05/25/2007 Eastman Kodak Company (Rochester) will cross license its active matrix organic LED (OLED) intellectual property (IP) and manufacturing processes to Chi Mei Optoelectronics (CMO) and its subsidiary Chi Mei EL (CMEL), both based in the South Taiwan Science Park (Tainan). CMEL expects to use the technology for small-panel mobile displays.
05/25/2007 Rogers Corporation will exhibit specialty materials for the high-frequency market at IEEE MTT-S International Microwave Symposium (IMS), June 5–7 in Honolulu, HI, at Booth 843. Offerings include advanced packaging materials, copper bond technology, and antenna-grade materials.
05/25/2007 May 24, 2007 - NEC's LCD display unit has created a LCD module that incorporates all chip components, including LSI and memory, on the glass substrate.
05/25/2007 May 24, 2007 - Korean memory chipmaker Hynix Semiconductor Inc. has joined IMEC's 32nm memory R&D program, which now boasts participation from the top five global memory chipmakers (Samsung, Elpida, Micron, and Qimonda).
05/25/2007 May 24, 2007 - Fujitsu Ltd. has signed a deal with Jazz Technologies Inc. to jointly provide systems-on-chip (SoC) products for RF CMOS devices, combining Jazz's RF and mixed-signal technology with Fujitsu's 90-65nm LSI manufacturing processes. Devices will be manufactured at Fujitsu's 300mm fab in Kuwana, Mie Prefecture (Japan), and marketed and sold jointly by both companies.
05/25/2007 May 24, 2007 - After seeing 300mm fab capacity utilization rates decay to barely 60% in 1Q07, UMC chairman Jackson Hu is confident that rates will climb back up to 75% in 2Q, and then "sharply" rise in 3Q, according to a report in the Taiwan Economic News.
05/24/2007 Orbotech, Inc., North American subsidiary of Orbotech Ltd., received a multi-million-dollar order from Endicott Interconnect Technologies, Inc. (EI), for its laser direct imaging (LDI) and automated optical inspection (AOI) equipment. EI will incorporate the machines in its production facility in Endicott, NY, making it Orbotech's largest client in the Americas.
05/24/2007 The U.S. Display Consortium (USDC) appointed Mark A. Hartney, Ph.D., as chief technical officer (CTO), responsible for directing the partnership's R&D and technical programs in the flat panel display (FPD) industry. Bob Pinnel, Ph.D., will retire from the post, after serving as CTO since USDC's inception in 1993.
05/24/2007 IBM, its Common Platform partners Charted Semiconductor Manufacturing (Singapore) and Samsung Electronics (Seoul, South Korea), and joint development alliance (JDA) partners Infineon Technologies (Munich, Germany) and Freescale Semiconductor (Austin, TX) signed a series of JDAs for 32-nm semiconductor process development and manufacturing. This is the fourth development node on which the partners have collaborated.
05/24/2007 Ecology Coatings, a privately held developer of nanoengineered industrial coatings for manufacturing, has entered into a definitive agreement to merge with publicly held OCIS Corporation as part of an alternative public offering (APO) transaction.
05/24/2007 In a new study by the Project on Emerging Nanotechnologies, former EPA assistant administrator for policy, planning and evaluation, J. Clarence (Terry) Davies, provides a roadmap for a new EPA to better manage nanotechnology oversight.
05/24/2007 VeruTEK Technologies has completed its acquisition of Streamscape Minerals, and has made available its coelution technologies to remedy environmental contamination in-situ, avoiding costly excavation.
05/24/2007 May 23, 2007 - Heavier capex in 1Q from several large IDMs helped push up sales as well as orders for semiconductor manufacturing equipment from North America-based suppliers, according to the latest monthly data from SEMI.
05/24/2007 May 23, 2006 - Five of the "Common Platform Alliance" partners -- IBM, Chartered, Samsung, Infineon, and Freescale -- say they will extend their current technology development agreements through 2010 and beyond, incorporating 32nm bulk CMOS process technologies and joint development of process design kits.
05/23/2007 A ConFab session on "Capital Equipment: Alternative Financing Models" was kicked off by Craig Ignaszewski, director of capital equipment procurement, IBM, with discussion of the rationale for leasing vs. buying equipment. Meanwhile, Zvi Lando, VP at Applied Materials' Israel operation, suggested that upgrades might be capable of carrying leased metrology and inspection equipment through an extra process node.
05/23/2007 Three key approaches have helped Dow Chemical launch nearly 20 products over the last decade, rethink how effective R&D is done, and generate significant improvements in cycle times. These factors include a molecular architecture approach, a focus on "speed-based development," and adoption of high-throughput technology, noted Kurt Swogger, VP of PP&C business development, in his Wednesday presentation at the ConFab in Las Vegas, NV.
05/23/2007 A technique pioneered for drug discovery has successfully been adopted for materials research, to speed up the process for finding and characterizing new structures. Early adopters of this method are realizing "powerful, sustainable competitive advantages" in terms of R&D speed and efficiency, according to Isy Goldwasser, president/COO of Symyx Technologies, speaking to a ConFab audience on Wednesday about "Lessons Learned from Other Industries."
05/23/2007 The 57th annual Electronic Components and Technology Conference (ECTC), May 29 to June 1 in Reno, NV, will feature developments in packaging, components, and microelectronic systems technology. Paper presentations include four technical pieces from Endicott Interconnect (EI — Endicott, NY) and five by Freescale Semiconductor (Austin, TX).
05/23/2007 FETtest, Inc., acquired Amicronix, Inc. (San Jose, CA), adding production mixed-signal semiconductor test equipment to its product portfolio.
