08/30/2006  August 30, 2006 - STMicroelectronics has enhanced its 32Mbit flash memory chip, based on 0.11-micron process technology and intended specifically for the automotive market.

08/29/2006  As features approach the dimensions of 2nm strands of DNA, atomic layer deposition (ALD) appears to have great promise for the very thin, conformal film layers that will be essential. It's already being used by DRAM makers and displays, but work on gate stacks is slow due to process and materials integration. Potential uses of ALD, and how this will drive the future market were explored in a panel at SEMICON West.

08/29/2006  August 29, 2006 - Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd. has ramped to mass production of its 1Gbit DDR2 DRAM memory, using 80nm process technologies, having been producing 80nm-based 512Mbit DDR2 DRAMs since March of this year.

08/29/2006  August 29, 2006 - Qimonda AG, the former memory unit of Infineon Technologies AG, and Taiwanese foundry Winbond Electronics Corp. have expanded their existing foundry manufacturing agreement to produce DRAMs using 80nm process technologies.

08/28/2006  Tegal Corp., a designer and manufacturer of plasma etch and deposition systems used in the production of integrated circuits and nanotechnology devices, announced that two leading Japanese companies had placed repeat orders for Tegal 900 series plasma etch systems.

08/25/2006  August 25, 2006 - Embedded memory developer eMemory Technology says it has verified its Neobit one-time programmable memory on foundry Silterra Malaysia Sdn. Bhd.'s 0.18-micron CMOS process technologies, and will have a 0.13-micron version of the design ready for silicon validation by year's end.

08/23/2006  Silecs Inc. introduced its SC series of products for use as advanced optical coatings in CMOS image sensor production.

08/21/2006  August 21, 2006 - Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. (TSMC) has signed a deal to license Silicon Storage Technology Inc.'s (SST) 90nm SuperFlash embedded flash technology, extending a partnership already focused on 130nm technology.

08/18/2006  August 18, 2006 - NEC Corp. says it has successfully developed a compact gallium nitride (GaN) power transistor amplifier for 3G base stations, with record power output of 400W with low-distortion characteristics.

08/16/2006  August 16, 2006 - As chip equipment suppliers enjoy solid demand for tools in recent months, sales might drop down to single-digit growth rates sooner than expected, according to a new report from Strategic Marketing Associates (SMA) and Wright Williams and Kelly Inc.

08/15/2006  August 15, 2006 - RF components supplier Sirenza Microdevices Inc., Broomfield, CO, has agreed to acquire fabless company Micro Linear Corp. in a stock deal valued at about $45.6 million, strengthening the company's position in markets for digital TV set-top boxes and high-volume digital cordless phones.

08/11/2006  NEC Corporation, NEC Electronics, and subsidiary NEC Electronics America, together created a SiP technology for stacking logic and gigabit-class memory in a single package. The technology will reportedly enable image processing in mobile applications. The SMAFTI product combines a SMArt connection with a feed-through imposer. It uses a 3-D chip connection and a 50-micron pitch microbump between the logic and memory devices.

08/10/2006  August 10, 2006 - Investors greeted the trading launch of Infineon's former memory chip unit, Qimonda, with lukewarm interest, pushing shares up about 4% on its first day of trading to $13.54. The IPO had been cut down from initial pricing of $16-$18/share to help spur demand.

08/10/2006  August 10, 2006 - Israeli foundry Tower Semiconductor Ltd. said it is making a new series of 3.0-megapixel CMOS image sensors, based on its "Advanced Photo Diode" process, for Biomorphic Microsystems Corp., to be used in mobile applications including cell phones and PDAs.

08/09/2006  August 9, 2006 - South Korean specialty foundry Dongbu Electronics and Cadence Design Systems Inc. have developed a high-voltage BCDMOS (bipolar, CMOS, DMOS) process design kit for processing 60V chip designs using 0.35-micron process technologies.

08/09/2006  August 9, 2006 - JMAR Technologies Inc., San Diego, CA, has received an additional $3.1 million from the US Naval Air Systems Command to continue developing sub-100nm feature x-ray masks and next generation nanolithography, for use in fabricating high-speed chalcogenide random-access memory.

08/09/2006  JMAR Technologies Inc. announced it received a $3.1 million award by Naval Air Systems Command (NAVAIR). This is the latest increment to be added to JMAR's current contract, valued at $17.5 million, to continue development of sub-100nm feature x-ray masks and next generation nanolithography.

08/07/2006  August 7, 2006 - Fujitsu Microelectronics America Inc. and the Tokyo Institute of Technology say they have developed a new material for use with non-volatile ferroelectric random access memory (FeRAM) targeting 65nm manufacturing processes, enabling up to 5x greater data storage capacity than materials currently used in FeRAM production.

08/07/2006  August 7, 2006 - Semiconductor Research Corp., a university-research consortium for semiconductor technologies, has appointed Jeffrey Welser as director of its Nanotechnology Research Initiative (NRI), overseeing research in nanoelectronics in collaboration with U.S. federal and state government research agencies.

08/04/2006  August 4, 2006 -- /BUSINESS WIRE/ -- TOKYO & MILPITAS, Calif. -- Toshiba Corporation (Minato-ku, Tokyo, Japan) and SanDisk(R) Corporation (Milpitas, CA, USA) today announced that, further to definitive agreements that the companies entered into in July 2006, construction has started of Fab 4, a 300-millimeter (mm) wafer fab, in Yokkaichi, in Mie Prefecture, Japan.