02/08/2007  IMEC admitted Guido Groeseneken and Paul Heremans to the level of scientific fellow for their work in CMOS device technology and solar/organic technology, respectively. IMEC's scientific career program ranges from senior scientist to senior fellow, rewarding researchers who advance IMEC's technical position and contribute to technology transfers to industry partners. Promotions are based on research, global recognition, and academic activities.

02/06/2007  Moving beyond its pilot production efforts with logic manufacturers worldwide, Ultratech Inc. highlighted application of laser spike annealing (LSA) to DRAMs in a joint paper with Samsung at the recent IEDM conference. Company execs Art Zafiropoulo and Yun Wang summarized key findings for WaferNews and offered insights on the company's future direction for the technology.

02/06/2007  Perhaps like no other time in the history of the industry, several key IC market indicators are moving into alignment, setting the stage for double-digit market growth through 2011, according to Bill McClean, president of IC Insights, speaking at the market research firm's annual seminar last week in Boston, MA. In fact, a robust five-year outlook could mean the historic IC market trend line needs to be revised -- and we might see another 30%+ growth year on the horizon.

02/06/2007  February 6, 2007 - The new owners of Cypress Semiconductor's Silicon Valley Technology Center bring two varied backgrounds of technology and services expertise, both of which will help the center expand into new areas such as MEMS, and possibly extend relationships with foundries, according to GM Bert Bruggeman, in an interview with WaferNEWS.

02/06/2007  Just when the debate over transitioning to a new, 450mm wafer size was thought to be on ice for the foreseeable future, pronouncements at the recent SEMI Industry Strategy Symposium (ISS) in Half Moon Bay, CA, indicate that the controversy is as contentious as ever among four polarized groups. "We're about as divisive as a theological unification meeting," quipped VLSI Research CEO Dan Hutcheson.

02/06/2007  February 6, 2007 - SEMATECH's engineers will focus on planar CMOS approaches and new channel materials for transistors at the 22nm half-pitch node, relegating FinFET device structures as an alternative approach, the consortium said in a statement. The position follows input from member organizations and experts at a recent IEDM panel.

02/06/2007  Obducat launched Sindre™, its high volume manufacturing system for Nanoimprint Lithography (NIL) to an invited audience numbering more than 200 attendees.

02/06/2007  Seiko Epson Corp. (Epson), has purchased a MA200 Compact Mask Aligner from SUSS MicroTec, a supplier of precision manufacturing and test systems, to support Epson's Wafer Level Chip Scale Packaging (W-CSP) production. SUSS reports that after a careful evaluation of competitive systems, Epson decided on SUSS' MA200Compact Aligner because it demonstrated excellent throughput and a submicron overlay and alignment accuracy.

02/05/2007 

By Scott D. Szymanski, March Plasma Systems

Commercially available plasma treatment systems can be used for a variety of wafer-level packaging (WLP) process steps including removal of photoresist residue after development (i.e. descum); organic, metal, and oxide contamination removal; wafer surface cleaning; and other processes. Through various alterations to the plasma chemistry or chamber configurations, these systems meet demanding WLP processing requirements.

02/05/2007  February 5, 2007 - Memory manufacturers once again made up the biggest slice (43%) of all capital spending in 2006, and are poised to take the lion's share of fab spending in 2007 as well, according to data from Strategic Marketing Associates (SMA).

02/05/2007  February 5, 2007 - Riding a surge of shipments in 4Q, Korean chipmaker Hynix Semiconductor beat out rival Qimonda to take the No.2 spot for all of 2006 behind Samsung, according to new data from iSuppli Corp.

02/05/2007  February 5, 2007 - A California court has returned a verdict in favor of Asyst Technologies Inc. regarding its patent lawsuit against Emtrak Inc., Jenoptik AG, and other companies in a decade-long dispute over technology used in wafer transport pods.

02/02/2007  February 2, 2007 - A new approach to synthesizing nanowires using CMOS-compatible technology could result in revolutionary highly sensitive biomolecule detectors for biological diagnostic applications, according to scientists at Yale U.

02/02/2007  February 2, 2007 - Macronix International Co. Ltd. enjoyed five-year highs in profit margins and earnings last year due in large part to "swarming" orders from Nintendo for Mask ROM chips and improved costs for flash-memory production, and another boost in 2H07 will require significant additional capacity investments, according to the Taiwan Economic News.

02/01/2007  February 1, 2007 - Intel Corp. is reportedly taking part in a $106 million private equity investment in Taiwan's most profitable chip assembly firm, Powertech Technology Inc., with an announcement planned for sometime in 1H07, according to the Taiwan Economic News.

02/01/2007  February 1, 2007- Spansion Inc. says it has completed the transition of migrating from 200mm to 300mm wafer processing at its Submicron Development Center R&D facility in Sunnyvale, what the company claims is the state's first 300mm R&D facility, and the only Silicon Valley company with 300mm flash memory in development.

02/01/2007  January 31, 2007 -- /PRNewswire/ -- OYAMA, Japan -- Gigaphoton Inc., a major lithography light source manufacturer for the global semiconductor industry, announced today that it has completed construction of a new building at its headquarters campus.

02/01/2007  News snippets from the world of contamination control.

02/01/2007  When it comes to next-generation lithography, the semiconductor industry may be doing a double take-and that could mean double duty for contamination control.

01/31/2007  January 31, 2007 - Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corp. (SMIC) says it swung to a $1.2 million net profit in 4Q06, vs. losses of $35.1 million in the prior quarter and $15.0 million a year ago, as it looks to maximize profits with finer-linewidth processes and control expenditures.