10/22/2007  In an exclusive interview with WaferNEWS, Jeannine Sargent, recently appointed CEO of Oerlikon, discusses the future of solar energy, her company's plans beyond current amorphous/micromorph-tandem silicon thin-film on glass technology, and how to bring photovoltaic (PV) technology to the promised land of "grid parity" -- the point at which the cost to generate electricity is no more than the cost to buy it from the distribution grid.

10/19/2007  October 19, 2007 - Strong shipments of memory devices and automotive-related analog ICs are the main reasons why IC unit shipments will grow by double digits in 2007 (10%), continuing an "unprecedented" streak of six straight solid years of growth, according to data from IC Insights Inc.

10/19/2007  ; Intel Capital, Intel's global investment organization, became the sole investor in a US $11 million round of funding into Jordan Valley Semiconductors Ltd in return for a significant stake in the Israeli company. Jordan Valley develops tools for semiconductor metrology based on X-ray technology.

10/18/2007  October 18, 2007 - At its annual award banquet, SEMI has named winners of two awards: UT-Austin's C. Grant Willson, for his work in chemically amplified resists; and IBM's Bernie Meyerson for a lifetime of technical innovation.

10/18/2007  A new series of screen printable thick film materials from DuPont Microcircuit Materials, Bristol, UK, enables solar cell manufacturers to reduce their cost per watt by reportedly achieving higher cell efficiencies, higher production yields, and lower material consumption.

10/18/2007  October 18, 2007 - Making official what had been reported for weeks, Sony and Toshiba have announced an agreement to transfer Sony's Cell microprocessor production lines to Toshiba under a new joint venture, reportedly at a price approaching 100 billion yen (about US $870 million).

10/18/2007  October 18, 2007 - Israeli foundry Tower Semiconductor says it has begun volume manufacturing of image sensor products for Taiwan's Vision Integration Technology Inc. (ViTi), with output of the home security and closed-circuit TV sensors being done at its Fab 1 manufacturing site using 0.35-micron processes.

10/18/2007  October 18, 2007 - Elpida Memory reportedly plans to complete its migration of DRAM production from 200mm to 300mm wafers by the end of this current fiscal year (March 2008), six months earlier than planned, in order to sooner focus on cost-competitive products

10/18/2007  October 18, 2007 - SiC Processing AG has secured $53M in funding from Europe's zouk ventures and a quartet of investment firms, to fund international expansion of its used slurry recycling business.

10/16/2007  [MEMS] "sensors are revolutionizing the way people use handheld devices," said Benedetto Vigna of STMicroelectronics during the MEMS/MST Industry Forum at last week's Semicon Europa. Small Times' Tom Cheyney reports from the event, explaining current thinking on how MEMS companies can take ride the big wave to consumer-application success.

10/16/2007  October 16, 2007 - IMEC has tipped initial results of alpha-demo work on extreme ultraviolet (EUV) lithography work which it says produced the first high-resolution images, and has agreed to push ahead with plans to add a "preproduction" tool from partner ASML in its 300mm facility in time for the 22nm node in 2010.

10/16/2007  October 16, 2007 - Intel Capital, the chipmaking giant's global VC arm, has invested $11 million in Jordan Valley Semiconductors to obtain what the companies describe as "a significant stake" in the provider of x-ray-based thin-film metrology tools.

10/16/2007  October 16, 2007 - Some of Taiwan's top PV manufacturers, including Wafer Works, Sino-American Silicon, Motech, and E-Tone, are basking in record sales and optimistic forecasts for the next several years, notes the Taiwan Economic News.

10/16/2007  ; IMEC and the Packaging Research Center (PRC) at Georgia Tech have put out the call for interested parties to join in their advanced research program on next-generation flip chip and substrate technology. The program addresses key IC-to-package-to-board packaging interconnect issues for 32nm ICs and beyond.

10/16/2007  Attendees at last week's International Symposium on Immersion Lithography in Keystone, CO, heard that three types of 193nm water immersion exposure tools are being used for 55nm/~50nm/<50nm mass production, with solutions for the few remaining difficulties at hand, and machines achieving the maximum resolution possible with water are being delivered in time for the 45nm node. However, the course beyond 45nm seems murky, and decisions must be made soon about deploying high-index technology.

10/16/2007  In what it claims is validation for imprint lithography for 22nm CMOS, Molecular Imprints Inc. (MII) is touting results from Toshiba, reported at the 33^rd International Conference on Micro-and Nano-Engineering (MNE, Copenhagen, Denmark, Sept. 23-26), which show defect levels "very similar" to those seen in the early days of immersion lithography.

10/16/2007  E-Shuttle, the joint venture of Fujitsu Ltd. and Advantest Corp., aims to bring down ASIC development costs by using e-beam direct write instead of masks for some critical layers in its prototyping service for 65nm chips starting this month, company president Haruo Tsuchikawa tells SST partner Nikkei Microdevices.

10/16/2007  October 15, 2007 - IMEC and Georgia Tech's Microsystems Packaging Research Center (PRC) say they want more help to research next-generation flip-chip and substrates to address "IC-to-package-to-board" packaging interconnect issues for ICs at the 32nm node and beyond.

10/16/2007  October 15, 2007 - The first of four planned 300mm fabs from Rexchip Electronics Corp., the JV between PowerChip Semiconductor Corp. and Japan's Elpida Memory Inc., is open for business. And while providing good business for tool suppliers and other partners, the new DRAM operation is causing some to worry about opening the floodgates and causing further slumps in DRAM pricing.

10/15/2007  October 15, 2007 - IMEC has launched a research effort into DRAM metal-insulator-metal capacitor (MIMCAP) process technology to address the material and integration requirements to scale DRAM MIMCAP to 50nm and beyond technology nodes.