02/23/2006 Glen Allen, VA — Emerging thin film electronics applications will generate $15.5 billion in revenue in 2011, claims a new report from NanoMarkets, an industry consulting firm. The report, titled "The New Thin-Film Electronics," examines how advances in materials and production modalities are enabling new growth opportunities in the semiconductor business.
02/23/2006 San Diego, CA — Patriot Scientific Corp. and Casio Computer Co., Ltd. have signed a patent licensing agreement, in which Casio has become the second system manufacturer to purchase a license to use intellectual property protected by the Moore Microprocessor Patent (MMP) Portfolio. Patriot and the TPL Group are co-owners of the MMP Portfolio, which is being exclusively managed by Alliacense, a TPL Group enterprise.
02/23/2006 February 16, 2006 -- /PRNewswire/ -- FALL RIVER, Mass. -- Millstone Medical Outsourcing recently expanded its Contract Packaging Division through investment in four additional key assets, including a state-of-the-art PMS (Particulate Monitoring System), a second Omni 2000 Branson Ultrasonic Cleaning system, a class 100 laminar flow hood, and Nitric Acid passivation system.
02/23/2006 February 16, 2006 -- /PRNewswire/ -- CHICAGO, Ill. -- IFS announced today that Contec, Inc., a global manufacturer of contamination control products for critical manufacturing environments, has signed a contract to implement IFS Applications(TM) business software.
02/22/2006 By Vincent Wiaux, Eric Hendrickx, Geert Vandenberghe, IMEC, Leuven, Belgium
193nm immersion lithography has become the industry's prime choice for printing critical layers in 45nm node processes. In a research facility, through-pitch imaging solutions for 65nm lines and 80nm contact holes were explored using a preproduction 193nm immersion scanner with a numerical aperture (NA) of 0.85.
02/22/2006 February 22, 2006 - NEC Corp. has developed what it claims is the world's smallest fiber-optic electric field probe, to be used for evaluating electrical characteristics inside high-density LSI packages.
02/22/2006 February 22, 2006 - Extending joint work on simulating laser bandwidth on critical dimensions (CD), KLA-Tencor Inc. will add Cymer Inc.'s light source spectra into its Prolith lithography optimization tool, to enable users to model the effects of changes in light source spectral characteristics on their advanced lithography processes.
02/22/2006 February 22, 2006 - KLA-Tencor has added a new feature spanning its lineup of overlay, CD SEM, and optical CD metrology tools to provide automated real-time analysis of overlay and critical dimension (CD) metrology data during 65nm and below IC manufacturing processes.
02/22/2006 February 22, 2006 - Top foundry Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. (TSMC) says it's achieved near-zero defect rates with test wafers using immersion lithography, comparable to dry lithography results and well within acceptable parameters for volume manufacturing.
02/21/2006 February 21, 2006 - Taiwanese foundry UMC has fabricated a push-push voltage-controlled oscillator (VCO) with an operating frequency of 192GHz using 0.13-micron process technologies, the highest operating frequency for any silicon-based circuit to date.
02/21/2006 February 21, 2006 - IBM Corp., along with Tokyo-based JSR Corp. and its US subsidiary JSR Micro Inc., say they have demonstrated sub-30nm patterning using deep-ultraviolet (DUV) 193nm optical lithography, indicating that immersion lithography can be extended to and beyond the 32nm node.
Hear (and see!) what industry experts at the SPIE Microlithography Conference have to say about extending immersion, the readiness of EUV, and other topics.
Lithographers, maskmakers, and chemists have made great strides in identifying challenges and pursuing solutions that are expected to extend immersion lithography - perhaps to the 32nm half-pitch. Some of the topics our guests tackled include double patterning, CD overlay, using polarized light for specific orientations of features, and its impact on layout design. Guests' impressions of industry's progress in moving EUV along as a viable and cost-effective chip production technology are also shared with viewers, along with opinions about the important developments and papers at the show.
02/21/2006 Texas-based Nano-Proprietary Inc. announced that its subsidiary, Applied Nanotech Inc., has developed a "gated" metal oxide sensor for carbon monoxide detection and measurement. The gated approach allows the sensor to operate without heating, as compared with most sensors which require heating the sensor to greater than 250 degrees Celsius.
02/17/2006 February 17, 2006 - Mentor Graphics Corp., Wilsonville, OR, said its new Calibre MDP mask data preparation tool suite has been qualified for production at IDMs for 45nm process technology in flows based on the OASIS stream format.
02/17/2006 San Jose, CA — In January 2006, North American-based semiconductor equipment manufacturers posted $1.26 billion in orders on a 3-month average basis and a book-to-bill ratio of 0.97, according to SEMI's January 2006 Book-to-Bill Report. January 2006's book-to-bill shows that $97 in orders were received for every $100 of product billed for the month.
