03/19/2008  ; North American-based manufacturers of semiconductor equipment posted $1.23 billion in orders in February 2008 (three-month average basis) and a book-to-bill ratio of 0.93, according to SEMI's February 2008 Book-to-Bill Report published today. A book-to-bill of 0.93 means that $93 worth of orders were received for every $100 of product billed for the month.

03/19/2008  Tegal Corporation has received an order for a Tegal 6540 plasma etch tool from the Pennsylvania State University. The Tegal 6540 system will be installed in the Penn State Nanofabrication Laboratory, a National Science Foundation National Nanotechnology Infrastructure Network site

03/18/2008  Mar. 18, 2008 - The market for transparent semiconductors used in display, photovoltaics, and lighting markets will surge to ~$9.4B by 2015, according to a study from analysis firm NanoMarkets. And a key element in the devices, indium tin oxide (ITO), will continue to be in heavy demand despite surging prices and other limitations.

03/18/2008  Mar. 18, 2008 - Elpida Memory and Taiwan's United Microelectronics Corp. (UMC) are expanding their partnership to target Japanese foundry customers, combining Elpida's 300mm fab capacity with UMC's IP and logic technologies. The deal gives UMC inroads into Japanese foundry customers, while Elpida gets to utilize excess DRAM production capacity.

03/17/2008  This company's latest versions of its assembly materials will include conductive and nonconductive adhesives for die attach and flip chip applications, heat conductive adhesives for thermal management, and dippable solder pastes for BGA packaging. Given the increasing complexity of BGA packages and the sensitivity of the polymer substrates to multiple thermal processes, the ball dippable (BD) paste series enables manufacturers to utilize SOP substrates while maintaining outstanding yields.

03/13/2008  Unidym Inc., a majority-owned subsidiary of Arrowhead Research, has entered into a joint development agreement with Nippon Kayaku, a Japanese chemical company, to integrate Unidym's printable transparent electrodes into Nippon Kayaku's thin film solar cells.

03/12/2008  ; 3D inspection technology company Koh Young announces the establishment and opening of a sales and service division in Chiba, Japan, called Japan Koh Young Company Ltd. The branch has been established to better serve the evolving needs of the company's Japanese customers.

03/11/2008  ; BTU International, a supplier of advanced thermal processing equipment for the alternative energy and electronics manufacturing markets, today announced the receipt of a $3M multiple-machine order, the largest single Pyramax order in company history, from a leading semiconductor assembly and test subcontractor (SATS).

03/11/2008  ; Tronics Microsystems SA and IMEC, representing Europractice IC Service, announced today their collaboration to enable Europractice IC Service to add MEMS to its Multi-Project Wafer (MPW) programs. Tronics, a manufacturer of custom MEMS components, is the first technology provider selected by IMEC to support Europractice IC Service's extension of its production portfolio to MEMS.

03/04/2008  Mar. 4, 2008 - In a regulatory filing, Applied Materials says it has signed a $1.9B contract to supply thin-film photovoltaic equipment and services to an unnamed privately held foreign customer. Few details are available, but here's some thoughts about the deal's significance, and who the mystery customer might be.

03/04/2008  Mar. 4, 2008 - Fujitsu Labs says it has successfully created a nanoscale carbon composite with a self-organizing structure by combining carbon nanotubes and graphene, combining CNTs' high thermal conductivity and high-current density tolerance with graphene's high electron mobility. The composite is synthesized at 510°C, cooler than temperatures for conventional graphene that are too high for electronic device applications.

03/03/2008  ; Fujitsu Laboratories Ltd. today announced the successful formation of a new nano-scale carbon composite featuring a self-organizing structure by combining carbon nanotubes and graphene, which are both nano-scale carbon structures. The newly-discovered composite structure is synthesized at a temperature of 510°C.

03/03/2008  ; Advanced Semiconductor Engineering Inc. has announced that it has entered into a syndicated loan agreement with a banking syndicate led by Citibank, N.A., Taipei Branch, for a NT$24,750 million term loan facility.

03/03/2008  Fujitsu Laboratories Ltd. has combined carbon nanotubes and graphene to form a new nanoscale carbon composite. The self-organizing structure is synthesized at a relatively low temperature, paving the way for the feasible use of graphene in electronic devices.

03/01/2008  Although most of the semiconductor industries’ greatest discoveries and inventions are the results of years of research and development at prestigious universities and research institutes, some of the best solutions out there were developed in the trenches, on the manufacturing floor.

03/01/2008  The nanotechnology standards-development race is on, as participants recognize their ability to affect the nascent industry’s future.

02/29/2008  Feb, 29, 2008 - In this exclusive video interview, IBM's Lars Liebmann talks about his papers presented at this week's SPIE, including persistent misconceptions about restricted design rules, and the need for designers to react to systematic and stable effects with broad, coarse layout adjustments vs. minor movements based on a specific moment. He also discusses the opportunities at 22nm with "soft" and "hard" DFM, and how these concepts will be required to keep the scaling path profitable.

02/28/2008  February 27, 2008 -- /PRNewswire/ -- LEHIGH VALLEY, PA -- Air Products, a pioneer of cryogenic food freezing and chilling technologies, announces the grand opening of its Asia Food Technology Center at the Thailand Science Park in Bangkok.

02/28/2008  SEMATECH, an association of semiconductor technology developers, has purchased Molecular Imprints' new Imprio nanoimprint lithography (NIL) tool, announced this week. SEMATECH will use the Imprio 300 to demonstrate the feasibility of for semiconductor production at 32nm and below.

02/27/2008  Feb. 27, 2008 - Rohm & Haas Electronic Materials/CMP Technologies and IBM are adding to their collaborative plate, with a pact to develop CMP processes for integrating copper and low-k dielectrics, in order to create copper CMP consumables for 32nm and 22nm device manufacturing.