10/03/2007 October 3, 2007 - Memory firms' investments have continued longer than expected, but the ride's about to get bumpy, with tool sales grinding to flat growth and capex backing into negative territory over the next year, according to new forecasts by Gartner Inc.
10/03/2007 A hearty serving of nanotechnology, designed to spark interest in math and science, is now part of the breakfast menu for children throughout the Northeast thanks to a new cereal box developed by Price Chopper Supermarkets and the College of Nanoscale Science and Engineering (CNSE) of the University at Albany.
10/02/2007 After bouncing around on the calendar and in venue, Semicon Europa, formerly a springtime event in Munich, Germany, is ready to open its doors next week in Stuttgart (conveniently at the same time as Germany's second-biggest beer festival, Cannstatter Volksfest...complete with multistory fruit tower). Here follows a quick scan of highlights from Europa's program schedule, and sessions you'll want to bookmark.
10/02/2007 STATS ChipPAC announced it has completed the acquisition of LSI Corporation's assembly and test operation, located in Pathumthani, Thailand. The agreement was initially announced July 26, 2007.
10/02/2007 By Stephen Ormrod, Edwards, West Sussex, United Kingdom
EXECUTIVE OVERVIEW Vacuum technology is not often considered as leading semiconductor manufacturing. However, a look back at the last 50 years reveals that it has played an essential supporting role. Complex interactions between vacuum and manufacturing technologies have inspired
10/02/2007 Matsushita Electric Industrial Co. is again touting its 45nm work, saying that six video recorders are set to hit the market in November incorporating a 45nm version of the company's UniPhier system LSI.
10/02/2007 The Paladin Compact 355-4000 solid-state, ultraviolet (UV) laser from Coherent delivers 4 Watts of quasi-CW output at 355 nm in a small footprint package. This laser is specifically designed for OEMs, due to its combination of low cost-of-ownership, small size, high-quality output, and operational simplicity.
10/02/2007 Dow Corning's TC-5026 Thermally Conductive Compound is a thermal grease used to carry heat away from PC microprocessor chips and other critical components. It is applied in a thin layer between a chip and a heatsink. Due to its ability to thin out to low bond lines, it reportedly provides low thermal resistance, high reliability, and stability under adverse conditions such as thermal cycling, high humidity, and high-temperature aging.
10/02/2007 A Summary of IWLPC 2007 By Terence Q. Collier, contributing editor
In real estate, three words are important: location, location, and location. In semiconductor packaging, three words are also important: location, location, and size. As size limits of package approaches that of chip-scale packaging (CSP), space optimization can only go in one remaining direction; up.
10/02/2007 The WPC EVO is the next-generation 300-mm wafer handling tool developed by NBS Technologies' semiconductor group. It provides the capability to fully automate wafer packing, unpacking, and sorting processes between industry standard cassettes, FOUP/FOSB and horizontal wafer shippers.
10/02/2007 A New Stencil Rulebook By Steve Watkin and Tom Falcon, DEK
As the package technology-of-choice for portable consumer electronic products, wafer-level chip scale packages (WL-CSPs) are swelling global production of devices that incorporate area-array interconnects. Concurrently, these packages are moving to finer solder ball diameter and interconnect pitch specifications.
10/02/2007 Quatrix Kelvin QFN, the latest test socket from Antares, uses a single set of photolithographic-based contacts, with two distinct electrical connections per terminal, on an IC package. Developed for the migration of Kelvin-configuration testing of QFN packages, it suits test processes from the R&D environment to mass production down to 0.5 mm pitch.
10/02/2007 The WS-3800 Xpress, RVSI's next-generation model in its WS-Series Wafer Inspection Systems, is said to perform macro-defect inspection on up to 115 wafers-per-hour, offering high throughput while maintaining the same high-resolution, advanced macro-inspection capability as its predacessor.
10/02/2007 October 2, 2007 - Global revenues for semiconductors used in LCD TVs should nearly quadruple from now to 2011, due to multiple factors led by a migration to digital TV sources, and availability of displays with better formfactors at a much cheaper price, according to new data from iSuppli Corp.
10/02/2007 October 2, 2007 - Slumping ASPs caused by overcapacity, and a migration to higher densities, will cause a 1% dip in the flash memory market this year. But forecasted demand across several applications -- notably the computing sector -- will drive significant growth for NAND for the next several years, according to IC Insights Inc.
10/02/2007 The photomask industry is puttering along as usual, with mask revenues as a percentage of the global semiconductor industry remaining steady, as are the number of plates shipped, according to the annual self-assessment survey presented by Gil Sheldon at the SPIE Symposium on Photomask Technology (Sept. 18). Almost all of the papers presented at this year's BACUS dealt with refinements of technology supporting optical lithography, with EUV and imprint notably under-represented.
10/02/2007 This year's BACUS meeting was all about the 32nm node, and with EUV and nanoimprint still not ready, it's clear that the industry will use today's immersion processes plus double patterning lithography. Discussions involved how to get the needed incremental improvements in image placement errors and CD uniformity, and ongoing progress in mask blanks, e-beam writers, resists, and inspection/repair tools. And two innovations that will help sustain the future pace of this industry were debuted.
10/02/2007 Rick Wallace, CEO of KLA-Tencor, launched BACUS 2007 with his keynote speech highlighting the technical and business challenges facing mask toolmakers. An early leader in mask inspection equipment, KLA-Tencor at first relied on technical innovation, he noted. In its middle years, 24 x 7 production reliability was the top priority. Now a new business model is needed: collaboration with key customers and supplier.
10/02/2007 Genomatix Software GmbH, based in Munich, says that French pharmaceutical company Sanofi-Aventis has renewed its licenses for access to Genomatix's microarray analysis pipeline.
A hearty serving of nanotechnology, designed to spark interest in math and science, is now part of the breakfast menu for children throughout the Northeast thanks to a new cereal box developed by Price Chopper Supermarkets and the College of Nanoscale Science and Engineering (CNSE) of the University at Albany.