10/03/2007  October 3, 2007 - Memory firms' investments have continued longer than expected, but the ride's about to get bumpy, with tool sales grinding to flat growth and capex backing into negative territory over the next year, according to new forecasts by Gartner Inc.

10/01/2007  RASIRC, producer of steam purification equipment, reports research findings indicating that the addition of pure water vapor during formation of carbon nanotubes affects length, shape, and purity.

09/28/2007  Ormecon International has introduced a new nanosize surface finish for the printed circuit board market. With a thickness of 55 nanometers, the layer consists of a nanoparticle complex formed between organic nanometal and silver.

09/25/2007  Building on its relationships with partners PDF Solutions, Ponte Solutions, and Brion Technologies, Pyxis Technology launched its Nexus Solution Suite on Sept. 25, having matured the product through implementation on 60 different designs, and working with a number of IC manufacturers including AMD and Chartered Semiconductor Manufacturing.

09/25/2007  Rice University scientists have captured the first optical images of carbon nanotubes inside a living organism. They used a laser to excite nanotubes that had been fed to fruit flies, and took pictures of the resulting glow with a custom microscope; the technique may help uncover new ways to diagnose disease.

09/21/2007  September 21, 2007 - Taiwan-based packaging houses are ramping up orders for wire bonders to meet demand from networking, consumer, and PC segments, according to a Digitimes report citing "industry and company sources."

09/21/2007  ChipSensors Ltd. has unveiled a chip whose surface can sense parameters such as temperature, humidity, certain gases, and pathogens. The fabless startup, which is working on commercialization, says its technology overcomes traditional obstacles in sensor manufacturing.

09/20/2007  September 20, 2007 - After sliding to an eight-month low in July, semiconductor equipment orders slid even further in August to their lowest levels in a year and a half, and the B:B demand indicator is even more sluggish, according to data from SEMI.

09/20/2007  Oxford Instruments and NIL Technology have collaborated to develop etch processes for nanoimprint lithography (NIL), a high-throughput method for fabricating structures as small as 10 nm.

09/18/2007  The humble diode is the focal point of what Phiar Corp. hopes will be the beginning of a future that includes non-semiconductor materials for junction transport via quantum tunneling -- and the first credible alternative to semiconductors since the vacuum tube era.

09/15/2007  September 14, 2007 - Fujifilm Corp. says its electronic materials division has acquired Air Products' OptiYield positive photoresist developer line. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.

09/13/2007  As cell phone demand surges in emerging markets, IBM says it's seizing the last significant opportunity to reduce cell phones' cost and size by developing a low cost, integrated solution with multiple RF/analog functions on a single chip. IBM technologists explain to SST how this is being accomplished by replacing GaAs with SOI.

09/13/2007  Unidym, Inc., a majority-owned subsidiary of Arrowhead Research Corp., announced that U.S. Patent No. 7,265,174 has been issued by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. With respect to transparent conductive films, Clemson University has exclusively licensed this patent to Unidym.

09/12/2007  September 12, 2007 - IBM says it has developed a new semiconductor technology that enables single-chip radio frequency (RF), integrating RF/analog functions including multimode/multiband RF switches, complex switch biasing networks, and power controllers.

09/07/2007  Nanomaterials have established a $1B market, primarily for use in electronics production, according to "World Nanomaterials," from the Freedonia Group, Inc. The report suggests that more conventional uses — wafer-polishing slurries or reinforced plastic composites — still consume the volume of nanomaterials, but novel materials — nanotubes and dendrimers — will grow in popularity over the coming 10–20 years.

09/07/2007  September 7, 2007 - Researchers at the U. of Illinois say they have devices an electrohydrodynamic jet ("e-jet") printing process that can produce patterns and functional devices with better resolution "significantly exceeding" other inkjet technologies, with potential application in large-area circuits, displays, and phototovoltaic modules.

09/07/2007  SPIE's Optics + Photonics show, held August 26-30, 2007, emphasized nano and solar technologies, "which are immensely important to our future," according to one speaker. Small Times contributors Gail Overton and Valerie Coffey report.

09/05/2007  September 5, 2007 - Kulicke & Soffa Industries Inc. says revenues for its September quarter will be about 6.6% higher than initially thought, to $226 million, primarily due to more orders for its wire bonding equipment from large subcons.

09/05/2007  A new company in Austin, Texas, Nanotailor, has licensed a NASA single-walled carbon nanotube (SWCNT) fabrication process and plans to market SWCNTs by year end. "We're lowering the cost per gram while greatly improving the integrity of the nanotubes," the company says.

09/04/2007  September 4, 2007 - "Abrupt" shutdowns and delays caused by a "construction incident" at its Pasadena, TX facility has caused MEMC Electronic Materials to reduce its 3Q07 sales by about 5% below its $500 million target, though the company says it will likely recover those sales in 4Q.