02/01/2008  ; Electro Scientific Industries Inc., a provider of photonic and laser systems for micro-engineering applications, regrets to announce the passing of former senior VP Edward J. Swenson on January 28. He began his tenure with ESI in 1961, and worked his way up the chain of command throughout the years from applications engineer, earning numerous patents along the way.

02/01/2008  Feb. 1, 2008 - Within discussions about its 4Q07 results and 2008 outlook, SMIC indicated it will set up a new independent unit in Shenzhen to run new 200mm-300mm lines, the latter utilizing 45nm process technology recently licensed from IBM, and both drawing on significant support from the municipal government.

01/31/2008  January 29, 2008 -- LEUVEN, BELGIUM, AND HSINCHU, TAIWAN -- Powerchip Semiconductor Corporation, a leading Taiwan-based memory semiconductor supplier offering dynamic random access memory chips and flash memory chips, has entered into a partnership with IMEC, Europe's leading independent nanoelectronics research center, to perform research and development for the sub-32 nm memory process generations.

01/29/2008  InvenSense, provider of motion-sensing solutions for portable consumer electronics, has introduced what it calls the world's smallest dual-axis gyroscopes at 4 x 5 x 1.2 mm.

01/28/2008  Jan. 28, 2008 - Nanya and Inotera both forecast a global recovery in DRAM gaining steam by 2Q08 that will lead to tighter supplies of memory chips in the second half of the year, according to local press reports.

01/28/2008  Veeco says its InSight 3D automated atomic force microscope (AFM) is "the only metrology system available with the accuracy and precision required for non-destructive, high resolution three-dimensional measurements of critical 45nm and 32nm semiconductor features, with the speed to qualify as a true fab tool."

01/28/2008  Schott, manufacturer and distributor of special glass and glass-related systems, has unveiled its AF 32 glass material, designed for leading-edge opto-electronics applications.

01/24/2008  Jan. 24, 2008 - Rudolph Technologies has acquired all IP and selected assets from privately held RVSI Inspection in Hauppauge, NY, in a move to add the firm's flagship 3D wafer inspection to its own 2D macrodefect inspection technologies, and strengthen its presence in advanced packaging applications.

01/24/2008  Jan. 24, 2008 - Spire Semiconductor says it will provide contract design and manufacturing capabilities for makers of solar concentrator cells, in addition to its existing lineup of GaAs solar cells, wafer epitaxy, and thin-film products.

01/23/2008  Jan. 23, 2008 - In an exclusive interview with WaferNEWS, Kurt Ronse, lithography program director at IMEC, discusses the newly announced partnership with the U. of Albany's College of Nanoscale Science and Engineering to accelerate development of extreme ultraviolet (EUV) lithography technology -- what finally pulled the two sides together, what they hope to gain short- and long-term, and plans for readiness by the 32nm and 22nm half-pitch nodes.

01/23/2008  What makes a process tool or material stock attractive to investors? Will private funds take over some equipment companies? How will the chip industry deal with exponentially rising design costs? These were some of the tough questions dealt with by an all-star investment analyst panel at the 2008 Industry Strategy Symposium in Half Moon Bay, CA.

01/23/2008  Nanochip Inc., a developer of advanced MEMS silicon data storage chips, has completed a $14 million financing round that will enable the company to complete development of its first prototypes this year, and begin design verification and sampling in 2009.

01/23/2008  ; Rudolph Technologies Inc. has announced that it has acquired all intellectual property and selected assets from privately-held RVSI Inspection, Hauppauge, NY. The addition of RVSI's industry-standard WS-3800 3D bumped wafer inspection system to Rudolph's product portfolio is expected to strengthen the company's presence in the high-growth, advanced packaging market. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed.

01/22/2008  An insightful analysis of what chipmakers need to do to thrive in a period of "profitless prosperity" by Steve Newberry, president and CEO of Lam Research, set the stage for a spirited Wall Street panel at the Industry Strategy Symposium at Half Moon Bay, CA (Jan. 16).

01/22/2008  ; Mouser Electronics Inc. has signed a global distribution agreement with HI-TECH Software. HI-TECH software is used in a variety of embedded microcontroller product families from Microchip Technology and Cypress Semiconductor.

01/22/2008  The schematic-based MEMS design environment ARCHITECT features a 3D visualization tool called Scene3D, which allows users to create 3D views of an ARCHITECT schematic and visualize simulation results with fully contoured 3D animations.

01/22/2008  The GEMINI platform is a production manufacturing solution for high-volume wafer bonding applications for MEMS, 3D integration, and advanced packaging, as well as compound semiconductor applications.

01/22/2008  Suited to inspection of MEMS devices, the AW200 Series C-SAM acoustic micro imaging system from Sonoscan performs automated inspection, analysis and sorting of bonded wafers up to 200-mm in diameter.

01/22/2008  Jan. 21, 2008 - Panasonic Factory Solutions Co. says it has developed a new wafer dicer that is 30x faster than a typical diamond cutter to separate individual semiconductor devices on a silicon wafer, targeting a market niche in thinner (<100μm) wafers with smaller chips such as those used in portable digital products, notes the Nikkei Business Daily.

01/22/2008  Jan. 21, 2008 - National Semiconductor says it will close certain chipmaking toolsets and cut its workforce by approximately 200, mostly at two wafer fabrication facilities in the US and Scotland, in an effort to "modernize facilities and rationalize capacity."