TSVs) and backside metallization.
12/04/2007 December 4, 2007 - Months after significant reorgs on both sides, the SVTC (nee the Silicon Valley Technology Center) and SEMATECH's R&D foundry subsidiary Advanced Technology Development Facility (ATDF) in Austin, TX, are merging to expand their ability to offer an alternative to dedicated R&D fabs or shared development/production operations, months after both sides took steps earlier this year to reorganize and expand.
12/04/2007 Researchers at IMEC gave WaferNEWS a preview of the group's papers to be presented at next week's IEDM 2007 conference in Washington, DC. Topics include PVD used for workfunction electrode metal in FinFETs; interactions between a capping layer, host dielectric, and workfunction metal that impacts threshold voltage; and using laser annealing in (gate-first) HK+MG devices to achieve gate length scaling with no loss in drive current.
