10/04/2006 October 4, 2006 - In a new SEC filing, Freescale Semiconductor Inc. details the steps and considerations over the past few months that led up to its eventual buyout agreement with private equity firms. Among the info being revealed: the company privately mulled an acquisition of Philips Electronics' former semiconductor business long ago, as well as a possible merger with an unidentified third party.
10/04/2006 October 4, 2006 - Major Taiwanese manufacturers of thin-film transistor liquid-crystal displays (TFT-LCD) are expected to borrow roughly US $5.18 billion this year, to make up for a poor business climate suffered in 2Q, according to the Taiwan Economic News.
10/04/2006 October 4, 2006 - Honeywell Electronic Materials and the US Display Consortium have agreed to jointly develop new materials for flat panel displays, focusing on overcoming the challenges of planarization in fabricating thin-film transistors on low-temperature flexible substrates, and improve display performance for use in ultrathin, lightweight, and rugged displays.
10/04/2006 Starpharma Holdings Limited of Melbourne, Australia, announced the signing of an agreement to acquire U.S.-based Dendritic Nanotechnologies Inc. (DNT) for $6.97 million payable through the issue of Starpharma shares.
10/04/2006 DayStar Technologies Inc., a Halfmoon, N.Y., developer and manufacturer of CIGS Photovoltaic Foil products, announced it was named a recipient of a $1 million development award in the fiscal year 2007 Department of Defense Appropriations Act for the Advanced Photovoltaic Module Development for Lighter Than Air Vehicles. The award was part of the United States Air Force Research, Development, Test & Evaluation, Advanced Spacecraft Technology Program.
10/04/2006 Bosch Sensortec announced that at the Ceatec MEMS trade show in Tokyo it is presenting its SMB363, a new analog acceleration sensor. In doing so, the company is adding an analog variant to its product line of triaxial accelerometers.
10/04/2006 NanoDynamics Inc., a Buffalo, N.Y., diversified nano and manufacturing company, announced that its subsidiary ND Life Sciences received a $738,653 Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase II Award from the National Institutes of Environmental Health Services.
10/04/2006 Nanoexa, a South San Francisco, Calif., nano-based clean energy company, and Decktron, a lithium battery and display company, jointly announced a definitive agreement to develop and transfer into commercial use new lithium battery technology originally developed at the U.S. Department of Energy's Argonne National Laboratory.
10/03/2006 October 3, 2006 - Silicon wafer suppliers surveyed by SEMI are forecasting 18% growth in shipments this year, followed by a slowdown in 2007 and then more growth in the teens in 2008.
10/03/2006 Teng Cheong Kwee joins the STATS ChipPAC Board of Directors as a non-executive member, effective at the beginning of October. His experience on regulatory and financial matters made Teng a valuable addition, said Charles Wofford, chairman.
10/03/2006 Three top investment analysts speaking at a SEMI breakfast near Boston on Sept. 27 outlined somewhat divergent scenarios about whether the current upsurge in tool orders will continue through next year. What they did agree on was that the buying cycles are moderating, and that the result may be an improved outlook for investors, both private and public, in this industry sector.
10/03/2006 After leading much of IBM's technology development over a multidecade career, Walter Lange recently joined common platform alliance partner Chartered Semiconductor Manufacturing. In an exclusive interview with WaferNEWS during the recent Chartered Technology Forum (Sept. 28), Lange offered frank and insightful comments on Chartered's R&D strategy and its manufacturing goals, and some amusing stories of what it takes to prove a new technology really works.
10/03/2006 Though growing at just half the rate of the semiconductor industry, the long-suffering maskmaking industry is presently in fine shape, according to experts at the 26th Annual BACUS Symposium on Photomask Technology in Monterey, CA, Sept. 18-22. Average yields are quite high, and most obvious failure modes are being successfully addressed. EUV maskmaking technology continues to improve, while high-index fluids and double processing technology still present a lot of challenges.
10/03/2006 Kester specifically engineered Ultra-sphere solder spheres to resist surface-darkening induced by transit tumbling and ball-placement systems, for more accuracy in vision systems. Surface-darkening can lead to false missing-ball readings with detection devices.
10/03/2006 The Infinity RF wafer probe series works with fine-pitch aluminum pads, creating low and stable contact resistance. Densification and nanodevice trends drove the development of the probes at pitches down to 50µm. The series is said to accurately probe smaller pads, including mixed-signal MOS devices.
10/03/2006 The Praetorian and Centurion electromagnetic interference (EMI) filter application specific integrated passive (ASIP) devices feature electrostatic discharge (ESD) protection up to ± 15 kV contact discharge. The devices, suited to mobile applications, use a large-area ground pad to minimize ground inductance. The thin, compact uDFN packages are available with 4 to 16 leads.
10/03/2006 The annual National Trends in Small-scale Systems and Microelectronics Packaging symposium hosts scientists and researchers from around the country. Jointly operated by Binghamton University of NY and General Electrics' Global Research Center, the symposium educates industry members and students on packaging advances made at the molecular level, including nanotechnology and MEMS. Sessions will take place October 23 and 24, 2006, in Niskayuna, NY.
10/03/2006 UMC, a leading global semiconductor foundry, and Singapore's Institute of Microelectronics (IME), have sealed a partnership to jointly develop Radio Frequency modeling solutions for 90nm technologies. The cooperation is intended to result in the development of new methodologies that are applicable for advanced technologies at 90nm and beyond.
10/03/2006 Integral Vision Inc. of Wixom, Mich., announced that it has received an additional order for its SharpEye inspection system from a MEMS display manufacturer. This customer currently uses several SharpEye systems in the manufacture of displays. Integral Vision's products provide for detection of display defects to assure quality in the manufacturing process.
10/03/2006 NanoInk Inc., an emerging growth technology company specializing in nanometer-scale manufacturing and applications development for the life science and semiconductor industries, announced it has entered into an exclusive license from Georgia Tech Research Corporation for the thermal control of deposition of ink in NanoInk's NSCRIPTOR Dip Pen Nanolithography (DPN) system.
