02/05/2004  February 5, 2004 - Nikon Corp. is building a $70 million worldwide training center in the US, following entrenched efforts from rivals ASML and Canon.

02/05/2004  Small tech accounted for 4.9 percent of the $4.9 billion in venture capital invested in the United States during the fourth quarter. Typical for the year was the experience of Kionix Inc., which managed to raise VC funds by focusing on market opportunity rather than sexy technology. Not surprisingly, California dominated the states list, with 10 deals worth $69.6 million in Q4.

02/04/2004  FEB. 4--BELMONT, Calif.--Nikon Corp. says it will build a new worldwide training center here to meet the growing demand for training from English-speaking countries around the world.

02/04/2004  Ultratech Inc. (Quote, News, Web) http://www.ultratech.com, a San Jose, Calif., developer of lithography tools for semiconductor and nanotechnology device fabrication, reported fourth quarter earnings of $3.3 million, or 13 cents per share, compared to a $2.4 million loss in the fourth quarter of 2002. Revenue was $26.8 million, up from $20.7 million in the year-earlier period.

02/03/2004  February 3, 2004 - Toshiba Semiconductor Company has licensed phase-shift mask technology from Synopsys Inc., Mountain View, CA, to help it ramp to volume production of 65nm process chips.

02/03/2004  (February 3, 2004) Munich, Germany—Unitive has selected SUSS lithography equipment to develop next-generation packaging processes. The equipment installation and process development will take place at Unitive's facility in Research Triangle Park, North Carolina.

01/29/2004  Raymond Chui of U-Right International wants consumers to think of Texcote when they think of stain-repellent fabrics – the same way that soda refers to Coca-Cola. But U-Right might have to settle for being Pepsi, since Nano-Tex is already entrenched in U.S. markets. The garment industry is one of the first consumer markets in which nanotechnology has taken off, and the battle for shares seems to be taking a page from the cola wars – where similar products depend on branding.

01/28/2004  Chances are, consumers will never see IBM’s nanocrystal flash memory on the marketplace. But the self-assembly technique used for making the nanocrystals could become a cornerstone in Big Blue’s future miniaturized components. IBM uses a technique that allows polymers to self-assemble into a honeycomb pattern with holes as small as 20 nanometers.

01/26/2004  January 26, 2004 - Intel Corp., Santa Clara, CA, will invest $20 million over three years in Cymer Inc., San Diego, CA, to help develop extreme-ultraviolet (EUV) lithography.

01/21/2004  January 21, 2004 - ASML and European research center IMEC have extended their collaboration on immersion lithography with the planned launch of an industrial affiliation program for 193nm liquid immersion lithography.

01/21/2004  California’s inability to produce a technically skilled work force compromises the state’s standing as a leader in nanotechnology, according to a state-sponsored report released today. But the problem lies as much with state legislators as with its beleaguered public education system, particularly if lawmakers see school cuts as a quick-fix solution to the state’s budget crisis, proponents said.

01/20/2004  January 20, 2004 - Dow Corning, Midland, MI, has unveiled new lithographic materials for use in developing 193nm photoresists and anti-reflective coatings used in 65nm processes.

01/20/2004  Your cell phone, like an increasing number of electronic devices, constantly drinks electricity to maintain its memory. If you could somehow get it to sip instead of gulp, you might get a week from the battery instead of a day. That's one potential benefit of technology under development at ZettaCore, which is expected to announce today that a venerated venture capital firm has taken an equity stake.

01/14/2004  January 14, 2004 - Nikon Corp., Tokyo, Japan, plans to start full-scale production of extreme ultraviolet (EUV) lithography systems this year, with a planned launch in 2006 for use with 45nm and 32nm chips.

01/14/2004  SUSS MicroTec AG News, Web has sold a stepper system to a Taiwanese organization for nanoscale research and development, according to a news release.

12/30/2003  Hitachi's Advanced Research Laboratory is getting ready to commercialize a low-cost "nanostamp" technology for medical applications. The company's process creates "nanopillars" with extremely high aspect ratios (narrow relative to height), a feature that the company believes will prove useful for biochips.

12/22/2003  (December 22, 2003) Norwalk, Conn.— A soon-to-be-released report from Business Communications Company Inc., entitled "RGB-283 Tools and Instrumentation for Nanotechnology," reports that the worldwide market for nanotechnology instruments and tools is estimated at $199.2 million in 2003. Expected to grow at an average annual growth rate (AAGR) of 28.6 percent, this market is expected to cross $700 million by 2008.

12/22/2003  DEC. 22--TAIWAN--Color filter maker Allied Material Technology Corporation (AMTC) has signed a polarizer technology transfer agreement with South Korea-based LG Chemical, according to company chairman Charles Yu.

12/17/2003  December 17, 2003 - ASML MaskTools, Santa Clara, CA, a subsidiary of Netherlands-based ASML, and Photronics Inc., Brookfield, CT, have agreed to co-develop a maskmaking infrastructure for ASML MaskTools' CPL technology, a technique that enables low-k lithography.

12/12/2003  December 12, 2003 - JMAR Technologies, San Diego, CA, says its has achieved sub-100nm imaging using its collimated plasma lithography has x-ray source and wafer exposure system.