The SSV lab was used to demonstrate how acoustic micro-imaging can evaluate multilayer composite materials for internal damage. One of the problems that the aircraft industry faces is that a composite material that has experienced impact may show no surface damage but may have significant internal damage.
By Umut Tosun, ZESTRON AMERICA; and Stefan Strixner, ZESTRON Europe
The three-month average of worldwide bookings in October 2007 was $1.23B. The bookings figure is flat with the final September 2007 level of $1.24B and 16 percent less than the $1.47B in orders posted in October 2006.
(November 16, 2007) ELK GROVE VILLAGE, IL — Sonoscan’s Silicon Valley applications laboratory (SSV) in Santa Clara, CA was selected recently to appear in an episode of HDNet’s “Dan Rather Reports” dealing with the testing of composite materials. The episode, which premiered on September 18, is entitled “Plastic Planes” and is available for viewing or download at www.hd.net/danrather.html.
November 15, 2007 – Robert MacKnight, president of Mattson Technology since mid-2005 and COO since 2002, will retire at the end of March 2008, staying on for a transitional period as VP, the company announced. CEO David Dutton will take on the role of president, having held both roles from 2001-2005.
MacKnight joined Mattson in 2001 as EVP of business development and GM of its RTP products unit, and later president of its TFE division. Prior to joining Mattson, he spent several years as president/COO at Microbar, and before that was VP and GM of aftermarket operations at Cymer. He has also held senior management positions with Watkins-Johnson Semiconductor Equipment Group and Eaton Corp.
While acknowledging MacKnight’s contributions as “significant, and we will miss him,” Dutton said in a statement that “with the very strong general managers in place we will be even more aggressive about our opportunities than ever before.”
Philips Lumileds’ LUXEON K2 has thin film flip chip (TFFC) technology that contributes to overall light output improvement, excellent optical performance and improved thermal capability. New packaging advancements deliver a low thermal resistance 5.5° C/W. Light output performance from a LUXEON K2 with TFFC part binned and tested for 160 lumens minimum and 1A drive current can easily exceed 220 lumens at higher drive currents.
(November 16, 2007) SAN JOSE, CA — North American-based manufacturers of semiconductor equipment posted US$1.23B in orders in October 2007 (three-month average basis) and a book-to-bill ratio of 0.83, according to the October 2007 Book-to-Bill Report published by SEMI. A book-to-bill of 0.83 means that $83 worth of orders were received for every $100 of product billed for the month.
by Bob Mariner, VLSI Research
What makes the photovoltaic solar cell industry so interesting and exciting is that the potential for growth is enormous, but realizing this opportunity is not straightforward. This is a competition between technologies, both within the PV alternatives and also from non-PV options. The way forward is also clouded by the significant involvement of politics, vested interests, and environmental lobby groups, where the “facts” may not always be what they seem.
In the short term, there is little doubt that the silicon-based PV solar cell industry will see rapid growth. The momentum is there, driven by existing government subsidies and incentives in some countries to ensure that new solar cell fabs are built. The consensus is that cell production and the demand for production equipment will grow at a rate of 40%-50%/year for the next few years, and current industry plans appear to indicate that this is likely to happen.
However, real markets are driven by customer need and demand, so PV solar must be perceived as meeting these needs better than alternative power generation options. This means competing not only against the demonized coal, oil, and gas electricity generation, but also non-PV renewable options and nuclear power — and there are different PV technologies competing for the same slice of the pie as well. So the question is whether any PV technology can achieve leading cost/watt performance at the point of use, and do this without subsidies.
Current forecasts for the industry are somewhat unreliable. Firstly, there are no sound measurements of what has been achieved in the past in terms of production capacity and output. Secondly, they can be influenced by vested interests and enthusiasts. Forecasters like to use history to help establish boundaries for their projections. Forecasters also like to have measurement of the drivers that help determine what final consumption is likely to be. In the case of electricity generation, only a minute fraction of global consumption is current generation from renewable resources, and PV is just one sub-segment of that. To forecast within these almost unlimited boundaries it is necessary to look at the practical constraints of the infrastructure to absorb the products and the potential customer’s willingness to do so.
At the end of the day, cost/watt is the primary determinant for success of the winning technology, but this is not as simple as it may sound. One of the weaknesses in the whole debate over renewable energy, including PV, is that of definitions. The important measure of performance will be the cumulative power generated over time from the specified generator, as installed, and in the location of the installation, for the total cost of that installation. This will determine the true cost effectiveness and hence demand. For PV solar, the conventional measurement used is the amount of power that can be generated (in the laboratory) from a specified area when illuminated by one standard sun. This measurement is fine for comparing the cost efficiency of different product solutions, but does not provide a definition of the real-world cost/watt. Geography has a far greater impact on the relative performance of the different renewable energy alternatives. Because of this there is unlikely to be any single winner in the race to replace our traditional non-renewable energy sources.
There is no question that the world needs to find viable alternatives to fossil fuels — it is not an issue of global warming (though these risks add greater urgency), but the simple fact that fossil fuel resources are by definition limited. For this reason the demand for renewable energy has to be enormous and PV solar is likely to be a significant provider. But there are many technology competitors and a lot of technology development is still underway, so the business risks are very high. Many of the companies involved in the PV solar cell industry, on the production and materials side, have emerged from the semiconductor industry. But PV is not the same as today’s IC industry — the fundamental principles of semiconductor physics are the same, but the technology and economic drivers are vastly different. It is perhaps more like the semiconductor industry of the early 1960’s, when there were many technological uncertainties and the future less predictable. And like the early days of the IC industry, PV solar promises to be an exciting industry to be a part of.
Roozeboom joins a distinguished team of industry researchers devoted to creating a cost-effective 3D integration method. The technical team consists of both semiconductor materials companies and equipment companies, including technology groups Fraunhofer IZM in Berlin, KAIST (Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology), SAIT (Samsung Advanced Institute of Technology), CEA-LETI in France, and TAMU (Texas A&M University).
(November 15, 2007) Saint-JEOIRE, France — S.E.T., the former SUSS MicroTec Device Bonder Division, has announced that the partnership between S.E.T. and CEA Leti has resulted in a radically new-generation, high-accuracy (0.5 µm), high-force (4000 N) device bonder for wafer diameters up to 300 mm. The FC300 bonder includes a built-in chamber for collective reflow in a gas or vacuum environment and also features nanoimprinting capabilities.
Complementing its existing portfolio of small 8×8 mm and 5×5 mm packages, the Actel device in the new package is said to offer designers four times the density, three times the I/O and a 36% reduction in size compared to competitive programmable logic devices. Smaller than a kernel of corn, the new IGLOO FPGAs are an ideal solution for power-sensitive, space-constrained handheld devices such as smart phones, portable media players, secure mobile communications devices, remote sensors, security cameras and portable medical devices.
(November 14, 2007) PHOENIX, AZ — FlipChip International has introduced its new Embeddable Die Customization (EDC) technology targeted at readying integrated circuits and other devices for integration into emerging 3D packaging solutions. EDC enables the embedding of semiconductor devices within printed circuit boards or other interconnection schemes, thereby enabling lower profile, more reliable packaging schemes for applications including next generation cell phones.
November 7, 2007 — ElectroChemical Systems Inc. (ECSI), manufacturer of IKo Classic electroplating and electroforming tools for MEMS, nanostructures, and high-density interconnects (HDIs), says that its recent sales of FIBRotools equipment stem from flexibility, ease of use, and value. The company’s recent installations include the Indian Institute of Technology in Mumbai, India; the Naval Research Laboratory in Washington, DC; and MIT’s Lincoln Laboratory in Lexington, Mass., among others.
“Purchasers cited two main reasons for their selection of ECSI equipment,” the company notes: “The unique design of IKoClassic that enables an operator with limited electroplating skills to reliably achieve reproducible, quality results on a wide range of substrates sizes from small wafer sections up to 8″ wafers; [and] the exceptional performance/price ratio that makes IKo Classic ideal for R&D and academic institutions.”
November 6, 2007 – TSMC and Hon Hai Group are reportedly teaming up in the LED industry, via a business deal involving two partners.
Vanguard International Semiconductor Corp., ~25% owned by TSMC, will make LED drivers on a foundry basis for Fitpower Integrated Technology Inc., according to the Taiwan Economic News. Hon Hai would not confirm the deal, only saying they started foundry production of LED drivers in 3Q07.
The report also cites “industry watchers” speculating that Hon Hai wants to expand its LED biz into epitaxy-wafer manufacturing but doesn’t want to invest in the production equipment nor long process learning and ramp-up — which plays well into VISC’s experience in chipmaking on silicon wafers.
November 6, 2007 – After nearly three years of work and lobbying, Varian Semiconductor Equipment Associates Inc. says it has received approval from the Gloucester (MA) City Council to build two wind turbines, in a bid to dent one of its larger operating costs: the electric bill.
The two 2.5MW turbines are expected to generate 14M kwH/year of power, nearly two-thirds (65%) of the company’s annual use of electricity. About 30% of that amount will be sold back to the local power company. Site work is expected to start in 2008.
Besides saving money, the plan also has environmental benefits, each year eliminating about 7600 tons of CO2, 12 tons of SO2, and 4 tons of N2O. Furthermore, the company says it will share lessons learned in navigating the wind project development process — science, economics, and policies — with the local school department, resulting in educational programs and use of the turbines as an on-site laboratory.
“We believe the residents of Gloucester will ultimately be very pleased with the turbines because they will put the city at the forefront of renewable energy generation in Massachusetts, improve the regional environment, and help maintain the economic health of Gloucester’s largest employer,” said Rick Johnson, director of facilities at Varian Semiconductor, in a statement.
Varian initiated the wind turbine plan in early 2005, saying the twin $2.0-$2.5M turbines would save an estimated $500K annually. Ironically, a proposed larger-scale wind turbine project offshore at nearby Cape Cod involving a bank of huge wind turbines, well within sight of the popular beach communities, has generated fierce controversy, and weeks ago was rejected by a regional planning commission.