11/27/2007  November 26, 2007 - Two Wall Street analysts are reissuing health warnings for both the DRAM and NAND memory sectors, diagnosed as suffering from acute inflammation of supplies, and the patients' conditions are expected to get worse before getting better.

11/27/2007  November 26, 2007 - Worldwide semiconductor capacity and output both rose about 6% in 3Q07 vs. the prior quarter, but factory utilization stayed roughly flat, remaining just under the 90% level for the fifth straight quarter, according to data from Semiconductor International Capacity Statistics (SICAS).

11/26/2007  November 26, 2007 - Researchers at Georgia Tech say they've fabricated high-performance field-effect transistors (FET) using thin films of Carbon 60 (aka "fullerenes") with better electron mobility than amorphous silicon, low threshold voltages, large on-off ratios, and high operational stability. The devices target potential applications for large area, low-cost electronic circuits on flexible organic substrates, including displays, active electronic billboards, and RFID tags.

11/26/2007  In an exclusive interview with WaferNEWS, Vikram Pavate, Kovio VP of business development, talks about his company's work with printed silicon ICs for radio-frequency identity (RF-ID) chips, which combines functional electronic inks with high-resolution graphics printing technologies to make high-performance silicon CMOS TFTs on flexible substrates at a fraction of the cost of conventional lithography-based silicon technology.

11/26/2007  November 20, 2007 -- /PRNewswire/ -- HONG KONG -- Global Sources and SEMI Taiwan plan to co-locate their Taiwan-based electronics industry shows in 2008, in order to offer their customers, electronics engineers and vendors, a new specialized platform covering the entire electronics development spectrum.

11/25/2007  November 14, 2007 -- /PRNewswire/ -- REHOVOT, ISRAEL -- Nova Measuring Instruments Ltd. announced earlier this week the opening of a new development and demonstration center in Taiwan, to serve its customers in Taiwan, Korea, China, and Singapore.

11/21/2007  November 21, 2007 - Backend equipment orders are looking flat to down in 4Q07, and frontend equipment bookings are looking more likely to be unstable for the next half-year, according to a recent analyst report.

11/21/2007  November 21, 2007 - Nippon Polypenco Ltd., a subsidiary of Mitsubishi Plastics Inc., is shipping a durable material for retaining rings used in the CMP process of semiconductor manufacturing, notes the Nikkei Business Daily.

11/21/2007  ; SUSS MicroTec has received significant multiple orders for its lithography production equipment from the ASE Group, a provider of independent semiconductor manufacturing services in assembly and test.

11/20/2007  November 20, 2007 - M+W Zander says it has received an order from Solsonica SpA, a spinoff from backend semiconductor manufacturing services provider EEMS SpA, to partially retrofit an existing semiconductor manufacturing facility into a PV cell manufacturing plant.

11/20/2007  November 20, 2007 - STATS ChipPAC says it will expand its flip-chip offerings to its Shanghai, China operation, encompassing wafer bump, sort, assembly and final test. Volume production is expected to start in 1H08, followed by a second phase adding electroplated wafer bumping capabilities for 200mm wafers in 1H07 and 300mm wafers in 2H08.

11/20/2007  NAND flash memory manufacturers have made no secret about their rosy outlook for solid-state drives (SSDs) in consumer applications and notebook computers, as well as projected lower cost/GB and increasing densities. Such elation may be premature, however, according to remarks made at a recent IDEMA breakfast event (Nov. 7, Santa Clara, CA), where it was suggested that serious obstacles are still in the path of SSD adoption before the technology can make greater inroads into the computer sector.

11/20/2007  ; Global Sources and SEMI Taiwan plan to co-locate their Taiwan-based electronics industry shows in 2008. International IC-Taiwan Conference & Exhibition (IIC-Taiwan) and SEMICON Taiwan are scheduled to run from Sept. 9-11, 2008, at the Taipei World Trade Center.

11/20/2007  November 19, 2007 - Spreadtrum Communications Inc., a Chinese wireless baseband chipset provider, has agreed to acquire San Diego-based Quorum Systems Inc., a fabless developer of CMOS radio frequency (RF) transceivers, for $55M in cash and $15M in stock, plus an extra $6M in performance incentives over the next two years.

11/20/2007  November 19, 2007 - Micrel Inc. says it has signed a multimillion-dollar long-term contract to manufacture and supply solar cells to an unidentified partner, for an undisclosed amount. Production will occur at Micrel's site in San Jose, CA.

11/19/2007  The model 9850 dual-beam, ultraviolet (UV) laser link-processing system can be used in advanced memory-repair applications.

11/19/2007  ; the Harmony wafer-level burn-in (WLBI) probe card — is reportedly designed to maximize throughput, as well as ensure higher quality and reliability of semiconductor devices.

11/19/2007  The FOX-15 full-wafer contact test and burn-in system, the fourth and latest member of the FOX family of full wafer contact systems, is focused on parallel testing and burning-in up to 15 wafers at a time.

11/15/2007  November 15, 2007 - Infineon Technologies and Intel have forged a technology partnership to develop optimized chips for high-density SIM cards combined with Intel's 65nm and 45nm process-based NOR flash memory. Initial development will scale up to 64MB with a voltage range of 1.8-3.3V; first samples are planned to ship in 2H08, followed by high-volume production in 1H09.

11/15/2007  November 15, 2007 - austriamicrosystems says it is expanding its multiproject wafer (shuttle) ASIC prototyping service in 2008 with high-voltage (CMOS and flash) and RF offerings. The company is planning >150 shuttle start dates, through partnerships with groups including CMP-TIMA, Europractice, Fraunhofer IIS, and MOSIS, as well as joint 0.18-micron work with IBM.