02/06/2007 Obducat launched Sindre™, its high volume manufacturing system for Nanoimprint Lithography (NIL) to an invited audience numbering more than 200 attendees.
02/06/2007 The EU's verification and validation of embedded system design workbench (VERTIGO), proposes a broad aim of maintaining competitive status in the embedded-systems sector for the European electronics industry. The project's multi-pronged approach includes improving modeling synergy, developing validation techniques for designs that integrate various flows and also transfer to simulation, and prototyping a co-verification environment.
02/06/2007 Seiko Epson Corp. (Epson), has purchased a MA200 Compact Mask Aligner from SUSS MicroTec, a supplier of precision manufacturing and test systems, to support Epson's Wafer Level Chip Scale Packaging (W-CSP) production. SUSS reports that after a careful evaluation of competitive systems, Epson decided on SUSS' MA200Compact Aligner because it demonstrated excellent throughput and a submicron overlay and alignment accuracy.
02/05/2007 A variety of custom and select optics suit deep-UV excimer and UV-DPSS lasers and beam-delivery systems. Made from premium UV-grade fused silica, calcium fluoride, and magnesium fluoride materials, the optics are 100% lab-inspected. The multi-element imaging lenses enable users to drill and micromachine micron-scale features, and feature reportedly tighter tolerances and longer lifetimes than off-the-shelf optics.
02/05/2007 Seiko Epson Corp. purchased an MA200Compact mask aligner from SUSS MicroTec to support wafer-level chip-scale packaging (WLCSP). Epson evaluated several systems, selecting SUSS due to the machine's throughput and submicron overlay and alignment accuracy.
Commercially available plasma treatment systems can be used for a variety of wafer-level packaging (WLP) process steps including removal of photoresist residue after development (i.e. descum); organic, metal, and oxide contamination removal; wafer surface cleaning; and other processes. Through various alterations to the plasma chemistry or chamber configurations, these systems meet demanding WLP processing requirements.
02/05/2007 February 5, 2007 - Memory manufacturers once again made up the biggest slice (43%) of all capital spending in 2006, and are poised to take the lion's share of fab spending in 2007 as well, according to data from Strategic Marketing Associates (SMA).
02/05/2007 February 5, 2007 - Riding a surge of shipments in 4Q, Korean chipmaker Hynix Semiconductor beat out rival Qimonda to take the No.2 spot for all of 2006 behind Samsung, according to new data from iSuppli Corp.
02/05/2007 February 5, 2007 - A California court has returned a verdict in favor of Asyst Technologies Inc. regarding its patent lawsuit against Emtrak Inc., Jenoptik AG, and other companies in a decade-long dispute over technology used in wafer transport pods.
02/05/2007 NanoOpto Corporation and Sumitomo Metal Mining (SMM) announced that their joint-development partnership has resulted in first product shipments to SMM's customers.
02/05/2007 The U.N. called Monday for tighter regulation on technology to change or create materials at the atomic and molecular level, a process being used to develop new drugs, foods and other commercial products.
02/02/2007 February 2, 2007 - A new approach to synthesizing nanowires using CMOS-compatible technology could result in revolutionary highly sensitive biomolecule detectors for biological diagnostic applications, according to scientists at Yale U.
02/02/2007 NXP Semiconductors, founded by Philips Semiconductors, and Advanced Semiconductor Engineering, Inc. (ASE), signed a memorandum of understanding to form a joint venture in Suzhou, China, focused on packaging and test.
02/02/2007 February 2, 2007 - Seven Taiwanese equipment suppliers are banding together to explore R&D of key manufacturing equipment for the $30B flat-panel display industry -- even as global capital spending by top panel makers is expected to brake significantly, according to reports in the Taiwan Economic News.
02/02/2007 Tessera Technologies Inc. signed a definitive agreement to acquire Eyesquad, a Tel-Aviv, Israel-based development and design company for digital auto-focus and optical zoom solutions in camera phones and other electronic applications. Tessera is building an integrated consumer optics module solution through acquisitions of Shellcase Ltd., Digital Optics Corporation, and Eyesquad.
02/02/2007 February 2, 2007 - Macronix International Co. Ltd. enjoyed five-year highs in profit margins and earnings last year due in large part to "swarming" orders from Nintendo for Mask ROM chips and improved costs for flash-memory production, and another boost in 2H07 will require significant additional capacity investments, according to the Taiwan Economic News.
02/02/2007 February 2, 2007 - Global sales of semiconductors rose 8.9% to a record $247.7 billion in 2006, driven mainly by a host of consumer-oriented end products including cell phones and HDTV sets, according to final tallies by the Semiconductor Industry Association (SIA).
02/02/2007 Oxford Instruments, UK supplier of MBE, plasma and ion beam processing equipment, announced the delivery of a twin V100 molecular beam epitaxy (MBE) system to a customer in Asia.
02/02/2007 Barbara G. Goode, a veteran chief editor, has been announced as the new Editor-in-Chief of Small Times magazine. Goode will parlay her MEMS and nano expertise to continue Small Times' drive to be the leading global media source for driving the commercialization of micro and nano technologies into the market.
02/01/2007 XJTAG appointed eight distributors to expand representation outside of England, which is the first phase of a strategy to ramp sales in the global market. The distributors cover 21 countries across Europe, the Far East, Australasia, North America, and the Middle East.
Obducat launched Sindre™, its high volume manufacturing system for Nanoimprint Lithography (NIL) to an invited audience numbering more than 200 attendees.
Barbara G. Goode, a veteran chief editor, has been announced as the new Editor-in-Chief of Small Times magazine. Goode will parlay her MEMS and nano expertise to continue Small Times' drive to be the leading global media source for driving the commercialization of micro and nano technologies into the market.