10/09/2006  October 9, 2006 - Participants at the recent 3rd Annual International Symposium on Advanced Gate Stack Technology have narrowed their consensus about their strategies for implementing high-k/metal gate stacks in 32nm- and beyond process technologies.

10/09/2006  Alcatel Micro Machining Systems, an Annecy, France, supplier of deep silicon etching equipment (DRIE) for MEMS and 3D Semiconductors, announced that it has received a multi-million dollar order from Xintec Inc. in Taiwan for its new AMS 200 "I-Productivity" production tool for advanced Wafer Level Chip Size Packaging (WLCSP) technology.

10/06/2006  October 6, 2006 - Micron's latest financials announced Oct. 5 were disappointing on the surface -- $0.08 EPS on sales of $1.37 billion, vs. $0.14/$1.41 billion expectations from Wall Street. But a bigger concern is a potential "execution risk" with a dual-ramp from its JV with Intel, IM Flash Technologies, according to American Technology Research analyst Doug Freedman, who has downgraded his Micron stock recommendation from "Buy" to "Sell."

10/05/2006  October 5, 2006 - PowerChip Semiconductor Corp.'s (PSC) move this week to raise around $363 million through issuance of global deposit receipts provides further clues that the company is ready to move forward with a 300mm DRAM fab project with Elpida Memory, according to a local media report.

10/04/2006  October 4, 2006 - By the end of next year, Chinese flagship foundry Semiconductor Manufacturing International Co. (SMIC) will have three 300mm wafer fabs, giving it a total 300mm wafer foundry capacity of 60,000 wafers/month, more than bigger rivals United Microelectronics Corp. (UMC) and Chartered Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. Ltd., according to a report in the Taiwan Economic News.

10/03/2006  Three top investment analysts speaking at a SEMI breakfast near Boston on Sept. 27 outlined somewhat divergent scenarios about whether the current upsurge in tool orders will continue through next year. What they did agree on was that the buying cycles are moderating, and that the result may be an improved outlook for investors, both private and public, in this industry sector.

10/02/2006  October 2, 2006 ¿ Worldwide sales of semiconductors to a record $20.5 billion in August, thanks to surging demand for both DRAM and NAND flash memory to meet holiday purchasing projections, according to the Semiconductor Industry Association (SIA). Chip sales surged 10.5% from the same month a year ago and 2.1% sequentially, to surpass the previous record of $20.4 billion set in Nov. 2005.

09/28/2006  September 28, 2006 - NXP, the former chipmaking arm of Royal Philips, is buying out minority partner EDB Investments Pte. (EDBI) in Systems on Silicon Manufacturing Co. Pte. Ltd. (SSMC), their Singapore chipmaking JV with TSMC.

09/28/2006  Fujitsu Limited announced it has signed an agreement with Spansion Japan Limited to purchase JV1 and JV2, two of Spansion semiconductor fabs in Japan for 17 billion yen, including the building, machinery for power generation, and production facilities.

09/28/2006  September 28, 2006 - Spansion Japan Ltd. is selling two of its older semiconductor fabs in Japan to Fujitsu Ltd. for approximately $150 million, to help Spansion refocus resources on its 300mm and 45nm efforts, and boost Fujitsu's foundry business for standard logic LSI devices.

09/26/2006  September 26, 2006

09/26/2006  Last week, a SEMInvest breakfast panel in Palo Alto, CA, was a tale of two messages. Underlying business seems solid, despite the lackluster forecast for stock prices, and a high trough for capacity utilization suggests strong growth during the next uptick. But analysts also seemed to be saying that the chip industry has has matured to the point that it no longer fits into a "growth" category for investors. We've become too popular, so no one likes us anymore.

09/26/2006  One common thread among research being presented at the 52^nd annual International Electron Devices Meeting (IEDM, Dec. 11-13, in San Francisco) will be the intersection of biology and electronics. Among the work being touted: fabricating nanoelectronic devices using self-assembling protein molecules; building carbon nanotube-based, high-frequency FET devices; and synthetic DNA used as programmable building blocks for patterning on metal and semiconductor nanoparticles.

09/25/2006  September 25, 2006 - Simtek Corp., a supplier of nonvolatile static random access memory (SRAM) ICs, has completed a private placement of 11.5 million shares, raising $4.56 million to use for general working capital, and to help secure its supplies of silicon wafers.

09/21/2006  September 21, 2006 - Despite a slow first quarter, chip production is expected to return to seasonal patterns with a strong 2H06 to deliver a total 12% increase in output this year, with utilization rates climbing to 95% for the final quarter, according to data from VLSI Research Inc.

09/19/2006  Gas Cluster Ion Beam (GCIB) developer Epion Corp. announced that it has entered into a formal joint development program with one of the world's leading semiconductor system solutions providers for the mobile, automotive and PC/AV markets and world's number one supplier of microcontrollers. The development program will utilize Epion's GCIB technology to develop advanced processes for CMOS logic structures for 45nm and smaller devices.

09/18/2006  September 18, 2006 - Qimonda AG and partner Nanya Technology Corp. have qualified their 75nm DRAM trench technology, as well as a 512Mbit DDR2 memory chip build on the platform, with minimum structure sizes down to 70nm. The devices were developed at Qimonda's R&D centers in Germany, and volume production has already commenced at Qimonda's 300mm DRAM line in Dresden.

09/18/2006  Hot-spots resulting from nonuniform power dissipation over a chip are the bane of manufacturers of high-performance ICs such as CPUs, graphics chips, and DSPs. And these hot-spots will only become more pronounced, as CMOS devices continue to scale -- the ITRS projects high-end CPUs dissipating 200W five years from now. Nextreme Thermal Solutions is readying its nanoengineered films for embedded thermoelectric coolers to help the industry address meet these challenges.

09/18/2006  September 18, 2006 - Elpida Memory Inc. and PowerChip Semiconductor Corp. reportedly are planning a joint 300mm DRAM fab in Taiwan, in an effort to supplant Samsung as the top suppliers in the worldwide DRAM market.

09/15/2006  September 15, 2006 - Hitachi reportedly has developed technology to create DRAM alumina insulating films with low leakage current, which the company claims reduces DRAM power consumption by about 10% and extends battery life in mobile devices.