05/17/2007  May 16, 2007 - A pair of Texas-based substrate equipment providers, NexTech Solutions (inspection/handling) and FAS Technologies LLC (coating), have agreed to merge into a single legal entity.

05/15/2007  International SEMATECH, the consortium of nanoelectronics manufacturers, will expand its existing R&D program at the Center of Excellence in Nanoelectronics and Nanotechnology at the University at Albany in New York. The expansion is the largest in the history of the consortium.

05/14/2007  To develop a next-generation hardware and software solution for USB flash drives, Microsoft and SanDisk Corporation will collaborate and open an entity for licensing compatible hardware designs and intellectual property (IP). Revenues from the joint venture will be shared. Microsoft is discussing licensing software with third-party hardware vendors.

05/10/2007  May 10, 1007 - International SEMATECH is moving its headquarters from Austin, TX, to its operations located at the U. of Albany, and will launch a significant expansion there, matching $300 million in state investments for facility upgrades.

05/02/2007  SUSS MicroTec's new DSM200 is an automated metrology system for double-sided (front-to-back) alignment and exposure applications. The tool serves applications in the manufacture of MEMS devices, power semiconductors, and optoelectronics.

04/26/2007  April 25, 2007 - Just a month after its CEO left the company, Nanometrics says CFO Dave McCutcheon has followed him out the door "to pursue other opportunities," the company said in a statement. Quentin Wright, currently chief accounting officer, will take over as interim CFO until a permanent successor is found.

04/26/2007  ClassOne Equipment, Inc. has opened a new facility, significantly expanding the company's ability to supply refurbished semiconductor and nanotechnology equipment.

04/11/2007  Bristol, England-based Metryx, Limited, a semiconductor equipment manufacturer specializing in nanotechnology mass measurement techniques, says it has hired two new directors of business development to help the company meet a growing demand for mass metrology.

03/27/2007  March 27, 2007 - Days after consolidating some of its manufacturing operations in Korea, Nanometrics Inc. has undergone another shift -- this time in the CEO's office. John Heaton has left the company (no details were provided by the company), with chief strategy officer Bruce Rhine taking the reins on an interim basis while a search is conducted for a permanent CEO.

03/21/2007  March 21, 2007 - Nearly one year to the day after acquiring overlay metrology firm Soluris Inc., metrology equipment supplier Nanometrics Inc. says it is closing the firm's Concord, MA facility and consolidating all of its overlay metrology production at a facility in Asia.

03/16/2007  March 16, 2007 - Bede X-ray Metrology has announced that SEMATECH will use a Bede x-ray metrology system to evaluate novel semiconductor materials needed for the 45nm and 32nm technology nodes and beyond.

03/06/2007  Progress in water immersion exposure technology since last year's SPIE Advanced Lithography Symposium has been so convincing that its insertion into manufacturing at the 55nm and 45nm generations (as reported by Toshiba, STMicro, and others) is not likely to be interrupted. However, the consensus today is that some evolutionary step has to be taken to extend immersion technology and keep up with Moore's law -- and double patterning technology seems to be the step that will take us to 32nm.

03/02/2007  March 2, 2007 - Israel metrology equipment provider Nova Measuring Instruments Ltd. says it has agreed to a $5 million private placement of nearly 2 million shares by a group of several investors.

03/01/2007  February 28, 2007 - SEMATECH has named Micron Technology Inc. to its International SEMATECH Manufacturing Initiative (ISMI) roster, while reportedly saying goodbye to member Freescale Semiconductor.

01/15/2007  January 15, 2007 - Metrosol Inc., Austin-TX, a developer of optical reflectometry systems, has appointed Kevin Fahey as president and CEO, formerly VP and GM of FEI Co.'s fab market division.

01/08/2007  January 8, 2006 - Months after being rescued by a new credit line following a "going concern" warning, Therma-Wave Inc. has found a new savior -- KLA-Tencor Corp., which has agreed to acquire the process control metrology system provider for $75 million in cash.

01/01/2007  Statistics are the essence of cleanroom air cleanliness classification, yet the reasons behind this are often not well understood or appreciated.

12/01/2006  In 1993, ISO Technical Committee 209, Cleanrooms and associated controlled environments, was formally established and had its first meeting in Chicago, Illinois.

11/30/2006  Veeco Instruments Inc., a supplier of instrumentation to the nanoscience community, announced the launch of the new Dektak 150 Surface Profiler for high-performance research and industrial metrology applications.

11/29/2006  Nov. 29, 2006 -- Hyphenated Systems, a Burlingame, Calif., provider of hybrid microscopy solutions for three-dimensional imaging and metrology in micro and nanotechnology, announced the release of its new HS200A NanoScale Optical Profiler.