04/10/2012 

Blogger Mike Fury reports from the MRS Spring 2012 meeting in San Francisco, describing recent work with graphene, organic electrochemical transistors, pentacene organic TFTs, and functional inks made of CNTs and other nanomaterials.

04/10/2012 

Barclays Capital compiled its 2011 analysis of semiconductor wafer fab equipment (WFE) spending, with a look at the top players and underlying trends by process step.

04/10/2012 

Barclays Capital compiled its 2011 analysis of wafer fab equipment spending, with a look at the top players and underlying trends by process step. CJ Muse looks at the growth areas for test.

04/10/2012 

Barclays Capital compiled its 2011 analysis of wafer fab equipment spending, with a look at the top players and underlying trends by process step. CJ Muse considers the rebound in process control due to weak yields at smaller chip nodes.

04/10/2012 

Barclays Capital compiled its 2011 analysis of wafer fab equipment spending, with a look at the top players and underlying trends by process step. CJ Muse separates the rising and declining styles of deposition.

04/09/2012 

TSMC (TWSE: 2330, NYSE:TSM) began Phase 5 of its Fab 14 GigaFab at the South Taiwan Science Park in Tainan, planned to be a “key production center” for advanced 20nm semiconductor chips.

04/09/2012 

Coventor launched SEMulator3D 2012, featuring improved predictive process modeling tools with increased capacity, speed, and automation for leading-edge process technology nodes.

04/09/2012 

Barclays Capital compiled its 2011 analysis of wafer fab equipment spending, with a look at the top players and underlying trends by process step. CJ Muse looks at trends in wafer cleaning, such as single wafer and bevel clean.

04/09/2012 

Barclays Capital compiled its 2011 analysis of wafer fab equipment spending, with a look at the top players and underlying trends by process step. CJ Muse explains changes at the etch step.

04/09/2012 

Barclays Capital compiled its 2011 analysis of wafer fab equipment spending, with a look at the top players and underlying trends by step. Barclays looks at the possibilities for ion implant.

04/09/2012 

Barclays Capital compiled its 2011 analysis of semiconductor wafer fab equipment spending, with a look at the top players and underlying trends by process step. Here, Barclays’ CJ Muse considers lithography’s current state and future.

04/09/2012 

Barclays Capital looks at wafer fab equipment trends in 2011, based on Gartner data. Top 5 takeaways? The top 5 vendors continue to gain market share, Intel is a key customer, segment-leading vendors strengthened their holds, intensity edged higher, and changes are in store in 2012.

04/09/2012 

Since Elpida Memory filed for bankruptcy protection, reported bidders have included Micron, Hynix, and Toshiba, and now private equity firms TPG Capital and Hony Capital. CJ Muse of Barclay Capital shares the likely and unlikely scenarios for Elpida, and how these will affect DRAM overall.

04/09/2012 

Analog Devices Inc. (NASDAQ:ADI) honored 14 companies with the 11th Annual “Supplier Excellence Awards,” selected from among the more than 2,000 companies that contribute to ADI’s global semiconductor manufacturing operations.

04/09/2012 

The Optical Systems Division of Zygo Corporation recorded a $2+ million order from a major semiconductor manufacturer to produce EUV optics for advanced lithography.

04/09/2012 

Tanaka Kikinzoku Kogyo K.K. developed a platinum electrode that produces ozone solution at 40x the efficiency of existing technology.

04/09/2012 

Worldwide HDD unit shipments experienced a year-over-year decline of 4.5% in 2011. Efforts to clean and repair flooded HDD factory buildings and equipment will take most of H1 2012. HDD and HDD component production should return to pre-flood output levels in H2, reports IDC.

04/05/2012 

The top 10 and top 25 semiconductor suppliers registered 7% and 4% growth, respectively. However, 15 of the top 25 semiconductor sales leaders posted negative results in 2011. Only 9 of the top 25 suppliers outperformed the total worldwide semiconductor industry 2011/2010 growth rate.

04/05/2012 

Flow processor developer Netronome extended its strategic relationship with Intel Corp., manufacturing its next-generation Netronome flow processors (NFP) using Intel’s 22nm tri-gate transistor architecture.

04/05/2012 

Power electronics will grow to $15 billion in sales of discrete components in 2020, says Lux Research. New materials -- SiC and GaN -- are taking a 22% market share for $3.3B in sales. Expect this year to set a record for funding to power electronics companies.