10/05/2006  A team of engineers and technicians at International SEMATECH North have successfully used 193 nm immersion technology to pattern features narrower than 45 nm half-pitch in multiple orientations simultaneously.

10/04/2006  October 4, 2006 - By the end of next year, Chinese flagship foundry Semiconductor Manufacturing International Co. (SMIC) will have three 300mm wafer fabs, giving it a total 300mm wafer foundry capacity of 60,000 wafers/month, more than bigger rivals United Microelectronics Corp. (UMC) and Chartered Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. Ltd., according to a report in the Taiwan Economic News.

10/04/2006  October 4, 2006 - Sipex has officially closed its wafer fab in Milpitas, CA, with product manufacturing from the site having been transferred to China and Taiwan.

10/04/2006  October 4, 2006 - Researchers at SEMATECH North in Albany, NY, claim to have successfully patterned features narrower than 45nm (half-pitch) in multiple orientations using 193nm immersion lithography and azimuthal polarization, which allows for aggressive imaging of arbitrary circuit features beyond simple line-and-space test patterns.

10/03/2006  October 3, 2006 - Silicon wafer suppliers surveyed by SEMI are forecasting 18% growth in shipments this year, followed by a slowdown in 2007 and then more growth in the teens in 2008.

10/03/2006  Three top investment analysts speaking at a SEMI breakfast near Boston on Sept. 27 outlined somewhat divergent scenarios about whether the current upsurge in tool orders will continue through next year. What they did agree on was that the buying cycles are moderating, and that the result may be an improved outlook for investors, both private and public, in this industry sector.

10/03/2006  After leading much of IBM's technology development over a multidecade career, Walter Lange recently joined common platform alliance partner Chartered Semiconductor Manufacturing. In an exclusive interview with WaferNEWS during the recent Chartered Technology Forum (Sept. 28), Lange offered frank and insightful comments on Chartered's R&D strategy and its manufacturing goals, and some amusing stories of what it takes to prove a new technology really works.

10/03/2006  Though growing at just half the rate of the semiconductor industry, the long-suffering maskmaking industry is presently in fine shape, according to experts at the 26_th Annual BACUS Symposium on Photomask Technology in Monterey, CA, Sept. 18-22. Average yields are quite high, and most obvious failure modes are being successfully addressed. EUV maskmaking technology continues to improve, while high-index fluids and double processing technology still present a lot of challenges.

10/03/2006  The Infinity RF wafer probe series works with fine-pitch aluminum pads, creating low and stable contact resistance. Densification and nanodevice trends drove the development of the probes at pitches down to 50µm. The series is said to accurately probe smaller pads, including mixed-signal MOS devices.

10/03/2006  UMC, a leading global semiconductor foundry, and Singapore's Institute of Microelectronics (IME), have sealed a partnership to jointly develop Radio Frequency modeling solutions for 90nm technologies. The cooperation is intended to result in the development of new methodologies that are applicable for advanced technologies at 90nm and beyond.

10/02/2006  October 2, 2006 - Cadence Design Systems Inc. has announced what it calls a "lithography-aware" design flow that links resolution-enhancement technologies (RET) with physical design and verification.

10/02/2006  October 2, 2006 ¿ Worldwide sales of semiconductors to a record $20.5 billion in August, thanks to surging demand for both DRAM and NAND flash memory to meet holiday purchasing projections, according to the Semiconductor Industry Association (SIA). Chip sales surged 10.5% from the same month a year ago and 2.1% sequentially, to surpass the previous record of $20.4 billion set in Nov. 2005.

10/01/2006  It was after production units started shipping that the contamination problems cropped up, says Kimberly Subrahmanyan, engineering director for the semiconductor link processing group at Electro Scientific Industries, Inc.

10/01/2006  SHANGHAI, China - Verisilicon Holdings Co., Ltd., an ASIC design foundry, semiconductor library, and intellectual property (IP) provider, along with Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corporation (SMIC), will release a standard design platform (SDP) for 0.13-μm low-leakage processes.

10/01/2006  The latest contamination control innovations and inventions

09/29/2006  Cascade Microtech, a Beaverton, Ore., maker of wafer-level measurement products, announced it has made significant technological advancements to its line of Infinity probes, offering finer pitches (down to 50 um), smaller contact area and higher frequency operation (up to 220 GHz).

09/28/2006  September 28, 2006 - NXP, the former chipmaking arm of Royal Philips, is buying out minority partner EDB Investments Pte. (EDBI) in Systems on Silicon Manufacturing Co. Pte. Ltd. (SSMC), their Singapore chipmaking JV with TSMC.

09/28/2006  Fujitsu Limited announced it has signed an agreement with Spansion Japan Limited to purchase JV1 and JV2, two of Spansion semiconductor fabs in Japan for 17 billion yen, including the building, machinery for power generation, and production facilities.

09/28/2006  September 28, 2006 - Spansion Japan Ltd. is selling two of its older semiconductor fabs in Japan to Fujitsu Ltd. for approximately $150 million, to help Spansion refocus resources on its 300mm and 45nm efforts, and boost Fujitsu's foundry business for standard logic LSI devices.

09/28/2006  September 28, 2006 - Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. (TSMC) reportedly is stepping up its R&D efforts for leading-edge chip manufacturing, in an effort to get ahead of the field and avoid underselling competition for the 65nm node that it's already seen at 90nm