10/10/2003  Global orders in August of Japanese semiconductor equipment achieved levels not seen in nearly 15 months, according to the latest figures from the Semiconductor Equipment Association of Japan (SEAJ). Results from a broader perspective, however, appear to be mixed.

10/02/2003  September 25, 2003 - ATMI Inc., Danbury, CT, has introduced an RFID-based process monitoring system for liquid materials in a fab, aimed at replacing similar barcode-based systems.

10/02/2003  September 29, 2003 - Cymer Inc., San Diego, CA, a supplier of excimer laser light sources, has named Anthony Yen as senior VP of lithography market development.

10/02/2003  September 26, 2003 - Schott Lithotec, Jena, Germany, has signed EUV lithography agreements with a pair of industry groups.

09/30/2003  The titans of corporate America and academia embraced nanotechnology at one of the premier R&D conferences recently, even as they cautioned that true nanoscale devices and widespread adoption are still years away. The first real market applications still are expected to be coatings and nanomaterials. Until scientists can perfect nanomanufacturing – true nanoscale devices and products are still further in the future.

09/19/2003  September 18, 2003 - Singapore's Chartered Semiconductor Manufacturing has taken the wraps off its "NanoAccess" 90nm SoC process technology, based on its development work with IBM.

09/18/2003  At the height of the SARS outbreak last spring, Doug Beplate's Emergency Filtration Products Inc. was scrambling to produce as many of its nanoparticle filtration masks as possible, particularly in the Asian markets hardest hit by the communicable virus. Demand has subsided temporarily, but Beplate believes the market for the technology will grow.

09/11/2003  September 9, 2003 - Applied Materials, Santa Clara, CA, has unveiled a new tool for 65nm-generation mask metrology, adding to its line of pattern generation, etch, and inspection tools.

09/02/2003  August 27, 2003 - Elpida Memory, a Tokyo, Japan JV between Hitachi and NEC, and Toppan Printing Co. have agreed to co-develop photomasks for sub-100nm DRAM chips. The photomasks will be used on chips produced at Elpida's 300mm facility in Hiroshima.

09/02/2003  Focal Point Microsystems LLC of Tucson, Ariz., believes its technology ends the quest for cost-effective nanoscale lithography for MEMS devices – an elusive industry Holy Grail. One of a number of companies pursuing maskless lithography for production of microscopic devices, the firm's technology "is basically like having the ability to produce a book without having to print one page at a time."

08/26/2003  August 25, 2003 - ASM International, Amsterdam, The Netherlands, plans to relocate its R&D facilities in from Espoo, Finland, to the University of Helsinki, where the two organizations will jointly develop atomic layer deposition technologies.

08/22/2003  By Dar

08/18/2003  August 18, 2003 - FASL Japan Ltd., the Japanese arm of a joint venture between AMD and Fujitsu, and GE Global Electronic Solutions have completed a $100 million sale and leaseback of equipment, including machines for lithography, metrology, deposition and tech, and furnace equipment.

08/18/2003  August 14, 2003 - Allied Integrated Patterning Co. (AIPC) says it will complete equipment move-in and begin mass production of TFT-LCD photo masks by 2Q04. The affiliate of Allied Materials Technology Corp. (AMTC) hopes to generate sales of $130.8 million in sales by 2008, after an initial capital investment of $52.3 million.

07/28/2003  If what they say about tool companies being necessary precursors to a successful nanotech industry, then JMAR Technologies Inc. is in the right spot. The San Diego-based company makes X-ray lithography steppers, which are motion control systems, for the microelectronics industry.

07/18/2003  July 18, 2003 - Customers of both large and small wafer-processing companies gave kudos to a wide range of vendors, but overall rankings were lower than in previous years, according to a new report from VLSI. The ratings are calculated based on customer surveys in which suppliers were ranked on a ten-point scale, covering thirteen categories describing equipment performance and customer service.

07/17/2003  July 14, 2003 - ETEC Systems, Hayward, CA, has been awarded a three-year, $13.5 million contract by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) to develop sub-45nm lithography systems.

07/15/2003  July 14--FRANKLIN, Mass.--Metrology will play an increasingly critical role in preventing molecular contamination of deep UV optics and resists in 193nm lithography, according to participants in Extraction Systems' recent Lithography Contamination Control and Monitoring Roadmap Workshop.

07/11/2003  As silicon chip features get smaller, the cost of making the masks that print them is exploding. At 90 nanometers, the next step down for chip makers, a set of masks costs $1.5 million. At the step beyond that, 65 nanometers, those masks will probably cost about $4 million. And a single chip can use 20 or more masks. Mask makers are in hot pursuit of an "innovative" solution to the cost dilemma.

07/08/2003  July 7, 2003 - The Tokyo-based Association of Super-Advanced Electronics Technologies (ASET), a government-funded electronics research cooperative, says it has developed a way to fabricate high-performance masks for extreme ultraviolet (EUV) lithography.