06/12/2006  June 12, 12006 -- Intel Corp. is ready to show off results of its work with CMOS tri-gate transistors at this week's VLSI Symposium in Hawaii, touting its successful integration of high-k gate dielectrics, metal gate electrodes, and strained silicon to offer considerably lower leakage and consume much less power than today's planar transistors. The devices could become the basic building blocks for future microprocessors beyond the 45nm node.

06/12/2006  QD Vision Inc. announced it has manufactured a quantum dot display. The company said the monochrome display demonstrates the manufacturability and commercial feasibility of quantum dot technology as a foundation for next generation displays.

06/09/2006  June 9, 2006 - The latest batch of midquarter outlooks are out from several semiconductor manufacturers and equipment suppliers, with mixed results. Kulicke & Soffa says its wire bond customers aren't clear about long-term spending plans, while Novellus is getting a boost from memory manufacturers' expansions.

06/05/2006  June 5, 2006 - Renesas Technology Corp., the chipmaking JV between Hitachi and Mitsubishi Electric, has expanded its technology license to Powerchip Semiconductor Co. to supply the Taiwanese company with flash memory devices, according to local news reports.

06/05/2006  June 5, 2006 - Intel Corp. reportedly has put several of its money-losing communications businesses up for sale amid efforts to refocus on core microprocessor business and reverse a slump, and other units could be for sale "if the price is right." Among the questions unanswered: is the company's longtime lossmaking flash business next?

06/02/2006  June 2, 2006 - Worldwide sales of semiconductors increased 8.1% year-on-year in April to $19.6 billion, slightly exceeded expectations thanks to strong demand for PCs, cell phones, and MP3 players, according to the Semiconductor Industry Association (SIA).

06/01/2006  June 1, 2006 - Japan has rejected South Korea's request to sit down to bilateral talks with the World Trade Organization (WTO) over its 27.2% punitive duty levied against Hynix DRAM chip imports, setting the stage for the WTO to come in and resolve the dispute, according to the Nihon Keizai Shimbun.

06/01/2006  June 1, 2006 - Akustica Inc., a start-up that is developing acoustic components in silicon using micro-electromechanical systems (MEMS) manufacturing processes, has signed on with X-Fab Semiconductor Foundries AG to produce MEMS-based single-chip microphones.

06/01/2006  June 1, 2006 - Toshiba Corp. said it will build a new 200mm fab in northern Japan to make power semiconductors, in answer to demand for devices incorporated in consumer electronics such as flat-panel TVs, mobile phones, notebook PCs, and gaming consoles.

06/01/2006  Akustica Inc. and X-FAB Semiconductor Foundries AG announced a strategic supplier partnership to focus on wafer processing of Akustica's AKU2000 Microphone Chip.

05/31/2006  May 31, 2006 - Embedded memory IP provider Emerging Memory Technologies Inc. (EMT) has signed a deal to license Renesas Technology Corp.'s capacitor-less Twin Transistor RAM (TTRAM) technology, for use with silicon-on-insulator (SOI) CMOS applications.

05/30/2006  May 30, 2006 - Credence Systems Corp. said it will discontinue development of its Kalos 2 flash memory test systems following a decision from "a major IDM" to decrease capital spending, and in an effort to focus on higher-margin consumer lines.

05/30/2006  May 30, 2006 - X-Fab Semiconductor Foundries has ported its 0.6-micron CMOS technology with trench isolation to new silicon-on-insulator (SOI) substrates, offering up to 40% smaller die size and cost-competitiveness with CMOS technology.

05/26/2006  May 26, 2006 - Nantero Inc., Phoenix, AZ, and ON Semiconductor will pick up where Nantero and LSI Logic left off with work to integrate carbon nanotubes into CMOS fabrication. ON Semi acquired LSI Logic's facility in Gresham, OR, earlier this year, where the technology was being developed.

05/25/2006 

05/23/2006  Enormous potential markets are emerging for semiconductors, said Jai Hakhu, corporate VP, Intel, at The ConFab. However, serving them will require continued innovation, and an intense focus on efficiency by the industry. Chips will have to provide multiple functions at lower price points to capitalize on the opportunities, he stated.

05/23/2006  May 23, 2006 - Mitsubishi Electric Corp. said that US antitrust investigators have requested details of its previous memory chip sales, as part of a widening investigation into DRAM price fixing at several companies.

05/23/2006  May 23, 2006 - Ten US universities from New York to Texas to the midwest have been ranked as tops among universities' efforts in micro- and nanotechnology research, according to a survey conducted by Solid State Technology sister publication Small Times.

05/23/2006  By Bob Haavind, Editorial Director, SST

Is Moore's Law dead -- and if so, does it really matter? That question, posed at a recent SEMI breakfast panel near Boston, brought some surprising answers. Yes, an expert panel agreed, the traditional shrink of Moore's Law ran into physical limits a few years ago, but it really won't make that much difference to progress in electronic systems...

05/22/2006  The semiconductor industry needs to usher in a new era of "collaborative innovation" to push beyond the limits of classical scaling and achieve new advances in information technology price performance. That idea, proposed by The ConFab opening keynote speaker Bernard Meyerson, IBM fellow, VP strategic alliances, and chief technologist at IBM's Systems and Technology Group, set the tone for three days of top-level executive discussions on a range of issues facing chipmakers and suppliers alike.