June 23, 2008 — FEI Company, a provider of high-resolution imaging and analysis systems, has released the Titan 80-300 environmental transmission electron microscope (ETEM), a solution for chemical research at the atomic scale. The Titan ETEM is a significant advance for studying materials and processes of importance in the fields of energy and environment. It is the newest member of FEI’s Titan TEM family, a line of powerful commercially-available microscopes for direct observation with sub-Ångström resolution.
“The ETEM lets us look directly at the fundamental, atomic scale mechanisms of our catalytic processes,” says Dr. Alfons M. Molenbroek, head of the characterization department, R&D division, Haldor Topsoe, a supplier of heterogeneous catalysts and catalytic processes, and an early adopter of ETEM technology for industrial research. “Heterogeneous catalysts are typically solid particles that catalyze reactions between gas or liquid phase reactants. Conventional TEM can give us high-resolution images of the particles in a vacuum, but only ETEM lets us look at the catalytic process itself, with the particle immersed in a gaseous environment. We expect to achieve dramatic advances in our fundamental understanding of our core catalyst technologies.”
The Titan ETEM’s ability to image the sample in a controlled gaseous environment allows scientists to investigate the fundamental atomic mechanisms of gas-solid reactions, such as carbon nanotube growth, crystal nucleation and growth, heterogeneous catalysis and many other economically-significant processes. Catalysts, for instance, are important in production of fuels, reduction of environmentally-harmful combustion products, and generally throughout the chemical industry for applications concerning energy and the environment.
“The Titan is the first and only ETEM solution for studying nanoscale processes with atomic detail in a spherical aberration-corrected S/TEM,” adds FEI’s Dominique Hubert, vice president and general manager, research division. “Users may be chemists, concerned with the reaction itself; materials scientists, interested in the effects of a gaseous environment; or they may be involved in a myriad other disciplines.”
At the core of Titan ETEM’s capabilities is its ability to deliver high-resolution imaging with gas pressures in the sample chamber as high as a few percent of atmospheric pressure. Conventional TEMs require high-vacuum conditions with pressure levels a thousand to a million times lower. A gas controller permits precise control of composition as well as pressure. Heating and cooling holders provide control over a range of temperatures. The ability to select electron beam voltages anywhere between 80 and 300 kilovolts (kV) accommodates a wide range of material and imaging conditions.
Category Archives: Materials and Equipment
June 20, 2008 – Chip equipment firm Ferrotec is one of many companies seeking to diversify into new growth opportunities, and its move into solar cells seems to have met with applause from investors and market players, notes the Nikkei daily.
Last month Ferrotec inked a deal with Tokyo Steel Mfg to set up a JV in China centering on wire saws, for slicing silicon into thin wafers for solar cells. Since the deal was announced on May 29, Ferrotec’s stock has topped a YTD high, the paper notes.
The firm projects record profits in the current fiscal year despite sluggish sales of its core semiconductor equipment business, mainly due to optimism for solar cell manufacturing devices that melt silicon into monocrystalline ingots. Strong demand from Chinese solar battery makers should translate into ~200 units this fiscal year and double the solar cell biz’s sales, including quartz crucibles and other equipment, to ¥10.2B (US ~$95M), or 26% of total sales. Profitability in this segment is helped by the fact that sales come mostly from equipment rather than machine parts, the paper notes.
Ferrotec managing director He Xian Han projects overall operating profit will increase to >10% this year, from 8.3% in fiscal 2007 (though its solar battery biz was 10.7%), with five-year sales projections of ¥50B ($465M). President Akira Yamamura projects 30% annual growth for the solar battery market; the paper notes that “an international energy agency” projects a 400% surge in solar cells’ power generation capacity from 2004-2015.
To gain a foothold and ward off competition in this growth area, Ferrotec has set up a JV to assemble and sell solar battery making devices in South Korea, and by this year’s end it will increase production capacity at a Shanghai solar cell equipment plant.
“In the medium and long term, it will be an advantage for the firm to have production bases for equipment necessary in the ‘upstream’ solar cell manufacturing processes in countries where demand is high,” said Kazumasa Kubota, an analyst at Okasan Securities Co., quoted by the paper.
June 20, 2008 – Offering more evidence for chipmakers’ belt-tightening this year, semiconductor equipment demand has slumped to three-year lows, to levels not seen since mid-2005, according to the latest monthly data from SEMI.
May bookings for chip tools from North American manufacturers sunk to $1030.4M, down -5.5% from April’s revised levels and down an eye-popping -37% from May 2007. Billings were $1312.6M, down -1.8% month-on-month and down -21.4% Y-Y. That adds up to an anemic book-to-bill ratio (B:B) of 0.79, meaning $79 worth of orders was received for every $100 worth of product billed.
April billings were slightly adjusted upward to $1337.3M from $1318.9M; bookings, though, were chopped by 4% (reduced by $43M).
For some perspective on how soft the market is:
– Billings are their lowest since February of this year — but year-on-year growth (-21%) is the lowest since September 2005.
– Bookings are at their lowest point since Sept. 2005 as well — which was the last time they were below $1B — and are down 42% from their peak of $1782.3M two years ago (June 2006).
– The B:B was previously 0.79 in September 2007 — but the last time before that was Jan-March 2005.
And a quote from SEMI president/CEO Stanley Myers suggests the worst isn’t yet over, either. “The data does not indicate a change in this trend over the next quarter,” he said in a statement.
June 20, 2008 — Semiconductor Research Corporation (SRC) , a university-research consortium for semiconductors and related technologies, joined with researchers at Stanford University to achieve CMOS-compatible working circuits on a wafer scale. The accomplishments are rooted in the Stanford team’s invention of a design technique that creates logic cells which function correctly even in the presence of mispositioned carbon nanotubes (CNTs).
CNT field-effect transistors (FETs) are considered contenders for extending current CMOS technology to create higher-level chip capability.
Efforts to perfect CNT technology to the point necessary to be considered for affordable and practical application in computer chips have been underway since the first CNT transistor was demonstrated one decade ago. The Stanford research presented at the 2008 Symposia on VLSI Circuits and Technology in Honolulu, Hawaii, has yielded progress toward this goal that includes:
— Demonstration of full-wafer-scale growth of directional CNTs on single-crystal quartz wafers;
— Demonstration of full-wafer-scale CNT transfer from quartz wafers to silicon wafers for integration on silicon;
— Fabrication of logic structures that are immune to mispositioning of CNTs. These complex logic structures include NAND, NOR, AND-OR-INVERT and OR-AND-INVERT on a full-wafer-scale.
“At the nanoscale, it’s nearly impossible to guarantee that all carbon nanotubes will be placed at correct positions and aligned to create a functional circuit. So the question is: if we can’t control these layout requirements, how can we create working circuits?” says Betsy Weitzman, director of the Focus Center Research Program (FCRP), a subsidiary of SRC. The FCRP funded the research.
“This exciting research has brought forward a significant breakthrough for the application of CNTs in CMOS circuits — very efficient and effective design solutions that don’t require super-precise placement of the CNTs,” adds Weitzman. “The Stanford researchers developed an inexpensive design flow that is compatible with CMOS processing and have demonstrated that their designs can be fabricated at VLSI scale. This can clearly facilitate a breakthrough for future CMOS chip technologies.”
Progress from the research could benefit chipmakers and their customers who need more advanced chips for communications, computing, security, automotive and consumer electronics, and a wide range of other applications that are dependent on silicon chip performance.
“This is the first time that anyone has experimentally demonstrated that it is possible to fabricate robust, imperfection-immune CNT-based circuits at full wafer-scale without paying the price of expensive defect and fault-tolerance techniques,” says Professor Subhasish Mitra of Stanford. “The fact that these techniques are compatible with VLSI processing and have minimal impact on VLSI design flows can contribute significantly to continued advancement of Moore’s Law.”
Joining Professor Mitra in the research are Stanford engineering students Nishant Patil and Albert Lin, Stanford research staff member Edward Myers, and electrical engineering Professor H.-S. Philip Wong.
“Our progress potentially brings the academic and industrial communities an important step closer to the day when carbon nanotube technologies can supplement silicon CMOS technology as the technology of choice for the semiconductor industry,” says Wong.
Per its charter, SRC-FCRP will continue to take a lead role in collaborating on enhancements to the academic research agenda for materials and processes associated with semiconductor manufacturing.
June 19, 2008 — Advanced Knowledge Associates (AKA), a manufacturer of miniaturized and reconfigurable system-on-module solutions, has joined the Small Form Factor special interest group (SFF-SIG), a new, non-profit industry group that develops, promotes, and supports small form factor circuit board specifications and related technologies. AKA’s PRISMs (Prepackaged Reconfigurable Integrated System-on-Modules) are increasingly being used by developers who want a small, rugged, flexible and high-performance platform for their latest systems designs. PRISMs also simplify the design process and enable designers to make full benefit of high-performance FPGA and processor platforms.
The Small Form Factor special interest group embraces the latest technologies, but also has a philosophy of maintaining legacy compatibility and enabling transition solutions to next-generation interfaces. Additionally, SFF-SIG seeks to enable practical, mainstream, real-world applications. Consolidating suppliers around standards, facilitating cross-platform interoperability, and architecting common expansion schemes are all goals of the SFF-SIG.
“With the emergence of their reconfigurable I/O-rich PRISM solutions, AKA is in a unique position to help define next generation Computer-on-Module (COM) form factors and we look forward to AKA becoming a key contributor to the SFF-SIG,” says Colin McCracken, president of SFF-SIG.
The SFF-SIG is an independent worldwide trade group based in Silicon Valley and is run by a president who is not affiliated with any single member company. Working groups are formed to address specific topics and formats in detail, for example low power x86 and RISC Computer-on-Modules (COMs). Incubator Groups are spawned rapidly when new or existing voting members have a draft specification or even a rough idea. Other members apply to join a particular Incubator Group, and broad inputs and reviews are ensured. After approval, specs are published and under strict change control for the long term by the relevant Working Group.
“AKA shares many common philosophies with the SFF-SIG. Like us, the SFF-SIG is concerned about all components of the system-level solution. Also like us, the SFF-SIG is committed to using the latest technology, but also supporting customers throughout the life of their project – which may be very long indeed,” adds Guy Marom, AKA’s CEO.
June 17, 2008 – Worldwide demand for semiconductor manufacturing was notably soft in 1Q08, with bookings down >20% from a year ago, but some regions are clearly working through the downturn better than others, according to the latest data from SEMI.
Sales in 1Q08 totaled $10.75B, which was actually an improvement of 7% vs. 4Q07, and down just -2% vs. 1Q07, according to the data compiled by SEMI and the Semiconductor Equipment Association of Japan (SEAJ). Orders, though, have slumped badly — down to $8.08B, declines of -11% Q-Q and -23% Y-Y. Some back-of-the-napkin math suggests the book-to-bill ratio was thus an anemic 0.75, meaning $75 worth of orders were received for every $100 worth of product billed for the quarter.
While acknowledging the soft order environment, SEMI president/CEO Stanley Myers noted that some regions (North America, Korea, and China) actually posted strong sequential Q-Q growth in 1Q08; all regions showed at least some Q-Q growth in sales, with two of the biggest regions (Taiwan, Japan) eking out low single-digit growth.
Year-on-year, a few regions are well ahead of last year’s equipment purchasing pace, led by China (25%) and Taiwan (18%), with Japan (5%) and North America (3%) also in the black. Korea (-30%), Europe (-6%), and Rest-of-World (-15%) continue to slump.
SEMI’s 1Q08 summary seems pretty much in line with the latest revised outlook from Gartner Dataquest, which projects equipment spending will decline ~17% in 2008 — vs. earlier forecasts of -10% about three months ago, and roughly flat six months ago.
MT-431, from Lord Corporation, is a non-silicone thermal die lid attach (TDLA) adhesive that was reportedly developed to replace two material processes, with a single effective solution. The material is formulated with thermal and adhesion properties that perform well enough to replace both typical thermal interface materials (TIMS) and lid attach adhesive. It reduces the number of process and cure steps, and also reduces the potential for coefficient of thermal expansion (CTE) mismatch between the materials, which can lead to cracking at either the lid attach of TIM areas.
Current and developmental TDLAs are based on silicone or modified silicone chemistries limit adhesion potential. Therefore, MT-43 is based on a proprietary non-silicone polymer that is then filled for high conductivity, with other additives to improve material properties. Pull test, thermal cycling and humidity testing has reportedly produced favorable results. Lord Corporation Cary, NC www.lord.com
June 17, 2008 — Seashell Technology, a nanotechnology development company, has successfully scaled manufacturing processes for silver nanorod and nanowire production to kilogram scale quantities. The ability to deliver uniform nanomaterial populations at this scale will enable the successful commercial development of unique devices for use in biomedical, thermal, electronic, metrology, environmental and defense applications.
“The enhanced functional properties conferred by integration of nanomaterials into composites have long been recognized, yet the successful commercial manufacture of sufficient quantities has limited the development of improved products incorporating these nanomaterials.” says Dr. David Schultz, vice-president of Seashell Technology. “We have overcome this barrier for the production of silver nanowires and nanorods and have delivered multi-kilogram amounts for evaluation in customer specific applications.”
Silver nanorods and nanowires have been used in research laboratories as components in electronic and biomedical devices, providing a potentially superior alternative to currently available carbon nanotube technology.
Seashell Technology supplies nanoparticles and nanostructured materials for academic research, development projects and for industrial processes. Seashell Technology’s manufacturing processes can be used to create silver nanorods and nanowires with diameters as thin as 50 nanometers and lengths as great as several hundred microns. Controlled processing allows the synthesis of nanowire populations with defined uniform size ranges. Gram quantity batch size manufacture can be performed for initial assessment of nanomaterial utilization in customer applications.
The interdisciplinary team at Seashell Technology has the capability to manufacture a wide range of multifunctional particles with nanoscale precision for a variety of applications. Ongoing commercialization efforts include the development of a number of nanofabricated specialized coatings with unique functionality. Specialized particles used as transport vehicles for high efficiency delivery of DNA and siRNA to target cells and tissues are offered for use in biotechnology research by academic and industrial scientists.
June 17, 2008 — Unidym Inc., a manufacturer of carbon nanotubes (CNTs), has received a $2 million strategic investment from Entegris Inc., a provider of products for purifying, protecting, and transporting critical materials used in processing and manufacturing in semiconductor and other high-tech industries. Arrowhead Research Organization, of which Unidym is a wholly owned subsidiary, made a $2 million matching investment.
Unidym is pursuing a cross-industry partnership strategy to capture value from the wide ranging uses of CNTs outside its core focus of carbon nanotube electronics. Unidym’s licensing program, technical expertise, and manufacturing facilities can enable partners to rapidly develop CNT solutions for their specific applications.
“We are delighted to add Entegris to our expanding roster of customers and partners who are also strategic investors in Unidym,” says Art Swift, Unidym’s president and CEO. “We view this investment as an endorsement of our products, technology and overall strategic vision on the commercialization of our carbon nanotubes in the market.”
“We are pleased to expand our partnership with Unidym as it continues to be an industry leader in delivering high quality CNTs and CNT-enhanced products to the market,” says John Goodman, chief technology officer of Entegris. “We are using Unidym’s CNTs to develop a number of new materials that will enable us to augment our portfolio of highly differentiated, high performance products to the semiconductor industry. Our work with Unidym will also help us as we use our materials sciences core competencies to serve our customers in other high technology markets.”
The $4M of additional capital follow on investments in Unidym’s Series C financing. Battelle, Tokyo Electron Ventures and several financial institutions also participated in the Series C round.
June 17, 2008 — Carbon Nanoprobes (CN Probes), a start-up focused on commercializing advanced nano imaging technology, has selected First Nano’s applications laboratory to complete one of the most critical stages of development before the launch of CN Probes flagship product, a carbon nanotube probe tip, for use in Atomic Force Microscopes (AFM). First Nano is a division of CVD Equipment Corporation, a designer and manufacturer of custom Chemical Vapor Deposition processing equipment.
First Nano designs and manufactures highly specialized, commercial grade systems that grow Carbon Nanotubes (CNT’s) and nanowire materials. CNT’s are mission-critical to the nano imaging technology CN Probes is developing. First Nano’s furnace is the definitive ingredient necessary to complete the process development and production increase of CN Probes’ CNT probe tips. These specialized tips will allow scientists and engineers in multiple fields – from biotech to chip fabrication – to “See more and know more.”
“We take pictures of tiny things. We’re nano-photographers and our pictures provide value to scientists and engineers in several fields,” explains CN Probes’ CEO, Brian Ruby. “Several consumer products incorporate these tiny CNT’s as a material. Ours, however, is an actual mechanical device. We think of it as the difference between rubber and a tire, or silicon and a computer chip.”
“By providing private access at our application laboratory, First Nano enables CN Probes to significantly shorten their time to market and reduce upfront investment costs,” states Karlheinz Strobl, vice president of business development. “By completing this work in a private manner, CN Probes retains its intellectual property before and during this business phase. We expect that, as CN Probe’s business matures, it will either purchase a system from us, or First Nano will become part of CN Probes future supply chain. By providing such support services we offer another business growth path to enable the commercialization of tomorrow’s nano, solar and other emerging technologies today.”