08/23/2011 

The global NAND flash device market will reach $31.05 billion in 2014, TechNavio analysts forecast. Increased NAND usage in smartphones and tablets is a major driver, but beware of the potential for device oversupply in the market.

08/23/2011 

Semiconductor manufacturing using 12" (300mm) wafers enables scalability for high-volume wafer fab. 300mm production will nearly double from 2010 to 2015 as IDMs and foundries recognize the value of 300mm wafers for mature products, according to IHS.

08/22/2011 

JEDEC Solid State Technology Association shared selected elements of its Double Data Rate 4 (DDR4) standard, to be published in full in 2012. Reduced power usage, better performance, and faster operation are the main aims of DDR4 for servers, laptops, desktop PCs, and consumer products.

08/19/2011 

Argonne Lab researchers have created an e-beam lithography process that boosts resist layers to eliminate the hard mask application. It results in more precise features and deeper etch for semiconductor, solar energy, and other products.

08/19/2011 

Compugraphics International is widening its line of photomasks to include larger-area products up to 16 in², responding to customer demand for wafer-level packaging and other semiconductor and optical applications.

08/19/2011 

How will heavy demand for tablets and smartphones translate into chipmaking capacity investments over the next few years? Citi's Tim Arcuri runs some numbers to come up with the answer: $10B annually.

08/18/2011 

Rubicon Technology (RBCN) completed company-wide enhancements to its proprietary crystal growth furnaces, upgrading to Rubicon Furnace Version ES2-XLG3.0, which produces large-diameter sapphire material with greater automation and higher yields.

08/18/2011 

A rising LED surplus, slowed LED adoption, tighter credit in China, and other factors are converging to stall out MOCVD equipment installs in 2011. Once the LED oversupply is drained off, LED manufacturers will kickstart capacity expansions, likely in 2012, according to IMS Research.

08/17/2011 

Three years after shuttering its East Kilbride operation, Freescale sloughs off the operation to a real estate developer, though it's leasing back some of the site for R&D.

08/17/2011 

CHAD Industries launched the WaferMate300-2SS sorter/stocker workcell with multiple customer installations. The compact wafer buffer modules each hold 150 wafers.

08/17/2011 

Nemotek Technologie uncrated the Exiguus, with a VGA wafer-level camera integrating wafer-level optics assembled with CMOS image sensors (CIS).

08/16/2011 

Taiwan's Sino-American Silicon Products (SAS) is acquiring Japan's Covalent Materials' (n

08/16/2011 

KLA-Tencor Corporation (NASDAQ:KLAC) launched the eDR-7000 electron-beam (e-beam) wafer defect review system for chip manufacturing at the 20nm device nodes and below.

08/16/2011 

OPC technologies use aggressive assist features with sub-80nm features on the mask to offer improved process window, and therefore yield. MB-MDP, coupled with new-generation mask-writing equipment, produces overlapping e-beam shots that result in lower shot count.

08/15/2011 

Translucent launched its Si wafer templates commerically for GaN growth, and Bridgelux set a new Lumens/W record for Gan-on-Si LEDs.

08/15/2011 

Applied Materials said it will acquire Varian Semi in a $4.9B deal. VSEA stockholders have now approved the buy.

08/12/2011 

Laurent Malier, CEO of Leti, described the research group's work and the outlook on fully depleted silicon on insulator (FDSOI), 3D packaging technologies, and integrated photonics on silicon.

08/11/2011 

Robert Newcomb from Qcept explains the two types of customers for inspection technology and their different needs: those on the leading edge who want yield improvements, and mainstream fabs seeking a better yield/cost mix on older processes.

08/11/2011 

Scott Zafiropoulo explains Ultratech's business and positioning strategies in an interview at SEMICON West, including how the company weathers market cyclicality and prepares for a 450mm wafer-size transition.

08/10/2011 

Carl Zeiss Nano Technology Systems, CEOS GmbH, and the University of Ulm have completed 2 years of evaluation and are starting the second phase of the Sub Angstrom Low Voltage Electron Microscope (SALVE) project.