09/16/2009 

Elpida Memory recently pushed vertical stacking of DRAM to new heights by connecting eight 1G chips using through-silicon vias, creating what it calls the world's largest-capacity DRAM with ~8GB of storage.

09/16/2009 

Rudolph Technologies, Inc., announced that is has received orders for 20 tools from the world’s four largest outsourced assembly and test (OSAT) companies and major foundry companies. The orders are for Rudolph’s automated macro defect inspection equipment, which typically sell within a range of $600k to $1.2m. 

09/15/2009 

Researchers from Taiwan's ITRI, Winbond Electronics, and TPO Displays discuss case scenarios and follow-up procedures for mitigating airborne molecular contaminants (AMC) -- and improving yields -- in semiconductor and TFT-LCD manufacturing environments.

09/15/2009 

September 14, 2009 - KLA-Tencor exec Dan Lopez gives SST a preview of its new Teron 600 Series mask defect inspection system, with programmable scanner-illumination capability and improvements in sensitivity and computational lithography power to address a major transition in mask design at the 2Xnm logic (3Xnm half-pitch memory) node.

09/14/2009 

September 14, 2009 - A 2H09 rebound in the chipmaking equipment sector won't be enough to make up for the horrid performance in late 2008 andearly 2009, but analyst firm Gartner does see much better times in 2010 and beyond, according to its newly updated forecast.

09/10/2009 

September 9, 2009:  NanoInk is introducing a contract research program to provide miniaturization and multiplex protein analysis.

09/09/2009 

Ultratech execs Art Zafiropoulo and Jeff Hebb update SST on the status of laser-spike anneal (LSA) technology: readiness for 32nm, extendibility to 22nm, and evaluation for 16nm and beyond.

09/08/2009 

The Abu Dhabi backer of GlobalFoundries, the chip manufacturing spinoff of AMD, has pitched a $3.9 billion offer to take over Singapore's Chartered Semiconductor Manufacturing, creating a multifaceted and truly "global" foundry business.

09/04/2009 

DALSA Semiconductor VP/GM Claude Jean talks with SST about the new $218M microelectronics center being formed in Quebec, and how the company will contribute to its focus on MEMS and 3D wafer-level packaging and vice-versa.

09/04/2009 

This article from Molecular Imprints describes how te addition of patterned media to HDD disk fabrication presents a number of new challenges to magnetic media manufacturers, and how J-FIL systems and materials can provide the foundation for successful high-volume manufacturing.

09/03/2009  Molecular Imprints CEO Mark Melliar-Smith tells SST how the company's new Perfecta TR1100 template replication system for patterned media applications, in concert with its jet-and-flash imprint lithography tech, enables mass-replication of master imprint templates with high fidelity at an orders-of-magnitude lower cost vs. fabricating the original master template.

09/01/2009 

Semiconductor units of Japan's electronic giants are struggling to figure out their place in the future, battered by the global economic slump and pressured to reduce dependence on their parents.

08/28/2009 

Kwan-yu Lai, Micralyne, and Jeffrey G. Stark, Sensor Products, describe the use of color-coded pressure-indicating film to ensure uniform, correct pressure during wafer bonding. Wafers are bonded by applying precise combinations of physical pressure, temperature, and/or voltage. Pressure is measured as an average, assuming perfectly flat pressure plates.

08/28/2009 

In this video interview from SEMICON West 2009, Bart Swinnen, reviews the established interconnect bonding and through-silicon via (TSV) technologies at the system-integration level. He also discusses the newer TSV possibilities and different application-specific TSVs.

08/28/2009 

Extending its capabilities for placing solder spheres at high speed, DEK's DirEKt Ball Placement process now enables accurate solder sphere deposition for spheres as small as 200µm in diameter with pitches as tight as 300µm.

08/28/2009  Lithography overlay and leakage requirements are becoming increasingly stringent for the next-generation devices. Two case studies illustrate the role that stress non-uniformity has in misalignment and the effect of cumulative stress variations on device performance and leakage.

08/26/2009  August 26, 2009: Researchers from the U. of Maryland and the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) say they've come up with a way to overcome a principle obstacle in creating molecular switches: sandwich organic molecules between silicon and metal.

08/26/2009  This article from IMEC describes a roadmap for thin crystalline silicon, and the opportunities of using materials and process methods used in IC manufacturing.

08/25/2009  In a bid to "fully utilize" the benefits it can offer customers, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. (TSMC) says it will add a third flavor of its forthcoming 28nm process technology: a low-power high-k metal gate (HK+MG) one.

08/25/2009  Better pricing for specialty DRAM made Elpida the poster child of the DRAM market in 2Q09, according to data from iSuppli. And signs point to continued tight supplies of DDR3 as firms continue to delay capex plans that would support their 5x-node migration.