01/16/2007 Actel Corporation expanded its partnership with Mentor Graphics Corporation (Wilsonville, OR) through a new OEM agreement and technology and marketing partnership. Actel incorporates tools from Mentor, Synplicity, and SynaptiCAD in its next-generation integrated design environment (IDE) for FPGAs.
01/16/2007 Lloyd Doyle Ltd. signed an agency agreement making Sigmatek Corporation its representative in Taiwan. 2007 will be a growth year for bumped-substrate manufacturing in the region, predicts Richard Frisk, president of Lloyd Doyle.
01/16/2007 The Axiom X-1000 series dispensing system, with a stainless steel enclosure, targets manufacturing applications in Class 100 cleanrooms, such as wafer-level packaging (WLP) and others sensitive to contamination by sub-micron sized particles.
01/16/2007 A next-generation line of preassembled pistons for potting and encapsulant dispensing systems features improved air venting. The design improvement allows for more efficient, clean use of cartridges.
01/16/2007 The ProtoLaser 200 laser system reportedly accelerates the production of prototype RFID antennae and small-batch prototypes. It replaces chemical and mechanical production methods, structuring circuits on substrates such as aluminum, copper-coated PET films, and others.
01/16/2007 January 16, 2007 - Renesas Technology Corp. and Taiwanese memory foundry Powerchip Semiconductor Corp. say they will establish a joint venture to design advanced memory devices and "overcome key issues they are currently facing," according to a statement.
01/16/2007 As the industry crosses the 100nm barrier, design-for-manufacturing (DFM) tools will be the key to helping chipmakers deal with a new class of systematic defects and improve yields, according to Dan Hutcheson, CEO of VLSI Research, speaking at the Industry Strategy Symposium (ISS) conference last week in Half Moon Bay, CA. And in the process, he said, DFM "will revolutionize the nature of competitive advantage in the semiconductor industry."
01/16/2007 January 16, 2007 - Rite Track, West Chester, OH, and Japan's Tokyo Electron Ltd. have extended their existing partnership, adding the TEL Clean Track ACT 8 to the family of TEL Clean Track Mark 200mm track systems sold and serviced by Rite Track.
01/16/2007 January 16, 2007 - Ending months of speculation following its private-equity buyout, former Philips chip unit NXP Semiconductor is ending its participation in the Crolles chipmaking partnership with STMicroelectonics and Freescale at the end of this year, although ST says it's still committed to the partnership.
01/16/2007 January 16, 2007 - Ovonyx Inc. and Qimonda AG have entered into a long-term cross license agreement targeting discrete memory products using their IP related to phase-change random-access memory (PCRAM) technology, with Ovonyx supporting Qimonda's program to develop products based on the memory technology.
01/16/2007 January 16, 2007 - Thales Fund Management, claiming to be the largest shareholder in San Jose, CA-based photolithography toolmaker Ultratech Inc., is seeking a sale of the company, saying growth prospects can be better monetized as part of a larger organization.
01/16/2007 DuPont Microcircuit Materials, part of DuPont Electronic Technologies, announced the introduction of its 7th Generation DuPont Fodel photoimageable thick-film pastes for the metallization of the front bus electrode used in plasma display panels (PDPs).
01/15/2007 January 15, 2007 - AZ Electronic Materials plans to invest about $7.8 million to "significantly expand" its photoresist facility and production in Hsinchu, to produce semi-finished products and eliminate the need for using bulk production in Japan.
01/15/2007 January 15, 2007 - Researchers at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute say they've developed new hybrid structures that combine the best properties of carbon nanotubes and metal nanowires, to overcome some of the key hurdles for using carbon nanotubes as a building block for future chips.
01/15/2007 January 15, 2007 - Metrosol Inc., Austin-TX, a developer of optical reflectometry systems, has appointed Kevin Fahey as president and CEO, formerly VP and GM of FEI Co.'s fab market division.
01/15/2007 Mentor Graphics named Ananthan Thandri as chief information officer (CIO). He has a background in information technology and experience in electronic-design automation.
01/15/2007 January 15, 2007 - In an effort to overcome legal concerns with a US licensor, Canon Inc. is taking full control over its 50-50 joint venture with Toshiba Corp. to bring to market a new display technology, which promises cost and quality advantages in cost and quality -- and is potentially the first significant major opportunity to bring nanoelectronics into a volume-produced product.
01/15/2007 Thermal Solutions, Inc., appointed Gregory R. Tucker as CEO; he will also join the company's board of directors. Arlington Capital Partners, which invests in Thermal Solutions as a portfolio company, praised Tucker's global-operations experience, acquisition capabilities, and leadership.
01/15/2007 Arrowhead Research Corp. of Pasadena, Calif., announced that its majority-owned subsidiary, Unidym, has entered into a collaborative agreement with the Institute of Materials Research and Engineering (IMRE) in Singapore to develop organic light emitting diodes (OLEDs) incorporating transparent electrodes made of carbon nanotubes.
01/15/2007 January 15, 2007 - A shakedown is expected among the top IC designers in Taiwan due to patent lawsuits with foreign rivals and severe competition in the LCD controller market, according to a report by the Taiwan Economic News.
