07/19/2006 July 19, 2006 - Austria's EV Group and US-based Brewer Science Inc. say they are codeveloping a temporary wafer-bonding system for handling ultrathin wafers, designed to allow high-temperature advanced packaging processes followed by quick debonding.
07/19/2006 July 19, 2006 - Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd. said it has ramped to volume production of its 8Gbit NAND flash memory based on multilevel cell (MLC) architecture and 60nm process technologies, two years after announcing development of the technology.
07/19/2006 July 19, 2006 - Cypress Semiconductor Corp. says that it has shipped the first devices manufactured by Grace Semiconductor Manufacturing Corp. several months ahead of plan, and will start transferring new 0.13-micron technology to its Chinese foundry partner during the next quarter.
07/19/2006 July 19, 2006 - Samsung Electronics Co. said group operating profits fell 12% in its fiscal 2Q06 ended in June, mainly due to a drop in NAND flash chip prices. Semiconductor sales rose 2% sequentially and 6% year-on-year to 4.42 trillion won (US $), while the unit's operating profits of 980 billion won ($) were down 12% vs. 1Q06 and 11% vs. a year ago.
07/19/2006 July 19, 2006 - Worldwide semiconductor companies spend more than $30 billion in 2005 on R&D, 10% more than the previous year, and slighly ahead of the 9% compound annual growth rate over the past five years, according to new data from analyst firm IC Insights Inc., Scottsdale, AZ.
07/19/2006 DFM start-up Takumi Technologies, building on its mask-data preparation (MDP) work for NEC and other customers, is now promoting its ability to automatically detect, classify, and repair yield-limiting design "hot spots" -- areas of a design layout which, due to process or geometric conditions, fall outside of process windows, resulting in potential catastrophic or parametric failure.
07/19/2006 July 18, 2006 -- WIESBADEN -- The U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has cleared the proposed acquisition by Linde AG, Wiesbaden, of The BOC Group plc, Windlesham, UK.
07/19/2006 July 19, 2006 -- /EV GROUP/ -- EV Group (EVG), based in St. Florian/Inn, Austria, and Brewer Science, Inc., based in Rolla, Missouri, USA, announce 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.
07/19/2006 July 19, 2006 -- /MARKET WIRE/ -- PRESCOTT, AZ -- Produce Safety and Security International, Inc (PINKSHEETS: PDSC), ("PDSC"), an ozone and chemical sanitation disinfectant process supplier to the food and medical industries, responds to the fresh produce industry's concern over recent outbreaks of E. coli H157 virus.
07/19/2006 NanoDynamics, a manufacturer of nanomaterials and nano-enabled products, appointed Jeffrey Jordan as vice president of technology for the company's NanoCluster Devices Inc. subsidiary.
07/19/2006 Nanophase Technologies, a Romeoville, Ill., maker of nanomaterials and advanced nanoengineered products, announced the commercial availability of nanocrystalline tin oxide produced by the company's patented NanoArc synthesis process using its most recent advances in finite particle size control.
07/19/2006 Asylum Research, a Santa Barbara, Calif., manufacturer of atomic force microscopes, announced the availability of its new NanoIndenter module for use with the Asylum Research MFP-3D AFM System.
07/19/2006 A new report by Andrew Maynard, chief science advisor for the Project on Emerging Nanotechnologies at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, calls for significant changes in the U.S. government's handling of nanotechnology risk research. The study, "Nanotechnology: A Research Strategy for Addressing Risk," proposes a new framework for systematically exploring possible risks and argues that more money is required.
07/18/2006 The emerging technologies TechXPOT stage drew crowds to the third floor of West Hall, giving those exhibitors better exposure than last year. Analyst Jean Christophe Eloy from Yole D
07/18/2006 Chartered Semiconductor and Singapore's Agency for Science, Technology, and Research formed a partnership to develop advanced fine-pitch packaging technology, after considering the possibilities for volume ramp with a proprietary backend packaging strategy.
07/18/2006 FocalSpot, an inspection and rework company for ball grid arrays (BGAs) and SMT, announced they will re-enter the semiconductor and microelectronics industry with a product rollout targeting packaging test.
07/18/2006 In a revealing keynote address at SEMICON West last week, Micron Technology chairman and CEO Steve Appleton offered a behind-the-scenes look at his company's experience in forming business partnerships, and offered some hard-won insight into why partnerships fail and what can be done to ensure their success.
07/18/2006 Spanning the SEMICON West show floor, SST Senior Ed Korczynski reports on equipment providers' merger progress, market strategies, and new and improved technology offerings ranging from metrology to wafer cleaning to liquid waste abatement.
07/18/2006 In a first-day presentation at SEMICON West, Klaus Rinnen of Gartner/Dataquest reported a bright outlook for 2006, both for the semiconductor industry and its equipment suppliers, followed by a potential "soft patch" in 2007, and an upturn to record levels in 2008. That feeling of comfort combined with tempered optimism characterized the entire atmosphere at SEMICON West -- everyone seemed to feel that things were good now and the future no more uncertain than usual, in our cyclical industries.
