10/12/2001 
As high-tech products grow smaller, engineers require smaller instruments to work on them. At the heart of some of those instruments might be cone-shaped carbide crystalline tips – 10 nanometers at the top and 0.5 micron at the base. Electrons stream off of these tips to do their jobs, which include manufacture of integrated circuits and, someday, helping to propel spacecraft.

10/11/2001  October 11, 2001 - Chelmsford, MA - Brooks Automation Inc., supplier of tool and factory hardware and software automation solutions for the semiconductor industry, completed the acquisition of Tec-Sem AG (Tec-Sem), a manufacturer of bare reticle stockers, tool buffers and batch transfer systems for the semiconductor industry.

10/10/2001  October 10, 2001 - Seoul, Korea - At the FSA Suppliers Expo, Dongbu Electronics launched an incentive program for qualified companies to use its regularly scheduled 0.18- and 0.25-micron ShuttleChip prototyping service.

10/08/2001  Oct. 8, 2001 - Santa Clara, CA - Intel Corp. researchers say they have developed a new packaging technology that they assert will help the company build processors with more than 1 billion transistors that will be 10 times faster than the fastest processors today.

10/03/2001  October 3, 2001 - Wilmington, DE & Kawasaki, Japan - DuPont Electronics Technologies and Tokyo Ohka Kogya Co. Ltd. (TOK) have signed a license and development agreement to enable production of photoresists for use in making future generations of semiconductors chips.

09/27/2001  September 27, 2001 - Oakland, CA - Today, Tokyo Seimitsu Co., Ltd. has filed its answer in response to KLA-Tencor's patent infringement suit. The answer denies all charges of patent infringement and alleges KLA's U S Patent No. 4,805,123 is invalid and unenforceable.

09/06/2001  September 6, 2001 -- FRANKLIN, MA -- Extraction Systems recently announced the sale of multiple Extraction 3000 filter systems for 300mm semiconductor fabs in the U.S., Taiwan and Europe.

08/30/2001  Japan's latest government-funded industry research initiative for 50nm generation technology plans to start by designing and developing its own new semiconductor production tools. Japanese press reports said Intel researchers would also participate, but Intel sources could not confirm this before press time.

08/29/2001  August 29,2001 - Newport Beach, CA and Jupiter, FL - Conexant Systems Inc., and Photronics Inc., announced a strategic technology alliance and multi-year supply agreement under which Photronics will become the primary supplier of photomasks to Conexant, providing the company with access to advanced photomask process technologies and services.

08/20/2001  A bold little Japanese startup has big plans to challenge all the big names with its own alternative approach to next generation lithography. LEEPL Corp., Machida, said it will have two beta tools out by the end of the year that will use a simple, low-cost combination of conventional e-beam and proximity x-ray lithography technology to write 100nm to 70nm lines through a 1:1 stencil mask.

08/13/2001  Rapidly rising photomask costs may be hurting the maskmakers as well as the chipmakers, according to one analyst, but two prominent mask houses say they're trying to keep costs low - despite skyrocketing tool overheads.

08/09/2001  August 9, 2001 - San Diego, CA - JMAR Technologies Inc. has completed the purchase of the outstanding equity of Vermont-based Semiconductor Advanced Lithography Inc. (SAL), a provider of X-ray lithography (XRL) stepper systems.

08/09/2001  August 9, 2001 - Brookfield, CT - Photronics Inc. is breaking ground for a 13,000-square-foot addition to its existing 40,000-square-foot manufacturing operation in Brookfield, Connecticut.

08/06/2001 
A new small tech business eliminates the need for costly photomasks in making many bioMEMS and sensor devices. One potential client says the "superior process" makes it easier to prototype new components because making modifications is no longer a cumbersome process.

07/16/2001  Dainippon Screen will start selling a laser plotter for printed circuit boards in August that will reduce running costs to 1/15 current levels.

07/03/2001 

06/26/2001  June 26, 2001 - Hillsboro, OR - With a company focus on structural diagnostics and structural modification with the utilization of ion beam technology, FEI has an eye on the future.

06/11/2001  June 11, 2001 -- ROUND ROCK, TX -- DuPont Photomasks and Micron Technology plant to form a joint venture that will result in the creation of a new photomask cleanroom facility.

05/04/2001  May 4, 2001 - Hamilton, Scotland and Round Rock, TX - DuPont Photomasks Inc. (DPI) will close its photomask manufacturing facility in Hamilton, Scotland, relocating equipment to the company's 10 other photomask production sites worldwide.

05/03/2001  May 3, 2001 - Veldhoven, Netherlands and San Jose, CA - The proposed merger between ASM Lithography Holding N.V. and Silicon Valley Group Inc. has received the green light by the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS).