11/15/2007  November 15, 2007 - Semilab Co. Ltd., a Budapest, Hungary-based supplier of noncontact wafer mapping metrology systems, has agreed to acquire Pittsburgh, PA-based SSM Inc. for an undisclosed cash amount, and reorg the business as a new division for developing and selling electrical metrology systems for semiconductor manufacturing.

11/15/2007  November 14, 2007 - Oversupply of parts in NAND, coupled with slower-than-expected seasonal demand for DRAM, have prompted industry analyst firm iSuppli to downgrade its outlooks for both memory segments.

11/14/2007  November 14, 2007 - Despite a sluggish 1H07 due to pricing woes, things have improved enough in the latter part of the year to bump up the Semiconductor Industry Association's (SIA) outlook for chip sales to 3.8% growth, instead of the anemic 1.8% seen just five months ago. The outlook for 2008 is about the same as before, but 2009 looks a bit better, and 2010 is also more optimistic.

11/14/2007  AMD, Carl Zeiss SMT, and Qimonda are working together on new analytical and characterization methods required for the development of next-generation microchips. The work is being conducted within the framework of the Nanoanalysis Project, which the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research has backed with 12 million Euros.

11/13/2007  Based on talks at Intel's Research Day in June, it appeared the company's proprietary pixelated mask technology would not be required at 32nm, but it would be ready for 22nm in case EUV and double-patterning are not. Fast-forward to this week's celebrated launch of 17 new Intel products, all based on 45nm node technology, and a few clues are emerging as to what's next on the company's lithography roadmap -- but it's still not clear if the pixelated mask technology will be used at 32nm.

11/13/2007  The new CATRENE (Cluster for Application and Technology Research in Europe on NanoElectronics) public-private partnership aims to ensure the continued development of European expertise in semiconductor technology and applications.

11/12/2007  November 12, 2007 - Toppan Chunghwa Electronics is readying mass production of photomasks for 45nm chip production to be ready by mid-2008, following the lead of parent company Toppan Printing, according to a Digitimes report.

11/12/2007  November 12, 2007 - Analog Devices has sold its central processing unit (CPU) voltage regulation and PC thermal monitoring product line to ON Semiconductor, plus a one-year manufacturing supply deal, for $185M in cash.

11/12/2007  October 29, 2007 -- /PRNewswire/ -- LEHIGH VALLEY, PA -- Air Products, through its subsidiary Air Products San Fu Co. Ltd. in Taiwan, has signed a long-term contract with Rexchip Semiconductor Corp., a joint venture company between Powerchip Semiconductor Corp. and Elpida Memory Inc., for the supply of nitrogen and bulk gases.

11/12/2007  November 12, 2007 - Korean memory chipmaker Hynix Semiconductor and Taiwan partner ProMOS aim to ramp up production of 66nm DRAMs in 1Q08 to annual capacity of 20,000-30,000 wafers -- a decision that has raised eyebrows in Korea, suggesting Hynix may not have been authorized to export the technology under current restrictions, according to local reports.

11/12/2007  Advanced technology design was a major topic at this year's Common Platform Tech Forum (Nov. 6, Santa Clara, CA). The good news/bad news is that there are no new major design concerns at 45nm, but the hurdles the industry faced at 65nm are even more challenging at 45nm, and EDA tools need to be improved to overcome them.

11/12/2007  FlipChip International LLC has completed the first phase of its expansion of its Die Sales Division (DSD) fab in Tempe, AZ. This DSD expansion adds next-generation high-speed tape & reel tools with in-line automatic vision systems capable of up to 16,000 die placements/hour. DSD is now capable of supplying 3 million KGD per week.

11/09/2007  ; Tokyo Electron Ltd. (TEL) has become the first semiconductor supplier company to join SEMATECH's 3D Interconnect Program, teaming with several chipmakers who are the program's founding members. TEL's agreement with SEMATECH adds significant resources to the consortium's effort aimed at evolving the traditional copper/low-k interconnect technology to 3D chip stacking, including through-silicon vias as interconnects.

11/09/2007  November 8, 2007 - Tokyo Electron Ltd. (TEL) has joined SEMATECH's 3D Interconnect Program, the first supplier in the group launched in 2005 to evolve traditional copper/low-k interconnect technology to 3D chip stacking, including through-

11/08/2007  October 24, 2007 -- /PRNewswire/ -- REHOVOT, ISRAEL -- Nova Measuring Instruments Ltd. announced a major integrated metrology win for its CMP process control products at a leading memory manufacturer in Taiwan.

11/08/2007  November 8, 2007 - Wafer shipments were down slightly in 3Q from the prior quarter, fulfilling expectations of slowing wafer demand that will result in 8% growth in 2007, slightly lower than previous expectations, according to data from SEMI's Silicon Manufacturers Group (SMG).

11/08/2007  Texas Instruments Inc. (TI) has introduced three new audio codecs featuring low power consumption and noise filtering capabilities to maximize battery life and enhance performance in portable consumer applications such as wireless handsets. According to TI, these are the industry's first I2S codecs capable of interfacing directly to digital or analog microphones.

11/08/2007  ; CHAD Industries Inc., a supplier of factory automation solutions for the semiconductor, electronics, and life sciences industries, has been qualified by Dage, A Nordson Company, as an EFEM (equipment front-end module) supplier. Dage will use a CHAD automated wafer handling system seamlessly integrated into its 4300 wafer bump test system.

11/08/2007  ; Oki Electric Industry Co. Ltd. has started a contract assembly service for W-CSP (wafer-level chip sized package) semiconductors using through-hole technology. With this technology, sensor and camera module manufacturers can now obtain camera modules that are half the size of conventional modules.

11/06/2007  By Raj Jammy, Director of Front End Processes, SEMATECH, and SST Editorial Advisory Board member

The success of semiconductor technology has been due to our choice of semiconductor material