07/19/2007 July 18, 2007 - Silterra Malaysia has laid out its three-stage plan to pump up capacity for process technologies ranging from 0.18-micron to 65nm, including plans to build a new 20k-25k WPM 300mm wafer fab, at a total cost of $1.5-2.0 billion.
07/19/2007 July 18, 2007 - Keithley Instruments Inc. and European R&D institute CEA-Leti have agreed to jointly research methods for characterizing advanced semiconductor materials and devices that support DC, high frequency, and RF-level signals on both micro- and nano-level structures.
07/18/2007 Participants in Tuesday's Interconnect Symposium hosted by Kulicke & Soffa and Advanced Packaging magazine, examined a list of trends, challenges, and opportunities in advanced packaging (e.g., wire-bonding and flip-chips) that are being thrust into the semiconductor manufacturing spotlight. "If you're an advanced packaging engineer, you're finally getting the recognition you deserve," noted TechSearch International president E. Jan Vardemann.
07/18/2007 July 18, 2007 - At SEMICON West 2007, ASML Holding NV (ASML) has selected Cymer Inc. as the extreme ultraviolet (EUV) source supplier for ASML's EUV scanners for high-volume manufacturing (HVM). Cymer disclosed that it has signed a multi-year, multi-unit EUV source agreement with the first shipment scheduled for late 2008.
07/18/2007 July 18, 2007 - IMEC has expanded its 3D packaging research program to fully exploit the potential of novel 3D technologies. Besides 3D interconnection technologies developments, the program is extended with research on system design methodologies. Both the technology and design sub-programs will be based on actual system requirements and closely coupled.
07/18/2007 July 18, 2007 - At SEMICON West, Amkor Technology Inc., a provider of advanced semiconductor assembly and test services, and IMEC, the independent nanoelectronics and nanotechnology research center based in Belgium, announced that they have entered into a 2-year collaboration agreement. They will develop cost-effective, 3D integration technology based on wafer-level processing techniques.
07/18/2007 July 18, 2007 - Novellus Systems Inc. has launched the VECTOR Extreme plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition (PECVD) system and the INOVA NExT with HCM IONX ionized physical vapor deposition (PVD) source at SEMICON West.
07/18/2007 July 18, 2007 - Applied Materials Inc. today released its Applied Producer ACE SACVD system, which helps extend 193nm lithography using self-aligned double patterning (SADP) schemes. The ACE system reportedly delivers a highly conformal oxide spacer film with greater than 95% step coverage, <5% pattern loading and <1% nonuniformity for critical dimension control.
07/18/2007 July 18, 2007 - Carl Zeiss SMT AG announced at SEMICON West today its new optical lithography system for KrF, the Starlith 1000, with a numerical aperture (NA) of 0.93, which will reportedly be the highest NA for 248nm exposure wavelength available in the market.
07/18/2007 July 18, 2007 - FormFactor Inc. has developed a probing contact technology capable of full-area wafer probing of high pin density, ultra-fine pitch devices, announced the company at SEMICON West.
07/18/2007 July 18, 2007 - ICOS Vision Systems Corp. NV, Leuven, Belgium, has introduced its new HM-300 automated wafer handling system for 300mm wafers at the SEMICON West trade show. Key market segments for the new product are semiconductor ICs, optoelectronics, advanced packaging, and MEMS.
07/18/2007 July 18, 2007 - Today at SEMICON West, SUSS MicroTec launched the ELAN CBC300SOI, its new 300mm SOI wafer bonding system, and said that it has already shipped the SOI bonding system to a leading manufacturer of SOI wafers.
07/18/2007 July 18, 2007 - Tiger Optics LLC has unveiled at SEMICON West the HALO+, a mini-cavity ring-down spectroscopy (CRDS) analyzer capable of measuring at parts-per-trillion (PPT) levels. Sibling to Tiger's HALO, the new HALO+ is a compact CRDS tool that can analyze moisture in gases down to ultra-low levels.
07/18/2007 Photovoltaics (PV) and micro-electromechanical systems (MEMS) equipment and materials were singled out as emerging market growth leaders through the end of the decade by SEMI president and CEO Stan Myers, during a press conference on Monday detailing SEMI's new consensus market forecast.
07/18/2007 By Françoise von Trapp, managing editor
In the past week, two announcements by FormFactor, provider of advanced wafer probe cards, illustrate the company's pursuit to bring down the cost of test by taking IC testing upstream to the wafer level. "The only cost-efficient way to test is to test on the wafer," stated Igor Khandros, CEO, FormFactor.
07/18/2007 While the consumerization of the electronics industry is creating huge demand for semiconductor content, it is also causing enormous stress for chipmakers and equipment suppliers alike, according to representatives from each group speaking at a SEMI Executive Panel on Monday (July 16) at SEMICON West.
07/18/2007 EV Group partnered with Brewer Science, Inc., to introduce a bonding system that handles ultra-thin wafers. The jointly developed technology performs temporary bonding between standard wafers and rigid carrier wafers, then wafer thinning and back-side processing are performed on the wafer stack.
