Category Archives: LEDs

(December 29, 2010 – BUSINESS WIRE) — IMS Research’s latest Quarterly GaN LED Supply and Demand Report features a new LED supply and demand model built by a new global team of authors. They determine that LED supply growth is significantly outpacing demand growth creating a widening surplus and increased pricing pressure.

"LED supply is rapidly expanding on China’s MOCVD stimulus program, ramping of recently installed tools and improving yields on existing tools. On the other hand, a significant 2H 2010 reduction in LEDs per panel is causing demand to grow slower than expected, leading to reduced fab utilization and increased pricing pressure. Because of China’s MOCVD subsidies, MOCVD shipments and supply growth are not slowing down resulting in an accelerating supply imbalance that is expected to widen through 2012 if MOCVD shipments remain on schedule," according to IMS Research SVP Ross Young.

The latest report, which reveals each panel suppliers’ quarterly panel shipments, LED panel shipments, number of LEDs per panel and LED consumption at every size, resolution and refresh rate, shows that the weighted average number of edge-lit LEDs per panel fell by around 30% in both TVs and monitors from Q2 2010 to Q3 2010 as panel and backlight suppliers further optimize their designs to reduce costs. Improvements in lightguide and LED efficiencies and optimization of optical films caused the reduction, which is contributing to a growing LED over-supply.

The most recent issue also tracks LED consumption by panel supplier in the notebook, monitor and TV markets where LG Display consumed the most LEDs in notebooks in Q3 2010 and is expected to lead in Q4 2010. In monitors, LG also led in Q3 2010, but Samsung is expected to lead in Q4 2010. In TVs, Samsung led in Q3 2010 and is expected to lead in Q4 2010. Samsung led in total LED consumption in Q3 2010 and is expected to lead in Q4 2010 at over 2B LEDs, while LG Display is expected to lead for all of 2010 at nearly 6B LEDs consumed.

IMS Research is an independent provider of market research and consulting to the global electronics industry. For additional details, visit http://www.ledmarketresearch.com.

Also read: LEDs ramp in 2015, MOCVD reaps benefit: Gartner forecast

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(December 28, 2010 – BUSINESS WIRE) — O2 Investment Partners, LLC, announced it has acquired all outstanding shares of Silbond Corporation, a specialty chemical manufacturing business based in Weston in southeastern Michigan.

Jay Hansen, president of O2, announced the deal and added that the transaction included partnering with Silbond’s strong management team.

Founded in 1994, Silbond employs 50 people and supplies tetra ethyl ortho silicate (TEOS), a specialty chemical used in industries such as semiconductors and electronics, protective coatings, investment casting, and chemical processing. Silbond is the only producer of TEOS for commercial sale in North America.

"We are not a traditional private equity firm," Hansen explained. "We invest equity on behalf of our principals and a core network of co-investors and strategic partners. We have a geographic focus in the Great Lakes states and Ontario, Canada and look for lower- and middle-market companies that have the earnings growth potential and a clear path to the creation of long-term shareholder value. We like to partner with management to pursue that common vision and structure the capital investment to fit that business and facilitate the implementation of the strategic plan. Silbond’s history, track record and potential meet those criteria."

"Led by its President, Larry Brown, and a very strong management team, we believe that Silbond has the right combination of a talented and experienced workforce, efficient manufacturing processes, diversified customer base, and diversified markets served, to be competitive on a global scale. We look forward to supporting them in achieving their vision of growth and success."

Added Hansen, "With this management team and the support of our financial partners such as Centerfield Capital Partners, we are very optimistic about being able to realize these growth opportunities."

The principals of O2 Investment have more than 60 years of collective experience in mergers and acquisitions and building businesses, having completed more than 40 acquisitions and investments in the manufacturing, distribution, service, financial service, and technology industries. In addition to Silbond, other portfolio companies owned by O2 Investment principals include: Rhe-Tech, Inc., a Michigan based plastics compounding and coloring business and New Horizons Northeast, a New York based computer and software training and education provider to consumers and businesses. Additional information is available at www.silbond.com and www.o2investment.com

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(December 28, 2010) — The ConFab, an invitation-only global conference and networking event for semiconductor industry executives, announces the appointment of five new advisory board members for 2011. The ConFab also welcomes the industry association SEMI, which has agreed for the first time to sponsor The ConFab in 2011. The conference, which will be held May 15-18, 2011, is also moving to a new venue in Las Vegas: the M Resort Spa Casino.

The ConFab is operated by PennWell Corp., a diversified global media and information company, and is the primary event produced by Solid State Technology, the leading global information source on semiconductor manufacturing.

The five new advisory board members are:

  • John Lin, Director of Mfg Technology Center, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company, Ltd.
  • Geoffrey Yeap, VP of Technology, Qualcomm Inc.
  • Y.W. Park, VP, 300mm Technology team leader, Foundry Business Team, LSI Division, Samsung
  • Paul Farrar, VP, Albany Expansion and Strategic Initiatives, IBM Corporation
  • Scott Kramer, Vice President of Manufacturing Technology, SEMATECH

These new members are joining the existing advisory board, comprised of industry leaders:

  • David Bennett, VP Alliances, GLOBALFOUNDRIES
  • Janice Golda, Director Lithography Capital Equipment Development, Intel
  • John Chen, VP, Nvidia
  • Kevin Logue, DMOS6 Engineering Manager, Texas Instruments
  • Sima Salamati, Test Technology & Product Engineering Manager, Texas Instruments (ret.)
  • Hans Stork, CTO, Applied Materials
  • Lori Nye, COO/Executive Director Customer Operations, Brewer Science
  • Paul Edstrom, CTO GE Commercial Finance
  • Ken Rygler, President, Rygler & Associates (founder of Toppan Photomasks)
  • Takeshi Hattori, President, Hattori Consulting International
  • Bill Tobey, President, ACT International
  • and Pete Singer, Editor-in-Chief, Solid State Technology.

“We’re excited to have the new advisory members on board for The ConFab 2011,” said Pete Singer, Conference Chairman. “They will be instrumental in helping us sharpen our focus on the important role that fabless companies play in driving semiconductor manufacturing, and the changing infrastructure as more companies move to a fabless or asset-light model.”

The ConFab 2011 will continue the conference’s traditional focus on the economics of semiconductor manufacturing. Attendees will hear about:

  • The industry’s dramatic recovery in 2010 and a continued positive out look for 2011 and 2012. The impact of consumerization, where almost 60% of semiconductor sales are driven by consumer demand for electronics products.
  • A restructuring of the industry that may leave only a handful of companies with the financial and technical resources to produce devices at the very leading edge.
  • The long term outlook for a maturing, yet-still-cyclical industry (cyclicality is a function of supply and demand, capacity, average selling price, and the high capital and operating costs of a fab).
  • A bevy of technical challenges, including next generation lithography, 450mm wafer transition, 3D integration, and the advanced packaging and testing of increasingly complex chips.
  • The opportunities of high growth markets such as MEMS, LEDs, flexible displays and energy storage.

SEMI joins a growing list of companies and associations that have sponsored The ConFab. Sponsors to-date for the 2011 event include:  Advantest, AG Semiconductor, Applied Materials, ATMI, Brewer Science, Camtek, Cascade Microtech, EVG, Edwards Vacuum, KLA-Tencor, Lam Research, Novellus, Pall Microelectronics and Valqua.

“We’re delighted to have SEMI on board as a sponsor of The ConFab,” said Diane Lieberman, Group Publisher. “We know their delegates will find the conference informative and the networking opportunities useful. This sponsorship is part of a closer collaboration between SEMI and PennWell, which includes a new SEMI News and Views blog on www.electroiq.com, PennWell’s portal for electronics manufacturing, and SEMI sponsorship of the LEDS manufacturing workshop at PennWell’s Strategies in Light Conference and Exposition, Feb. 22-24, 2011, in Santa Clara, CA.”

The M Resort Spa Casino Las Vegas is one of the newest hotel/casinos on the south end of the Las Vegas strip, with award-winning dining and four-star service. The M Resort features more than 60,000 square feet of open and dynamic conference space, including a 17,400 square foot ballroom, multiple reception areas and a convenient business center.

Entering its seventh year, The ConFab is an exclusive invitation-only global conference and business meeting where executives from semiconductor equipment and material suppliers can meet with key decision makers from semiconductor manufacturers. At The ConFab, these executives discuss business and technology issues and collaborate on future strategic development in device manufacturing. Ample time is available for private face-to-face meetings between equipment and material suppliers and manufacturers. Attendance is by invitation only and attendees are pre-screened to verify that they are key participants in the buying process. For sponsorship information, please contact JoAnn Pellegrini ([email protected]).

Solid State Technology is the longest-standing and most complete source of information on semiconductor manufacturing, wafer fabrication, integrated circuits, thin-film microelectronics, flat-panel displays, and microstructure technologies, processes and equipment. Through its monthly print and digital magazines in North America and Asia, website (www.solid-state.com), web portal (www.ElectroIQ.com), e-newsletters and events (The ConFab), Solid State Technology provides its global audience with in-depth technical analysis, authoritative commentary and up-to-the-minute news.

Celebrating its centennial in 2010, PennWell Corporation is a privately held and highly diversified business-to-business media and information company that provides quality content and integrated marketing solutions for the following industries in addition to fire and emergency services: Oil and gas, electric power generation and delivery, hydropower, renewable energy, water and wastewater treatment, waste management, electronics, semiconductor manufacturing, optoelectronics, fiber optics, nanotechnology, aerospace and avionics, LEDS and lighting, and dental.

SEMI is the global industry association serving the manufacturing supply chains for the microelectronic, display and photovoltaic industries. SEMI member companies are the engine of the future, enabling smarter, faster and more economical products that improve our lives. Since 1970, SEMI has been committed to helping members grow more profitably, create new markets and meet common industry challenges. SEMI maintains offices in Austin, Beijing, Bengaluru, Berlin, Brussels, Grenoble, Hsinchu, Moscow, San Jose, Seoul, Shanghai, Singapore, Tokyo, and Washington, D.C. For more information, visit www.semi.org.

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(December 21, 2010) — Just as walkie-talkies transmit and receive radio waves, carbon nanotubes (CNT) can transmit and receive light at the nanoscale, Cornell researchers have discovered.

Carbon nanotubes, cylindrical rolled-up sheets of carbon atoms, might one day make ideal optical scattering wires: tiny, mostly invisible antennae with the ability to control, absorb and emit certain colors of light at the nanoscale, according to research led by Jiwoong Park, Cornell assistant professor of chemistry and chemical biology. The study, which includes co-author Garnet Chan, also in chemistry, was published online Dec. 19 in the journal Nature Nanotechnology. The paper’s first author is Daniel Y. Joh, a former student in Park’s lab.

The researchers used the Rayleigh scattering of light — the same phenomenon that creates the blue look of the sky — from carbon nanotubes grown in the lab. They found that while the propagation of light scattering is mostly classical and macroscopic, the color and intensity of the scattered radiation is determined by intrinsic quantum properties. In other words, the nanotubes’ simple carbon-carbon bonded molecular structure determined how they scattered light, independent of their shape, which differs from the properties of today’s metallic nanoscale optical structures.

"Even if you chop it down to a small scale, nothing will change, because the scattering is fundamentally molecular," Park explained.

They found that the nanotubes’ light transmission behaved as a scaled-down version of radio-frequency (RF) antennae found in walkie-talkies, except that they interact with light instead of radio waves. The principles that govern the interactions between light and the carbon nanotube are the same as between the radio antenna and the radio signal, researchers found.

To perform their experiments, the researchers used a methodology developed in their lab that completely eliminates the problematic background signal, by coating the surface of a substrate with a refractive index-matching medium to make the substrate ‘disappear’ optically, not physically. This technique, which allowed them to see the different light spectra produced by the nanotubes, is detailed in another study published in Nano Letters.

The technique also allows quick, easy characterization of a large number of nanotubes, which could lead to ways of growing more uniform batches of nanotubes. Also read: Carbon nanotubes sliced, and leave the kinks in

The paper’s principal authors are former student Daniel Y. Joh; graduate student Lihong Herman; and Jesse Kinder, a postdoctoral research associate in Chan’s lab. Park is a member of the Kavli Institute at Cornell for Nanoscale Science. Both the Nature Nanotechnology and Nano Letters work were supported by the Air Force Office of Scientific Research and the National Science Foundation through the Center for Nanoscale Systems, Cornell Center for Materials Research, Center for Molecular Interfacing and an NSF CAREER grant.

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(December 17, 2010 – BUSINESS WIRE) — Nanometrics Incorporated (Nasdaq: NANO), advanced process control metrology systems provider to semiconductor, high-brightness LED, data storage, and solar photovoltaics fabricators, announced that a leading semiconductor foundry has ordered a UniFire 7900 metrology system for advanced 3D wafer-scale packaging process control. This initial system will be delivered in the fourth quarter of 2010 to enable the foundry’s transition from development to high-volume manufacturing in 2011.

"The UniFire is an enabling metrology system in the rapidly growing wafer-scale packaging segment and has been adopted by multiple customers for through-silicon-via (TSV) process control, with measurements including critical dimensions (CD), depth and topography. The deployment of advanced packaging technologies such as TSV and micro-bump formation will enable cost and performance advantages for next-generation devices. These emerging applications provide growth opportunities for Nanometrics, with new manufacturing process steps requiring additional optical metrology solutions," commented Dr. Michael Darwin, vice president of the UniFire and Materials Characterization groups at Nanometrics.

"This win is indicative of our strategy to grow the company through acquisitions of leading-edge products and technologies that expand our business into emerging and high-growth market segments," commented Tim Stultz, president and chief executive officer of Nanometrics. "The UniFire enables us to offer new and enabling technology to our established logic and memory customers while increasing our penetration of leading foundry customers. As we look forward, the incremental market opportunity for advanced wafer-scale packaging process meaningfully expands our served markets and business growth outlook."

The UniFire has been put into production for both front-end-of-line (FEOL) and back-end-of-line (BEOL) semiconductor and magnetic device manufacturing processes, and for applications including advanced packaging, lithography, etch, chemical mechanical polishing (CMP) and thin film deposition. The UniFire is capable of high precision measurement of two-dimensional and three-dimensional structures for depth, CD, profile, and film thickness control for advanced device manufacturing processes.

Nanometrics is a provider of advanced, high-performance process control metrology systems used primarily in the fabrication of semiconductors, high-brightness LEDs, data storage devices and solar photovoltaics. Nanometrics’ website is http://www.nanometrics.com.

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(December 17, 2010 – BUSINESS WIRE) — Nanometrics Incorporated (Nasdaq: NANO), advanced process control metrology systems provider to semiconductor, high-brightness LED, data storage, and solar photovoltaics fabricators, announced that a leading semiconductor foundry has ordered a UniFire 7900 metrology system for advanced 3D wafer-scale packaging process control. This initial system will be delivered in the fourth quarter of 2010 to enable the foundry’s transition from development to high-volume manufacturing in 2011.

"The UniFire is an enabling metrology system in the rapidly growing wafer-scale packaging segment and has been adopted by multiple customers for through-silicon-via (TSV) process control, with measurements including critical dimensions (CD), depth and topography. The deployment of advanced packaging technologies such as TSV and micro-bump formation will enable cost and performance advantages for next-generation devices. These emerging applications provide growth opportunities for Nanometrics, with new manufacturing process steps requiring additional optical metrology solutions," commented Dr. Michael Darwin, vice president of the UniFire and Materials Characterization groups at Nanometrics.

"This win is indicative of our strategy to grow the company through acquisitions of leading-edge products and technologies that expand our business into emerging and high-growth market segments," commented Tim Stultz, president and chief executive officer of Nanometrics. "The UniFire enables us to offer new and enabling technology to our established logic and memory customers while increasing our penetration of leading foundry customers. As we look forward, the incremental market opportunity for advanced wafer-scale packaging process meaningfully expands our served markets and business growth outlook."

The UniFire has been put into production for both front-end-of-line (FEOL) and back-end-of-line (BEOL) semiconductor and magnetic device manufacturing processes, and for applications including advanced packaging, lithography, etch, chemical mechanical polishing (CMP) and thin film deposition. The UniFire is capable of high precision measurement of two-dimensional and three-dimensional structures for depth, CD, profile, and film thickness control for advanced device manufacturing processes.

Nanometrics is a provider of advanced, high-performance process control metrology systems used primarily in the fabrication of semiconductors, high-brightness LEDs, data storage devices and solar photovoltaics. Nanometrics’ website is http://www.nanometrics.com.

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(December 16, 2010 – BUSINESS WIRE) — Syndiant, maker of high-resolution microdisplays for pico projectors, is expanding its global reach to include offices in the Hong Kong Science and Technology Park.

The Hong Kong office will be led by Dr. Dennis Cheng, and will be used for close R&D collaboration with technology partners and prestigious universities in Hong Kong and South China. Additionally, the office is in close proximity to key customers in Hong Kong and Shenzhen.

Syndiant’s new office is located at Unit 315A, 3/F, Enterprise Place, No. 5 Science Park West Avenue, Hong Kong Science Park, Shatin, New Territories, Hong Kong. The Hong Kong Science and Technology Park has 20 state-of-the-art buildings on a 22 hectare campus. Since its inception, the Park has become home to more than 300 technology companies.

Syndiant manufactures small, high-resolution light-modulating chips used in pico projectors small enough to embed in a cell phone. Syndiant’s patented VueG8 technology provides a large screen experience in handheld electronics, such as smartphones, notebook computers, portable media players, video game consoles and cameras. For more information, visit www.syndiant.com.

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(December 15, 2010) — Extending its reach into related adjacent markets, Crossing Automation, Inc., automation solutions and engineering services provider, announced a design win for its ExpressConnect vacuum wafer handling system by a carbon nanotube (CNT) original equipment manufacturer (OEM).

The Shuttle-Lock and vacuum cassette elevator configuration will be integrated into the OEM’s process tool to automate wafer handling. ExpressConnect was selected because it offered a compact, low-cost solution that met the customer’s requirements for its R&D and pilot production environment.

"This order marks our entry into yet another emerging market with significant growth potential and highlights the opportunities available for automation in semiconductor-related markets including CNTs, photovoltaics, LEDs and MEMS," said May Su, vice president of marketing for Crossing Automation. "Our ability to deliver a wide variety of cost-competitive automation building blocks that can be designed to accommodate very specific process requirements provides significant growth opportunities for us as a company."

Crossing’s ExpressConnect vacuum wafer handling solutions suit emerging technologies that are in the process of migrating from smaller wafer sizes used in R&D to production-scale 200 and 300mm wafers, which offer an ideal insertion point for automation technologies. CNTs, MEMS and LEDs are examples of markets that are currently in transition to higher levels of automation in order to meet yield and productivity enhancements.

Crossing Automation supplies efficient, cost-effective vacuum and atmospheric automation solutions, materials tracking and engineering services to hig-volume semiconductor equipment manufacturers, IC, LED and solar manufacturers and other adjacent markets. Learn more at www.crossinginc.com

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(December 13, 2010) — The Global Semiconductor Alliance presented awards to top private and public companies at its annual ceremony as well as honoring Dr. John Hennessy, president of Stanford Univeristy, with the Dr. Morris Chang Exemplary Leadership Award. GSA recognizes semiconductor companies that have demonstrated excellence through their success, vision, strategy and future opportunities in the industry.

GSA is pleased to announce Dr. John Hennessy, president of Stanford University, as the 2010 Dr. Morris Chang Exemplary Leadership Award recipient. Dr. Hennessy is one of the leading pioneers and innovators in computer architecture during the last 25 years. In the early 1980s, Dr. Hennessy led research teams focused on RISC-based computing. RISC-based CPU cores have also been instrumental in enabling fabless semiconductor companies to provide feature-rich products using single and multiple embedded CPU cores in ever increasingly complex System-on-Chips (SOCs).

John L. Hennessy joined Stanford’s faculty in 1977 as an assistant professor of electrical engineering. He rose through the academic ranks to full professorship in 1986 and was the inaugural Willard R. and Inez Kerr Bell Professor of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science from 1987 to 2004. From 1983 to 1993, Dr. Hennessy was director of the Computer Systems Laboratory, a research and teaching center operated by the Departments of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science that fosters research in computer systems design. He served as chair of computer science from 1994 to 1996 and, in 1996, was named dean of the School of Engineering. As dean, he launched a five-year plan that laid the groundwork for new activities in bioengineering and biomedical engineering. In 1999, he was named provost, the university’s chief academic and financial officer. As provost, he continued his efforts to foster interdisciplinary activities in the biosciences and bioengineering and oversaw improvements in faculty and staff compensation. In October 2000, he was inaugurated as Stanford University’s 10th president. In 2005, he became the inaugural holder of the Bing Presidential Professorship.

A pioneer in computer architecture, in 1981 Dr. Hennessy drew together researchers to focus on a computer architecture known as RISC (Reduced Instruction Set Computer), a technology that has revolutionized the computer industry by increasing performance while reducing costs. In addition to his role in the basic research, Dr. Hennessy helped transfer this technology to industry. In 1984, he cofounded MIPS Computer Systems, now MIPS Technologies, which designs microprocessors. In recent years, his research has focused on the architecture of high-performance computers.

Dr. Hennessy is a recipient of the 2000 IEEE John von Neumann Medal, the 2000 ASEE Benjamin Garver Lamme Award, the 2001 ACM Eckert-Mauchly Award, the 2001 Seymour Cray Computer Engineering Award, a 2004 NEC C&C Prize for lifetime achievement in computer science and engineering and a 2005 Founders Award from the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. He is a member of the National Academy of Engineering and the National Academy of Sciences, and he is a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, the Association for Computing Machinery, and the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers.

He has lectured and published widely and is the co-author of two internationally used undergraduate and graduate textbooks on computer architecture design. Dr. Hennessy earned his bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering from Villanova University and his master’s and doctoral degrees in computer science from the State University of New York at Stony Brook.

Private Company Awards

Outstanding Revenue Growth by Private Semiconductor Company Award
The top five private semiconductor companies (in terms of growth percentage) that doubled revenue over eight consecutive quarters, may be eligible to receive an award for their outstanding financial performance. Due to confidentiality, private companies submitted their ballots directly to a designated consulting firm to determine which companies doubled revenue. GSA does not receive a copy of financial data within submissions. Up to five companies are eligible to receive this award.

Criteria:
Company must be a semiconductor company* (Fabless or IDM).
Company must be private held.
Company must be generating $2 million revenue in quarter ending Sept. 2008.

The two recipients are Apexone Microelectronics and Fulcrum Microsystems, Inc. 

Start-Up to Watch Award
The GSA Start-Up to Watch Awards Committee, which is comprised of members of the Emerging CEO Council, venture capitalists and select serial entrepreneurs in the industry, selects the winner of the Start-Up To Watch award by identifying the semiconductor company that demonstrates the potential to positively change its market or the semiconductor industry in general through the innovative use of semiconductor technology or a new application for semiconductor technology.

This prestigious honor was given to SandForce, Inc.

Criteria:
Company must be a semiconductor company (Fabless or IDM).
Company must have introduced its first product within the last 3.5 years (between January 1, 2007 and June 30, 2010).
Company must have demonstrated initial market success by achieving a minimum of $5 million of cumulative product revenue (i.e., cumulative product revenue since market introduction).

Most Respected Private Semiconductor Company Award: 
This award went to Ambarella. The industry’s Most Respected Private Semiconductor Company award is designed to identify the private company garnering the most respect of the industry in terms of its products, vision and future opportunity. GSA’s Awards Committee reviews all private semiconductor companies, and the selected nominees and winner are based on the committee’s analysis of each company’s performance and likelihood of long-term success.

Criteria:
Company must be a semiconductor company (Fabless or IDM).
Company must be privately held.
Company must be shipping product and generating revenue greater than $20 million.

Public Company Awards

Best Financially Managed Semiconductor Company Award
Altera Corporation was awarded the "Best Financially Managed Company Award" which was presented to them for their demonstration of the best overall financial performance based on a number of key financial metrics.

The Best Financially Managed Semiconductor Company Award is designed to evaluate the financial health of the public fabless semiconductor companies based on a number of financial metrics, such as return on investment, return on equity, inventory turns, revenue, net income, days sales outstanding, cash per share, cash burn, gross profit margin, operating margin and current ratio. GSA and financial analysts evaluate each company against their peers, and the one with the best overall performance is determined the winner.

Most Respected Public Semiconductor Company Awards
These awards are designed to identify the public companies garnering the most respect of the industry in terms of their products, vision and future opportunities. GSA’s Awards Committee reviews the companies meeting the criteria below for each award, and the selected companies are based on the Committee’s analysis of each company’s performance and likelihood of success. On-line voting takes place to allow members of the semiconductor industry, including semiconductor companies and partners to cast a ballot for the public semiconductor companies they most respect.

Criteria:
Fabless or Integrated Device Manufacturer (IDM)
Public
Minimum of $100 Million for 2009 sales
Minimum of $250 Million Market Capitalization on 6/30/2010
Cumulative Net Income over 4 Quarters (Q3’09,Q4’09,Q1’10,Q2’10) is Positive
Stock price must not drop below $1 for 6 consecutive months on a U.S. exchange 

Most Respected Public Semiconductor Company Award ($10 Billion+): Intel Corporation

Most Respected Public Semiconductor Company Award ($500 Million to $10 Billion): Broadcom Corporation

Most Respected Emerging Public Semiconductor Company Award (up to $500 Million): NetLogic Microsystems, Inc.

Analyst Favorite Semiconductor Company Award
Semiconductor financial analysts from top-tier firms select their favorite semiconductor company for this award. The analysts base their decision on historical, as well as projected data, such as stock price, earnings per share, revenue forecasts and product performance.

Barclays Capital Favorite Pick: QUALCOMM CDMA Technologies

Deutsche Bank Securities, Inc. Favorite Pick: SanDisk Corporation

Needham & Co. Favorite Pick: Atheros Communications Inc.

Regional Awards

As a global alliance, GSA introduced an award specifically for the Europe/Middle East/Africa (EMEA) and Asia-Pacific (APAC) regions. The awards will recognize a semiconductor company headquartered in each respective region that clearly demonstrates the most strength when measuring products, vision, leadership and success in the marketplace. GSA’s APAC and EMEA Leadership Councils will determine both the nominees and the winner.

Outstanding APAC Semiconductor Company Award
The recipient of the "Outstanding APAC Semiconductor Company Award" is Spreadtrum Communications, Inc.
 
Outstanding EMEA Semiconductor Company Award 
"Outstanding EMEA Semiconductor Company Award" was given to Dialog Semiconductor.

Learn more at http://www.gsaglobal.org/awardsdinner/2010/overview.aspx

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(December 11, 2010) — Researchers from Queen Mary, University of London (UK) and the University of Fribourg (Switzerland) have shown that a magnetically polarized current can be manipulated by electric fields.

Published in the journal Nature Materials, this discovery opens up the prospect of simultaneously processing and storing data on electrons held in the molecular structure of computer chips — combining computer memory and processing power on the same chip.

"This discovery has been made with flexible organic semiconductors, which are set to be the new generation of displays for mobile devices, TVs and computer monitors, and could offer a step-change in power efficiency and reduced weight of these devices," said Dr. Alan Drew, from Queen Mary’s School of Physics, who led the research.

Spintronics — spin transport electronics — has rapidly become the universally used technology for computer hard disks. Designed in thin layers of magnetic and non-magnetic materials, giant magnetoresistive (GMR) spin valves use the magnetic properties, or spin, of electrons to detect computer data stored in magnetic bits. In contrast, computer processing relies on streams of electrically charged electrons flowing around a tiny circuit etched into a microchip.

Dr. Drew and his team have investigated how layers of lithium fluoride (LiF) — a material that has an intrinsic electric field — can modify the spin of electrons transported through these spin valves. He explains: "While in theory, devices that combine electron charge and spin are conceptually straightforward, this is the first time anybody has shown it is possible to proactively control spin with electric fields."

Professor Christian Bernhard, from the University of Fribourg Physics Department, describes their successful technique: "Using the direct spectroscopic technique Low Energy Muon Spin Rotation (LE-μSR), our experiments have visualised the extracted spin polarisation close to buried interfaces of a spin valve."

The experiments were performed at the Paul Scherrer Institute. The method employs the magnetic properties of muons – unstable subatomic particles. "In such an experiment the muons are shot into the material and when they decay, the decay products carry information about the magnetic processes inside the material," explains Professor Elvezio Morenzoni from PSI, where the technique has been developed. "The unique thing about low energy muons is that they can be placed specifically in a particular layer of a multi-layer system. Thus using this method one can study the magnetism in any single layer separately."

The paper "Engineering spin propagation across a hybrid organic/inorganic interface using a polar layer" is authored by L. Schulz, L. Nuccio, M.Willis, P. Desai, P. Shakya, T. Kreouzis, V. K. Malik, C. Bernhard, F. L. Pratt, N. A. Morley, A. Suter, G. J. Nieuwenhuys, T. Prokscha, E. Morenzoni,W. P. Gillin and A. J. Drew.

 Read more about semiconductor device architectures

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