Category Archives: Materials and Equipment

December 28, 2011 – PRNewswire — Newport Corporation (NASDAQ:NEWP) began an acquisition of ILX Lightwave Corporation, which makes high-performance test and measurement products for laser diodes and other photonics components. Newport will pay $9.3 million in cash, adjustable based on ILX’s net assets at closing, for the company.

The buy, along with Newport’s recent acquisition of Ophir Optronics, gives Newport a stronger foothold in photonics instrumentation and measurement equipment, said Robert J. Phillippy, Newport president and CEO.

ILX offers laser diode controllers and drivers, temperature controllers, current sources, optical power and wavelength meters, semiconductor laser/LED burn-in, test and characterization systems, and fiber optic sources. Learn more at www.ilxlightwave.com.

The US-based ILX expects 2011 revenues around $8 million, and is profitable. Newport expects the acquisition to be accretive to its earnings immediately after closing. The transaction is expected to close in January 2012. ILX will become a wholly owned subsidiary of Newport Corporation, and will operate as part of Newport’s Photonics and Precision Technologies Division.  

Newport Corporation provides advanced-technology products and systems to customers in the scientific research, aerospace and defense/security, microelectronics, life and health sciences and precision industrial manufacturing markets. Newport is part of the Standard & Poor’s SmallCap 600 Index and the Russell 2000 Index. Web Site: http://www.newport.com.

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December 21, 2011 – BUSINESS WIRE — Passive component maker AVX Corporation has ensured that all its tantalum powder and wire suppliers are fully compliant with the independently audited Conflict-Free Smelter Program (CFS).

AVX is making conflict-free a requirement for its tantalum powder and wire suppliers, in accordance with the principles of the Dodd-Frank legislation and current OECD guidelines. OECD Due Diligence Guidance for Responsible Mineral Supply Chains from Conflict-affected and High-risk Areas is for use by any company potentially sourcing minerals or metals from conflict-affected areas of weak governance, and provides management recommendations to help companies respect human rights and avoid contributing to conflict through their mineral or metal purchasing decisions and practices.

AVX has had a policy against tantalum sourced from the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) or any other area in which insurgents or similar groups benefit from the sale of minerals for a decade. From 2007 onwards, AVX increased the level of due diligence and improved its ability to comply with this policy and since 2009, AVX has actively participated in the industry-wide effort to eliminate conflict minerals from the supply chain through the CFS program.

AVX also is working with multiple stakeholder partners, including major electronics companies such as Motorola Solutions, HP and Intel, in the Solutions for Hope pilot program. Solutions for Hope demonstrates that verifiably conflict-free tantalum material can be mined and shipped from the DRC to the benefit of the local population, who are suffering as a result of the de-facto ban on such minerals resulting from the Dodd-Frank legislation in the USA. Based on a closed-pipe supply chain that operates in accordance with the OECD due diligence guidance for responsible sourcing from areas of weak governance, Solutions for Hope incorporates the independently validated Conflict-Free Smelter (CFS) program. The pilot initiative will be evaluated to prove that the closed supply chain is reliable, sustainable, and expandable, and will allow the DRC to return as a supplier of responsibly sourced minerals to the tantalum industry. For further information on Solutions for Hope, visit http://solutions-network.org/site-solutionsforhope/.

AVX Corporation is an international supplier of electronic passive components and interconnect solutions. For further information on this project, please contact Bill Millman at AVX: +44 (0) 1803 697211 or visit [email protected]. The company is publicly traded on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE:AVX).

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December 15, 2011 – Marketwire — CHAD Industries integrated its WaferMate300-1 automated wafer handling workcell with Nordson DAGE’s 4300 Bond Shear inspection tool, allowing for hands-off 300mm handling and bond shear inspection.

The system automatically delivers 300mm wafers to the bond shear test tool. The entire system is enclosed for operator safety & clean wafer handling (Class-2), and includes factory automation features (E84 and E87) for automated FOUP delivery to the workcell. SECS/GEM communications and integrated RFID features ensures that the correct wafer lot is being inspected, and allows the wafer inspection data to be uploaded to the factory host computer without manual intervention.

CHAD Industries designs, manufactures, and markets odd-form electronics assembly equipment, automated solar cell manufacturing systems, and semiconductor wafer handling solutions. Learn more at www.chadindustries.net.

Nordson DAGE is a unit of the Nordson Corporation and manufactures and supports a complete range of award winning digital X-ray inspection systems and bond test equipment for the printed circuit board assembly and semiconductor industries. For more information, visit www.nordsondage.com.

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December 14, 2011 — Semiconductor packaging materials will be a $22.8 billion market this year, and should grow to $25.7 billion by 2015, says SEMI and TechSearch International.

Laminate substrates remain the largest segment of packaging materials: $9.7 billion globally in 2011. This sector will see healthy 8% growth (unit basis) in a 5-year compound annual growth rate (CAGR).

New materials are pushing higher growth in certain areas, including underfill materials, wafer-level dielectrics, copper bonding materials, and leadframe chipscale packaging (CSP), among others.

Key opportunities for growth in the packaging market include 9

Secember 14, 2011 — STMicroelectronics (NYSE:STM) produced a semiconductor wafer tested via electromagnetic waves rather than physical wafer probes.

ElectroMagnetic Wafer Sort (EMWS) was developed from Electrical Wafer Sort (EWS), performed at the end of wafer processing and before package assembly and final test. In EMWS, each die contains a tiny antenna. Automated test equipment (ATE) supplies power and communicates with the die via electromagnetic waves.

The ATE uses probes only to power-up the wafer in high-power products. Low-power products are tested with no contact at all.

EMWS is the result of UHF TAG Antenna Magnetically Coupled to Integrated Circuit (UTAMCIC), an R&D initiative led by Alberto Pagani, Giovanni Girlando and Alessandro Finocchiaro from STMicroelectronics and Professor Giuseppe Palmisano from the University of Catania.

The die, such as RFID ICs, can be tested with higher yields, shorter testing times, and lower product cost, under close-to-real-operation conditions, ST asserts. Die size can be reduced with fewer test pads required.

The biggest benefit will go to customers using ST’s low-power RF circuits, said Alberto Pagani, Test R&D and Competitive Intelligence, ST. "Because the RF circuits, anticollision protocol, and embedded antenna are tested under the same conditions they will operate under in the customer

Update, January 18, 2012 – Marketwire — inTEST Corporation’s Temptronic Corporation has closed on the acquisition of Thermonics, Inc. on January 16, 2012, pursuant to the agreement entered into in December 2011. The purchase price for the assets was approximately $3.8 million cash, which included net working capital of approximately $1.1 million.

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December 13, 2011 – Marketwire — Temperature management and semiconductor ATE company inTEST Corporation (NASDAQ:INTT) will acquire the assets and certain liabilities of Thermonics Inc. from Test Enerprises Inc. inTEST’s Temptronic Corporation, of the Thermal Solutions Group, will integrate the company.

The acquisition is expected to close in January 2012.

Thermonics develops precision temperature testing systems with emphasis on speed, accuracy, and reliability. The precision temperature forcing systems are used in semiconductor and other industries to verify product performance at a range of temperatures. Acquiring the company expands inTEST’s semiconductor and non-semiconductor customer base — addressing temperature-related problems in the test, manufacturing, conditioning and process control arenas, said James Pelrin, president of inTEST Thermal Solutions. Pelrin points out that the product ranges are complementary to those of Temptronic Corporation, which inTEST acquired in 2000.

Robert E. Matthiessen, inTEST Corporation’s president and CEO, noted that the thermal products expand inTEST’s served available market in non-semiconductor businesses such as Automotive, Aerospace, Industrial, and Telecommunications. "inTEST Corporation began 2011 with non-semiconductor related bookings of 18% for the first quarter; and the company has systematically expanded its product offerings, with our most recent third quarter non-semiconductor related bookings increasing to 41% of consolidated bookings…During the third quarter of 2011, nearly 60% of our Thermal Group’s bookings came from non-semi customers, driven by requirements from manufacturers of oscillators, industrial sensors, LEDs, equipment for the nuclear process industry, and military/aerospace applications."

inTEST Corporation is an independent designer, manufacturer and marketer of temperature management products and ATE interface solutions, which are used by semiconductor manufacturers to perform final testing of integrated circuits (ICs) and wafers. inTEST’s Thermal Solutions Group provides customized temperature test solutions. For more information, visit www.intest.com.

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December 12, 2011 — Mentor Graphics Corporation (NASDAQ:MENT) has combined technologies for thermal characterization and simulation with T3Ster hardware test products and its FloTHERM software, enabling better heat management in power semiconductor packages, such as LEDs.

T3Ster performs advanced thermal transient testing for semiconductor device packages and LEDs. FloTHERM provides electronics thermal simulation and analysis to predict airflow, temperature and heat transfer throughout electronics components, boards, and systems. Engineers can evaluate and test designs automatically before physical prototypes are built. The T3Ster/FloTHERM interface enables more accurate thermal simulation than working from vendor datasheets, MENT reports. The characterization is JESD51-14-compliant. JESD51-14 is a measurement methodology standard for the junction-to-case thermal resistance of power semiconductor devices.

When combined with the T3Ster product, engineers using the FloTHERM tool will benefit from both accurate thermal simulation models derived from real measurements and thermal package characterization testing.

The integrated thermal suite is designed to eliminate manual thermal characterization work and improve accuracty. The combined T3Ster hardware measurement and FloTHERM software simulation methodology optimizes heat management in devices, sub-systems and full systems. Component makers can optimize LED and IC package designs for effective heat dissipation. Device prototypes can then be characterized thermally to build accurate models for subsystem and system designs. Systems integrators can verify heat management strategy with physical measurements in T3ster.

LEDs are becoming more powerful, drawing more attention to heat in failure mechanisms, said Dr. Thomas Zahner, quality manager, Osram Opto Semiconductors, who is using the product. "OSRAM is devoting considerable attention to thermal design." Zahner notes that testing in bulk increases their statistical confidence in measurement results. Thermal attach issues are identified by the T3Ster product (from

December 12, 2011 – PRNewswire via COMTEX — MagnaChip Semiconductor Corporation (NYSE:MX), designer and manufacturer of analog and mixed signal semiconductor products, now offers a redistribution layer (RDL) metal process for wafer bumping and an I/O structure and process that is fully compatible with copper wire bonding, reducing packaging costs.

RDL packaging moves wire bond pads around the die perimeter to bump pads in the die center, allowing for larger pitches at wafer bumping and solder use rather than plating. This process requires one additional aluminum layer and is fully compatible with MagnaChip’s standard CMOS process.

Working with major packaging providers (MagnaChip named Amkor as one example), the company developed a copper wire bonding process that avoids dielectric cracks beneath pads caused by higher mechanical stresses. Copper wire bonding will save materials costs and increase conductivity over gold wire bonding.

MagnaChip Semiconductor is a Korea-based designer and manufacturer of analog and mixed-signal semiconductor products for high-volume consumer applications. For more information, please visit www.magnachip.com.

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