12/28/2011 

2012 promises much for the semiconductor industry, and the world. Gartner's Dean Freeman analyzes the roles of semiconductor fab tool makers for 22nm NAND and logic device manufacturing, and the role of chip makers adopting the new node.

12/27/2011 

The fabless JV will develop feature-rich, small-size, low-power-consumption semiconductor products equipped with modem functionality. It will be focused on LTE and LTE-Advanced mobile communication standards products, sold globally.

12/27/2011 

Intel's Atom chips saw plunging sales as the netbook market was swallowed by smartphones, media tablets, and like devices, but the company expanded its microprocessor leadership in Q3 2011, shows IHS iSuppli.

12/26/2011 

Jenoptik plans to expand its Berlin-Adlershof semiconductor production facility to meet rapidly increasing demand, particularly from Asia, for high-power diode lasers.

12/23/2011 

SEMATECH and Screen will focus on monolayer doping and activation methods compatible with ultra-shallow junctions for planar and non-planar device technologies in silicon and non-silicon high-mobility materials.

12/22/2011 

A group from the U. of Illinois has devised a way to identify and patch flaws in semiconductors within seconds, saving much analysis and manual fixing and sparing otherwise functioning chips from the trash heap.

12/22/2011 

Rapid adoption of smart meters to save energy and improve grid efficiency means an opportunity for a broad range of semiconductor suppliers.

12/22/2011 

Panasonic, Samsung Electronics, SanDisk, Sony, and Toshiba are in the early stages of a plan to collaborate on new content protection technology for flash memory cards.

12/21/2011 

The global power semiconductor market will grow 5.0% in 2012 to $32 billion, says IMS Research. The modest increase is due to global economic uncertainties and inventory being flushed from the supply chain. 2013 will see a return to double-digit growth.

12/20/2011 

Semiconductor execs are much less confident about the coming year's business prospects than they were leading into 2011, according to KPMG's annual survey.

12/20/2011 

Novellus authors investigated the film characteristics and process integration of TaN produced using iALD. High-density TaN with low resistivity and excellent conformality is demonstrated. With the adoption of Cu metallization, metal barriers such as TaN are needed to enhance the adhesion of metal to the dielectric and prevent the diffusion of Cu through the dielectric.

12/19/2011 

Mattson Technology Inc. (NASDAQ:MTSN) received orders for multiple SUPREMA photoresist strip systems from a leading semiconductor manufacturer.

12/16/2011 

We scan the industry-watcher landscape to gauge reactions to the proposed Lam Research-Novellus combination: technology and customer synergies, valuation questions, and possible M&A aftershocks.

12/16/2011 

STMicroelectronics (NYSE: STM), a global semiconductor company, launched ST New Ventures, its corporate venture capital fund currently under incorporation.

12/16/2011 

North America-based manufacturers of semiconductor equipment posted $973.3 million in orders in November 2011, $1.17 billion in billings, and a book-to-bill ratio of 0.83, according to the November Book-to-Bill Report from SEMI.

12/15/2011 

Lam Research Corp. (NASDAQ:LRCX) will acquire Novellus Systems Inc. (NASDAQ:NVLS), in an all-stock deal worth $3.3 billion. In addition, Lam Research announced a $1.6 billion stock repurchase program.

12/14/2011 

Marc Heyns, fellow at research consortium imec, discusses the group's work on chip fab materials beyond silicon, namely, Ge and III-V, presented in "Advancing CMOS beyond the silicon roadmap with germanium and III-V devices" at IEDM.

12/14/2011 

During IEDM, imec presented the world

12/14/2011 

Altatech Semiconductor S.A. launched its first LED inspection system, the non-contact AltaSight LEDMax, for detecting, classifying and characterizing defects on wafers used in manufacturing LEDs.

12/13/2011 

Mike Mayberry, VP and director of components research, Intel Corp. and Billy Dally, VP and chief scientist, NVIDIA will keynote the 15th Annual IEEE IITC, June 2012 in San Jose, CA.