Category Archives: Advanced Packaging

About 1,000 of the world’s leading experts in the field of microelectronics will gather here for the 2013 Symposia on VLSI Technology and Circuits, from June 11-13, 2013 (Technology) and from June 12-14, 2013 (Circuits). The Symposia alternate between Kyoto, Japan and Honolulu, HI annually and serve as the premier mid-year gatherings to present research for the advancement of microelectronics technology and circuit development.

To foster joint interactions among device technologists and circuit/system designers, the technical programs of both Symposia will overlap for two days, and attractive joint technology-circuits focus sessions – which were successfully introduced in last year – will be held again. For a single registration fee, attendees can benefit from unique opportunities for interdisciplinary learning that cannot be replicated by other important conferences in each area.

More than 200 presentations will be given, including short courses prior to each Symposium, invited speakers addressing the industry’s most important issues, evening rump sessions spanning a range of topics at the leading edge of technology and circuit design, and a compelling luncheon talk. Also, the Symposium on VLSI Technology will be preceded by the Silicon Nanoelectronics Workshop on June 09-10, 2013 and the Spintronics Workshop on LSI in the evening of June 10, 2013.

“This year’s VLSI Technology program will highlight the breakthroughs in the evolution of SoC and More-than-Moore technologies such as advanced CMOS devices, eDRAM, new NVM’s, image sensor, and their processes (lithography, interconnects and 3D stacks), as the semiconductor industry is moving to the beyond 22nm node,” said Hitoshi Wakabayashi of Tokyo Institute of Technology, Symposium Chair of the 2013 Symposium on VLSI Technology.

“The VLSI Circuits program will present major advancements in the designs with scaled devices at and below 22nm and also with three dimensional chip stacking with TSVs, as well as more universal topics such as energy-efficient electronics, bio-medical applications, and wireline/wireless communications interfaces,” said Makoto Nagata of Kobe University, Symposium Chair of the 2013 Symposium on VLSI Circuits.

Both Symposium Chairs also expressed that: “Joint focus sessions provide excellent opportunities of close interactions among technology and circuits communities, with alignments of selected topics in a program as well as a common session room for ease of participation.”

The Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*STAR) and Veredus Laboratories, a supplier of innovative molecular diagnostic tools, announced the launch of VereTropTM, the first biochip in the molecular diagnostics market that can identify 13 different major tropical diseases from a single blood sample.

With its high level of automation, this lab-on-chip diagnostic kit is poised to transform the quality and efficiency of testing tropical infectious diseases, including dengue fever, malaria, chikungunya and hand, foot and mouth disease, in the field.

 “Tropical diseases often reflect common symptoms like fever, and may not be accurately diagnosed early by doctors,” said Associate Professor Lisa F.P.Ng, the lead virologist in this project, from A*STAR’s Singapore Immunology Network. “This portable test kit is a rapid and reliable method to accurately test for multiple pathogenic targets from just one blood sample in a matter of hours.”

Together with Professor Laurent Renia, an expert in Malaria Immunobiology at SIgN, the team from SIgN has successfully validated the kit on patient samples in the external fields of Northern Thailand, at the Thai-Myanmar border.

 “This technology opens new possibilities for the accurate and rapid diagnostic of important infectious diseases that remain the main causes of illness in the tropics,” Professor François H Nosten, the clinical collaborator at the Oxford Clinical Unit in Mae Sot and Director of the Shoklo Malaria Research Unit said. “Its versatility and ease of use will change the approach to diagnostics at the periphery of health care system.”

Developed with infectious disease expertise from A*STAR’s SIgN, this biochip, which operates on STMicroelectronics’ Lab-on-Chip platform, was initiated between ETPL, the technology transfer arm of A*STAR and Veredus in 2009. Prior to this, Veredus had licensed diagnostic technology from A*STAR in the areas of influenza and malaria.

“Veredus and A*STAR have worked on several collaborative projects dating back to 2004,” said Dr. Rosemary Tan, CEO of Veredus Laboratories, a Singapore-based, majority owned subsidiary of STMicroelectronics. “This latest project on VereTrop Lab-on-Chip has combined the strengths and expertise of A*STAR, Veredus, and STMicroelectronics to create a powerful multiplexed molecular product that can rapidly detect and differentiate symptomatically similar tropical infectious diseases and enable timely proper treatment.”

 “After this journey of more than three years, we are glad that such a compelling technologically-advanced product with global healthcare benefits is ready to be launched to the market. Veredus is a good example of how local companies can work with A*STAR for a consistent stream of technology to develop products that can enhance their offerings and level them up to be competitive and relevant globally,” said Philip Lim, Chief Executive Officer of ETPL.

To see learn more about MEMS in medical devices, check out the Top 10 medical applications for MEMS slideshow.

When a team of University of Illinois engineers set out to grow nanowires of a compound semiconductor on top of a sheet of graphene, they did not expect to discover a new paradigm of epitaxy.

The self-assembled wires have a core of one composition and an outer layer of another, a desired trait for many advanced electronics applications. Led by professor Xiuling Li, in collaboration with professors Eric Pop and Joseph Lyding, all professors of electrical and computer engineering, the team published its findings in the journal Nano Letters.

Nanowires, tiny strings of semiconductor material, have great potential for applications in transistors, solar cells, lasers, sensors and more.

“Nanowires are really the major building blocks of future nano-devices,” said postdoctoral researcher Parsian Mohseni, first author of the study. “Nanowires are components that can be used, based on what material you grow them out of, for any functional electronics application.”

graphene nanowires
A false-color microscope image of a single nanowire, showing the InAs core and InGaAs shell. | Graphic by Parsian Mohseni

 

Li’s group uses a method called van der Waals epitaxy to grow nanowires from the bottom up on a flat substrate of semiconductor materials, such as silicon. The nanowires are made of a class of materials called III-V (three-five), compound semiconductors that hold particular promise for applications involving light, such as solar cells or lasers.

The group previously reported growing III-V nanowires on silicon. While silicon is the most widely used material in devices, it has a number of shortcomings. Now, the group has grown nanowires of the material indium gallium arsenide (InGaAs) on a sheet of graphene, a 1-atom-thick sheet of carbon with exceptional physical and conductive properties.

Thanks to its thinness, graphene is flexible, while silicon is rigid and brittle. It also conducts like a metal, allowing for direct electrical contact to the nanowires. Furthermore, it is inexpensive, flaked off from a block of graphite or grown from carbon gases.

“One of the reasons we want to grow on graphene is to stay away from thick and expensive substrates,” Mohseni said. “About 80 percent of the manufacturing cost of a conventional solar cell comes from the substrate itself. We’ve done away with that by just using graphene. Not only are there inherent cost benefits, we’re also introducing functionality that a typical substrate doesn’t have.”

The researchers pump gases containing gallium, indium and arsenic into a chamber with a graphene sheet. The nanowires self-assemble, growing by themselves into a dense carpet of vertical wires across the surface of the graphene. Other groups have grown nanowires on graphene with compound semiconductors that only have two elements, but by using three elements, the Illinois group made a unique finding: The InGaAs wires grown on graphene spontaneously segregate into an indium arsenide (InAs) core with an InGaAs shell around the outside of the wire.

“This is unexpected,” Li said. “A lot of devices require a core-shell architecture. Normally you grow the core in one growth condition and change conditions to grow the shell on the outside. This is spontaneous, done in one step. The other good thing is that since it’s a spontaneous segregation, it produces a perfect interface.”

So what causes this spontaneous core-shell structure? By coincidence, the distance between atoms in a crystal of InAs is nearly the same as the distance between whole numbers of carbon atoms in a sheet of graphene. So, when the gases are piped into the chamber and the material begins to crystallize, InAs settles into place on the graphene, a near-perfect fit, while the gallium compound settles on the outside of the wires. This was unexpected, because normally, with van der Waals epitaxy, the respective crystal structures of the material and the substrate are not supposed to matter.

“We didn’t expect it, but once we saw it, it made sense,” Mohseni said.

In addition, by tuning the ratio of gallium to indium in the semiconductor cocktail, the researchers can tune the optical and conductive properties of the nanowires.

Next, Li’s group plans to make solar cells and other optoelectronic devices with their graphene-grown nanowires. Thanks to both the wires’ ternary composition and graphene’s flexibility and conductivity, Li hopes to integrate the wires in a broad spectrum of applications.

“We basically discovered a new phenomenon that confirms that registry does count in van der Waals epitaxy,” Li said.

Initiated by the arrival of Google Glass and magnified by Google’s efforts to promote application development for the product, the global market for smart glasses could amount to almost 10 million units from 2012 through 2016.

Shipments of smart glasses may rise to as high 6.6 million units in 2016, up from just 50,000 in 2012, for a total of 9.4 million units for the five-year period, according to an upside forecast from IMS Research, now part of IHS Inc. Growth this year will climb 150 percent to 124,000 shipments, mostly driven by sales to developers, as shown in the figure below. Expansion will really begin to accelerate in 2014 with the initial public availability of Google Glass, as shipment growth powers up to 250 percent, based on the optimistic forecast.

Google Glass this month began shipping to application developers who registered as early backers and paid the $1,500 price tag. This is expected to spur innovations in applications that should take Glass from early adopters to the mass market. As the developers get to work and Google encourages venture capitalists to back them, shipments will begin to surge to high volumes, according to the forecast.

However, the success of Google Glass will depend primarily on the applications developed for it. If developers fail to produce compelling software and uses for the devices, shipments could be significantly lower during the next several years.

“The applications are far more critical than the hardware when it comes to the success of Google Glass,” said Theo Ahadome, senior analyst at IHS. “In fact, the hardware is much less relevant to the growth of Google Glass than for any other personal communications device in recent history. This is because the utility of Google Glass is not readily apparent, so everything will depend on the appeal of the apps. This is why the smart glass market makes sense for a software-oriented organization like Google, despite the company’s limited previous success in developing hardware. Google is betting the house that developers will produce some compelling applications for Glass.”

The glass is half full

According to the optimistic scenario, developers will succeed in producing augmented reality applications for smart glasses that provide the user with information that can be safely and conveniently be integrated into casual use. Such applications typically are known as augmented reality, which involves adding a layer of computer-generated data to real-world people, places and things.

“The true success of Glass will be when it can provide some information to users not apparent when viewing people, places or things,” Ahadome said. “This information may include live updates for travel, location reviews and recommendations, nutritional information and matching personal preferences, and previous encounters to aid decision making. The upside for smart glasses will arise when they become a powerful information platform. In many ways, this is exactly what Google already does via other mediums, and also is why the upside scenario seems more likely.”

Broken glass

Under a more pessimistic scenario, IHS forecasts that only about 1 million smart glasses will be shipped through 2016.

According to this outlook, applications for smart glasses will be limited to some of those already displayed by Google in its Glass marketing. These include scenarios where smart glasses become more of a wearable camera device than a true augmented reality system. In this case, smart glasses will be mainly used for recording sports and other non-casual events, like jumping out of a plane, as demonstrated at the Google I/O developer conference in 2012. 

However, Glass will face competition from alternative wearable camera devices already in the market, such as GoPro Hero or Recon MOD Live.

While the wearable camera market was worth more than $200 million in 2012, it is not the multibillion-dollar market that smart glasses can achieve with wider applicability.

“The less frequently consumers interact with any personal communications device, the less valuable it becomes,” Ahadome observed. “If smart glasses become devices that are used only occasionally, rather than all the time, they become less attractive and desirable to consumers.”

New research led by University of Cincinnati physics professors Howard Jackson and Leigh Smith could contribute to better ways of harnessing solar energy, more effective air quality sensors or even stronger security measures against biological weapons such as anthrax. And it all starts with something that’s 1,000 times thinner than the typical human hair – a semiconductor nanowire.

UC’s Jackson, Smith, recently graduated PhD student Melodie Fickenscher and physics doctoral student Teng Shi, as well as several colleagues from across the US and around the world recently have published the research paper “Optical, Structural and Numerical Investigations of GaAs/AlGaAs Core-Multishell Nanowire Quantum Well Tubes” in Nano Letters, a premier journal on nanoscience and nanotechnology published by the American Chemical Society. In the paper, the team reports that they’ve discovered a new structure in a semiconductor nanowire with unique properties.

“This kind of structure in the gallium arsenide/aluminum gallium arsenide system had not been achieved before,” Jackson says. “It’s new in terms of where you find the electrons and holes, and spatially it’s a new structure.”

These cross-sectional electron microscope images show a quantum well tube nanowire’s hexagonal facets and crystal quality (left), and electron concentration in its corners.

By using a thin shell called a quantum well tube and growing it – to about 4nm thick – around the nanowire core, the researchers found electrons within the nanowire were distributed in an unusual way in relation to the facets of the hexagonal tube. A close look at the corners of the tube’s facets revealed something unexpected – a high concentration of ground state electrons and holes.

“Having the faceting really matters. It changes the ballgame,” Jackson says. “Adjusting the quantum well tube width allows you to control the energy – which would have been expected – but in addition we have found that there’s a highly localized ground state at the corners which then can give rise to true quantum nanowires.”

The nanowires the team uses for its research are grown at the Australian National University in Canberra, Australia – one partner in this project that extends to disparate parts of the globe.

The team’s discovery opens a new door to further study of the fundamental physics of semiconductor nanowires. As for leading to advances in technology such as photovoltaic cells, Jackson says it’s too soon to tell because quantum nanowires are just now being explored. But in a world where hundreds of dollars’ worth of technology is packed into a 5-by-2.5 inch iPhone, it’s not hard to see how small but powerful science comes at a premium.

The team at UC is one of only about a half dozen in the US conducting competitive research in the field. It’s a relatively young discipline, too, Jackson says, and one that’s moving fast. For such innovative science, he says it’s important to have a collaborative effort. The team includes scientists from research centers in the Midwest, the West Coast and all the way Down Under: UC, Miami University of Ohio and Sandia National Laboratories in California here in the US; and Monash University and the Australian National University in Australia.

 “We’re training students in state-of-the-art techniques on state-of-the-art materials doing state-of-the-art physics,” Jackson says. “Upon completing their education here, they’re positioned to go out and make contributions of their own.”

Additional contributors to the paper are Jan Yarrison-Rice of Miami University, Oxford, Ohio; Bryan Wong of Sandia National Laboratories, Livermore, Calif.; Changlin Zheng, Peter Miller and Joanne Etheridge of Monash University, Victoria, Australia; and Qiang Gao, Shriniwas Deshpande, Hark Hoe Tan and Chennupati Jagadish of the Australian National University, Canberra, Australia.

The critical processes and technologies necessary to continue Moore’s Law are currently more uncertain than ever before in the history of advanced semiconductor manufacturing. To assess these uncertainties and provide the latest information on EUV lithography, 3D transistors, 450mm wafer processing, and other challenges to preserving the pace of Moore’s Law, the leading authorities on these crucial issues will provide their insights, perspectives and predictions at SEMICON West (www.semiconwest.org), held from July 9-11 in San Francisco, Calif.  Free Registration for SEMICON West 2013 ends on  May 10 — register now: www.semiconwest.org/registration.

Although progress to take EUV lithography into the realm of high-volume manufacturing continues to be made, the readiness of source technologies, mask infrastructure and resist performance are still not known with a high degree of certainty. Until EUV Lithography is ready for high-volume manufacturing, the industry will continue to rely on double-patterning and even multiple-patterning lithography schemes using 193 immersion technology to take it beyond 22nm. How the industry will address these barriers, uncertainties and alternatives will be the focus the lithography session at SEMICON West.

The mobile market is driving the move to novel transistor architectures that offer greater performance and power benefits than traditional planar architectures. Memory and logic manufacturers are pursuing different strategies including leveraging innovations in design rules, new channel materials and processes (e.g., MOCVD) and inspection and metrology challenges.

While materials, architecture and processing technologies are undergoing revolutionary change, wafer processing platforms are also being radically transformed with a planned transition to 450mm wafers. For chip manufacturers and suppliers, this will involve increased levels of collaboration, further advancements in tool prototypes, and increased visibility into related supply chain implications.  The SEMICON West 450 Transition Forum will provide the latest updates on the status of 450 R&D, as well as a review of key technology considerations and a discussion of implications and opportunities for the supply chain.

Each of these programs will take place in the TechXPOT conference sessions on the exhibit floor.  Other TechXPOT programs include sessions on 2.5D and 3D IC Packaging, Productivity Innovation at Existing 200mm/300mm Fabs, Silicon Photonics, Lab-to-Fab Solutions, MEMS, LED Manufacturing, and Printed and Flexible Electronics.  SEMICON West will features over 50 hours of free technical, applications and business programs with the critical, need-to-know information presented by industry leaders.  .

SEMI is the global industry association serving the nano- and microelectronics manufacturing supply chains. SEMI maintains offices in Bangalore, Beijing, Berlin, Brussels, Grenoble, Hsinchu, Moscow, San Jose, Seoul, Shanghai, Singapore, Tokyo, and Washington, D.C. 

MEMS Industry Group (MIG), a global industry organization with more than 140 member-companies and partners, will welcome micro-electromechanical systems (MEMS), medical industry and academic experts to Cambridge, Mass. for Member-to-Member (M2M) Forum 2013, a conference on the MEMS connection to advancements in healthcare, medical and biomedical applications.

“Tiny, intelligent MEMS sensors—more popularly known for enhancing the user experience with smartphones, tablets and video game controllers—are improving medical technology in dramatic ways. From wearable and implantable drug-delivery systems to remote patient monitoring for diabetes and heart disease, medical researchers and technologists are collaborating on new applications that will improve patients’ health and quality of life in myriad ways,” said Karen Lightman, executive director, MEMS Industry Group. “This year we are bringing M2M Forum, our annual members’ technical conference, to Cambridge, the very heart of innovation in biomedical/medical research and technology. M2M Forum gives attendees a rare glimpse into the opportunities and challenges affecting the entire MEMS supply chain as they integrate MEMS into biomedical/medical devices.”

Agenda highlights of M2M Forum 2013 include:

  • Welcome and Overview: Karen Lightman, executive director, MEMS Industry Group
  • MEMS Standardization Update: Stephen Whalley, director, Sensors, Intel Architecture Group, Intel Corporation
  • Keynote Presentation: “Medical Sensor and Sensing Technologies in the Nokia Sensing X CHALLENGE: New Materials, Medical Research and mHealth Converging Fast!”: Mark Winter, senior director, Qualcomm Tricorder XPRIZE, Nokia Sensing X CHALLENGE, XPRIZE
  • “Outlook for MEMS in Digital Health”: Shane Walker, associate director at InMedica, IHS
  • “The Role of MEMS in the Future of Health Care Delivery”: Mehran Mehregany, PhD, Goodrich Professor of Engineering Innovation Director, Wireless Health Program Director, Case School of Engineering
  • “Microsystems for Implantable Drug Delivery”: Jeffrey Borenstein, PhD, technical director – Biomedical Engineering Center, Charles Stark Draper Laboratory
  • Panel – “Incorporating End-user Experience into MEMS-powered Design through Human Factors Engineering,” with speakers:
    • Mark Diperri (moderator), senior field applications engineer, Freescale Semiconductor
    • Asmita Khanolkar, program manager, SMC Ltd.
    • Tom O’Dwyer, technology director, Healthcare group, Analog Devices
    • Brian O’Loughlin, sales manager, IMT
    • “Overcoming Challenges of Integrating MEMS into Medical Devices – from Product Development to Manufacturing”: Asmita Khanolkar, program manager, SMC Ltd.
    • Keynote Presentation: “Commercializing MEMS-enabled Products: A View from the Ivory Tower”: Martin Schmidt, PhD, associate provost and professor of Electrical Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
    • Keynote Presentation: “Fluidic MEMS”: Mehmet Toner, PhD, professor of surgery, Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School Harvard-MIT Division of Health Sciences

MEMS Industry Group (MIG) is the trade association advancing MEMS across global markets. More than 140 companies comprise MIG, including Analog Devices, Applied Materials, ASE, Bosch, Fairchild Semiconductor, Freescale Semiconductor, GE, Honeywell, HP, Intel, InvenSense, Murata Electronics Oy, OMRON Electronic Components, Qualcomm, Sony, STMicroelectronics, Texas Instruments and ULVAC Technologies, Inc.

AG Semiconductor Services, LLC (AGSS), one of the largest global suppliers of used electronics manufacturing equipment and the leader in managing large scale turnkey projects, today announced that Michael (Mike) Mardesich has joined the company in the role of senior director of sales. An industry veteran, Mardesich is tasked with developing sales strategies, managing sales and contract remarketing services and managing AGSS’ global sales force.

“Mike brings energy and intensity that are ideally suited to support the expansion of our global market presence," said Julian Gates, a Managing Director of AGSS. "He is well known throughout the electronics industry; this experience and his skill set will help solidify AGSS as the leading provider of used equipment and customer solutions to the electronics manufacturing industry."

The company also announced that former head of sales Tim Johnson will transition laterally to focus on growing AGSS’ turnkey services as well as spearhead development of future revenue channels including products and services that support non-traditional IC manufacturing such as MEMS, compound semiconductor, LED and photovoltaic. In his new role as Senior Director, Johnson will continue to support sales, remarketing and value added services as well.

Mardesich has over 30 years of experience in management, sales and equipment valuations in the electronics manufacturing used equipment industry. Prior to joining AGSS, Mardesich was the Senior Vice President of Sales with GE Capital Global Electronics Services. He also held similar positions with Comdisco Electronics Group where he was a founding member. He was an original Board Member of the SEC/N used equipment consortium.

AG Semiconductor Services, LLC is a provider of second-hand electronics manufacturing equipment and services. The company specializes in reselling pre-owned semiconductor manufacturing, IC test/assembly and printed circuit board assembly equipment acquired from leading electronics manufacturers around the world.

MEMSIC, Inc., a MEMS solution provider, today announced that it has agreed to be acquired by IDG-Accel China Capital II, L.P. and its affiliates MZ Investment Holdings Limited and MZ Investment Holdings Merger Sub Limited, for $4.225 per share in cash. Affiliates of IDG currently hold approximately 19.5 percent of the company’s outstanding common stock. IDG and its affiliates will acquire all the outstanding shares of common stock of MEMSIC that are not currently owned by them, including shares underlying outstanding in-the-money equity awards, for approximately $88.5 million.

The price of $4.225 per share in cash represents a premium of:

143 percent over the $1.74 closing price of MEMSIC’s common stock on November 20, 2012, the last trading day before the company announced that it had received a non-binding proposal from IDG-Accel China Growth Fund II L.P. to acquire the company for $4.00 per share;

144 percent over its average closing share price over the 90 calendar days ended on that date; and

56 percent over the company’s closing share price of $2.71 on April 22, 2013.

The Board of Directors of MEMSIC, in approving the transaction, acted at the unanimous recommendation of a special committee, consisting of the company’s three independent directors, that was appointed in November 2012 to consider the IDG proposal and the company’s other strategic alternatives.

“The Special Committee and its advisors conducted a disciplined and independent process intended to ensure the best available outcome for our stockholders,” said MEMSIC’s Lead Director and Chairman of the Special Committee, Roger Blethen. “The Board of Directors approved the IDG transaction because it strongly believes, after carefully considering the company’s strategic alternatives, that it is in the best interest of MEMSIC stockholders and the best of the available alternatives. We believe the $4.225 price is fair and that making that value available to our stockholders immediately in cash is more favorable to them than the other alternatives available, including remaining independent.”

The company’s Chairman of the Board and Chief Executive Officer, Dr. Yang Zhao, and director Quan Zhou were not members of the Special Committee and did not participate in the deliberations of the Board of Directors approving the merger. Mr. Zhou is an affiliate of IDG. Dr. Zhao will remain employed by the company following the acquisition and will also participate as an equity investor in the acquiring company.

The merger agreement is subject to customary conditions, including a vote of the company’s stockholders. The transaction is expected to close during the third quarter of 2013.

Foley Hoag LLP acted as counsel to MEMSIC. RBC Capital Markets, LLC acted as financial advisor and Richards, Layton and Finger, P.A. acted as special legal counsel to the Special Committee. Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP acted as counsel to IDG.

Headquartered in Andover, Massachusetts, MEMSIC, Inc. provides advanced semiconductor sensor and integrated sensing system solutions based on MEMS technology and mixed signal circuit design. Its products include accelerometers, magnetic sensors and electronic compass solutions, integrated high performance inertial measurement units for industrial and avionics applications, MEMS flow sensing systems, and wireless sensing network systems.

SAMCO Inc, head quartered in Kyoto, Japan, has expanded its OPTO Films Research Laboratory in California’s Silicon Valley in order to strengthen its research structure and after-sale process support.

SAMCO relocate and expand Silicon Valley office

Placing an emphasis on interaction with cutting edge research SAMCO is expanding its research and development activities at its three global R&D centers – The ‘Kyoto Research and Development Center’; the Silicon Valley ‘OPTO Films Research Laboratory’; and ‘Cambridge Research Center’ located in England’s Cambridge University. 

SAMCO was the first Japanese venture company to open an R&D center in the Silicon Valley. The OPTO Films Research and Development Center in Silicon Valley was established in 1987 as SAMCO’s first overseas research and development center.  Since its establishment it has lead the research of carbon type materials such as diamond thin films, diamond like carbon (DLC), and materials for electrodes etc., as well as the development of thin film deposition systems.  Furthermore, the facility also plays an important role in joint research with universities.

Highlighting SAMCO’s plans for business expansion and the strengthening of its research and development structure, the new facility is about twice as large as the one it replaces. Furthermore, in order to maximize research efficiency, the laboratory is again located in the Silicon Valley, a hub of company research centers and ventures. 

The new laboratory is equipped with SAMCO CVD systems, dry etching systems, cleaning systems, and a suite of thin-film measurement systems.  Research will continue on thin films of carbon-based materials and new research will begin on MEMS fabrication for the bio-medical industries.  Recruitment of local researchers is also progressing, with plans for up to ten researchers to be based at the facility (currently six). 

Along with the expansion of the Silicon Valley facilities, SAMCO has also increased sales personnel in its East Coast sales and service office located in North Carolina’s ‘Research Triangle Park’.  The new OPTO films Laboratory will play an important role, as a demo laboratory, in supporting the expansion of North American sales.