04/27/2007 By Françoise von Trapp, managing editor
MEMS technology spans the entire semiconductor industry, with wafer processes through test, assembly, and packaging. As these micro-sized devices involve delicate structures, processes continue to evolve to address the complexities of MEMS manufacturing. SUSS and STS joined forces to present a U.S.-based roadshow "MEMS Technology: Embracing the Future," to share developments that are bringing manufacturing processes into the 300-mm range.
04/27/2007 April 27, 2007 - Chinese flagship foundry SMIC posted an $8.8 million profit in 1Q07, vs. essentially breakeven in the prior quarter, on a small 1% uptick in sales to $388.3 million. After spending only ~13% of its FY07 capex budget in 1Q, the foundry is prepared to open its wallet to spend about 2/3 of that budget in 2Q.
04/27/2007 Sensata Technologies, formerly the Sensors & Controls business of Texas Instruments, has demonstrated several occupant sensing approaches that it says can help engineers design better seat belt alert systems. At the recent SAE World Congress, the company showed a new piezo electric sensor, as well as a current Monocrystalline Silicon Strain Gauge (MSG) force sensor, both of which promise engineers a range of design options.
04/27/2007 SanDisk Corporation and Qimonda AG will jointly develop and manufacture muli-chip packages (MCPs), incorporating SanDisk NAND flash and controllers with Qimonda low-power mobile DRAM, through a jointly owned company in Portugal. The MCPs target high-capacity memory requirements of data-intensive mobile applications.
04/27/2007 A group of U.S. senators -- including Ron Wyden (D-OR), John Kerry (D-MA), Gordon Smith (R-OR), and Mark Pryor (D-AR) -- has added a provision to U.S. competitiveness legislation to authorize the use of National Science Foundation grant funds to acquire nanotechnology equipment and software designed for teaching students in classrooms.
04/26/2007 FormFactor, Inc., shipped a 26,000 pin-count wafer probe card, based on its PH150XP platform, to packaging and wafer-test house Tera Probe, Inc., for testing advanced DRAM wafers.
04/26/2007 April 26, 2007 - Qimonda AG and SanDisk Corp. have agreed to jointly develop and manufacture multichip packages (MCP) targeting mobile handsets, combining SanDisk's NAND flash and controllers with Qimonda's low-power mobile DRAM.
04/26/2007 April 26, 2007 - Ponte Solutions says it has raised $7.5 million in Series B funding from Mayfield Fund and US Venture Partners as well as private investors, bringing its total VC backing to about $17 million.
04/26/2007 April 25, 2007 - Just a month after its CEO left the company, Nanometrics says CFO Dave McCutcheon has followed him out the door "to pursue other opportunities," the company said in a statement. Quentin Wright, currently chief accounting officer, will take over as interim CFO until a permanent successor is found.
04/26/2007 ClassOne Equipment, Inc. has opened a new facility, significantly expanding the company's ability to supply refurbished semiconductor and nanotechnology equipment.
04/26/2007 Nano Chemical Systems Holdings, Inc. ("Nanochem") has a new entry in the multi-billion dollar performance chemical category: NANOILMARINE, a nanotechnology-enhanced GREEN 2-cycle oil for use in marine applications. Unlike today's fossil and synthetic oils, NANOILMARINE is non-toxic and bio-degradable.
04/26/2007 April 26, 2007 - Qimonda AG says it plans to build a new 300mm DRAM fab in Singapore, spending about 2 billion euros (~US $2.73 billion) over five years on the site that will boast 60,000 wafers/month when fully ramped.
04/26/2007 Altair Nanotechnologies Inc. has formed a new company, called AlSher Titania, in a joint venture with The Sherwin-Williams Company, known for its paint and coatings. AlSher Titania will combine processes and technologies of both partners to produce pigment for use in paint and coatings, and nano titanium dioxide materials for use in such applications as air and water decontamination.
04/25/2007 April 25, 2007 - The top 10 suppliers of semiconductor equipment remained largely unchanged in 2006, even though only half beat the entire equipment industry's 23% growth rate, according to new data from VLSI Research.
04/25/2007 Gerald K. "Skip" Fehr, Ph.D., joined Mirror Semiconductor's technical advisory board (TAB), to develop the company's wire-bonding designs, named Mirrored Pinout. Fehr, an industry consultant in San Jose, has served at Fairchild Semiconductor, Intel, LSI Logic, and Texas Instruments (TI).
04/25/2007 April 25, 2007 - Schott Lithotec, the last-standing US supplier of photomask plates, is ceasing production and will sell its Poughkeepsie, NY facility, finally deciding that lower ASPs and a shift of customers to Asia means it's no longer a viable business to be in.
04/25/2007 April 25, 2007 - IM Flash Technologies, the NAND flash JV between Intel Corp. and Micron Technology Inc., is sampling 16Gb die density, 50nm multilevel cell NAND flash devices, and work is underway on 40nm NAND as well, the companies said.
04/25/2007 April 25, 2007 - Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers (KPCB), a longtime fixture on the investment landscape of Silicon Valley, is acquiring Shanghai-based TDF Capital, and is committing $360 million to fund investments there, notes the San Jose Mercury News.
04/25/2007 SMT/Hybrid/Packaging, April 24–26 in Nuremberg, hosts technical sessions, tutorials, exhibitions, live packaging demonstrations, and other events geared toward advanced applications in packaging and electronics assembly. Following are some highlights from the show.
04/25/2007 The Pennsylvania NanoMaterials Commercialization Center has announced its first round of funding for three commercialization projects in nanomaterials. The Center targets partnerships of researchers from universities, small companies, large companies and entrepreneurs, and funds projects that have commercial or defense applications.
