07/18/2007  July 17, 2007 - Two earthquakes (magnitudes 6.0 and 6.8) that struck off the coast of Japan Monday morning caused damage to areas in central Japan, causing a handful of deaths, flattening neighborhoods and roads, and sparking a fire at a nuclear facility, but appear to have had little impact on the island's semiconductor manufacturing operations, according to local news and analysts' reports.

07/17/2007  Days before Semicon West, WaferNEWS caught up with Christopher Moore, president/CEO of Advanced Metrology Systems (AMS), nee Philips AMS, to chat about how life is different nine months after taking the private equity route.

07/17/2007  What happens when you put a design software vendor, a chip manufacturer, and a photomask maker all at one table and ask them to talk about yield? Not surprisingly, the software vendor finds himself on the hot seat.

07/17/2007  Sharp differences on the need to prepare for a shift to 450mm wafers broke into the open on SEMICON West's opening day (Monday, July 16). SEMI and SEMATECH have different timelines for when 450mm might be needed, and how much work should be put into -- and what benefits will come out of -- current 300mm productivity improvement efforts. SEMATECH is even raising the ante by pledging to form a new 450mm program next year to lay the groundwork for evaluating 450mm requirements and standards.

07/16/2007  July 16, 2007 - At SEMICON West, European R&D consortium IMEC is disclosing it results after a year of 32nm half-pitch work, noting progress in all three of its areas of focus: high-index 193nm immersion litho, double-patterning, and EUV.

07/16/2007  July 16, 2007 - Rudolph Technologies Inc. is unveiling two metrology tools at SEMICON West, targeting DRAM, multi-surface macroinspection, as well as data analysis system to capture and analyze process performance information.

07/16/2007  A quick roundup of news and views ahead of SEMICON West finds ASML tipping a KrF version of its Twinscan and announcing a first customer for its "ultimate" XT:1900i immersion tool; Cymer's "socialized medicine" for laser light sources; and Synopsys weaving its tools together to drive next-generation yields.

07/16/2007  On the surface, the latest DFM-industry consolidation appears to be a win-win for both Cadence Design Systems Inc. and Invarium Inc., though interviews with WaferNEWS suggest much work still has to be done to figure out the exact combination and roadmap going forward.

07/16/2007  KLA-Tencor's Surfscan SP2^XP, released earlier this year, was initially release to inspect defects on bare wafers. Now the SURFmonitor haze analysis capability has added new image processing algorithms to allow for applications in IC manufacturing. SURFmonitor is an add-on option to either a SP2 or SP2^XP darkfield/brightfield laser scattering surface inspection system.

07/16/2007  targeting compact fluorescent lam (CFL) assemblies — combines a high-side 625-V gate-driver circuit, two 550-V MOSFETs, a frequency-control circuit, and a shunt regulator in an 8-DIP system-in-package (SiP).

07/16/2007  July 16, 2007 - Synopsys Inc. has agreed to purchase certain of Mosaid Technologies Inc.'s semiconductor IP assets, consisting mainly of DDR memory controllers and phase-locked loop product families, for $15 million in cash, to bolster its DesignWare IP portfolio of standards-based connectivity IP.

07/16/2007  July 16, 2007 - First Nano, a division of CVD Equipment Corp., has unveiled two solid source deposition systems specifically for producing semiconducting nanowires, saying that solid sources such as gallium and zinc powders are less expensive and safer than conventional metal organic sources used in metal organic vapor deposition chemical vapor deposition (MOCVD) methods for manufacturing LEDs.

07/13/2007  July 13, 2007 - After posting a Samsung Electronics posted a six-year low in fiscal-year profits in 2Q07, but the company indicated it actually could exceed its 2007 capex plans, and maybe increase 2008 capex as well.

07/13/2007  July 13, 2007 - Days after appointing a new CEO and president, Israeli metrology firm Tevet Process Control Technologies Ltd. says it has received $2.75 million in new financing, including support from the VC arm of customer Intel Corp.

07/13/2007  SEMICON West, July 16–20 in San Francisco, will feature more than 1,250 exhibitors in the Moscone Center from the 17th, highlighting new products, processes, and materials. Following are products to look for at the show from Juki, FINETECH, CHAD Industries and Asymtek, Kester, and Wentworth Labs.

07/12/2007  July 12, 2007 - Qimonda AG says it has started sampling ultralow-power 512Mbit DRAM devices for mobile applications, using a 75nm low-power trench technology, that consume just 20% of power as equivalent-density standard DRAMs. Target end-devices include smart/feature phones, portable GPS, digital cameras, and MP3 players.

07/12/2007  July 12, 2007 - In the latest sign of consolidation in the DFM universe, Cadence Design Systems Inc. has acquired Invarium Inc., a developer of lithography modeling and pattern-synthesis technology, creating what the firms say is combined DFM solution that can enable, prevent, detect, correct, and optimizate manufacturing effects on advanced geometry designs.

07/12/2007  June 27, 2007 -- /PRNewswire/ -- MILPITAS, CA -- Celerity, Inc. announced today the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California returned a verdict in favor of Celerity in its patent infringement suit against Ultra Clean Holdings, Inc., and its subsidiary Ultra Clean Technology Systems and Service, Inc.

07/11/2007  July 11, 2007 - Vesta Technology Inc. and SEMATECH's Advanced Technology Development Facility (ATDF) say they are touting a pair of technology achievements: a nondamaging process that allows deposition of plasma-enhanced TiN films at 30% lower temperatures than conventional methods, and a "super high-k" offering nearly twice the dielectric constant than HfO₂- and ZrO₂-based films.

07/11/2007  July 11, 2007 - Nikon Precision Inc. has released two new DUV lithography scanners, built on its Tandem Stage platform, to improve productivity and enhance overlay performance.