06/09/2008  by James Montgomery, News Editor, Solid State Technology
June 8, 2008 - Applied Materials has made a verbal unsolicited $400M-$500M offer to buy ASMI's atomic layer deposition (ALD) and plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition (PECVD) businesses. Gartner research VP Dean Freeman helps WaferNEWS brainstorm the most likely reasons behind AMAT's offer (and some unlikely-yet-interesting-but-good-luck-proving-it possibilities), and what it means for ASMI.

06/03/2008  June 2, 2008 - As global flat-panel displays become ubiquitous, sales of display driver ICs are about to decelerate due to pricing pressures and technology advancements, according to a report from iSuppli.

05/19/2008  May 19, 2008 -- Uni-Pixel Inc. is making its first public demonstration of Time Multiplexed Optical Shutter (TMOS) flat panel color display prototypes this week. TMOS technology leverages polymer MEMS, and also uses Frustrated Total Internal Reflection (FTIR) to transmit light to the display viewer.

05/15/2008  by Ed Korczynski, senior technical editor, Solid State Technology
May 14, 2008 - The highlight of a recent regional meeting of the American Vacuum Society's Thin-Film Users Group on printable electronics was a detailed presentation on self-aligned imprint lithography (SAIL), developed by HP and PowerFilm Solar for their roll-to-roll IC line.

04/25/2008  Apr. 25, 2008 - A JV between Japan's Toray Industries and Korea's Samsung Electronics is increasing output capacity for film circuit substrates on which FPD chips are mounted.

04/25/2008  Apr. 25, 2008 - A technique developed by a team from the Kochi U. of Technology, Casio Computer, and Geomatec can be used to manufacture TFT-LCD panels using far less of the increasingly costly material indium, reports the Nikkei Business Daily.

03/28/2008  Mar. 28, 2008 - Sharp is disclosing more details about its investment in thin-film solar cell capacity at a plant in Sakai, Osaka Prefecture, scheduled to come online in 2010 with a projected capacity of 480MW, and ultimately scale up to 1GW/year peak capacity. Sharp also has a projected 160MW capacity in its Katsuragi plant in Nara Prefecture.

03/19/2008  by Katherine Derbyshire, Contributing Editor, Solid State Technology
Flat-panel displays and solar panels free ICs from the tyranny of the cathode ray tube (or teletype) and the power grid, respectively -- yet neither benefits from Moore's Law. Without Moore's Law to help, FPD relied on large-scale manufacturing and heavy use of automation to break out of the laptop computer niche. Solar manufacturers hope to use the same methods to compete with fossil fuels.

03/07/2008  Nanotechnology developer NanoGram Corp. branched out into the cleantech space when it closed on a third equity round of $32M to expand its solar technology and nanomaterials businesses.

02/19/2008  Feb. 18, 2008 - Hitachi and Matsushita Electric Industrial (soon to be formally "Panasonic") have finalized their formal contract involving their proposed LCD panel business alliance, which also involves Canon.

02/12/2008  by James Montgomery, News Editor, Solid State Technology
Feb. 12, 2008 - Industry watchers tell WaferNEWS what likely spurred the unsolicited proposal from Sumitomo to acquire JV partner Axcelis; what's good and bad about such a combination; and how might a changed implant sector landscape be positioned for the next key period: 22nm and vertical transistors.

02/12/2008  Feb. 12, 2008 - SEMI has published its latest batch of 3x/year new technical standards for semiconductor, flat panel display (FPD), and MEMS manufacturing. This latest batch of eight standards involve testing for leak integrity in gas delivery systems; design/materials guides for interfacing MEMS microfluidic systems; and EHS guidelines for FPD manufacturing.

02/12/2008  ; SEMI has published eight new technical standards applicable to the semiconductor, flat panel display (FPD), and MEMS manufacturing industries. One of the standards, the SEMI MS6, provides a guide for design and materials for interfacing MEMS microfluidic systems.

02/04/2008  Smart credit cards with embedded displays, e-packaging with printed RFID chips, and mobile devices with rollable, e-paper screens are among the flexible, printed, and organic electronics (FPOE)-enabled gizmos that have reached or are about to reach commercialization. But significant manufacturing and infrastructure challenges remain for this to become a multibillion-dollar market, as Small Times Senior Contributing Editor Tom Cheyney explains

01/21/2008  Uni-Pixel says its flat-panel color display technology, called time-multiplexed optical shutter (TMOS), provides thin-film transistor (TFT) system manufacturers with an alternative to the current LCD manufacturing process, while leveraging their current infrastructure. WaferNEWS spoke with the company's CFO, Jim Tassone, about the technology, timeline, and the company's business model.

01/17/2008  January 14, 2008 -- /PRNewswire/ -- LEHIGH VALLEY, PA -- Air Products today announced it has signed an agreement with Signet Solar Inc. to supply turnkey installation of gas delivery systems and services and related gas needs for a new, thin-film photovoltaic module production facility in Mochau, Germany.

12/17/2007  ; In line with the increasing use of LED backlight modules in display applications, Chunghwa Picture Tubes Ltd. (CPT) reportedly plans to step into upstream LED manufacturing, according to industry sources, reported CENS. CPT reportedly plans to have its affiliated Sintronic Technology Inc. take charge of LED packaging, and San Chih Semiconductor Co., Ltd. will be responsible for LED epitaxy.

12/13/2007  Oxford Instruments has received an order for nine process tool systems worth more than £2.5m ($5m) to equip a new cleanroom facility at the University of Southampton in the UK, the company announced in a news release.

12/03/2007  December 3, 2007 - Rohm and Haas and SKC Co. Ltd. have officially opened their joint venture to make advanced optical and functional films for flat-panel displays, three months after announcing their partnership. Meoung-Han Kim will lead the business, having most recently served as managing director of SKC's display division.

11/19/2007  November 19, 2007 - Samsung Electronics has laid off more than 1600 workers in its first large-scale restructuring since 2002, following disappointing results this year in both its semiconductors and flat-panel businesses, according to media reports.