01/24/2012 

The USPTO is looking to increase the diversity of honorees for its annual National Medal of Technology and Innovation (NMTI), honoring "this nation's creative geniuses."

01/24/2012 

Soitec (Euronext) and Sumitomo Electric Industries Ltd. demonstrated 4" and 6" engineered gallium nitride (GaN) substrates, and launched pilot production lines to enable wider market adoption.

01/20/2012 

Seoul Semiconductor Co. Ltd. has applied, registered, and secured more than 10,000 patents for light emitting diodes (LEDs) globally. The company invests 10-20% of its annual revenue in R&D.

01/20/2012 

USCi will develop next-generation silicon carbide (SiC) devices with AIXTRON SE's VP2400 hot-wall CVD tool. USCi plans to install the CVD system in Q3 2012.

01/19/2012 

Hine Automation shipped its Star SL-300 single-substrate vacuum transfer system to Annealsys, which will integrate the wafer transfer system onto its MC-200 MOCVD tool for R&D and pilot environments.

01/18/2012 

SEMI presented its annual SEMI Award for North America to QD Vision. QD Vision team members made significant progress on the integration and manufacturing processes essential to the commercialization of quantum dot (QD) technology.

01/18/2012 

36% of semiconductor fabs are in high-risk zones, finds Semico, noting the industry disruptions caused by the Japan earthquake and tsunami and Thai flooding and the challenges these presented to chip makers in the regions. 

01/17/2012 

The gallium nitride (GaN) LED market declined in 2011, but 2012 marks the beginning of a growth curve, with double-digit growth in 2013 and 2014, says IMS Research. Lighting revenues will overtake TV revenues for GaN LEDs a year earlier than expected.

01/13/2012 

Taiwan's LED chip and package manufacturers failed to reproduce the booming revenue growth of H1 2011 in H2, according to LEDinside. Given inventory pressure, many LED makers are actively seeking joint ventures and improving product quality to create greater product differentiation.

01/13/2012 

For the first time, Apple Inc. has publicly published a list of over 150 companies that the electronics giant says represent 97% of its procurement expenditures for materials, manufacturing, and assembly of products worldwide.

01/12/2012 

OSRAM Opto Semiconductors manufactured high-performance LED prototypes, growing the light-emitting gallium-nitride (GaN) layers on 150mm silicon (Si) wafers rather than sapphire substrates.

01/11/2012 

Worldwide LED manufacturing capacity will reach 2M wafers in 2012, up 27%. More wafers do not neccessarily mean more LED fab equipment, however. Global LED manufacturing equipment spending will fall 18%, shows SEMI.

01/10/2012 

Philips Lumileds appointed Pierre Yves Lesaicherre as CEO, succeeding the company's first CEO Michael C. Holt. Lesaicherre spent 2 decades in the semiconductor and components industry.

01/10/2012 

EV Group signed a joint-development and licensing agreement with Eulitha AG, integrating Eulitha's PHABLE mask-based UV photolithography technology with EVG's automated mask aligner platform.

01/06/2012 

Materion Microelectronics & Services added 50% more space in its PVD parts cleaning and surface treatment facility, with an automated robotic twin wire arc spray, increased precious metal refining capacity, new cleaning processes, and a Class 10,000-certified cleanroom.

01/05/2012 

Barclays Capital forecasts 2012 as a "subdued year" for the light-emitting diode (LED) industry, but there will be opportunities for MOCVD sales in the LED and power semiconductor sectors, as well as MOCVD upgrades.

01/05/2012 

Nocilis Materials opened its silicon foundry service globally. Nocilis Materials AB provides epitaxy service of advanced Si-Ge-Sn-C alloys for electronic and photonic applications.

01/04/2012 

AIXTRON SE (NASDAQ:AIXG) delivered multiple AIX G5 HT MOCVD reactors to existing customer Nantong Tongfang in China, fueling the company's HB-LED production expansion.

12/29/2011 

The updated "Garment System Considerations for Cleanrooms and Other Controlled Environments" document includes new sections on measuring footwear, frocks and other garments, as well as a new subsection for tracking system use, such as RFID chips and barcodes.

12/28/2011 

Maxim Group, in its equity research on LED sector companies, finds that competition and demand strategies will push LED prices lower in the near future, and the capital expenditures surge of 2010-2011 is giving way to a tool spending downturn.