06/21/2006 Nanosolar Inc., a Palo Alto, Calif., company developing photovoltaic technology using nanoparticle ink and roll-to-roll printing technology, announced Wednesday morning that it has raised a Series C funding round of more than $75 million. The company, a finalist for company of the year in Small Times' 2005 Best of Small Tech awards, said it will use the financing, as well as $25 million in previously-raised funds, to move into volume production.
06/21/2006 NeoPhotonics, a supplier of fiber optic component and module solutions for core, FTTx and other broadband networks, announced the acquisition of LightConnect Inc., of Newark, Calif. and OpTun Inc., of Santa Clara, Calif.
06/20/2006 Practical Components announced that dummy versions of Amkor's Dual Row Micro-leadframe (MLF) package are available. Practical Components distributes mechanical samples, known as dummy components, for Amkor.
06/20/2006 For more than 20 years, Positio Public Relations has hosted an annual event for media, analysts, and senior industry executives at SEMICON West. This year's theme—SanFranVegas, Baby!—combines Las Vegas glitz with San Francisco chic.
06/20/2006 Flomerics, a provider of computational fluid dynamics software for thermal design, and Gradient Design Automation, a full-chip thermal analysis company for digital and mixed-signal ICs, announced their partnership to co-develop software for the IC market that will allow chip designers to avoid temperature-induced electrical issues at the chip level and consider the effect of the package, as well as the chip environment.
06/20/2006 by Meredith Courtemanche, assistant editor
Biometric technology is changing the approach taken in national security and changing the look of your passport. US-VISIT, a program within the Department of Homeland Security, is taking advantage of the possibilities available in smart cards
06/20/2006 The low-hanging fruit of packaging news tends to focus on Asia. This installment is no different, so let's start there. Last week, ASAT opened its manufacturing and test facility in Dongguan, China, to complete the process of establishing all of its production operations in China. A key benefit to locating in China is the proximity of facilities to end-users in the huge and developing Chinese market.
06/20/2006 Tegal Corp announced that a global leader in wafer-level packaging (WLP) purchased its Endeavor AT PVD cluster tool for under-bump metallization (UBM). Sputtered Films, a subsidiary of Tegal, received the order. The cluster tool is reportedly the fifth of its kind this customer has ordered.
06/20/2006 Nanophase Technologies, a developer of nanomaterials and advanced nanoengineered products, announced a new mutually exclusive supply agreement with BASF to supply patent-pending surface engineered nanoparticles for current and future products for BASF's Z-COTE MAX brand. The new supply agreement is multi-year with automatic renewals and is in addition to the company's current agreement with BASF for the Z-COTE brand.
06/19/2006 A high-brightness, surface-mount 1-watt LED in a energy-efficient package, this miniature device has a thermal resistance of 2°C/watt. Janie Haynie, product marketing director, Visible LEDs, OPTEK, credits the packaging of the device for its thermal resistance. The packaging allows the heat to come out of the leads as well as out of the bottom of the cup, directly into the substrate. It is also designed to mount onto a metal core substrate without additional underfill or adhesives.
06/19/2006 The Harmony OneTouch solution is engineered to address challenges associated with one-touchdown 300-mm flash wafer probing. FormFactor released the probe card intended for 300-mm flash memory production, stating that the solution utilizes a Harmony architecture to maximize test-cell uptime, ease-of-use, and throughput.
Reducing the number of touchdowns that a probe card makes to test all devices on a wafer improves test throughput and lowers test cost.
06/19/2006 CeTaQ Americas expanded its machine performance verification services to include placement verification testing for 01005-size passive chip components.
06/19/2006 Shah Capital Partners and August Capital announced the completion of an acquisition from Alliance Semiconductor. The former Analog and Mixed Signal Business Unit is now PulseCore Semiconductor, Inc.
06/19/2006 June 19, 2006 - NEC Electronics and Mosys Inc., are touting a win for Nintendo's new Wii video game console, which uses embedded memory technologies from the two firms.
06/19/2006 June 19, 2006 - FormFactor Inc., Livermore, CA, says the South Korean Patent Court has upheld the validity of its patent relating to MEMS-based wafer probe cards, which had been disputed by domestic firm Phicom Corp.
06/19/2006 June 19, 2006 - Entrepix Inc., Tempe, AZ, a provider of chemical mechanical polishing services for foundries and equipment providers, has launched a new suite of services and technologies targeting the "fab-light" manufacturing model.
06/19/2006 June 19, 2006 - Therma-Wave Inc., Fremont, CA, a provider of process control metrology systems, says its independent accounting firm has cited the company as a "going concern" in its recent financial reports for the fiscal year ended in March, due to recurring net losses and negative cash flows. The company received a similar "going concern" warning a year ago.
06/19/2006 June 19, 2006 - Elpida Memory Inc. says its 512bit DDR SDRAM utilizing 90nm process technologies has successfully been qualified at Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corp.'s (SMIC) 300mm facility in Beijing.
06/19/2006 Advanced Battery Technologies Inc., a developer and manufacturer of rechargeable Polymer-Lithium-Ion (PLI) batteries, announced that it has signed a memorandum of understanding with Lefeber Management Ltd., a company located at Laiden, the Netherlands, for Lefeber to act as Advanced Battery's agent to distribute its polymer lithium-ion battery and nanometer material battery in the region of Europe for a period of two years.
