USA
08/01/1997
USA
Under a joint product development agreement, Dow Corning, Midland, MI, and Tessera, San Jose, CA, will develop silicone-based products for the die attach and encapsulation of Tessera`s ?BGA chip-scale package. The companies did not disclose specific terms or the duration of the agreement. However, the deal is said to include a wide-ranging technology transfer, with reciprocal visits to both firms. Separately, Tessera said Hitachi Cable Ltd., Tokyo, has licensed the ?BGA technology, and will produce Tessera`s compliant mounting tape, used in the ?BGA assembly process.
Cerprobe Corp. and the advanced products division of Mitsubishi Materials are set to jointly develop new IC probe testers. The formal agreement follows two years of informal preparatory work by both companies: Mitsubishi has established development facilities in Sanda, Japan, while Cerprobe has expanded its R&D facilities at its Gilbert, AZ, headquarters. The deal combines Cerprobe`s technical wafer probing expertise and Mitsubishi`s experience with advanced materials and manufacturing techniques.
Electroglas Inc. has concluded its acquisition of yield management software developer Knights Technology, and hopes to expand its software offerings into a separate business unit, possibly through additional acquisitions. The buyout plan called for Electroglas shares to be trading at $20 so that an even 1.5 million shares would cover the $30 million price. In the event, the stock price was $20.50. Knights, now a unit of Electroglas, will retain its name, existing location, and all employees.
 |
Table: Semiconductor sales up 1.9%. Worldwide semiconductor sales rose in April by 1.9%, according to the
Semiconductor Industry Association`s Global Sales Report (see table). This is the second consecutive month in which sales have grown, after three down months. Sales worldwide totaled $11.12 billion for the month, up $208 million over March sales of $10.91 billion. The April billings activity increased month-to-month in all markets except for Japan, where revenues fell slightly to $2.55 billion. The North and South American markets rose3.7% to $3.8 billion. Asia/Pacific saw a 3.2% rise in sales to $2.38 billion. In Europe, sales rose 1.1% to $2.37 billion.
Futurestar Corp., a maker of flowmeters for ultrapure liquids, has moved into its new facility in Bloomington, MN. The facility houses manufacturing, engineering, sales, and administration. All parts inventory, assembly, testing, and packaging are done in Class 100 and Class 1000 cleanrooms.
Perfection Products, Lebanon, IN, will break ground on a 35,000-ft2 manufacturing facility that will house research, design, and manufacturing of process magazines and carriers for the electronics and semiconductor industry. The facility is expected to be completed November 1.
Solkatronic Chemicals Inc., Fairfield, NJ, has begun construction on its second electronic gas production facility in Catoosa, OK. The plant will produce arsine, phosphine, and dopant mixtures; will double existing capacity; and will become an emergency response training center.
Motorola has announced a sweeping reorganization of its Semiconductor Products Sector. The changes are designed to bring the company into better alignment with the way customers use semiconductors. The Sector will now consist of four market-based groups: Consumer Systems, Networking and Computing Systems, Transportation Systems, and Wireless Subscriber Systems. These groups will handle high value-added devices. A new Semiconductor Components Group will handle standard discrete and IC products.
In a $6 million cash deal that will bring a new player to the front-end equipment market, Aseco Corp., Marlboro, MA, has acquired Western Equipment Development Ltd. (WED), Plymouth, England. The privately held WED, which generated annual sales of $5.5 million in its year ending April 30, is a wafer handling robot system manufacturer. Under the deal, WED`s 40 employees will join Aseco. The acquisition is expected to be nondilutive to fiscal year 1998 earnings.
National Semiconductor, Santa Clara, CA, has opened a 575,000-ft2 South Portland, ME, facility. The site will manufacture 200-mm wafers at 0.35-?m geometries now and 0.25-?m sizes in mid-1998. The fab uses SMIF minienvironment technology. National`s move to accelerate 200-mm/0.35-?m production is in line with its earlier announced plan to phase out its 125- and 150-mm fabs in Santa Clara over an 18-month period. The CMOS and analog products produced in Santa Clara will be transferred to the company`s Arlington, TX, fab lines. In addition, the bipolar products produced at the Santa Clara 150-mm fab will be transferred to the company`s Greenock, Scotland, production sites.
A group of managers and investment companies have acquired Therma-Wave Inc. from two Japanese companies, following an auction process and highly leveraged recapitalization of the Fremont, CA, metrology supplier. Toray Industries and Shimadzu Corp., which purchased Therma-Wave in 1992, traded their stake for $96.9 million plus an 11% share of the newly recapitalized firm, 51% of which is now owned by Bain Capital Funds. A group of Therma-Wave managers holds 22% plus options for an additional 12%, while Sutter Hill Ventures owns 15%. A total of $115 million worth of 10.625% notes was recently issued to finance the buyout and pay off some debts.
In addition, Therma-Wave has receive a multisystem order from Chartered Semiconductor Manufacturing Ltd., Singapore, valued in excess of $8 million. The order includes the Opti-Probe 2600I, the Opti-Probe 2600DUVI series, and two Therma-Probe 500s.
Solution Technology Inc., Monroe, NC, a supplier of slurries for CMP, recently closed on an undisclosed amount of second round of funding, including an investment from Innotech Corp. in Japan. The funding is targeted at expanding the infrastructure required to support its recent growth.
If all goes as planned, the $225 million stock swap deal between Lam Research, Fremont, CA, and OnTrak Systems Inc., San Jose, CA, will be finalized on August 5, after shareholders from both companies vote on the merger. Under the deal, which was announced in March, each share of OnTrak stock will be exchanged for 0.83 shares of Lam stock and about 6.1 million new shares will be issued, along with warrants for about 400,000 more. When completed, OnTrak shareholders will own some 19% of Lam. Once the deal is finalized, Lam will begin work on integrating OnTrak`s technologies with its own.
MCM-D Consortium has awarded Anvik Corp., Hawthorne, NY, a contract to build a high-throughput laser-via-generation system for production of large-format multichip modules. The project is part of the consortium`s mission to advance the state-of-the-art in electronic packaging and interconnect technology in the US.
Chipscale Robotics, Fremont, CA, is a new company formed by Ron Gilman to provide sorting/handling equipment for chipscale packaged ICs and known-good die. The company`s first product, due for delivery this month, is the chipscale sorter/handler model DSH5000. Gilman has worked for Karl Suss GmbH, Suss Semiconductor, and Electroglas Inc.
Planar Systems Inc., Beaverton, OR, a maker of FPD components, has completed its acquisition of Flat Candle Corp., Colorado Springs, CO, a maker of backlights for flat panel LCDs. The new company will be called Planar Flat Candle and remain in Colorado Springs.
Photronics Inc., Jupiter, FL, plans to acquire MZD Maskenzentrum fur Mikrostrukturierung Dresden GmbH (MZD), a $4 million photomask operation in Dresden, Germany, formerly run by the state. Financial terms were not released. Under the deal, Photronics will retain the facility`s 27 employees. Photronics plans to upgrade the Dresden tool set to meet customer technology and volume requirements. The MZD facility supports 0.35-?m design rules.
SGS-Thomson Microelectronics, San Diego, CA, has acquired a majority stake in Metaflow Technologies Inc., San Diego, a maker of advanced microprocessor architectures. Metaflow has been working in the area of submicron VLSI design. The acquisition follows nearly two years of activities between SGS-Thomson and Metaflow.
UniSil Corp., Mountain View, CA, has bought MEMC Electronic Materials` 100-, 125-, and 150-mm silicon manufacturing facility in Santa Clara, CA, for an undisclosed sum. The 65,000-ft2 plant will become a division of UniSil, with all 173 MEMC employees joining UniSil. Currently, the MEMC facility has a capacity of 20 million in.2/month, with complete process capabilities. The deal includes a licensing of key crystal growing technologies.
Hoechst Celanese, Somerville, NJ, producer of the AZ line of photoresists and ancillary products, is investing $80 million to expand its worldwide electronic materials facilities. In addition, the AZ business unit is beginning to sample 193-nm resists, and is commencing a marketing effort for CARL, a Siemens-developed process that could extend i-line lithography to 0.25-?m on certain device layers. The expansion includes a new i-line production facility in South Korea, an enlargement of a Japanese deep UV and flat-panel display materials plant, and a $43 million investment at the Somerville manufacturing plant.
Rudolph Technologies Inc., Flanders, NJ, a supplier of film-metrology tools in Japan, has installed its Caliber 300 system at SELETE. The tool will be used to qualify other 300-mm equipment and bring up new processes as part of the organization`s 300-mm program. The tool will also be used by SELETE to support Japanese semiconductor manufacturers` ramp-up to 300-mm production.
DuPont Photomasks Inc., Round Rock, TX, has announced a $75 million plan to set up a photomask operation near Portland, OR, citing a need to be near customers based in the new Pacific Northwest chipmaking hub. DuPont will establish a 55,000-ft2-facility capable of producing photomasks for the manufacture of chips with 0.35-?m and below design rules, and photomasks for use in i-line steppers and for DUV tools.
Work on the WaferTech foundry fab in Camas, WA, is proceeding, with tool installations scheduled to begin in mid-November. This joint venture of Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co., Analog Devices, Integrated Silicon Solutions, and Altera should be able to meet its goal of beginning production in 2Q98, and reach the 10,000 wafer/month level by the end of 1998.
SpeedFam Corp., Chandler, AZ, has received a $4.7 million follow-on order for its Auriga CMP system from Siemens Microelectronics Centre GmbH & Co. and Siemens Microelectronics Ltd. Siemens will use the system for oxide applications at its fabs in Newcastle, England, and Dresden, Germany. SpeedFam has also received an order from Promos Technology Inc. for the Auriga CMP system. Promos, a joint venture between Siemens Semiconductor Group and Mosel Vitelic Inc., will use the system for oxide and metal CMP in the manufacture of 16- and 64-Mbit DRAMs for its facility in Taiwan.
GigaMat Systems, Mountain View, CA, has received a $2.5 million order from Exsil Inc., San Jose, CA. The purchase includes multiple GigaMat systems 3808 polishers for Exsil`s new operations in Prescott, AZ. The GigaMat wafer polishers can use either the template or wax processes. The systems are scheduled for delivery by 4Q97.
FEI Co., Hillsboro, OR, has received its tenth DualBeam order for its 200-mm focused ion beam/scanning electron microscope workstation for delivery in 1997. The $1.65 million order brings the total of the 10 orders to $12.1 million. Five of the orders are for FEI`s DualBeam 820, a laboratory-level tool with 200-mm wafer handling capability; the other five orders are for the DualBeam 825i, a cleanroom compatible in-line system with robotics for automatic wafer handling and alignment.
ESEC USA Inc., Phoenix, AZ, has received a multimillion dollar order from Abpac Inc. for six Autoline automated semiconductor assembly systems. Abpac is a new company establishing ball grid array foundry assembly operations in Phoenix.
Giga-tronics Inc., San Ramon, CA, a maker of microwave and RF signal generation and power measurement instruments, has agreed to acquire optical inspection producer Viking Semiconductor Equipment, Fremont, CA. The proposed merger, which must be approved by Viking shareholders, will be accounted for as a pooling of interests, with all of the privately-held Viking shares being exchanged for 420,000 shares of Giga-tronics common stock, worth about $2.8 million.
Asyst Technologies Inc., Fremont, CA, has received a major order from Holtek Microelectronics Inc., Hsinchu, Taiwan. Worth over $4 million, the order consists of numerous SMIF-LPT load port transfer systems for delivery to Holtek`s new 200-mm Fab II. The systems will enable Holtek to achieve a better-than-Class 1 manufacturing environment in its microcontroller IC production.
 |
GaSonics International, San Jose, CA, has received an order totaling $1.2 million from Vitesse Semiconductor, Camarillo, CA, for two performance enhancement platform 3510C cluster systems. Configured with photoresist removal and cleaning modules, the systems will be used in Vitesse`s 150-mm gallium arsenide fab in Colorado Springs, CO.
The Shipley subsidiary of Rohm and Haas Co., Philadelphia, PA, has purchased a 25% interest in CMP slurry supplier Rodel Inc., Newark, DE. The move marks a departure from Shipley`s traditional base in the photoresist market. Under the terms of the agreement, Rohm and Haas will obtain two seats on Rodel`s board.
Unit Instruments, Yorba Linda, CA, will use the SDS Safe Delivery Source trademark on two of its new mass flow controllers. Unit has signed a license agreement with Matheson Gas Products Inc. and Advanced Technology Materials Inc., Danbury, CT, to use the trademark on models 1662 and 8162, both of which were designed for use with SDS. Separately, the new Z-Bloc Modular Gas Systems division of Unit has released its proprietary Z-Bloc modular gas delivery system. The new division`s plans call for a full production ramp up in the next six months.
Implant Center, San Jose, CA, has opened an off-site ion implant processing facility in San Jose. The 34,000-ft2 facility features Class 1 minienvironment processing and expansion capabilities for 200-mm and beyond wafer fabrication.
Nanometrics Inc., Sunnyvale, CA, has nine of its NanoSpec 8300X units in operation at leading semiconductor equipment manufacturers, as well as the I300I and SELETE consortiums, where they are being used in the development and evaluation of new 300-mm production tools. The system is an automated thin-film measurement system capable of handling 300-mm wafers.