Particles
01/01/2001
Adept leases manufacturing facility
Adept Technology Inc. (San Jose, CA) has signed a property lease to expand its manufacturing and research and development facilities in Livermore, CA. The facility will support the company's growing business in the fiber optic, telecommunications and semiconductor industries. In addition to the approximately 75,000-square-foot location that will be occupied early this year, the agreement includes a future option for an additional 145,050-square-foot location.—JVP
Solution Consultants gets new identity
Aqua Solutions Inc. is the new corporate identity for Jasper, GA-based Solution Consultants Inc., a manufacturer of reagent grade laboratory water purification systems sold worldwide to research, medical, testing, environmental, government and quality control laboratories. The name change is intended to represent more accurately the company's evolution. The company will continue to manufacture and sell Type I and Type II reagent grade DI systems and reverse osmosis pretreatment systems.—JVP
Lam ships 300 mm system to Taiwan
Lam Research Corp. (Fremont, CA) announced shipment of a 300 mm Teres CMP system to a major foundry in Taiwan. The foundry's 200 mm Teres copper CMP processes will be transferred directly to the 300 mm system. The 300 mm system is designed to be 200-300 mm capable, processing either wafer size interchangeably following minor hardware modifications.—LB
Ashland expands
The Electronic Chemicals Division of Ashland Specialty Chemical Co. has completed a major capacity expansion for photoresist stripper and etch residue remover manufacturing at its wholly owned subsidiary, Ashland-ACT Korea Ltd., Pyongtaek, Korea. The expansion increases current production capacity at the facility by 50 percent, with an additional 30 percent increase slated for this summer.—JVP
McCarthy constructs $57-million laboratory
McCarthy has broken ground on a fast-track, $57-million laboratory building and learning center for Sigma-Aldrich Corp., a St. Louis, MO-based custom manufacturer and supplier of high-quality organics and biochemicals for pharmaceutical, biopharmaceutical and industrial applications. The new Life Science Technology Center is slated for completion in December 2001. McCarthy is serving as the construction manager and general contractor on the project. The project includes construction of a 133,000-square-foot laboratory building with three stories above grade and one below grade.—JVP
Tokyo Electron, Nikon pen deal to share cleanrooms
TOKYO—Tokyo Electron Limited, a supplier of semiconductor and LCD production equipment, and Nikon Corp., a leading optical and precision manufacturer, have entered into an agreement to share cleanrooms for coater developers and exposure tools.
Under the newly-penned deal, Tokyo Electron Limited plans to install its 300 mm coater/developer—the Clean Track Act 12—at the cleanroom in the Nikon Kumagaya plant. At the same time, Nikon plans to install the NSR-S305B model scanner in a cleanroom that will be established in the Koshi Plant of Tokyo Electron Kyushu Limited.
The facility sharing is expected to begin in fiscal year 2001. According to officials, the agreement is based on the understanding that in the current semiconductor environment where many manufacturers are increasingly moving toward smaller geometries, Tokyo Electron Limited must also adopt the trend.
The two companies also plan to establish similar relationships with other manufacturing equipment manufacturers to increase user support.—JVP
IEST intros technical guides
MOUNT PROSPECT, IL—The Institute of Environmental Sciences and Technology (IEST) has release a series of technical guides to complement ISO Standard 14644-1, Cleanrooms and associated controlled environments—Part 1: Classification of air cleanliness, and ISO Standard 14644-2, Cleanrooms and associated controlled environments-Part 2: Specifications for testing and monitoring to prove continued compliance with ISO 14644-1. Available guides include the following: IEST-G-CC1001: Counting airborne particles for classification and monitoring of cleanrooms and clean zones, IEST-G-CC1002: Determination of the concentration of airborne ultrafine particles, IEST-G-C1003: Measurement of airborne macroparticles and IEST-G-C1004: Sequential-sampling plan for use in classification of the particulate cleanliness of air in cleanrooms and clean zones.—LB
Nanyang Technological proposes life sciences college
SINGAPORE—The Nanyang Technological University (NTU) will invest nearly $500 million to start a college in hopes of producing the researchers it needs to meet the country's life sciences ambitions.
Along with the college of life sciences, the university also wants to establish a graduate school of medicine, NTU president Tao Soon Cham says, adding that the proposed school will offer a doctor of medicine program on par with college and university curriculums in the United States.
The future of the life sciences program, however, rests with an international committee review of Singapore's medical education system, slated for the first half of this year.
Start-up costs were estimated at $465 million, mainly for buildings and equipment, while annual operating costs were likely to reach $50 million, half of which is allocated for faculty and staff.
Dr. Cham says the university has also teamed up with Singapore General Hospital to provide a biomedical engineering program.
The life sciences college will be housed in NTU with facilities at Singapore General Hospital. Offered programs will include a bachelor of science in biological sciences, which combines technology and business elements; a pre-medical option; as well as master's, PhD and medical doctorates.
The move to set up the life science college was a response to Singapore's Deputy Prime Minister Tony Tan's call for NTU to play a larger role in the economy. The government has already earmarked $2 billion to cultivate the life sciences industry into the fourth pillar of the economy, the other three being electronics, chemicals, and engineering.—MAD