03/08/2007 In a deal worth more than $100,000,000, Nano Chemical Systems Holdings, Inc. has announced plans to merge with SolarDiesel, Inc., a biodiesel manufacturing and distribution operation. Post-merger, the combined NCSH/SolarDiesel companies will begin construction of a 45 million gallon per year plant and thus potentially become the largest biodiesel producer.
03/07/2007 FEI Company has demonstrated Phenom-Ed, its tabletop scanning electron microscope designed specifically for education, on Capitol Hill. The Phenom-Ed provides magnification up to 20,000x.
03/07/2007 March 7, 2007 - Intel Corp. has unveiled halogen-free packages for its NOR flash family, StrataFlash Cellular Memory (M18) products, which eliminate halogenated flame retardants from the packaging materials.
03/07/2007 March 7, 2007 - Advanced Micro-Fabrication Equipment Inc. (AMEC), a Shanghai, China-based startup developing etch and chemical vapor deposition (CVD) systems targeting 65nm-45nm nodes and beyond processes, has received another cash infusion from sources including Qualcomm and Samsung.
03/06/2007 Progress in water immersion exposure technology since last year's SPIE Advanced Lithography Symposium has been so convincing that its insertion into manufacturing at the 55nm and 45nm generations (as reported by Toshiba, STMicro, and others) is not likely to be interrupted. However, the consensus today is that some evolutionary step has to be taken to extend immersion technology and keep up with Moore's law -- and double patterning technology seems to be the step that will take us to 32nm.
03/06/2007 The latest version of EconoCR industrial optical character recognition (OCR) software suits smart cameras, micro vision systems, and sensors tracking substrates, PCBs, glass, or electronic components in laboratory, manufacturing, and material-handling processes.
03/06/2007 WinCal XE calibration software addresses complexities encountered with complex, wafer-level RF measurements. Automated hybrid calibration algorithms allow users to calibrate up to four ports with a "precision probing tolerant" in place for differential measurements. Multi-port setup guides, calibration-standards management, and vector network analyzer (VNA) ports support the tool.
03/06/2007 Precision dispensing of dangerous or toxic substances can be controlled by the model PPD-130 peristaltic pump dispenser, which accurately and repeatably deposits low-viscosity fluids such as adhesives, oils, solvents, and other materials. The peristaltic pumping principle applies pressure to a soft Teflon tube, which accepts deformation and recovers its initial shape, improving occlusion.
03/06/2007 March 6, 2007 - Citing reasons for a sluggish start to 2007, including soft end markets and an inventory surplus weighing 1Q07 chip sales, Gartner Dataquest has revised its full-year outlook for chip sales to 6.4% growth, vs. estimates of 9.2% just two months ago. The firm also has slightly lowered its outlook for 2008, seen as the next cyclical peak, to 8% from a projected 11.6% in previous forecasts.
03/06/2007 The old fabless business model is dead...long live the new fabless business models! Tracking recent evolutionary changes to the business of fabless IC manufacturing was the topic on the table at a Feb. 28 luncheon panel discussion hosted by the Fabless Semiconductor Association (FSA) and moderated by Charles DiLisio of D-Side Advisors.
03/06/2007 Global semiconductor sales rose 9.2% in January, due in large part to strong consumer sectors — cell phones, personal computers, digital cameras, and music players. The year-to-year increase brought chip sales to $21.47B, according to the Semiconductor Industry Association (SIA), although global sales dipped 1.2% from December 2006.
03/06/2007 Irvine Sensors Corporation demonstrated its 3D packaging technologies to stack four 500-mHz DDR memory chips without operating-speed degradation, which was verified by the chip maker. The company will now explore commercial exploitation of packaging techniques for the memory chips.
03/06/2007 With the 8th annual Burn-in Test and Socket Workshop (BiTS) coming up March 11–14 in Mesa, AZ, Advanced Packaging collected news, events, and products around the industry focused on test, sockets, and the BiTS event. Meet the Press at BiTS, March 12, to learn more about editorial submissions, and the variety of publishing opportunities available to the industry.
03/06/2007 The prominence of a dedicated joint session and a panel discussion on "computational lithography" at this year's SPIE Advanced Lithography Symposium -- not to mention ASML's recent $270M purchase of Brion Technologies -- illustrate the growing importance of resolution enhancement tricks that have made it possible to approach the 45nm node using an exposure wavelength four times larger. Making sure that those tricks actually work before fabricating complex masks has become crucial.
03/06/2007 March 6, 2007 - AmberWave Systems Corp., a developer of strained silicon IP, and Intel Corp. have settled back-and-forth litigation ongoing since 2005, with the companies now agreeing to a 10-year licensing deal.
03/06/2007 March 6, 2007 - TSMC and customer Nvidia say they have produced functional 65nm embedded DRAM verified "first time right," targeting the technology at digital consumer/gaming devices, multimedia processors, and high-end networking.
03/06/2007 March 6, 2007 - AMD is struggling to supply microprocessors to distribution processors due to problems related changing its distribution strategy for some new large customers, according to AMD CEO Hector Ruiz, talking to investors at a conference yesterday.
03/06/2007 March 6, 2007 - Intel Corp. says that "inadvertent mistakes" resulted in some employees not retaining key email correspondences as required in its antitrust lawsuit filed by rival AMD, according to media reports.
FEI Company has demonstrated Phenom-Ed, its tabletop scanning electron microscope designed specifically for education, on Capitol Hill. The Phenom-Ed provides magnification up to 20,000x.