08/14/2007 August 14, 2007 - Taiwanese prosecutors are pushing for jail time for former UMC chairman Robert Tsao for his company's alleged illegal technology involvement with a Chinese partner, even though a lower court recently threw out fines levied against him, according to local media reports in Taiwan.
08/14/2007 Results shared at the recent West Coast Junction Technology Group meeting indicated a spike rapid thermal anneal followed by a millisecond laser anneal improves polysilicon gate depletion to the extent that it opens up the possibility of being able to delay the introduction of complex metal gates until the 32nm node for most applications. Also notable was the finding that a medium-power laser anneal gave much better overall results for NMOS and PMOS devices than a high-power laser anneal.
08/14/2007 AlwaysReady, Inc. has named Dr. Fred Allen as Chief Executive Officer. AlwaysReady, Inc. was created in April 2007 to create shareholder value in mPhase's leading-edge nanotechnology battery and MEMS based products.
08/14/2007 Ametek Inc. has acquired Cameca SAS, a manufacturer of high-end elemental analysis systems used in advanced laboratory research, semiconductor, and nanotechnology applications.
08/14/2007 SUSS MicroTec delivered a 200-mm Gamma production coating and developer cluster to HD MicroSystems, LLC (Wilmington, DE), to support the company's polyimide and PBO material technologies. HD MicroSystems is a joint venture (JV) of Hitachi Chemical Co. Ltd. and DuPont Electronic Technologies. It will use the production cluster to support expansion into advanced packaging markets, said John Malloy, U.S. marketing and sales manager, HD MicroSystems.
08/14/2007 August 14, 2007 - Rohm and Haas Co. and SKC Inc. are forming a joint venture to develop, manufacture and market advanced optical and functional films for use with liquid crystal and plasma flat-panel displays.
08/14/2007 Thermo Scientific's large-area silicon drift detector now enables electron microscopes to sense very low energy X-rays down to Beryllium -- and produces clear peak separations for more confident analysis.
08/13/2007 The LEAP HR microscope family enables materials science research, particularly metallurgical applications. With high (mass) resolution, researchers can examine individual atoms with compositional accuracy in voltage-pulse mode. The design is said to increase throughput and suit mechanical, electrical, and magnetic observations.
08/13/2007 EasyPro3D hosts simplified parameterizing; an IPC-compliant, 1,600 component library, LIB2007; and updated repair station. The shortened parameter list reportedly speeds high-quality inspection with low false calls, while automatic parameter optimization (APO) allows use with all LIB2007 algorithms.
08/13/2007 An advanced coating cluster, the Gamma XPress suits gold bump coating, under bump metallization or redistribution coating, high-volume LED coating, and other film-development applications based on chosen configuration. It is said to shorten lead times with flexible production setup.
08/13/2007 Targeting long-term use and reworkable assemblies, the Keratherm 86/82 high-tensile-strength thermal interface material (TIM) is thermally conductive and electrically isolating, comprising silicone film with a fiberglass layer.
08/13/2007 A halogen-free, RoHS-compliant transparent epoxy polyimide laminate product line, R/flex JADE A targets flexible circuit needs in portable electronics, computing, packages, and other applications.
08/13/2007 Nova NanoSEM 30 series of field-emission scanning-electron microscopes (SEMs) are designed to analyze and characterize a range of materials, perform lithography and deposition prototyping, and host in-situ experimentation and testing.
08/13/2007 August 13, 2007 - The European Commission has given its approval for the proposed new JV entity combining flash memory assets of STMicroelectronics and Intel's NOR assets and resources, saying the transaction "would not significantly impede effective competition."
08/13/2007 By Allen Park, KLA-Tencor Corp., Milpitas, CA, United States
EXECUTIVE OVERVIEW A powerful new method can identify systematic defects within a large defect sample, prior to SEM review. By integrating design data with defect data, this method enables accurate binning of randomly distributed structural systematic defects. Instead of relying on inefficient random review sampling to identify defects of interest (DOI), this technique applies a pattern search engine...
08/13/2007 August 13, 2007 - German chipmaker Infineon reportedly could be the target of a takeover bid from STMicroelectronics, with a potential price of 12.50 euros/share, about a 16% premium above Friday's closing price.
08/13/2007 By John Borland, contributing editor, Solid State Technology
The VLSI Symposium meeting this year (June 12–14, Kyoto, Japan) revealed there will be not one, but many different solutions for the production implementation of hafnium-based oxides at the 45nm node and beyond, with Hf-based dielectric k values varying from a "medium"-k (8–12) up to a true high k of 22–24. The gate electrode for some companies will remain poly ...
08/13/2007 August 13, 2007 - Hynix Semiconductor Inc. will use Innovative Silicon Inc.'s (ISi) ZRAM high-density memory IP for its ZRAM chips, the first company to license the technology for DRAMs (AMD is using it for microprocessors).
08/13/2007 Verdant Electronics named more than 15 members from packaging, interconnect, PCB, and related industries to its board of advisors, including Happy Holden, Werner Engelmaier, and others. These contributors helped frame the Occam package-first assembly method Verdant introduced, and will bring the process from concept to development, said Joe Fjelstad, president, Verdant.
08/13/2007 Scotland-based R&D-focused institutions and companies founded a consortium to engage emerging technology companies in MEMS, biomedical, control electronics, remote sensing, and advanced technology sectors. The Institute for System-level Integration (iSLI), the Scottish Microelectronics Centre (SMC), Optocap, and Photonix Limited plan to provide R&D, commercial scaling, and higher-value services to U.K.-based and global industry members.
Thermo Scientific's large-area silicon drift detector now enables electron microscopes to sense very low energy X-rays down to Beryllium -- and produces clear peak separations for more confident analysis.