01/16/2012 

Wuhan National Laboratory for Optoelectronics at the Huazhong University of Science and Technology (Wuhan, China) has signed off its Vistec Lithography electron-beam lithography system Vistec EBPG5000pES.

01/16/2012 

Mitsubishi Heavy Industries launched a fully automated 12" (300mm) wafer bonding tool, Bond Meister MWB-12-ST, capable of producing 3D LSI circuits at room temperature. The 300mm bonder targets production of memory chips and MPUs.

01/13/2012 

For the first time, Apple Inc. has publicly published a list of over 150 companies that the electronics giant says represent 97% of its procurement expenditures for materials, manufacturing, and assembly of products worldwide.

01/13/2012 

Renesas Electronics America Inc. named Ali Sebt, who has served 20 years at the company, as its new president and CEO. Sebt succeeds the retiring Daniel Mahoney.

01/13/2012 

The dynamic random access memory (DRAM) market is encountering an "alarming" rise in inventory, low capex, and reduced demand from end-market applications, show analysts from IHS iSuppli, Deutsche Bank, and Barclays Capital.

01/13/2012 

IBM Research demonstrated the ability to store information in as few as 12 magnetic atoms, 100-10,000x less than today's information storage technologies.

01/12/2012 

Semiconductor sales were weaker than expected in Q3 2011, and Q4 shows weak guidance, prompting chip makers to reduce production. Gartner expects this inventory correction to work out in early 2012.

01/11/2012 

Intel's Paul Otellini spoke at the International CES in Las Vegas, providing information on Intel's smartphone moves and ultrabook momentum, and debuting the 32nm Intel Atom SoC for tablets and hybrids.

01/11/2012 

Ramtron International Corporation shipped 50,000 initial low-energy, custom, nonvolatile ferroelectric random access memory (F-RAM) devices built on its new IBM manufacturing line in Burlington, VT.

01/11/2012 

Former SEMI president and CEO Stanley T. Myers was named a director emeritus of the association by itsl Board of Directors. Myers led SEMI for 15 years, was a board member for 24, and has been part of the semiconductor industry for more than 50.

01/10/2012 

Key points from SEMI's 2012 semiconductor fab equipment spending forecast include a predicted decline of 11% to $35 billion, steady growth in 300mm installs, and an H1 dip/H2 surge format.

01/10/2012 

EV Group signed a joint-development and licensing agreement with Eulitha AG, integrating Eulitha's PHABLE mask-based UV photolithography technology with EVG's automated mask aligner platform.

01/09/2012 

Researchers at Oak Ridge National Laboratory have observed metallic conductance in ferroelectric nanodomains, using piezoresponse force microscopy.

01/09/2012 

Camtek launched Xact200, a transmission electron microscope (TEM) sample preparation system for the semiconductor industry. Camtek calls the system an alternative to FIB analysis.

01/08/2012 

The GaAs device market recovered sharply in 2010, driven mobile handsets. Increased use of pure-play foundries met the surge in demand and was in-line with a trend toward outsourcing, says Strategy Analytics.

01/06/2012 

Turner Investments shares the 7 display and semiconductor/microelectronics makers it expects to benefit the most from tablet PC proliferation out of Apple, Samsung, and Amazon.com.

01/06/2012 

Gallium nitride (GaN) technology isn't shrinking from military applications any time soon, but GaN adoption is increasing in the commercial sector, from less than $1 million in 2010 to $58 million in 2015, shows Strategy Analytics.

01/06/2012 

Materion Microelectronics & Services added 50% more space in its PVD parts cleaning and surface treatment facility, with an automated robotic twin wire arc spray, increased precious metal refining capacity, new cleaning processes, and a Class 10,000-certified cleanroom.

01/05/2012 

JEDEC Solid State Technology Association released a new standard for wide I/O mobile DRAM: JESD229 Wide I/O Single Data Rate. Wide I/O mobile DRAM increases die integration -- stacking chips with TSV interconnects with a SoC -- and improves bandwidth, latency, power, weight, and form factor.

01/05/2012 

RPI scientists studying a promising form of graphene -- graphene nanowiggles -- with exceptionally different properties for each nanowiggle structure. All of the nanoribbon-edge structures have a wiggly appearance like a caterpillar inching across a leaf.