09/27/2006  September 27, 2006 - The International SEMATECH Manufacturing Initiative (ISMI) has laid out the initial scope of its 300mm Prime effort to encourage improvements in 300mm manufacturing productivity, and ultimately help ease the transition to the next wafer size -- 450mm.

09/26/2006  September 26, 2006

09/26/2006  September 26, 2006 - Electroglas Inc. has suspended its efforts in the strip test market, and is putting its hopes for future growth in its EG6000 300mm prober.

09/26/2006  Last week, a SEMInvest breakfast panel in Palo Alto, CA, was a tale of two messages. Underlying business seems solid, despite the lackluster forecast for stock prices, and a high trough for capacity utilization suggests strong growth during the next uptick. But analysts also seemed to be saying that the chip industry has has matured to the point that it no longer fits into a "growth" category for investors. We've become too popular, so no one likes us anymore.

09/26/2006  One common thread among research being presented at the 52^nd annual International Electron Devices Meeting (IEDM, Dec. 11-13, in San Francisco) will be the intersection of biology and electronics. Among the work being touted: fabricating nanoelectronic devices using self-assembling protein molecules; building carbon nanotube-based, high-frequency FET devices; and synthetic DNA used as programmable building blocks for patterning on metal and semiconductor nanoparticles.

09/26/2006  September 26, 2006 - The chipmaking manufacturing alliance led by IBM, Chartered Semiconductor Manufacturing, and Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd. has added another supplier to their roster. Amkor Technology Inc. is collaborating with the group to qualify 90nm and 65nm flip-chip packaging and design capabilities for the group's "Common Platform," and has begun 45nm qualifications for next-generation semiconductor applications.

09/26/2006  In an effort to optimize silicon/package interaction and leverage a cross-foundry manufacturing model, Amkor Technology, Inc. announced its partnership with the Common Platform Technology Collaboration, whose members include IBM, Chartered Semiconductor Manufacturing, and Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd. Initial efforts will be in qualifying 90-nm and 65-nm flip chip packaging and design capabilities.

09/25/2006  September 25, 2006 - Tower Semiconductor Ltd. has signed a long-term foundry agreement to produce semiconductor wafers at its Fab 2 facility for power management chipmaker International Rectifier. Terms of the deal (e.g. payment structure or duration) were not disclosed.

09/25/2006  September 25, 2006 - Simtek Corp., a supplier of nonvolatile static random access memory (SRAM) ICs, has completed a private placement of 11.5 million shares, raising $4.56 million to use for general working capital, and to help secure its supplies of silicon wafers.

09/25/2006  September 25, 2006 - AMD has hired Elke Eckstein, former CEO of IBM/Infineon JV Altis Semiconductor, as VP of the chipmaker's Fab 30 site in Dresden, Germany, overseeing the facility's day-to-day operations and its conversion to 300mm operations.

09/25/2006  Synopsys, Inc., a maker of semiconductor design software, and Nikon Corp., a supplier of lithography equipment for microelectronics manufacturing announced that they are collaborating on the development and delivery of advanced lithography software models and DFM enabled lithography manufacturing solutions for 45 nm and below.

09/21/2006  September 21, 2006 - Despite a slow first quarter, chip production is expected to return to seasonal patterns with a strong 2H06 to deliver a total 12% increase in output this year, with utilization rates climbing to 95% for the final quarter, according to data from VLSI Research Inc.

09/20/2006  September 20, 2006 - Shin-Etsu Chemical Co. Ltd. has announced a new $1B expansion plan to add another 30% to its monthly output of 300mm wafers, in a bid to keep its market lead in a white-hot silicon wafer market where several companies are raising the stakes.

09/20/2006  September 20, 2006 - Nikon Corp. and Synopsys Inc. are collaborating to develop "manufacturing-aware" optical proximity correction (OPC) and resolution enhancement technology (RET) lithography simulation models for 45nm-and below semiconductor process technologies.

09/20/2006  September 20, 2006 - Orders for semiconductor manufacturing equipment from North American-based suppliers were flat in August compared with the previous month, while sales increased slightly, according to new data from SEMI.

09/19/2006  Ultratech, Inc., introduced two tools, built on the Unity Platform, that offer lithography solutions for cost-effective manufacturing.

09/19/2006  September 19, 2006 - SEMATECH and its manufacturing-oriented subsidiary, the International SEMATECH Manufacturing Initiative (ISMI), have signed an agreement to incorporate ASML Holding NV's resolution enhancement techniques (RET) in order to qualify imaging performance of advanced logic patterns, metrology structures, and defect designs for the 45nm, 32nm, and 22nm technology nodes.

09/19/2006  September 19, 2006 - The group of private investors that swooped in with an 11th hour bid for Freescale Semiconductor Inc. reportedly has backed out of the running, after the company accepted a $17.6 million offer by a rival group -- even though the chipmaker left the door open for other buyout offers.

09/19/2006  Gas Cluster Ion Beam (GCIB) developer Epion Corp. announced that it has entered into a formal joint development program with one of the world's leading semiconductor system solutions providers for the mobile, automotive and PC/AV markets and world's number one supplier of microcontrollers. The development program will utilize Epion's GCIB technology to develop advanced processes for CMOS logic structures for 45nm and smaller devices.

09/19/2006  SUSS MicroTec announced that the first potential commercial source for C4NP glass molds has been selected. SUSS explained that the Glass MEMS Division of ULVAC COATING CORPORATION (ULCOAT) of Saitama, Japan has successfully demonstrated trial production of the reusable glass molds needed to bump wafers using IBM's C4NP process.