07/22/2008  There is a lot that can still be done to improve the efficiency of today's 300mm factories, and an early move to 450mm would only carry those inefficiencies forward another generation. That was the main message in an interview with Gerald Goff, principle member of technical staff for Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) in Austin, TX, during last week's SEMICON West.

07/21/2008  Hermes, the Eurpoean consortia for the development and industrialization of embedded die technology, has partnered with Flip Chip International (FCI) to leverage the company's proprietary embeddable die customization (EDC) technology to enable the consortium's pursuit of heterogeneous systems integration.

07/21/2008  By Christian Pichler, Datacon Technology GmbH
Originally targeted to high-end applications, flip chip assembly technology is rapidly finding its way into low-end applications for high-volume products with multiple chips, due to cheaper substrates and cost-effective bumping. This requires high speed and precision, which can be achieved cost-effectively by processing directly from the wafer using tried-and-tested, high-throughput flip-chip bonder platforms.

07/21/2008  By Paul Lindner, EV Group, St. Florian, Austria
Well-established as a process for forming silicon-on-insulator (SOI) substrates, wafer bonding is broadening its horizons to encompass bonding wafers for a variety of fast-growing applications. Regardless of the materials involved, packaging has emerged as the primary underlying driver. As wafer bonding technology evolves, key market, application, and industry trends can be linked to emerging advanced packaging requirements.

07/18/2008  July 18, 2008 -- Agilent Technologies's new 5600LS high-resolution atomic force microscope (AFM) uses a fully addressable 200mm x 200mm stage to image large samples in air or smaller samples in liquid. Created for a range of nanotechnology applications, the system guarantees single atomic steps thanks to its .05nm low-noise design.

07/18/2008  The content of Sokudo's annual lithography breakfast at SEMICON West on Wednesday was very similar to what one could have heard at SPIE back in February, but it was helpful to hear it again, focused on the 32nm node. There were no surprises, which was good news; a central theme was a review of double patterning methods, including Applied's spacer method.

07/17/2008  ISMI provided SST with tidbits from its closed-door meeting on Wednesday where discussions continued between its members and equipment suppliers about key programs and topics including the next-generation fab (NGF) targeting 300mm improvements and the 450mm transition, including updates on the interoperability test bed for 450mm wafer automation and handling.

07/17/2008  Gigaphoton sat down with SST to discuss the company's penetration into the US market -- the home turf for its primary competitor -- and offer an update on its EUV product progress.

07/17/2008  In an interview at SEMICON West, Mark Melliar-Smith, CEO of Molecular Imprints described two paths for his company: one toward insertion into the semiconductor industry in 2009, and another toward producing a billion disks a year with 20nm features for the hard disk drive industry in 2010.

07/16/2008  Rave's just-announced Rhazer tool offers a new scheme to deal with haze that builds up on reticles, and do it directly in a fab at a lower cost -- making it "the first real solution" to the problem of mask haze," according to one prominent industry expert.

07/16/2008  Lam Research VP/GM Richard Gottscho tells SST about the improvements in the company's newest Kiyo etch line, including upgrades in wafer temperature control and a design that, together, improve CD uniformity.

07/16/2008  Mihir Parikh, president/CEO of Aquest Systems, talked with SST about why many fabs are taking a closer look at the systems they have in place and making incremental changes to improve them, rather than diving into new facility upgrades.

07/15/2008  July 15, 2008 -- Park Systems' new line of fully automated atomic force microscopes (AFMs) is designed to help increase production yields by providing critical angle measurements. The series is being demonstrated this week at Semicon West. "Until now the data storage and semiconductor industries have had a very limited choice of industrial-grade in-line inspection tools," said General Manager Dr. Sung Park.

07/15/2008  ATMI's exclusive partnership with Intermolecular has now extended further with ATMI's launch of four "High-Productivity Development Centers" in the US and Asia to provide more rapid and efficient methods of integrating new development and manufacturing processes.

07/15/2008  Beneath the industry's current schizophrenia -- slump in mainstream IC, growth in PV solar -- there are opportunities to compete and succeed with specific technologies and products tuned to the unique needs of both logic and memory customers, explained Novellus execs in a packed-theater presentation.

07/14/2008  Setting the tone for the week's events, Stan Myers lead off SEMICON West's opening press conference, presenting the latest trends worldwide, midyear equipment forecast by market segment, and reporting the findings of the SEMI equipment productivity working group's (EPWG).

07/14/2008  IMEC/ASML's newly 32nm SRAM, partially built with EUV lithography, offers a possible contrast to how Intel is working with the litho technology.

07/14/2008  Asyst CEO John Swenson talks with SST about Asyst's new "Agile Automation" family of technologies, desgined to address the growing complexity required to automate the massive fabs of today and tomorrow.

07/14/2008  IMEC and ASML give SST an inside scoop on their latest EUV milestone -- functional 32nm SRAM cells (FinFETs) -- and which technology is now under the gun to ensure a production tool is ready as advertised by the end of 2009.

07/14/2008  Prior to Semicon West, Entegris (Chaska, Minn) announced that it has signed a definitive agreement to acquire privately held Poco Graphite, Inc., in an all-cash transaction valued at $158 million.