10/23/2006  October 23, 2006 - STMicroelectronics has licensed One NAND flash memory technology from Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd., with support starting in early 2007, the companies announced. The technology will be used in various applications including mobile devices and handsets.

10/23/2006  October 23, 2006 - Memory chipmakers' conversion to copper damascene interconnect materials will drive 26% growth in demand for copper slurry for CMP, according to new data from market research firm The Information Network.

10/20/2006  IMEC transferred its copper-top interconnect process technology to production at National Semiconductor's Malacca, Malaysia, facility. Copper-top interconnect — a low-resistance, post-passivation interconnect module— was designed to provide efficiency and smaller chip size for analog and mixed signal ICs.

10/19/2006  October 19, 2006 - Among several announcements made prior to IMEC's annual meeting next week, IMEC and ASML claim they've proven that double-patterning 193nm immersion lithography (NA=1.2) can be a viable interim solution -- at least technically -- for flash and logic manufacturing at the 32nm node, until extreme-ultraviolet (EUV) lithography achieves production-ready levels.

10/19/2006  October 19, 2006 - Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd. says it has developed a 50nm DDR2 DRAM chip utilizing 3D design and multilayered dielectrics, a process that enhances performance and data storage capabilities.

10/18/2006  WiSpry Inc., a fabless semiconductor company developing dynamically tunable radio frequency integrated circuits for wireless devices, announced it has raised a $13.5 million Series B financing.

10/16/2006  October 16, 2006 - Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd. has tacked on another 18% to its projected 2006 capital expenditures budget for semiconductors -- the company now expects to spend 6.66 trillion won ($7.03 billion), up from 5.63 trillion won ($5.94 billion).

10/16/2006  October 16, 2006 - Taiwan's top four DRAM chipmakers are expected to spend roughly $6.0 billion on 300mm wafer tools next year, in order to keep up with demand for leading-edge processes and newer DDR2 chips, according to the Taiwan Economic News.

10/13/2006  October 13, 2006 - Citing steady momentum for computers and mobile devices, minor and temporary effects from higher energy prices, and no signs (yet) of impact from rising inventories, iSuppli Corp. has reaffirmed its forecast for global chip sales this year.

10/13/2006  October 13, 2006 - After tallying up hundreds of millions of dollars in fines for misdeeds among DRAM makers including price fixing, the US Department of Justice is turning its gaze to makers of static random access memory (SRAM).

10/13/2006  October 13, 2006 - Saifun Semiconductors Ltd. says that "significant customer" Qimonda AG is ramping down its current nitride read-only memory (NROM)-related activity, and will continue to license Saifun's NROM technology only on a limited basis.

10/12/2006  October 12, 2006 - With the exception of two technology sectors, the overall market for semiconductor manufacturing equipment should be flat in 2007, as "enormous quantities" of chipmaking tools ordered in recent months is absorbed and new orders have slowed dramatically, according to analyst firm The Information Network.

10/11/2006  October 11, 2006 - IMEC has added top foundry TSMC to its Europractice IC service, which offers low-cost ASIC prototyping and ASIC small volume production through multiproject chip and dedicated wafer runs.

10/11/2006  A new consortium, EMC-3D, has been created to address the technical and cost issues of creating 3D interconnects using Thru-Silicon-Via technology for chip stacking and MEMS/sensors packaging.

10/10/2006  Chris Moore, CEO of metrology equipment supplier Philips AMS (now known simply as AMS -- Advanced Metrology Systems) talks with WaferNEWS about the decision to break free from former parent Royal Philips, the new reality of semiconductor market cycles, and where the company is pushing new inroads for its trench-measurement technology.

10/10/2006  Leading semiconductor market analysts were sharply divided at last week's SEMI New England Breakfast Forum as to whether demand for NAND flash memory will keep pace with the expected supply in the foreseeable future, although all did agree that the future of flash holds the key to growth in semiconductor capital equipment spending over the next year.

10/10/2006  October 10, 2006 - STMicroelectronics and Hynix Semiconductor have officially opened their $2 billion joint frontend memory manufacturing facility in Wuxi City, China, which will manufacture both NAND flash and DRAM memories on 200mm and 300mm lines by the middle of next year.

10/10/2006  October 10, 2006 - X-Fab Silicon Foundries is rolling out a new two-part program offering 0.35-micron and 0.18-micron RF-CMOS processes, for communications end-markets.

10/09/2006  October 9, 2006 - Silicon-on-insulator (SOI) wafer manufacturer Soitec, Bernin, France, says it expects to achieve its previous guidance of about 400 million Euros (?1 = US$1.25) in sales during its 2006-2007 fiscal year, representing about 50% annual growth. The company noted the anticipated sales growth is the result of regular updates to existing customer contracts, and also denied rumors concerning the loss of an American customer.

10/09/2006  October 9, 2006 - Just a month after upgrading its outlook for the DRAM market, analyst firm iSuppli Corp. says the storm clouds are gathering again -- and the NAND flash outlook isn't looking great either. The firm has recast its outlook for the DRAM segment to "neutral" from "positive," while the NAND flash memory is back down to "negative" from "neutral," according to Nam Hyung Kim, director and principal analyst.