08/22/2007  August 22, 2007 - Semiconductor sales should slow down in 2007 to a 4.8% clip after a 8.8% year-on-year increase in 2006, but will bounce back next year with 8.1% growth, and maybe better than that if demand remains strong and suppliers manage their capacity expansions, according to data from IDC.

08/22/2007  Enthone, Inc., a business of Cookson Electronics, named Bioh Kim as process integration manager of electronic materials. Kim has a metallurgical and semiconductor packaging background.

08/22/2007  The Forschungszentrum Karlsruhe independent science and research institute (Germany) began running applications on a Vistec VB6 electron beam lithography system in its Karlsruhe Nano Micro Facility. The system will allow researchers to develop new applications in nanotechnology and microsystems technologies.

08/22/2007  Jacket Micro Devices (JMD) patented a fabrication method for 3D, all-organic interconnect structures that uses high- and low-temperature single-sided liquid crystal polymer (LCP) structures. The technique is based on JMD's multi-layer organic (MLO) packaging portfolio.

08/22/2007  Lam Research Corp. has shipped its first 300 mm 2300 Syndion etch system, designed for 3-D IC through-silicon via (TSV) etch applications.

08/21/2007  Among the literally hundreds of presentations lined up for this week's American Chemical Society fall national meeting (Boston, MA, Aug. 19-23) are talks about chemical advancements in nearly every field imaginable, from medicine to petroleum and agriculture, and materials science. Here's a quick rundown of several papers of interest to the semiconductor industry, including research into nanoimprint lithography, porous low-k dielectrics, and photovoltaic cells.

08/21/2007  Traditional scanning electron microscopes (SEM) provide essential information for both R&D and quality control in semiconductor manufacturing, but are generally slow and sensitive and ultimately become R&D bottlenecks. Perusing the aisles at SEMICON West, I ran across FEI's new Phenom, which is the size of a coffeemaker and costs a third of traditional SEMs. Note to academia and fab engineers: you'll want one, and here's why.

08/21/2007  August 21, 2007 - Execs from Cadence Design Systems and Clear Shape Technologies talked about their proposed M&A deal with WaferNEWS and Microlithography World, hinting that integration will soon go deeper than just an interface, and what other applications besides litho are in the pipeline.

08/21/2007  Qimonda and Chinese foundry SMIC have extended their commodity DRAM partnership with a deal to move manufacturing to 80nm DRAM trench at SMIC's 300mm fab in Beijing, with an option to go down to 75nm.

08/21/2007  Buildup of chemical residues inside an ion implanter limits the tool's overall utilization efficiency. WaferNEWS talks with Atmel Corp. about the results from its evaluation of a new in situ chemical cleaning technology from ATMI that reduces such deposits and achieves greater predictability for source change-outs.

08/21/2007  August 21, 2007 - Intel says it will move to 65nm process technologies for its embedded NOR flash products to maintain "price/performance balance and ensure support for extended product lifecycles," with first samples expected in 1H08.

08/21/2007  Phiar Corp. has filed for a U.S. patent for a monolithically integrated analog front end and antenna structure that promises enable multi-gigabit data transmission for consumer electronics. The company has also won a DARPA award for using nanotech to solve speed and power limitations.

08/20/2007  ICI acquired Advanced Applied Adhesives (AAA — San Diego, CA) to expand its electronic materials (EM) group. AAA and sister company Designer Molecules, Inc. (DMI), offer die-attach adhesives for power applications and other packaging materials. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed.

08/20/2007  August 20, 2007 - Taiwan's memory chipmakers are in a heated race to upgrade to the next technology node, relying on international partners to gain access to leading-edge technology and boost capacity, according to a recent report by the Taiwan Economic News.

08/20/2007  August 20, 2007 - Entegris says it has acquired assets of Surmet Corp.'s high-purity semiconductor coatings business for an undisclosed amount.

08/20/2007  August 20, 2007 - IBM Corp. and TDK Corp. have formed a joint R&D program to develop high-capacity MRAM (magnetic random-access memory) technology utilizing "spin momentum transfer effect" to create memory devices with a much more compact memory cell than current approaches.

08/17/2007  August 17, 2007 - Industry utilization rates inched up to just under 90% in 2Q07, largely driven by a bump in foundry output and particularly increased activity for trailing-edge technologies, according to data from the Semiconductor International Capacity Statistics (SICAS) group.

08/16/2007  August 16, 2007 - Just weeks after acquiring lithography modeling and pattern-synthesis developer Invarium, Cadence Design Systems is making another splash across the DFM and litho marketspace with its purchase of Clear Shape Technologies. Terms of the deal, which closed Aug. 15, were not disclosed.

08/16/2007  August 16, 2007 - Following months of trimmings and reorganizations, Nanometrics Inc. is further shrinking its corporate footprint with the closure of its machine shop and plating facility in Milpitas, CA.

08/16/2007  August 15, 2007 - Applied Materials said fiscal 3Q07 profits slid about 7.5% to $473.5M on almost-flat sales of $2.56B, which was better than analysts expected -- though the firm cast some cloudy doubt on prospects for business through the rest of this year, particularly foundry spending that has not rebounded as expected.