Materials and Equipment

MATERIALS AND EQUIPMENT ARTICLES



Updated: AMAT plans 12% layoffs as industry environment sours

11/13/2008  Despite beating analysts' expectations for its fiscal year-end quarter, semiconductor equipment bellwether Applied Materials says it will cut costs with 1800 layoffs (12% of its workforce) in the coming fiscal year. Added: Comments from top exec Mike Splinter about consolidation and solar biz, and takeaways from two industry analysts who called during the teleconference Q&A.

EPA issues notice on carbon nanotubes

11/07/2008  November 7, 2008: The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has issued a Federal Register notice regarding carbon nanotubes (CNTs), in what may be a sign the agency intends to flex its muscles more than rely on voluntary industry efforts.

Process tool metrics, access to parameters key elements for NGF

11/06/2008  Next-Generation Factory (NGF) concepts under the International SEMATECH Manufacturing Initiative (ISMI) call for new standards and more accessible tool operating data so that chipmakers and tool suppliers can collaborate on improving tool utilization and productivity. Many presentations at the recent ISMI Symposium on Manufacturing Effectiveness probed different aspects of this emerging collaboration.

Carl Zeiss receives R&D 100 award for helium-ion-microscope

11/04/2008  November 4, 2008: Carl Zeiss SMT, a global provider of electron- and ion-beam imaging and analysis equipment, was honored recently with a prestigious R&D 100 Award for one of the 100 most technologically significant new products in 2008.

NeoPhotonics climbs Deloitte's "Technology Fast 50" list

11/03/2008  November 3, 2008: NeoPhotonics has been named the 4th ranked firm in Deloitte's "Technology Fast 50" for Silicon Valley, a ranking of the 50 fastest growing technology, media, telecommunications, and life sciences companies in the region based on revenue growth over five years from 2003-2007.

Clean facilities get a new lease on life

11/01/2008  How can smaller operations make existing facilities fit their budgets and their processes with renovations and upgrades?

Online Intervew: Paul Magill Recaps Nextreme's Cool Year

10/29/2008  Time flies when you're having fun, or when you're getting a start-up off the ground. From the introduction of an enabling technology, through several rounds of funding, award of a grant, four product launches incorporating said technology, the construction and grand opening of a manufacturing facility, RoHS compliance, and ongoing plans for more, the past year has been peppered with notable events for Nextreme Thermal Solutions.

NaturalNano, OPM to codevelop thermoplastics

10/24/2008  Oct. 24 2008: NaturalNano and Oxford Performance Materials (OPM) have signed an exclusive joint development and supply agreement to develop products, applications, and markets for the combination of OPM's OXPEKK and NaturalNano's Pleximer technology.

European taskforce releases Emerging Nanophotonics Roadmap

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.

Samsung Electronics demos first color CNT-based electrophoretic display

10/16/2008  October 16, 2008: Samsung Electronics is demonstrating the world's first carbon nanotube-based color active matrix electrophoretic display (EPD) e-paper, codeveloped with Unidym Inc., at this week's International Meeting on Information Display (iMiD) in Korea.

Evaluating a TIM for Flip Chip Packages

10/13/2008  By V. Gektin, M. Stern, Sun Microsystems; L. Larson, D. Bhagwagar, J. Marin, Dow Corning Corp. K.Nakayoshi , Dow Corning Toray Co., Ltd.
As power levels and heat generation increase in high-performance CPUs and other semiconductor devices, the thermal performance of commonly used packaging components is becoming a limiting factor. A silver-filled silicone material specifically for TIM 1 applications (the die/lid interface) was designed to meet this challenge.

Cooling 3D Packages with Thin-film Thermoelectrics

10/13/2008  By Paul A. Magill, Ph.D., Nextreme Thermal Solutions, Inc.
The electronics industry is moving to 3D packaging structures which will shorten the electrical path length, thereby allowing for higher transmission speeds. As this clears the way for faster processors, it also means that thermal management solutions for these 3D structures will need to be developed.

Nanosurf strengthens its presence in Eastern Europe

10/10/2008  October 10, 2008: Nanosurf AG has appointed RL Artal Co. LLC in Budapest as its official agent for Hungary, and Anamet SRO in Prague and Modra, as its distributor for the Czech Republic and Slovakia, to extend the global distribution network for its microscopes.

CNT adhesive boasts gecko-like grip

10/10/2008  October 10, 2008: The race for the best "gecko foot" dry adhesive got a new competitor this week with a stronger and more practical material conjured by a team of researchers from four US institutions.

Using living cells as nanotechnology factories

10/09/2008  October 9, 2008: A researcher at Arizona State U.'s Biodesign Institute is using cells as factories to make DNA based nanostructures inside a living cell. The results were published in the early online edition of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

Gartner trims capex outlook again; 2009 now in doubt

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.

MAST ramps up for commercial growth in magnetic sensors

10/08/2008  October 7, 2008: Micromem Applied Sensor Technologies Inc. (MAST), a wholly owned US subsidiary of Micromem Technologies, has established a corporate office in New York City, part of the parent company's strategic plan to focus on magnetic sensor opportunities independent of the magnetic random access memory (MRAM) market.

Michelson Diagnostics diversifies into non-medical markets

10/03/2008  October 3, 2008: Michelson Diagnostics Ltd. (MDL) says it is broadening the commercial application of its 'multibeam' optical coherence tomography (OCT) technology into markets outside its core target of cancer diagnosis, such as industrial metrology, product inspection, tissue engineering, and developmental biology.

Secondary equipment gets a new lease with SEMI, SEC/N pairing

10/01/2008  SEMI's Rich Salsman talks with SST about the just-announced acquisition of nonprofit trade association Surplus Equipment Consortium Network (SEC/N), and their common goasl to address needs in the secondary semiconductor equipment markets, such as new standards for liability and support.

SWeNT opens commercial-scale nanotube plant

09/29/2008  September 29, 2008: Norman, OK-based SouthWest NanoTechnologies Inc. (SWeNT) has dedicated a new 18,000-square-foot, $3.9 million facility to increase output of single-wall carbon nanotubes.




WEBCASTS



Environment, Safety & Health

Date and time TBD

The semiconductor industry is an acknowledged global leader in promoting environmental sustainability in the design, manufacture, and use of its products, as well as the health and safety of its operations and impacts on workers in semiconductor facilities (fabs). We will examine trends and concerns related to emissions, chemical use, energy consumption and worker safety and health.

Sponsored By:

Wafer Processing

Date and time TBD

As the industry moves to 10nm and 7nm nodes, advances in wafer processing – etch, deposition, planarization, implant, cleaning, annealing, epitaxy among others – will be required. Manufacturers are looking for new solutions for sustained strain engineering, FinFETs, FDSOI and multi-gate technologies, 3D NAND, and high mobility transistors.

Sponsored By:

More Webcasts