06/27/2011 

To maintain profitability and growth in the next 10 years, semiconductor executives must understand and successfully execute lab-to-fab transitions of new technologies. 2 SEMICON West sessions aim to tackle these issues.

06/27/2011 

Nanotechnology company RMTS relocated from CO to NY to launch an R&D partnership with CNSE at the University at Albany, developing nano-polarization technologies for displays and windows.

06/24/2011 

The board of directors of GLOBALFOUNDRIES appointed new leadership to run GlobalFoundries, the company's first CEO change since its inception.

06/24/2011 

Elpida Memory has come up with what it says is the thinnest available DRAM device, a new 0.8mm four-layer package of 2GB DDR2 mobile RAM chips, assembled using package-on-package (PoP).

06/24/2011 

Heidelberg Instruments optioned University of Colorado Boulder's technique for shrinking copper circuits by zapping a substrate with two separate colors of light beams.

06/24/2011 

Two TechXPOT sessions at SEMICON West will address the new architectures needed to continue scaling both logic and memory devices, as well as the major challenges facing lithography both for EUV and options for extending 193nm immersion.

06/24/2011 

The 3M Semiconductor Innovation Center will serve the Asia region with 3M's Wafer Support System (WSS) materials and processes for temporary bonding for ultra-thin wafer handling applications.

06/23/2011 

Photoresist revenues will grow at about 5% for the next several years, says Techcet Group. Consolidation is long overdue among resist suppliers, and EUV may be the last straw. For materials, supply is abundant.

06/22/2011 

IM Flash Technologies, the Micron-Intel JV, plans to expand its NAND flash operations in Lehi, UT, adding 200 positions and spending $1.5B on facility upgrades.

06/22/2011 

SemiProbe released a 300mm manual test probe configuration of its Probe System for Life, M-12. The M-12 is field-upgradable to 450mm.

06/22/2011 

As mobile devices -- game consoles, smartphones, tablets -- move to 3D platforms, image sensor demand will rise 130% by 2015, says In-Stat.

06/21/2011 

KLA-Tencor will join SEMATECH-led efforts to identify and eliminate defects in EUV lithography, including mask metrology infrastructure and metrology source development.

06/21/2011 

Cosense launched the SL 900 Series of Ultrasonic Liquid Level Detectors that detect and micro-measure ultrapure chemical fluids for semiconductor chip manufacturing.

06/21/2011 

EV Group (EVG) added an in-line metrology module for its EVG850TB/DB automated temporary bonding and debonding systems.

06/20/2011 

A standing-room crowd gathered at SEMI for a special NCCAVS usergroup meeting to hear about issues relevant to 3D packaging, including CMP for through-silicon vias (TSV), a DFM methodology for 3D TSV packaging designs, and TSV process integration challenges.

06/20/2011 

Vistec Lithography Inc. will install a EBPG5200 electron beam lithography system at the University of California, San Diego's Nano3 cleanroom facility.

06/17/2011 

Planar CMOS slightly outperforms FinFETs for single SRAM cells, but FinFETs  "clearly outperform" and "are superior to planar" for bigger (>128KB) SRAMs, according to new research from imec.

06/17/2011 

CT-3100/3200 Curve Tracers from Cascade Microtech will provide wafer-level measurement for the growing power device market. The curve tracer units complement CSCD's Tesla probe systems' high-voltage and high-current capabilities.

06/16/2011 

Mentor Graphics Corporation (NASDAQ:MENT), in a cooperative effort with Tezzaron Semiconductor and MOSIS, created a process for economically developing and manufacturing 3D-IC prototypes on multi-project wafers (MPWs).

06/16/2011 

Applied Materials (AMAT) unveiled the extension of its Reflexion GT chemical mechanical polishing (CMP) system to include planarization of tungsten films. Sidney Huey, director, CMP product manager, CMP Division, Silicon Systems Group at Applied Materials, discusses the tool and the technology.