08/21/2007  Qimonda and Chinese foundry SMIC have extended their commodity DRAM partnership with a deal to move manufacturing to 80nm DRAM trench at SMIC's 300mm fab in Beijing, with an option to go down to 75nm.

08/21/2007  August 21, 2007 - Intel says it will move to 65nm process technologies for its embedded NOR flash products to maintain "price/performance balance and ensure support for extended product lifecycles," with first samples expected in 1H08.

08/21/2007  Phiar Corp. has filed for a U.S. patent for a monolithically integrated analog front end and antenna structure that promises enable multi-gigabit data transmission for consumer electronics. The company has also won a DARPA award for using nanotech to solve speed and power limitations.

08/20/2007  August 20, 2007 - Taiwan's memory chipmakers are in a heated race to upgrade to the next technology node, relying on international partners to gain access to leading-edge technology and boost capacity, according to a recent report by the Taiwan Economic News.

08/20/2007  August 20, 2007 - IBM Corp. and TDK Corp. have formed a joint R&D program to develop high-capacity MRAM (magnetic random-access memory) technology utilizing "spin momentum transfer effect" to create memory devices with a much more compact memory cell than current approaches.

08/16/2007  August 15, 2007 - Applied Materials said fiscal 3Q07 profits slid about 7.5% to $473.5M on almost-flat sales of $2.56B, which was better than analysts expected -- though the firm cast some cloudy doubt on prospects for business through the rest of this year, particularly foundry spending that has not rebounded as expected.

08/15/2007  August 15, 2007 - TSMC says it has started making the graphics-memory subsystem for Microsoft's Xbox 360 gaming console, using a 90nm embedded DRAM process with 80mn density design and 500MHz speeds.

08/14/2007  Results shared at the recent West Coast Junction Technology Group meeting indicated a spike rapid thermal anneal followed by a millisecond laser anneal improves polysilicon gate depletion to the extent that it opens up the possibility of being able to delay the introduction of complex metal gates until the 32nm node for most applications. Also notable was the finding that a medium-power laser anneal gave much better overall results for NMOS and PMOS devices than a high-power laser anneal.

08/13/2007  August 13, 2007 - The European Commission has given its approval for the proposed new JV entity combining flash memory assets of STMicroelectronics and Intel's NOR assets and resources, saying the transaction "would not significantly impede effective competition."

08/13/2007  By John Borland, contributing editor, Solid State Technology

The VLSI Symposium meeting this year (June 12–14, Kyoto, Japan) revealed there will be not one, but many different solutions for the production implementation of hafnium-based oxides at the 45nm node and beyond, with Hf-based dielectric k values varying from a "medium"-k (8–12) up to a true high k of 22–24. The gate electrode for some companies will remain poly ...

08/13/2007  August 13, 2007 - Hynix Semiconductor Inc. will use Innovative Silicon Inc.'s (ISi) ZRAM high-density memory IP for its ZRAM chips, the first company to license the technology for DRAMs (AMD is using it for microprocessors).

08/13/2007  August 13, 2007 - After suffering through a "painful" 1H07, there's renewed optimism that the 2H07 will be better, as firmed-up pricing, demand drivers, and a challenging tech migration balance customer pressure for cheaper high-density devices, according to a report from IC Insights.

08/10/2007  BPM Microsystems shipped the first units of its next-generation NAND and NOR flash device programmer, Flashstream. Flashstream is the company's first dedicated hardware design for flash memories.

08/10/2007  August 10, 2007 - Taiwanese chip firms' semiconductor capital spending is expected to surge 50% this year to $13 billion -- vs. just a 5% industrywide capital spending growth, and on the backs of not only its foundries but also memory expansion, according to Strategic Marketing Associates.

08/10/2007  August 10, 2007 - Elpida Memory Inc. aims to ramp to mass production of 65nm DRAMs during the current fiscal year at its Hiroshima plant, and will "quickly move to introduce the technology" to its Rexchip JV with Taiwan's Powerchip, according to the Nikkei daily.

08/10/2007  InteliCoat Technologies sold its electronic and engineered films (EEF) business unit to Exopack Holding, Inc., for an undisclosed amount. The division gives Exopack a European facility and new markets.

08/09/2007  August 9, 2007 - ProMOS Technologies and Toppan Printing have agreed to collaborate on manufacturing CMOS image sensors (CIS) using Toppan's proprietary on-chip color filters and microlens technologies. Manufacturing will be done at ProMOS' 300mm line, Fab 2, in Taiwan's Hsin-chu Science Park -- which will soon become depreciated, which will keep manufacturing costs low for the CIS work, the firms noted.

08/09/2007  August 9, 2007 - Researchers at the U. of Texas/Austin say they've developed a nanoparticle technique that provides more insight into the formation of "deep traps," which are desired for memory devices built with plastic semiconductors but undesirable for things like solar cells and LEDs.

08/08/2007  Arrowhead Research Corp.'s majority-owned subsidiary, Unidym Inc., has signed an exclusive license agreement with Paragon's majority-owned subsidiary, Nanotech Catheter Solutions, LLC (NCS). NCS will use Unidym's carbon nanotube technology in the development of medical devices for the treatment of cardiovascular disease.

08/07/2007  August 7, 2007 - In what might be called "memory rubbernecking," two industry groups have laid out the gory details of how DRAM chipmakers performed in 2Q07, and to nobody's surprise the numbers are pretty ugly.