11/25/2008  With some domestic DRAM suppliers (though not all) pleading for help, Taiwan's government appears poised to offer some form of a bailout, according to local reports. But if this is good news for domestic companies, how will this move affect the overall market? SST asked industry watchers for their take.

11/25/2008  STATS ChipPAC Ltd. has expanded its quad flat no-lead (QFN) packaging portfolio with a strip-etch version for applications requiring increased design flexibility and higher input/output (I/O) performance in a small, thin package profile. The new QFN package family, referred to as QFNs-se, reportedly features a higher number of very thin I/O terminal pads than conventional single or dual-row QFN or leadframe-based quad flat packages (QFPs).

11/24/2008  November 24, 2008: Carl Zeiss SMT says it has set a new record resolution benchmark for scanning electron and ion microscopy -- a surface resolution of 2.4Å (0.24nm) has repeatedly been achieved (25%-75% edge-rise criterion) on various samples, 3× better than the most sophisticated scanning electron microscopes are able to achieve today with the same surface sensitivity.

11/20/2008  Crediting the continued demand in the 3D interconnect interconnect/through-silicon via (TSV) an nanoimprint lithography markets, EV Group reports an increase in revenue for 2008 of more than 15%. Despite the current global economic slowdown, the company says it remains cautiously optimistic about its outlook for 2009 given the expected growth opportunities to ensue as these novel technologies gain market acceptance/penetration.

11/20/2008  November 20, 2008: Optical packaging specialist Avo Photonics has been selected as the manufacturing facility for Luna Technologies' PHOENIX 1000, a MEMS-based external cavity laser which offers low noise and precise tuning capability over the C-band.

11/20/2008  CD-STEM technology has been successfully deployed in thin-film magnetic head wafer production environment where it has generated immediate, measurable benefits in effective yield management.

11/19/2008  Far from an act of desperation, the eye-popping IP suit from Spansion against Samsung is it a savvy IP strategy that puts the entire industry on notice. Objective Analysis' Jim Handy explains what's behind Spansion's aggressive move, and what might be the fallout.

11/19/2008  Aviza Technology exec David Butler explains the technology behind the StratIon fxP, the company's new 300mm-ready ion beam deposition system, and how it's better than traditional magnetron sputtering approaches in terms of film homogeneity, interface smoothness, and purity.

11/18/2008  by Julia Goldstein, Ph.D. contributing editor
Speakers at MEPTEC's Packaging Developments and Innovations Symposium, November 13, 2008 in San Jose, CA, presented various new technologies to enable package miniaturization while keeping costs in check. Much of the focus was on materials innovations that optimize the existing infrastructure. One departure from that was discussions surrounding through silicon via (TSV) advancements.

11/18/2008  By Fran

11/18/2008  November 18, 2008: Akustica Inc. says its latest generation of digital microphones, the AKU2002C, improves voice quality in notebook computers and other consumer-electronic devices.

11/17/2008  November 17, 2008: Researchers at the Harvard School of Engineering and Applied Sciences (SEAS) have demonstrated experimentally and theoretically that the surface plasmon resonances of metal nanoparticles in a periodic array can have considerably narrower spectral widths than those of isolated metal nanoparticles. Further, as the optical fields are significantly more intense in a periodic array, the method could improve the sensitivity of detecting molecules at low concentrations.

11/17/2008  The WDF 12DP is designed to address increased demand for probing ultrathin and diced wafers, and wafer-level testing of chip-scale and wafer-level packaging, stacked, and 3D technologies, as well as KGD testing of ultra-hin wafers, singulated wafers, and strips on a dicing frame.

11/14/2008  IMEC and Panasonic Corporation have signed a joint research contract that will focus on advanced technologies in the semiconductor, networks, wireless, and biomedical fields. For this purpose, the Panasonic IMEC Center will be established at the IMEC premises in December 2008.

11/14/2008  Worldwide silicon wafer shipments slowed nearly 3% in 3Q08, their biggest quarterly dip in nearly six years, following what had been a nice recovery in the second quarter, before the macroeconomic climate soured, according to new data from SEMI's Silicon Manufacturers Group (SMG).

11/13/2008  November 13, 2008: Silicon Clocks, a leading semiconductor IP licensing company, has appointed former MoSys VP Didier Lacroix as president and CEO to lead the company into a new phase of growth with a pure IP licensing model for its CMEMS technology.

11/13/2008  Response surface methods (RSM) provide statistically validated predictive models that can be manipulated for finding optimal process configurations that exhibit minimal variability. This article introduces two RSM enhancements that focus on achieving robust operating conditions.

11/13/2008  Despite beating analysts' expectations for its fiscal year-end quarter, semiconductor equipment bellwether Applied Materials says it will cut costs with 1800 layoffs (12% of its workforce) in the coming fiscal year. Added: Comments from top exec Mike Splinter about consolidation and solar biz, and takeaways from two industry analysts who called during the teleconference Q&A.

11/12/2008  November 12, 2008: Suss MicroTec Test Systems, a premier supplier of wafer-level test solutions for semiconductor devices, has announced the iVista LC high-resolution digital microscope, to meet the increasing need in failure-analysis labs for an advanced microscopy tool capable of delivering high-resolution digital images in conjunction with laser-cutting capabilities.

11/11/2008  SMIC has finalized terms to receive long-rumored investment from an outside investor -- Datang Telecom will invest $172M in equity for a 16.6% stake in the chipmaker, implying new foundry business for 3G communications chips and inroads into several related customer sectors.