08/07/2006  DuPont Electronic Technologies established a Semiconductor Materials Technical Center in Taiwan's Hsinchu Science Park, as part of its long-term growth plan. The Semiconductor Materials Technical Center is DuPont Taiwan Technical Center's (DTTC's) third Taiwan facility. The facility includes single wafer processing capability, analytical and metrology tools, and a semiconductor process technology research staff.

08/04/2006  August 4, 2006 - Brion Technologies says it is expanding its management roster following "considerable" growth over the past year, to help support work with partners spanning design to manufacturing and wafer metrology.

08/01/2006  August 1, 2006 - Therma-Wave Inc., Fremont, CA, said it has tacked on a year to its $15 million line of credit from SVB Silicon Valley Bank, which is now available to finance working capital needs through June 2008.

07/28/2006  ICOS Vision Systems Corporation NV and IMEC, an independent research center for nanoelectronics and nanotechnology, will undertake a two-year joint exploration and development program (JEDP) into 3-D packaging inspection and metrology. The inspection solution supplier will provide technology and equipment for the research, which will be performed at IMEC's laboratories.

07/27/2006  July 27, 2006 - ICOS Vision Systems Corp. NV and European R&D center IMEC have agreed to collaborate on development of metrology methods targeting 3D packaging processes for ICs, including wafer-level packaging, flip-chip, systems-in-package, and microelectromechanical systems (MEMS).

07/25/2006  FEI Co. of Hillsboro, Ore., announced on Monday that Don Kania has been named president, chief executive officer and a board member. He is expected to start at FEI Co., which makes tools for nanoscale characterization and research, in mid August. The appointment marks the end of a search that began with the stepping down of previous CEO Vahe Sarkissian, who left FEI in April.

07/25/2006  Veeco Instruments Inc. announced that it received an order during the second quarter of 2006 for its new NEXUS Physical Vapor Deposition (PVD) Multi-Target Sensor tool from a leading manufacturer of thin film magnetic heads. The system is used to deposit high-quality, extremely uniform, thin film multi-layer stacks and will be used by the customer to manufacture high areal density Tunneling Magneto-Resistive heads.

07/18/2006  Spanning the SEMICON West show floor, SST Senior Ed Korczynski reports on equipment providers' merger progress, market strategies, and new and improved technology offerings ranging from metrology to wafer cleaning to liquid waste abatement.

07/10/2006  July 10, 2006 - OnWafer Technologies, Pleasanton, CA, has acquired the plasma management division of Advanced Energy Industries Inc., including IP and technology-related assets, in a move to extend its position in plasma process control and diagnostics wireless metrology technology. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.

07/10/2006 

07/06/2006 

07/05/2006  Among this year's crop of companies in the spotlight at this year's SEMICON West Technology Innovation Showcase include a Swiss company controlling the beer flow at the World Cup stadium, thinking controlling slurry flow will be less demanding; a trio of metrology startups pushing radical new approaches to thin-film metrology; and a familiar face touting a new tungsten slurry for better yields at 45nm.

07/03/2006  July 3, 2006 - Ultratech Inc., San Jose, CA, a supplier of lithography and laser-processing systems, has entered into a nonbinding letter of intent to purchase the assets of Oraxion Inc., a startup developer of wafer stress metrology tools. Financial terms of the deal, which is subject to "the negotiation of definitive agreements and other standard conditions," were not disclosed.

06/19/2006  June 19, 2006 - Entrepix Inc., Tempe, AZ, a provider of chemical mechanical polishing services for foundries and equipment providers, has launched a new suite of services and technologies targeting the "fab-light" manufacturing model.

06/19/2006  June 19, 2006 - Therma-Wave Inc., Fremont, CA, a provider of process control metrology systems, says its independent accounting firm has cited the company as a "going concern" in its recent financial reports for the fiscal year ended in March, due to recurring net losses and negative cash flows. The company received a similar "going concern" warning a year ago.

06/16/2006  June 16, 2006 - Cabot Microelectronics Corp. Aurora, IL, a developer of chemical mechanical planarization (CMP) polishing slurries, has agreed to purchase all the assets of QED Technologies Inc., a developer of polishing and metrology systems for high precision optics, in an effort to expand its "engineered surface finishes" lines outside the semiconductor market.

06/16/2006  Camtek Ltd. announced they have received an order from Toshiba Corp. for multiple Falcon 830 bumped-wafer metrology systems. Toshiba will use the systems in their Oita, Japan, manufacturing plant for in-line bump inspection of 300-mm wafers.

06/08/2006 

05/12/2006 

04/25/2006  April 25, 2006 - Nova Measuring Instruments Ltd., Rehovoth, Israel, has agreed to acquire former ATMI subsidiary HyperNex, a developer of x-ray diffraction metrology systems, for approximately $4.5 million.