01/21/2008  Jan. 21, 2008 - Fujifilm says its electronics materials subsidiary has purchased an advanced argon fluoride (ArF) immersion scanner to help accelerate the push to bring its new family of ArF immersion photoresists to high-volume manufacturing.

01/21/2008  Jan. 21, 2008 - STMicroelectronics has made its 45nm CMOS process available for prototyping via French brokerage service CMP to academia, R&D labs, and companies for multiproject wafer services, and has added its 65nm CMOS SOI process for academia.

01/21/2008  Jan. 21, 2008 - The two leading R&D centers for EUV lithography, IMEC in Europe and the U. of Albany's College of Nanoscale Science and Engineering (CSNE), say they will jointly perform experiments for EUV in order to "demonstrate the practical feasibility of EUVL and build confidence in the technology for the 32nm half-pitch device node and below."

01/18/2008  Jan. 18, 2008 - Taiwan DRAM manufacturers bleeding red ink are asking for a break from their chip assemblers, who still are enjoying profitability despite the current market softness, notes a report in the Taiwan Economic News.

01/18/2008  Market analysts are projecting an imminent surge of 200mm wafer processing tools swamping the market, valued in billions of dollars each year through 2012. It seems clear that an extra 100 fabs will be for sale over the next few years, with MEMS and advanced packaging lines likely snapping up this extra manufacturing capacity -- but watch out if a used 200mm tool flood washes over into mainstream CMOS.

01/18/2008  Jan. 17, 2008 - As it weathers softness in the memory markets and domestic allegations of executive mismanagement and slush-fund coverups, Samsung Electronics is increasingly worried about a future showdown with rapidly progressing Japanese rivals, according to a local press report.

01/18/2008  Jan. 17. 2008 - Analysts and investors voted with their feet after the industry's bellwether company talked about its 4Q07 results, and outlook for 1Q08 and FY08. But what's the takeaway message for the rest of the semiconductor industry and its suppliers?

01/18/2008  Jan. 17, 2008 - The weak memory market continued to weigh on Samsung's bottom line in 4Q, with sales declines in its semiconductor business and plunging profits, and oversupplies and price pressures are seen continuing through 1H08.

01/18/2008  Jan. 17, 2008 - ZMD AG has sold its complete SRAM product line to San Carlos, CA-based Alliance Memory, including manufacturing rights, mask sets, IP and all remaining inventory.

01/17/2008  Jan. 17, 2008 - A "huge" oversupply of solar panels planned for production in 2008 will sink capacity utilization rates to 0.46 (vs. 1.0 as a balance of capacity/output), and levels won't get much above 0.5 until sometime after 2010, until polysilicon suppliers can realize planned expansion efforts, according to a report from the Information Network.

01/16/2008  ; SUSS MicroTec has shipped and successfully installed several microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) production tools at Freescale Semiconductor. The equipment included a new DSM200 Series front-to-back alignment verification system, the latest generation SUSS MA200 compact mask aligner as well as a SUSS ABC200 series wafer bond cluster system for use in MEMS sensor applications.

01/14/2008  ; Freescale Semiconductor has established an advanced microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) 200-mm (8-in.) production line to address growing sensors market demand. The newly added line at Freescale's Oak Hill Fab in Austin, TX, complements the company's existing 150-mm (6-in.) MEMS capacity in Sendai, Japan.

01/14/2008  ; SUSS MicroTec Lithography GmbH now holds the globally recognized ISO 9001 certification for having established a high level process- and system-oriented quality management (QM) based on ISO9001 quality standards. SUSS MicroTec Lithography says that it is commited to providing consistent high-quality development, production, and service processes at both German manufacturing sites in Garching and Vaihingen/Enz.

01/13/2008  December 20, 2007 -- /PRNewswire/ -- ALLENTOWN, PA -- Akrion, Inc., a supplier of semiconductor surface preparation equipment, recently shipped another Velocity(TM) single-wafer cleaning system to a major IC device manufacturer in Asia.

01/11/2008  Jan. 11, 2008 - IBM and Central Glass have agreed to jointly explore use of fluoromaterials (materials that contain fluorine atoms) in developing photoresist materials for future semiconductors.

01/11/2008  ; With the increasing popularity of DVB (digital video broadcasting) triggering huge demand for chips, Sigma Designs, the US-based, large-sized supplier of IC (integrated circuit) design, has already placed a sizable order for FC-CSP (flip-chip chip-scale-package) substrates with Taiwan`s Kinsus Interconnect Technology Corp in 2008, according to industry sources, said Taiwan Economic News.

01/10/2008  Jan. 10, 2008 - Coming off a year in which it significantly changed its focus and carved out multiple businesses, Nanometrics is starting the new year where it left off.

01/10/2008  ; Camtek Ltd. has announced that it has sold two Falcon wafer inspection systems to Samsung Electronics Co. The two systems were installed at Samsung's test facility in Korea during the fourth quarter of 2007, following a competitive evaluation.

01/09/2008  Jan. 9, 2008 - Chartered Semiconductor may be poised to take away business with Japanese foundry customers from top Taiwan foundries TSMC and UMC, thanks to its ties to the IBM Common Platform alliance and Toshiba, a key partner in the group's next-gen chip development, speculates a report by the Taiwan Economic News.

01/09/2008  As illustrated by recent news, Ponte Solutions is strategically targeting DFM at the IP level by placing tools in the hands of designers where they are most comfortable: within the "cockpits" of their favorite EDA tools. (The message being sent to fabless companies: you must own the DFM challenge.) Execs also tell WaferNEWS about their new physics-based etch modeling for vias/contacts and poly/metal at 45nm and beyond.