11/26/2008  Pattern transfer is becoming trickier at 4x/32nm nodes and beyond, with thinner resist layers and higher aspect ratios/etch requirements for both logic and memory. Enter ashable hardmasks as a possible solution. Novellus VP Tim Archer tells SST about the company's strategy and technology to address this pain point.

11/20/2008  Crediting the continued demand in the 3D interconnect interconnect/through-silicon via (TSV) an nanoimprint lithography markets, EV Group reports an increase in revenue for 2008 of more than 15%. Despite the current global economic slowdown, the company says it remains cautiously optimistic about its outlook for 2009 given the expected growth opportunities to ensue as these novel technologies gain market acceptance/penetration.

11/17/2008  November 17, 2008: Researchers at the Harvard School of Engineering and Applied Sciences (SEAS) have demonstrated experimentally and theoretically that the surface plasmon resonances of metal nanoparticles in a periodic array can have considerably narrower spectral widths than those of isolated metal nanoparticles. Further, as the optical fields are significantly more intense in a periodic array, the method could improve the sensitivity of detecting molecules at low concentrations.

11/06/2008  The industry has established a collection of production-worthy high-k gate stack options, and fabs will adopt their own such processes gradually. While research institutions are winding down their work in this area, there's still future research to be done on high-k dielectric materials (e.g. for memory scaling), as IMEC researchers discussed at their annual press review.

11/05/2008  Tighter registration tolerances for the 45nm node and beyond require a next-generation registration metrology tool with capability to measure EUV masks with diverse substrate materials that might be used in 32nm and 22nm chip production.

11/04/2008  November 4, 2008: Researchers at Boston University working with collaborators in Germany, France and Korea have developed a nanoscale torsion resonator that measures miniscule amounts of twisting or torque in a metallic nanowire. This device, the size of a speck of dust, might enable measurements of the untwisting of DNA and have applications in spintronics, fundamental physics, chemistry and biology.

11/01/2008  In October, Sematech (Austin, TX) hosted a symposium in Lake Tahoe, CA that could literally shine a new light on semiconductor cleanrooms.

10/29/2008  October 29, 2008: Helios Applied System says its proposal for the world's first HAS1000 commercial nano 2-photon lithography tool has won a grant from Singapore's Technology Enterprise Commercialization Scheme (TECS).

10/27/2008  October 27, 2008 Heidelberg Instruments announced the sale of a μPG101 tabletop maskless laser patterning system to the Department of Chemical Engineering at the Chulalongkorn University in Thailand, to be used for various research in the BIOMEMS area.

10/24/2008  A clear understanding of the physical origin of image CD and placement variations will make it possible for EUV users and optical proximity correction (OPC) vendors to develop OPC strategies at the 22nm and 16nm device nodes to effectively compensate for them.

10/22/2008  October 22, 2008: The development of concepts, technologies and devices in nanophotonics during the next few years is envisaged in a new Emerging Nanophotonics Roadmap, released within the framework of the Photonics21 strategic research agenda and promoted by the EU Network of Excellence on nanophotonics (PhOREMOST), composed by 34 partners and over 300 researchers.

10/21/2008  What challenges must maskmakers overcome to reach the 32nm node, and what hurdles lie beyond? A star-studded panel of experts assembled at this year's SPIE Photomask Technology Conference (Oct 6-10) to examine the future.

10/21/2008  A litho-etch, litho-etch (LELE) approach is one of several double patterning schemes concocted to help span the gap between current single-exposure 193nm immersion litho and EUV. But LELE places extreme demands on both the productivity and the performance of the lithography tool. ASML's new Twinscan NXT platform strives to address these challenges, as described at ASML's recent Eindhoven (Netherlands) press event.

10/20/2008  October 20, 2008: Cambridge NanoTech, a supplier of atomic layer deposition (ALD) systems for research and industry, has released the Savannah S300 system, which offers the same combination of ease of use, reliability and experimental flexibility as earlier models in a larger format, capable of handling substrates up to 300mm in size.

10/14/2008  SUSS MicroTec now offers a nanoimprint toolkit that reportedly enhances the capabilities of its manual mask aligners by enabling them to pattern large areas with repeatable sub-50nm printing capability. The technology, substrate conformal imprint lithography (SCIL)was developed by Philips Research, (Eindhoven/The Netherlands) and transferred to SUSS MicroTec in a technology license agreement.

10/14/2008  Highlights from last week's SPIE/BACUS Symposium on Photomask Technology in Monterey CA, include discussion of damage to pellicles caused by aggressive 193nm radiation, what's behind a new "sun effect" linked to clearing off reticle haze, more calls to replace chrome with opaque MoSi, why mask industry sales are improperly skewed, and the difficulty of migrating to smaller dimensions.

10/13/2008  The new partnership between Fujitsu Microelectronics, Advantest Corp. (through their JV, e-Shuttle), and startup D2S aims to make ICs faster and more cost-effectively for low- to mid-volume ASICs.

10/09/2008  In further efforts to cut production costs, and reduce reliance upon foreign technology providers, Korea's top two electronics manufacturers reportedly are in early stages of collaboration on development of steppers for LCD panel manufacturing.

10/08/2008  Semiconductor capital equipment spending had been expected to be lousy through 2008, but the upswing would start sometime in 2009. No longer -- Gartner now expects capex to slide even further this year and will drop another 13% in 2009, thanks to a full-on collapse in memory investments and economic pressures on consumer spending habits.

10/08/2008  October 8, 2008 Merck KGaA and Nano-Terra Inc. have extended their existing strategic alliance to develop nanotechnology-based products and solutions based on Merck's materials, to now focus on specific application development for Merck customers and move the technical capabilities into the marketplace for commercialization.