07/21/2006 July 21, 2006 - Tessera Technologies Inc. and Micron Technology Inc. have settled a 15-month court battle with Micron agreeing to pay $30 million for a royalty-bearing license to Tessera's "compliant chip" packaging technology.
07/21/2006 With escalating R&D costs, economic challenges associated with lithography past 32nm half-pitch, and increasing competition between countries and even regions within countries, industry executives have their hands full.
07/21/2006 Active radio frequency identification (RFID) systems will experience a rapid market growth over the next 10 years, according to a forecast by IDTechEx. From the 2006 market value of $550 million, active RFIDs will increase market value to $6.78B in 2016. The report, titled "Active RFID 1006-2016," identifies four major contributing factors and two important markets that will create the upward trend.
07/21/2006 July 21, 2006 - Emcore Corp., a provider of compound semiconductor-based components and subsystems, has agreed to sell its electronic materials and device division to IQE plc, a Cardiff, Wales-based provider of compound and epitaxial semiconductor wafers and substrates, for $16 million.
07/21/2006 July 21, 2006 - Spansion Inc. has expanded its partnership with Taiwanese foundry TSMC to phase Spansion's MirrorBit flash memory technology from 110nm process technologies to 90nm, with a production ramp planned for 2H07.
07/21/2006 July 21, 2006 - AmberWave Systems Corp., a Salem, NH-based developer of IP relating to strained silicon and other advanced materials, has closed an oversubscribed $25 million Series E round of funding, bringing its total cash raised in five rounds to more than $91 million.
07/21/2006 Formerly known as Nanotechnologies Inc., an Austin, Texas-based manufacturer of high-performance nanomaterials is renaming itself NovaCentrix and shifting from nano-based powder production to market-ready products. Companies like NovaCentrix are coming to the conclusion that they are the ones best suited to seeing their materials through to products. By shifting their focus, they are attracting more financial support.
07/21/2006 Zyvex Corp. of Richardson, Texas, to establish a Nanomaterials Prototyping, Testing and Characterization Facility at the South Dakota School of Mines and Technology's Polymer Processing Center.
07/20/2006 HP Labs announced the development of a miniature, wireless data chip that embeds digital information into paper, pharmaceutical containers, and other physical objects. The self-contained, RoHS-compliant prototype chip is based on a standard CMOS, with a built-in antenna; according to HP, no special materials are used in fabrication.
07/20/2006 July 20, 2006 - Price cuts and rising inventory dented Intel Corp.'s 2Q06 performance, and the company has responded by cutting its capital spending and R&D targets for the rest of the year.
07/20/2006 July 19, 2006 -- /IEST/ -- ROLLING MEADOWS, IL -- The October 2006 issue of the Journal of the IEST, official technical publication of the Institute of Environmental Sciences and Technology (IEST), will be the second issue published this year.
07/20/2006 Illinois Tool Works Inc. of Glenview, IL, acquired all the shares of Kester, a Des Plaines, IL-based solder supply company. Kester will adopt ITW's 80/20 design and manufacturing methodologies and corporate infrastructure due to the purchase.
07/20/2006 EV Group (EVG), based in St. Florian/Inn, Austria, and Brewer Science, based in Rolla, Mo., announced that they are co-developing a solution for the handling of ultrathin wafers that will allow high-temperature advanced packaging processes using a temporary wafer bonding system.
07/20/2006 SUSS MicroTec, a supplier of precision manufacturing and test equipment for the semiconductor and emerging markets, showed for the first time a unique wafer bonding system designed for high vacuum applications. The company says it will be available in the third quarter of 2006.
07/20/2006 ElectroChemical Systems Inc. (ECSI), a Denville, N.J., maker of wet processing equipment for MEMS and other markets, announced a new version of its IKo bench-top electroplater.
07/19/2006 July 19, 2006 - Carl Zeiss SMT has acquired all the shares of ALIS Corp., a developer of helium ion microscopy technology, from a group of financial backers and strategic investors, extending its portfolio of nanoscale measurement and probing technologies.
07/19/2006 July 19, 2006 - Magma Design Automation Inc. and Brion Technologies say they plan to link their technologies in order to create a common modeling environment for lithography. The combined environment, expected to be available in late 2006, will span physical design, physical verification, resolution enhancement techniques (RET), optical proximity correction (OPC), and OPC verification.
07/19/2006 July 19, 2006 - The Micromanipulator Co., Carson City, NV, a developer of analytical probe systems, said that venture capital firm Flywheel Ventures has purchased a majority ownership in the firm for an undisclosed amount, and will invest an extra $1 million in cash to support future growth and acquisitions.
