06/21/2012 

SPTS Technologies joined the MEMS Consortium, led by the Institute of Microelectronics (IME), a member of the Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*STAR) in Singapore.

06/20/2012 

In mid-2011, semiconductor manufacturing and assembly equipment supplier Applied Materials (NASDAQ:AMAT) acquired Varian Semiconductor Equipment Associates Inc. Now, the company is adding Varian’s former CEO Gary Dickerson as president.

06/19/2012 

Driven by the volume consumer business, the maturing MEMS sector starts to look at ways to reduce costs and speed time to market by coming together on things like easing integration, common test methods, and tool replacement parts, reports Paula Doe, SEMI. Fast-moving high-volume markets may also drive MEMS makers toward paring down the vast diversity of processes and packages used, and into more collaboration on a mature ecosystem.

06/19/2012 

Plasma etch and deposition processing system maker Oxford Instruments Plasma Technology won an order for its recently launched PlasmaPro Estrelas100 deep silicon etch tool from the University of Toronto.

06/11/2012 

Tohoku University of Sendai, Japan and imec signed a collaboration agreement during the Belgian economic mission to Japan, expanding their R&D into areas such as MRAM and 3D semiconductor packaging.

06/08/2012 

MicroGen Systems Inc. chose X-FAB Semiconductor Foundries to produce MicroGen’s first MEMS energy harvesters.

06/07/2012 

Day 3 of the 15th IITC (International Interconnect Technology Conference) opened in San Jose, CA under clear sunny skies and a pleasant breeze. The herd thinned a bit, down to ~150 hearty souls from the original 230 the prior two days.

06/04/2012 

X-FAB Silicon Foundries completed its dedicated noble metal facility for MEMS and post-CMOS processing in Erfurt. The company also marked a milestone, shipping its 1 billionth MEMS device.

05/29/2012 

CrossFiber Inc. has been certified to ISO 9001:2008 standards by registrar PJR. CrossFiber provides all-optical photonic switching solutions for data centers and fiber optic telco networks.

05/29/2012 

Ricoh Company developed an ink-jet printing technique that can produce lead zirconate titanate piezoelectric material in a voluntary pattern shape at 2µm film thickness. Ricoh simultaneously developed a lead-free piezoelectric material, bearing the same deformation properties as the PZT material on a silicon substrate.

05/28/2012 

VTI Technologies, a leading manufacturer of 3D MEMS sensors that has formed part of Murata since January 2012, is now Murata Electronics Oy.

05/25/2012 

The first MEMS Business Forum, sponsored by MEMS Journal and MEPTEC (MicroElectronics Packaging and Test Engineering Council) was held May 24 at the Santa Clara Biltmore Hotel. Ten speakers presented on topics ranging from near- and mid-term business opportunities to roles of MEMS in broad visions for the future.

05/25/2012 

At imec's International Technology Forum, Denis Wirtz, co-director of the John Hopkins Institute for NanoBio Technology, described the latest efforts to fight cancer.

05/25/2012 

At imec's International Technology Forum, Roel Baets, director of the Centre for Nano- and Biophotonics Ghent University, Belgium, said silicon photonics will drastically change the way bio research is conducted.

05/25/2012 

At imec’s International Technology Forum, Peter Peumans, department director bio-nano electronics of imec, described promising examples of : technologies that connect biology and Microsystems: Biotechnology: bioreactors, neuroprobes, high speed cell inspection, and high-throughput molecular analysis.

05/24/2012 

The 10^th Annual MEMS Technology Symposium sponsored by MEPTEC (MicroElectronics Packaging and Test Engineering Council) was held May 23 at the San Jose Holiday Inn. This year’s theme was “Sensors: A Foundation for Accelerated MEMS Market Growth to $1 Trillion.”

05/23/2012 

IEEE International Electron Devices Meeting (IEDM) is seeking original presentations on microelectronics research and development, with a focus on silicon and non-silicon device and process technology, circuit/device interactions; energy-harvesting, biomedical, and power electronics; magnetics and spintronics; and other topics.

05/21/2012 

sp3 Diamond Technologies Inc. shipped its Model 655D series hot-filament CVD diamond reactor system to the University of California, Berkeley Marvell Nanofabrication Laboratory.

05/18/2012 

InvenSense Inc. (NYSE:INVN) says STMicroelectronics (ST, NYSE:STM) filed a complaint in the Northern District of California, alleging that InvenSense infringes 9 of ST’s patents. InvenSense contests these claims.

05/18/2012 

SEMICON West is less than 2 months away, July 10-12 in San Francisco, CA. Plan your attendee schedule now with highlights from the Extreme Electronics “show within a show;” 4 strong keynotes; sessions on device architecture and node shrink, lithography, 450mm wafers and more.