Category Archives: LEDs

June 17, 2008 – Worldwide demand for semiconductor manufacturing was notably soft in 1Q08, with bookings down >20% from a year ago, but some regions are clearly working through the downturn better than others, according to the latest data from SEMI.

Sales in 1Q08 totaled $10.75B, which was actually an improvement of 7% vs. 4Q07, and down just -2% vs. 1Q07, according to the data compiled by SEMI and the Semiconductor Equipment Association of Japan (SEAJ). Orders, though, have slumped badly — down to $8.08B, declines of -11% Q-Q and -23% Y-Y. Some back-of-the-napkin math suggests the book-to-bill ratio was thus an anemic 0.75, meaning $75 worth of orders were received for every $100 worth of product billed for the quarter.

While acknowledging the soft order environment, SEMI president/CEO Stanley Myers noted that some regions (North America, Korea, and China) actually posted strong sequential Q-Q growth in 1Q08; all regions showed at least some Q-Q growth in sales, with two of the biggest regions (Taiwan, Japan) eking out low single-digit growth.

Year-on-year, a few regions are well ahead of last year’s equipment purchasing pace, led by China (25%) and Taiwan (18%), with Japan (5%) and North America (3%) also in the black. Korea (-30%), Europe (-6%), and Rest-of-World (-15%) continue to slump.

SEMI’s 1Q08 summary seems pretty much in line with the latest revised outlook from Gartner Dataquest, which projects equipment spending will decline ~17% in 2008 — vs. earlier forecasts of -10% about three months ago, and roughly flat six months ago.

June 13, 2008 — Twenty Albany High School (AHS) students have just completed the first year of the “NanoHigh” program, developed jointly by the City School District of Albany, New York (CSDA) and the University at Albany’s College of Nanoscale Science and Engineering (CNSE). The NanoHigh program, believed to be the first initiative of its kind at a public school anywhere in the country, was designed by CSDA and CNSE to help students take advantage of new nanotechnology-related careers being created in New York’s capital region, across New York State and around the globe.

The NanoHigh program was launched last fall, with introductory nanoscience courses taught at AHS and then brought to life with hands-on, interactive laboratory activities conducted at CNSE that utilized CNSE’s world-class Albany NanoTech Complex. (CNSE took top honors in Small Times’ 2007 University rankings.) Students tackled a variety of cutting-edge facets of nanotechnology, including nanoscale patterning and fabrication, principles of self-assembly, nanobiomedical applications, fuel cell exploration and nanoeconomics, among others.

Based on the success of the initial classes, CSDA plans to add an advanced nanoscience course next year, as well as a middle school class related to nanotechnology.

“This has been an outstanding experience for our students, both through the dedication and excellence of our district teachers and staff, and through our exceptional partnership with the UAlbany NanoCollege,” says CSDA superintendent Eva C. Joseph, Ed.D. “The opportunity for our students to access this one-of-a-kind educational facility and receive hands-on exposure to technology that is transforming our world is an experience that will give them a head start toward starring roles in tomorrow’s high-tech workforce.”

Dr. Alain E. Kaloyeros, vice president and chief administrative officer of CNSE, adds, “The UAlbany NanoCollege is delighted to have had the opportunity to work with the visionary leaders in the City School District of Albany to turn the concept of NanoHigh into a pioneering program that has broken new ground in preparing the scientists of the 21st century. I especially applaud the Albany High School students who have embraced NanoHigh with passion and enthusiasm, and look forward to expanding this pilot program to reflect the rapid growth of the nanotechnology economy in the Capital Region and across New York State.”

The success of NanoHigh also led CSDA and CNSE to host the first-ever Capital Region NanoEducation Summit on April 23, at which more than 100 teachers, administrators and school board members from throughout the region discussed preparing K-12 students for science literacy, with a focus on nanotechnology, which has been described by the National Nanotechnology Initiative as “leading to the next Industrial Revolution.”

June 10, 2008 — M+W Zander, an architecture, engineering and construction-management firm specializing in designs for micro/nano R&D and manufacturing centers , says it will design a new nanotechnology center for international Iberian Nanotechnology Laboratory (INL) in Braga, Portugal. Located on the campus of the University of Minho in Braga, the 230,000-square-foot project (21,400 square meters) will feature Class 100 and 1000 clean rooms, central characterization, including electron and scanning-probe microscopy and labs suited for a wide range of scientific disciplines.

Besides the main scientific building, which will be the hub of the 12-acre campus, the first phase of the project includes residential accommodations for staff and visiting professors. The second phase will include a business incubator and a nanotechnology interpretive center. When completed in 2009, the INL will employ several hundred people, including 200 scientific researchers.

In addition to its leading-edge science, the INL also will stand out for its striking design, with curving lines that dramatically conform to surrounding topography and offer a compelling contrast to traditional research facilities. “When we were tasked with creating a beautiful place for thinking, we knew we had our inspiration for the project. It was easily the most poetic aspiration for architecture we’ve ever heard. This evoked images of monastic cloisters, and naturally suggested using the project to shape and protect such a space from its busy, urban setting,” said M+W Zander architectural design leader Ken Filar, AIA.

The efficient, aesthetic design of INL, which was chosen in a competitive review process, resulted from the creative collaboration between M+W Zander’s U.S. and European offices. The architectural design and construction management are led by M+W Zander US Operations. M+W Zander’s European staff, based in Stuttgart, Germany, the corporate home of M+W Zander, will share engineering responsibilities with the North American office.

“M+W Zander’s unique strengths really shine in a project like this,” said John Busch, the project design manager for M+W Zander US operations. “We not only have unmatched talent in the design of nano facilities, but we can synchronize the assets of multiple offices around the world to offer something no other firm can.”

June 9, 2008 – Semiconductor equipment sales in general are expected to slump in 2008, and the automation segment is no exception, though there is some motion in the sector among suppliers, according to a brief analysis by The Information Network.

Sales of automated material handling systems (AMHS) is seen dropping 34% in 2008, but will gain some of that back in 2009 (+19%), the firm projects. Meanwhile, the market for atmospheric robotics will essentially make up ground lost in 2008 (-13%) in 2009 (+14%).

“Robotics and integrated manufacturing are being deployed in all 300mm fabs to connect to processing equipment and central computers,” notes the firm’s president, Robert Castellano, in a statement. “But if fabs are not being built and processing equipment not being sold, the automation sector will suffer.”

In the vacuum robotics segment (systems contained within vacuum-based tools), captive OEM products are losing share to merchant suppliers whose experience is in the robotics components instead of the integrated processing tools, he suggests. Merchant vacuum robotics is dominated by Brooks Automation (90% share), while Applied Materials is tops in the captive sector.

For atmospheric robotics, where only 27% of robotic tool sales were from captive suppliers, Brooks led with a 64% share, followed by Yaskawa and Genmark.

For AMHS (“interbay”) equipment, Daifuku was tops in 2007 (41% share) followed by Asyst/Shinko, the firm notes.

June 3, 2008 — Calando Pharmaceuticals says it has dosed the first patient with CALAA-01, a targeted nanoparticle therapeutic. This represents the first siRNA therapeutic to enter the clinic in oncology and the first targeted delivery of any RNA interference, or RNAi product.

RNAi is a naturally-occurring mechanism within cells for selectively silencing and regulating specific genes. The ability to silence genes selectively through RNAi could provide a new class of medicines to treat a wide range of human diseases.

Calando, a majority-owned subsidiary of Arrowhead Research Corporation, says the patient successfully completed the first dosing cycle, which includes four doses over two weeks, of CALAA-01 in the first clinical trial using systemically-delivered nanoparticle therapeutic siRNA to treat cancer. CALAA-01 is a targeted nanoparticle, comprised of a proprietary, non-chemically-modified siRNA against the M2 subunit of ribonucleotide reductase—a clinically-validated cancer target—formulated with Calando’s RONDEL (RNAi/Oligonucleotide Nanoparticle Delivery) polymer delivery system. The first patient was enrolled and dosed at South Texas Accelerated Research Therapeutics (START) in San Antonio, Texas.

This open-label, dose-escalation Phase I study in patients with solid tumors which are refractory to standard-of-care therapies is being conducted at the UCLA Jonsson Cancer Center (UCLA) in Los Angeles, California, and at South Texas Accelerated Research Therapeutics (START) in San Antonio, Texas. It is being led by Drs. Antoni Ribas (UCLA) and Anthony Tolcher (START).

“The initiation of this Phase I clinical trial of CALAA-01 is a hallmark for Calando and for the field of RNAi therapeutics,” said Calando CSO for siRNA delivery, Jeremy Heidel, Ph.D. “We look forward to the continued treatment of this patient and subsequent patients and the establishment of safety and efficacy profiles for CALAA-01 in humans.”

June 2, 2008 – As global flat-panel displays become ubiquitous, sales of display driver ICs are about to decelerate due to pricing pressures and technology advancements, according to a report from iSuppli.

The explosion of LCD and plasma TVs (and replacements for CRT monitors), ranging from 7-in. digital photo frames to mammoth ≥50-in. wall-mounted TV screens, has pulled along the market for display driver ICs, which provide voltage and/or current to the rows and columns of displays. This market grew an estimated ~26% to 6.9B units in 2007, mainly due to LCD TVs and notebook PCs, whose end application units rose “dramatically” in a year, the firm notes. Another factor in driver IC growth was a transition away from passive, STN-type LCD displays to active-matrix TFT-LCD displays, e.g. for mobile handsets and GPS navigation units, which require more of the devices.

But despite the demand for product, sales only rose about 10% in 2007 to $8.8B, as “fierce competition” drove down prices, compounded by similar price reductions in the panels themselves that pressed against all suppliers in the chain, iSuppli explained. And those pressures are “not expected to abate anytime soon, as even more capacity comes on line during the next few years,” noted Randy Lawson, senior analyst for digital TV and display electronics for iSuppli, in a statement.

Moreover, the outlook for driver IC growth is being squeezed by increased use of multichannel drivers in TVs, notebooks, and monitors, which reduces the number of discrete drivers/panel, as well as a growing trend to integrate the drivers directly into the panels themselves, he writes. Unit shipments are seen slowing to 15.1% growth this year, nearly half what they were in 2007, and will average about 11% annually through 2011.

“Coupling the declining driver IC ASP with the increasing usage of multichannel drivers in televisions, notebooks and monitors, one can see that the overall growth rate for display driver ICs is slowing dramatically.”

If there’s a silver lining, it could be in new applications and products like DPFs, multitouch panels, and 3D displays, iSuppli suggests. Also, advancements in organic LED displays “eventually should pave the way for larger, and thus higher volumes of, OLED-TV displays, which could dramatically expand the market for OLED drivers.” In the meantime, display drivers are advancing to new types of interfaces being promoted by IC and panel manufacturers, the firm notes.

I’m thrilled to formally announce the return of the CleanRooms USA Conference & Exhibition After a two-year hiatus, CleanRooms USA will return to Boston, MA on May 12

May 28, 2008 – A group of more than 30 companies in the US, Europe, and Asia have organized a new association to share information and ideas, and develop business deals and strategic partnerships.

The International Photovoltaic Equipment Association’s member companies span various areas of PV-related equipment and materials, including crystal growth, diffusion furnaces, glavanics, laminators, laser systems, materials handling, metallization, printing, process integration, solar simulators, substrate handling, testing, vacuum systems, waste gas abatement, and wet chemical systems.

Leading the IPEA is a board of directors led by president Hans-Juergen Stangl (Stangl Semiconductor), VPs Sven Jarby (Oerlikon) and Albert Vontz (Kuka Systems), with Andreas Schöni (3S Swiss Solar Systems), Steffen Guenther (Reis Robotics), Stefan Schiller (Schiller Automation), and Manfred Schroeder (Ebara Precision Machinery). Bryan Ekus, managing director of optical/storage media group Media-Tech Association, will take on managing directorial duties for IPEA.

The new association “soon will play an important role in the future development of further steps in solar technology and will provide a single voice for the fabrication industry,” said Stangl in a statement. Planned activities include supporting events with booth discounts and association branding/sponsorship for member companies; the group’s Web site (IPVEA.com), also will include a voting corner, statistics, and forum.

May 28, 2008 – Japan’s Electric Industry Co. is spinning off its chipmaking operation into a new company and giving a majority ownership to Rohm Co., a move that illustrates the history of Japan’s chip industry since the 1980s and the hazard of trying to do business at the leading-edge of technology.

The deal, estimated at ¥100B (~$964M) and “in the final stage of negotiations” according to the Nikkei daily, represents the first major realignment of Japan’s semiconductor industry since 2003, when Hitachi and Mitsubishi merged system chip operations into Renesas. It’s also the first time a Japanese firm will sell its entire chip business to another domestic company, noted the paper.

The new business, Oki Semiconductor Co., will incorporate all of OKI’s semiconductor-related subsidiaries (e.g. Mizayaki and Miyagi), targeting logic and system LSIs utilizing low power consumption, high-voltage processing, digital/analog mixed processing and small packaging sizes. It also will inherit “strengths” in system memories (e.g. P2ROM) and foundry connections, plus newer offerings such as SOI and wafer-level chip-scale packaging. The business will start with about ¥20B (US $192.8M) in capitalization and 6000 employees, with sales targets of ¥155B (~$1.5B) by March 2011.

The Nikkei quoted Oki president/CEO Katsumasa Shinozuka noting that sales ratio of the semiconductor division, which made chips for telephone exchanges, vs. the overall company “has dropped to just a few percent and its synergies with other divisions have all but disappeared.” He added that the firm would maintain a small (5%) interest in the spinoff “due to patent and other issues.”

Wire reports note that the chip division, 13th largest such operation in Japan, posted a ¥3.8B ($) operating profit in its most recent fiscal year, on sales of ¥138.2B ($). No. 8 Rohm saw group operating profits fall 3.1% Y-Y to ¥67,3B on 5.5% lower sales of ¥373.4B, mainly attributed to the US economic slowdown and yen appreciation.

May 27, 2008 — The Micromachined Diamond Device Initiative (MIDDI), led by researchers at Element Six Ltd. in collaboration with the Institute of Photonics at The University of Strathclyde has been completed successfully, according to the project partners. The aim of MIDDI, which was part-funded by the UK Department of Trade and Industry, was to develop world-leading technologies for diamond microelectronic device manufacturing to give European companies a competitive edge over Japan and the US.

MIDDI’s main focus was on the development of a ‘tool-kit’ of advanced micro- and nano-scale manufacturing technologies that could be used for the development of next-generation, high-frequency and high-power electronic devices based on synthetic single-crystal diamond. Element Six is known for manufacturing electronic grade synthetic diamond using chemical vapour deposition; the company says that MIDDI further advances its leadership.

The role of the Institute of Photonics (IoP) at the University of Strathclyde has been to provide the expertise in plasma etching technology, which is used to define the precise surface features required in device fabrications. Established in 1995, the Institute has become a centre of expertise in etching materials that have traditionally been difficult to process. Expertise in materials has contributed to the IoP’s success in semiconductor optoelectronics, solid-state laser engineering and biophotonics.

Prof Martin Dawson, Associate Director of the IoP commented, “The MIDDI project has been a showcase example of how UK Universities and Industry can collaborate on successful technological development. Element Six framed the project challenge and provided advanced diamond structures with controlled doping characteristics; the University met the challenge by developing an innovative dry etching approach that is being jointly patented. This opens the way to truly manufacturable diamond electronics, but also has wider implications for a host of new technologies including diamond photonics where, with support from Element Six, the University of Strathclyde now has a significant presence.”

The project has reportedly made achievements in three areas that will help Element Six support the development of active electronic devices fabricated in diamond. First, it has led to improved technology for synthesis and processing used in the production of substrates and epitaxial layers with atomic-scale low roughness surfaces. The ability to make nanoscale layers of diamond with high precision depends on a number of complex processing and synthesis steps. For a high frequency active electronic device, some of the individual layers are required to have thicknesses of a few nanometers. In addition, these layers need to be atomically smooth, and have extremely sharp doping profiles.

Second, Element Six is now able to deposit thin layers of boron-doped diamond at the nanoscale. Proposed device concepts for active switching based on diamond such as the delta MESFET use such thin layers sandwiched between two undoped intrinsic diamond layers to support transistor action.

Finally, MIDDI has led to a robust and reproducible dry etching technology suitable for transistor device fabrication.

“These successful outcomes have already underpinned the formation of a new subsidiary by Element Six. Diamond Microwave Devices Ltd is aiming to develop the world’s first commercial high frequency, high power diamond transistors,” points out Christopher Ogilvie Thompson, Commercial Business Manager at Element Six. “Furthermore the technology developed under MIDDI could also be of benefit to other areas of diamond technology used in advanced applications such as radiation detectors and micro-optic devices.”

Element Six calls itself the world’s leading supplier of high quality supermaterials used throughout manufacturing industry for a wide range of applications. With revenues of more than US $500 million and almost 4000 employees, Element Six has established production and processing plants in China, Germany, Ireland, Sweden, South Africa, Ukraine and the UK supported by a global distribution network.

The Institute of Photonics, established in 1995, is a commercially-oriented research unit whose key objective is to bridge the gap between academic research and industrial applications and development in the area of photonics.