03/16/2009  March 16, 2009: NanoGram Corp., which develops and manufactures advanced products and solutions for optical, electronic and energy applications, has entered into a technology development agreement (TDA) with Teijin Ltd. to further develop NanoGram's printed silicon ink.

02/24/2009  The same "Virtuous Cycle" that has led to business success in semiconductor and display markets can be used to generate significant growth in PV markets, according to Applied Materials SVP Gilad Almogy, in his SPIE keynote address.

01/12/2009  LCD prices are on a relentless downward trend. Lower prices are key to stimulating more demand and further growing the total market in terms of units as well as shifting demand to larger panel sizes. In order to maintain margins as prices fall, LCD producers constantly strive to lower costs. This trend is being exacerbated by the current weak economic environment and significant oversupply, causing prices to fall near cost levels, ever intensifying the focus on cost reduction.

01/08/2009  AU Optronics, Taiwan's biggest maker of TFT-LCD panels, says it will extend its work with display technology into a pilot line for solar-cell panels at the Central Taiwan Science Park in Taichung during this year. The company also is establishing a new "Energy Project Office" to direct its efforts in green energy.

01/08/2009  Market outlook in the semiconductor equipment industry is notoriously difficult due to its infamous cyclicality, but this year's global turmoil in the financial markets has added a new dimension of complexity and uncertainly. Add to this the new synergistic segments such as flat-panel display (FPD) and solar, with their unique business drivers, and we now have an exponentially more complex planning situation.

01/06/2009  Taiwan's National Development Fund reportedly is ready to appropriate about US $6B to underpin its DRAM and flat-panel display industries, but individual companies are still hashing out whether their individual needs will be met. And an outside party is stumping to be the island's DRAM consolidator to challenge Samsung.

12/01/2008  Sizing up a TSV market beyond the early adopters, Applied Materials is collaborating with material and equipment suppliers (and others) to ensure the full readiness of TSV implementation. AMAT execs update SST on the firm's TSV efforts, including a new TSV process sequence developed with Semitool and a new etch tool.

11/04/2008  Manufacturing output for TFT-LCD displays is expected to hit record highs in 2008, but look for spending to fall off a cliff in 2009, according to separate analyst reports.

10/24/2008  Like integrated circuit and flat-panel display manufacturing, solar cell manufacturing depends on a variety of vacuum-based processes, from PECVD silicon deposition to lamination of the finished module. Yet vacuum-based processes in solar cell manufacturing pose special challenges for pump designers.

09/08/2008  Tegal Corp.'s proposed acquisition of Alcatel Micro Machining Systems' (AMMS) deep reactive ion etch (DRIE) and plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition (PECVD) products is "a critical part of our growth strategy" to extend into higher-growth markets in 3D IC packaging and MEMS devices, the company asserts.

09/05/2008  Tegal Corporation announced an agreement with Alcatel Micro Machining Systems (AMMS) and Alcatel-Lucent to acquire their deep reactive ion etch (DRIE) and plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition (PECVD) products, and the related intellectual property. The addition of these capabilities to Tegal's plasma-etch and deposition systems will reportedly enable Tegal to further expand into MEMS and 3D wafer level packaging applications.

09/03/2008  Sept. 3, 2008 - Tegal Corp., a designer and manufacturer of plasma etch and deposition systems, has agree to acquire ' (AMMS) and Alcatel-Lucent's deep reactive ion etch (DRIE) and plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition (PECVD) products and related IP in a $5M in cash-and-stock transaction.

09/03/2008  September 3, 2008: Tegal Corp., a designer and manufacturer of plasma etch and deposition systems, has agree to acquire Alcatel Micro Machining Systems' (AMMS) and Alcatel-Lucent's deep reactive ion etch (DRIE) and plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition (PECVD) products and related IP, directed at advanced 3D wafer-level packaging applications.

08/19/2008  Applied Materials' fiscal 3Q08 results were generally in line with expectations, with sales and profits dropping sharply during what CEO Mike Splinter called the "trough" of the industry's current downcycle. Here's a quick bullet-point summary of highlights from the company's quarterly conference call.

07/15/2008  Beneath the industry's current schizophrenia -- slump in mainstream IC, growth in PV solar -- there are opportunities to compete and succeed with specific technologies and products tuned to the unique needs of both logic and memory customers, explained Novellus execs in a packed-theater presentation.

06/26/2008  June 26, 2008 - Israeli firm Orbotech, a supplier of automated optical inspection equipment for printed circuit boards and flat-panel displays, has agreed to purchase Photon Dynamics for $290M in cash in an effort to spur growth and diversify their FPD businesses.

06/25/2008  June 25, 2008 -- Liquidia Technologies announced that Professor Joseph DeSimone, Liquidia Founder and chancellor's eminent professor of chemistry at the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill (UNC) has received the $500,000 Lemelson-MIT Prize for outstanding inventors.

06/25/2008  June 25, 2008 - SVTC Technologies has officially opened its Silicon Valley Photovoltaic Development Center in San Jose, with a new solar-cell manufacturing line, solar-module certification equipment, and a major silicon-wafer solar cell customer.

06/17/2008  June 17, 2008 - A day after its $400M-$500M offer for ASMI's ALD/PECVD units was rebuffed -- but with an asterisk -- Applied Materials has pitched a new proposal: buying all of ASMI's frontend business activities, with help from Francisco Partners.

06/16/2008  June 16, 2008 - In a scenario reminiscent of the recent Axcelis/Sumitomo public M&A tussle, ASMI board members say they aren't interested in selling their ALD and/or PECVD businesses to Applied Materials "as such" though the firm "is willing to explore and discuss [...] any alternative arrangements" that could be beneficial to the company and its shareholders.