09/18/2006  September 18, 2006 - Qimonda AG and partner Nanya Technology Corp. have qualified their 75nm DRAM trench technology, as well as a 512Mbit DDR2 memory chip build on the platform, with minimum structure sizes down to 70nm. The devices were developed at Qimonda's R&D centers in Germany, and volume production has already commenced at Qimonda's 300mm DRAM line in Dresden.

09/18/2006  September 18, 2006 - Elpida Memory Inc. and PowerChip Semiconductor Corp. reportedly are planning a joint 300mm DRAM fab in Taiwan, in an effort to supplant Samsung as the top suppliers in the worldwide DRAM market.

09/18/2006  Hot-spots resulting from nonuniform power dissipation over a chip are the bane of manufacturers of high-performance ICs such as CPUs, graphics chips, and DSPs. And these hot-spots will only become more pronounced, as CMOS devices continue to scale -- the ITRS projects high-end CPUs dissipating 200W five years from now. Nextreme Thermal Solutions is readying its nanoengineered films for embedded thermoelectric coolers to help the industry address meet these challenges.

09/18/2006  September 18, 2006 - Synopsys Inc. and Magma Design Automation Inc. have agreed to set aside dispute over three patents, but the two firms are still a long way from being nice to one another.

09/18/2006  SUSS MicroTec, a Munich, Germany, supplier of precision manufacturing and test equipment for the semiconductor and emerging markets, announced an order for its ELAN CB6L wafer bonding system to NanoWorld Services.

09/15/2006  NIL Technology, a Denmark-based provider of stamps for nanoimprint lithography and nanoimprint services, announced the launch of nanoimprint stamps with standard nanostructure down to 100 nm at a price of 1,950 Euros, or a little under $2,500.

09/15/2006  September 15, 2006 - Hitachi reportedly has developed technology to create DRAM alumina insulating films with low leakage current, which the company claims reduces DRAM power consumption by about 10% and extends battery life in mobile devices.

09/15/2006  September 15, 2006 - Toshiba Corp. and Micron Technology Inc. have settled pending litigation over Micron's acquisition of Lexar Media Inc. earlier this year. Under terms of the deal, Toshiba will pay $288 million to purchase certain of Micron's semiconductor technology patents and license patents previously owned by Lexar Media, Inc.

09/15/2006  September 15, 2006 - Fujitsu Ltd. and Advantest Corp. plan to collaborate on development of an electron beam direct lithography to use in semiconductor manufacturing using Fujitsu's 65nm and 45nm process technologies.

09/14/2006  September 12, 2006 -- /MARKET WIRE/ -- MIDDLEFIELD, CT -- (Zygo Corporation (NASDAQ: ZIGO), a leading worldwide optical metrology supplier, today announced that it has received a follow-on order from a leading North American semiconductor manufacturer as part of a multi-million-dollar commitment to use ZYGO's Z3D 7000(tm) metrology tool for high volume manufacturing process control.

09/14/2006  September 14, 2006 - Toppan Photomasks is seeing its lead shrink in the semiconductor photomask this year, as the overall segment adjusts to smaller growth due to design activity and a shift in capex from memory firms, according to a new report from The Information Network.

09/13/2006  September 7, 2006 -- Flanders, New Jersey -- Rudolph Technologies, Inc. (NASDAQ: RTEC), a worldwide leader of high-performance process control metrology, defect inspection, and data analysis systems for semiconductor manufacturing, today announced significant new orders received in July and August 2006 for advanced all-surface macro defect inspection tools from a major U.S.-based memory manufacturer.

09/13/2006  September 13, 2006 - NEC Electronics says it has applied its new 55nm process to CMOS-compatible embedded DRAM technology, an enhancement to its metal-insulator-metal (MIM2) technology, combining hafnium silicate film and nickel silicide to reduce power consumption and leakage current, and improve on-current by as much as 20%.

09/12/2006  The surge in demand for consumer electronics has led to tracking broader economic trends such as consumer spending as one more factor influencing semiconductor demand, and thus industry growth projections. But analysts are split as to whether the industry should adopt such a broad-based economic benchmark as a leading indicator.

09/12/2006  At the behest of its board of directors, SEMI has created a new advisory board to foster better communication among device makers and equipment suppliers, and more promptly develop a clear understanding of what semiconductor manufacturing standards will be needed, and by when. First on the agenda: 300mm Prime, aiming to establish an "incremental" approach toward improving 300mm production and ease the eventual migration to the 450mm new wafer size.

09/12/2006  September 12, 2006 - Worldwide IC capacity growth slowed in 2Q to about 2.4%, down from 3.3%-4.2% in the prior three quarters, but a strong 4.4% increase in wafer starts pushed utilization rates back above the 91% mark again, according to data from SICAS.

09/12/2006  September 12, 2006 - Infineon has officially opened its first Asia-based frontend power fab, in the Kulim Hi-Tech Park in northern Malaysia. The $1 billion site, complementing similar power sites in Austria and Germany, will have maximum capacity of about 100,000 wafer starts/month (200mm wafers), producing power and logic chips for industrial and automotive applications.

09/11/2006  September 11, 2006 - Ulvac Coating Corp.'s glass MEMS division has demonstrated trial production of reusable glass molds used in C4NP (Controlled Collapse Chip Connection - New Process), the wafer bumping technology developed by IBM, according to the companies.

09/11/2006  September 11, 2006 - Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd. says it has completed a working prototype of phase-change random access memory (PRAM), seen as a replacement for high-density NOR flash memory within the next few years. The 512Mbit PRAM device was developed by using vertical diodes with the 3D transistor structure Samsung currently uses to produce DRAMs.

09/11/2006  Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd., developed a 40-nm memory device that eliminates the floating gate architecture common to NAND devices. The seventh-generation, 32-Gb memory uses a charge trap flash (CTF) architecture, which places data into a temporary holding chamber in the non-conductive silicon nitride (SiN) layer.