11/20/2007 November 20, 2007 - STATS ChipPAC says it will expand its flip-chip offerings to its Shanghai, China operation, encompassing wafer bump, sort, assembly and final test. Volume production is expected to start in 1H08, followed by a second phase adding electroplated wafer bumping capabilities for 200mm wafers in 1H07 and 300mm wafers in 2H08.
11/20/2007 ; STATS ChipPAC Ltd. has announced that it is expanding its flip chip offering to provide customers a complete turnkey solution in China. STATS ChipPAC's operation in Shanghai, China will provide high -olume, low cost, full turnkey flip chip solutions encompassing wafer bump, sort, assembly, and final test.
11/20/2007 ; Global Sources and SEMI Taiwan plan to co-locate their Taiwan-based electronics industry shows in 2008. International IC-Taiwan Conference & Exhibition (IIC-Taiwan) and SEMICON Taiwan are scheduled to run from Sept. 9-11, 2008, at the Taipei World Trade Center.
11/20/2007 NAND flash memory manufacturers have made no secret about their rosy outlook for solid-state drives (SSDs) in consumer applications and notebook computers, as well as projected lower cost/GB and increasing densities. Such elation may be premature, however, according to remarks made at a recent IDEMA breakfast event (Nov. 7, Santa Clara, CA), where it was suggested that serious obstacles are still in the path of SSD adoption before the technology can make greater inroads into the computer sector.
11/20/2007 The Body Worlds exhibit at The Tech Innovation Museum, where real cadavers are preserved to expose the makeup of the human body, provided a fitting backdrop to a half-day session on "Biomedical Materials, Devices, and Packaging" at IMAPS 2007, the International Microelectronics And Packaging Society's 40th annual international symposium on microelectronics.
11/20/2007 The Society of Manufacturing Engineers' Technology Roadmap for Productive Nanosystems workshop, held last month (October 9-10, 2007), drew about 100 attendees and capped a two-year effort led by the Foresight Institute. Although not explicit in the title, both the workshop and the associated roadmap focus on a controversial theme. Small Times guest contributor Paul Burrows explains.
11/20/2007 The MEMS Industry Group (MIG) and the MicroElectronics Packaging and Test Engineering Council (MEPTEC) have formed a strategic alliance to support each other's goals and industry events, through a variety of marketing programs.
11/20/2007 November 19, 2007 - The launch of Intel's new 45nm-based Penryn processors means more business from IC substrate makers with small volume production of new flip-chip substrate makers, reportedly causing several Asian firms to project a spike in business that isn't reflected in their capacity expansion plans.
11/20/2007 November 19, 2007 - Sanyo Electric Co.'s is looking to solar cells and rechargeable batteries (e.g., lithium ion) to power its growth starting in fiscal 2008, according to similar reports in the Nikkei and Yomiuri papers.
11/20/2007 November 19, 2007 - Spreadtrum Communications Inc., a Chinese wireless baseband chipset provider, has agreed to acquire San Diego-based Quorum Systems Inc., a fabless developer of CMOS radio frequency (RF) transceivers, for $55M in cash and $15M in stock, plus an extra $6M in performance incentives over the next two years.
11/20/2007 November 19, 2007 - China Sunergy Co. Ltd. says it has as ramped to mass production of selective emitter cells, and entered into various agreements to supply up to 25MW of solar cells to Canadian Solar in 2008.
11/20/2007 November 19, 2007 - Micrel Inc. says it has signed a multimillion-dollar long-term contract to manufacture and supply solar cells to an unidentified partner, for an undisclosed amount. Production will occur at Micrel's site in San Jose, CA.
11/19/2007 November 19, 2007 - The MEMS Industry Group, a trade association representing MEMS and microstructure industries, and the MicroElectronics Packaging and Test Engineering Council (MEPTEC) have formed a strategic alliance to support each other's goals and industry events, through a variety of marketing programs.
11/19/2007 November 19, 2007 - Samsung Electronics has laid off more than 1600 workers in its first large-scale restructuring since 2002, following disappointing results this year in both its semiconductors and flat-panel businesses, according to media reports.
11/19/2007 ; Amkor Technology Inc. has announced that Joanne Solomon has been appointed Corporate VP and CFO, succeeding Ken Joyce in that position. Solomon will continue to report to Joyce, who has been named to the new position of Chief Administrative Officer.
11/19/2007 Meredith Courtemanche in sunny San Jose, covering the 40th International IMAPS symposium, and Gail Flower, first in San Diego at the MEMS Congress, and then at Productronica in Munich, braving the cold, snow, and Deutsche Bahn strike. It was my turn to stoke the fires of Advanced Packaging from home base, with the help of Julie MacShane, our web news editor.
11/19/2007 These three new two-part high refractive index (HRI) silicone encapsulants serve the light-emitting diode (LED) market and offer increased light output, a range of hardnesses to suit a variety of applications, and reportedly superior resistance to heat, chemical and ultraviolet (UV) light exposure.
11/19/2007 The 880 series of clamshell burn-in sockets accommodates standard QFN packages down to 0.35mm pitch. The compression-mount clamshell is designed to allow chipmakers to remove or replace the sockets and retain production capacity if, for whatever reason, they were to damage them.
11/19/2007 ; the Harmony wafer-level burn-in (WLBI) probe card — is reportedly designed to maximize throughput, as well as ensure higher quality and reliability of semiconductor devices.
