07/01/2010  This is a good time to take stock of your development readiness and how well legacy software assets will support the product roadmap. Dan O

06/30/2010 

New TP-S30 thermal interface pads from MH&W International provide 3.0 W/mK of thermal conductivity between hot components and heat sinks at lower costs than competing gap filler materials.

06/21/2010 

The latest monthly sales & order data for US-based and Japanese semiconductor manufacturing equipment shows growth slowing down -- and possibly because except for some pockets, it may be time for things to pull back a little bit.

06/14/2010 

Samsung's announcement that it has completed testing of its 32nm high-k/metal gate architecture, ramping to volume possibly by year's end -- and following quickly with a 28nm version -- has the industry buzzing about a possible reshaping of leading-edge semiconductor foundry manufacturing.

06/04/2010 

In a SiP chip stack, space constraints can lead to large parasitic inductances in the packaging. Planarity, processing, high-temperature exposure, and other factors also present challenges. A new anisotropic conductive adhesive technology could enable low-cost flexible packaging via a multi-layer particle structure. S. Manian Ramkumar, Ph.D., RIT, reviews the adhesives benefits to various levels of electronics interconnect.

05/20/2010 

High-density through-silicon stacking (TSS) shows promise for very high-volume applications, but work still needs to be done to "tame" key issues in manufacturing, improve costs, and smooth out the supply-chain, said Matt Nowak, director of engineering in Qualcomm's VLSI technology group, in a presentation at The ConFab in Las Vegas.

05/19/2010 

The Multitest next-generation MT9928 bowl feed module, which passed the strict QA and production approval requirements of an international IDM, is a gravity feed handler with a variety of loading and unloading options. With a throughput of up to 14,500 uph, the bowl feed loading module is the loading option of choice for small package sizes during semiconductor test.

05/10/2010 

The Asys Group say it has acquired the IP and patents of fellow German firm DynTest Technologies, seeking to apply the company's wafer singulation technology to high-brightness LEDs.

05/10/2010 

Samsung Electronics says it has developed a new heat dissipating packaging technology for display drivers ICs in high-end TVs.

04/28/2010 

Researchers from the US and Europe say they have created devices with carbon nanotube (CNT) that can act as membranes for air filters far more effective than current ones.

04/27/2010 

Vage Oganesian of Tessera and Vern Solberg, Tessera consultant, discuss the advanced packaging options available with 3D contact features on substrate interposers for complex, high-pin-count flip chip applications.

04/27/2010 

Imbedded component/die technology is a method of imbedding active and passives into cavities within a multi-layer PCB to decrease the surface area required to implement the circuit design and increase the robustness of the overall assembly. Casey H. Cooper, STI, discusses the design methodology, packaging processes, and test data gathered during imbedded die/component packaging implementation in a mixed-signal prototype. The prototype was subjected to reliability testing and demonstrated in a test flight.

04/23/2010 

A seminar held at last month's Semicon China reiterated points made earlier in the year by an industry group that there are still questions about using copper bonding wire vs. gold in semiconductor packaging applications.

04/23/2010 

Semiconductor equipment suppliers reported continued moderate growth that's increasingly back in line with pre-downturn levels, according to the latest monthly data from SEMI.

04/20/2010 

Techcet's Michael A. Fury closes out his series of observations from this year's MRS Spring meeting in San Francisco. From Day 5: Ge-Si integration, carbon nanotubes in organic photovoltaics, energy storage using paper, printable GaN semiconductors, and stretchable circuit boards and conductors.

04/15/2010 

Researchers from Lawrence Berkeley National Labs say they have taken a big step forward in addressing one of the major challenges in graphene: figuring out an economical, high-quality and production-worthy way of making it.

04/14/2010 

Researchers from Berkeley Lab have developed a material dubbed "molecular paper," with properties that can be precisely tailored for applications such as chemical and biological detection.

04/14/2010 

Techcet's Michael A. Fury continues his series of observations from this year's MRS Spring meeting in San Francisco. From Day 2: CVD for Cu interconnects, controlling low-k etch-stop layers, materials challenges for future FETs, "atom hopping" in graphene, and oxide nanoelectronics on demand.

04/05/2010 

Carbon nanotube (CNT) producers are increasing capacity with hopes of lower costs and greater market adoption. But don't fall for the hype -- the market isn't expanding at the same rapid scale-up rate, note Lux Research analysts David Hwang and Jurron Bradley.

03/29/2010 

Barclays analyst CJ Muse looks at the numbers for semiconductor equipment companies, and says there's a combination brewing that could create "the catalyst, finally, for consolidation in the equipment space."