07/24/2007  With High-k (HK) dielectrics and metal-gates (MG) now being ramped into CMOS production at Intel and IBM, much of the excitement at this year's SEMICON West centered around manufacturing technologies needed for these new materials. Much of the discussions in equipment supplier-sponsored seminars and panels centered on the challenges of working with these new materials -- particularly the tricky setup of affordable in-line metrology for these new ultra-thin materials.

07/24/2007  Spectroscopic reflectometers (SR) and ellipsometers (SE) provide thickness and composition information for thin dielectric films. As the industry has moved to ever thinner films, there is less material to refract light and SE signals drop off. Metrosol, one of last year's SEMICON West Technology Innovation Showcase winners, is ready to make a splash, providing vacuum-ultraviolet (VUV) SR tools that can resolve information from extremely thin films.

07/20/2007  July 19, 2007 - Advanced Metrology Systems (AMS, formerly Philips AMS) has released three new metrology tools this week, offering model-based infrared (MBIR) metrology for 3D DRAM structures, and a surface wave system for multilayer measurements of copper/low-k films stacks.

07/18/2007  July 18, 2007 - Applied Materials Inc. today released its Applied Producer ACE SACVD system, which helps extend 193nm lithography using self-aligned double patterning (SADP) schemes. The ACE system reportedly delivers a highly conformal oxide spacer film with greater than 95% step coverage, <5% pattern loading and <1% nonuniformity for critical dimension control.

07/17/2007  Days before Semicon West, WaferNEWS caught up with Christopher Moore, president/CEO of Advanced Metrology Systems (AMS), nee Philips AMS, to chat about how life is different nine months after taking the private equity route.

07/16/2007  KLA-Tencor's Surfscan SP2^XP, released earlier this year, was initially release to inspect defects on bare wafers. Now the SURFmonitor haze analysis capability has added new image processing algorithms to allow for applications in IC manufacturing. SURFmonitor is an add-on option to either a SP2 or SP2^XP darkfield/brightfield laser scattering surface inspection system.

07/16/2007  July 16, 2007 - Rudolph Technologies Inc. is unveiling two metrology tools at SEMICON West, targeting DRAM, multi-surface macroinspection, as well as data analysis system to capture and analyze process performance information.

07/13/2007  July 13, 2007 - Days after appointing a new CEO and president, Israeli metrology firm Tevet Process Control Technologies Ltd. says it has received $2.75 million in new financing, including support from the VC arm of customer Intel Corp.

07/09/2007  July 9, 2007 - Ofer Du-Nour, founder of Israeli metrology firm Tevet Process Control Technologies Ltd., has been named as CEO of the company, following the sudden resignation of Yuval Wasserman "to pursue other interests." Peter Gillespie, VP of marketing and sales, also has been promoted to president of the firm.

06/29/2007  June 29, 2007 - KLA-Tencor Corp. apparently has quietly acquired FabSolve LLC, a US firm with "design-based metrology" software, based on its Vietnam parent group's digital mapping/GIS technology, that can be used for in-line metrology in semiconductor manufacturing.

06/21/2007  June 21, 2007 - A new study by Wright Williams & Kelly Inc. and Strategic Marketing Associates sheds light on what people in the industry think will be most likely to hit production process lines in the next 2-5 years, and which ones may take longer than expected to be adopted into manufacturing lines, if ever.

06/19/2007  June 19, 2007 - Klaus Schruefer, chief scientist for Infineon's multigate FET technology project, tells WaferNEWS why mugFETs are being pushed out beyond 32nm, and what's highest on the to-do list to get the technology ready for chip manufacturing, even by the 22nm node.

06/18/2007  The DSM200 automated metrology system performs cassette-to-cassette front-to-back alignment for front- to back-side alignment applications, such as MEMS, power semiconductor, and optoelectronics assembly.

06/08/2007  June 8, 2007 - Yet another move in a busy spring has left Nanometrics Inc. feeling better about its positioning in the market with a core group of metrology technologies, after the recent sale of two tangential product lines, the company says.

06/05/2007  June 5, 2007 - The market segment for semiconductor metrology and inspection tools will recover "modestly" this year after "a dismal 2006" in which the segment grew just half the rate of the rest of the frontend equipment market, according to a report from The Information Network.

05/31/2007  Small Times' Tom Cheyney reports on a particularly compelling discussion among panelists from industry and academia at the recent NSTI Nanotech 2007 conference. The panel examined technical barriers to -- and recent advancements in -- nanomanufacturing.

05/23/2007  A ConFab session on "Capital Equipment: Alternative Financing Models" was kicked off by Craig Ignaszewski, director of capital equipment procurement, IBM, with discussion of the rationale for leasing vs. buying equipment. Meanwhile, Zvi Lando, VP at Applied Materials' Israel operation, suggested that upgrades might be capable of carrying leased metrology and inspection equipment through an extra process node.

05/23/2007  Hyphenated Systems has announced a new advanced confocal/atomic force microscope (ACM/AFM), developed jointly with KARMA Technology, that is geared for 3D metrology applications in semiconductor manufacturing and lab environments.

05/21/2007  In the new consumer-driven electronics industry, where beating your competition to market with innovative technology is the surest route to success, process control equipment suppliers have an expanded role in manufacturing alliances to help dramatically shorten product-development and production-ramp times, and thus significantly improve yield and profitability, according to Brian Trafas, chief marketing officer at KLA-Tencor, in his talk at the Confab in Las Vegas.

05/21/2007  Some industry observers figure that the industry will probably have only a handful of major players in the form of IDMs, alliances, top foundries, and some fab-lite companies. Tokyo Electron America's president, Harvey Frye, on the other hand, thinks there is probably room for at least 10 companies globally that could remain IDMs in some form, and listed likely candidates and working strategies in a Monday morning panel discussion at the ConFab.