08/16/2006  August 16, 2006 - Semiconductor design software provider Synopsys Inc., Mountain View, CA, has officially announced its acquisition of Munich-based simulation software developer Sigma-C Software AG in an all-cash transaction worth $20.5 million.

08/16/2006  August 16, 2006 - A new survey from an industry group led by SEMATECH aims to promote diversity among suppliers in the semiconductor industry, by illustrating the most important strategic goals to achieve.

08/16/2006  August 16, 2006 - As chip equipment suppliers enjoy solid demand for tools in recent months, sales might drop down to single-digit growth rates sooner than expected, according to a new report from Strategic Marketing Associates (SMA) and Wright Williams and Kelly Inc.

08/16/2006  Synopsys Inc., a maker of semiconductor design software, announced that it has completed the acquisition of SIGMA-C Software AG, a Munich-based company providing simulation software that allows semiconductor manufacturers and their suppliers to develop and optimize process sequences for optical lithography, e-beam lithography and next-generation lithography technologies.

08/15/2006  August 15, 2006 - Ultratech Inc., San Jose, CA, has officially acquired certain assets of Oraxion Inc., a maker of surface-metrology and stress-analysis equipment for semiconductor and related industries, finalizing a nonbinding letter of intent signed in early July.

08/15/2006  General observations from this year's IEEE Lithography Workshop suggest that immersion lithography may take a little longer to move into mass production than its champions would like, and the path to the 32nm half-pitch node is also not clear. Still, the pursuit of Moore's Law continues on many fronts, such as finding ways to "cheat" the "laws" of optical physics, or using organic self-assembly techniques to augment optical lithography.

08/15/2006  August 15, 2006 - RF components supplier Sirenza Microdevices Inc., Broomfield, CO, has agreed to acquire fabless company Micro Linear Corp. in a stock deal valued at about $45.6 million, strengthening the company's position in markets for digital TV set-top boxes and high-volume digital cordless phones.

08/15/2006  Q'02 2006 worldwide semiconductor manufacturing equipment bookings increased 60% from Q'02 2005. Billings for the second quarter also went up, from $7,576 million in 2005 to $9,594 million in 2006. The figures represent a 27% increase from year-to-year. China experienced exponential growth, while North America and Europe saw moderate gains.

08/15/2006  August 15, 2006 - Worldwide sales of semiconductor manufacturing equipment rose just a fraction in 2Q06 from the previous quarter, but a big push in orders suggests significant demand for new tools, according to new data from SEMI.

08/15/2006  August 15, 2006 - Kopin, Hitachi Cable, and IQE took the top three spots among merchant suppliers of epitaxial material in 2005, due to heavy demand for semi-insulating (SI) GaAS epi substrates, a market that is expected to surge to $487 million by 2010, according to data from Strategy Analytics.

08/11/2006  NEC Corporation, NEC Electronics, and subsidiary NEC Electronics America, together created a SiP technology for stacking logic and gigabit-class memory in a single package. The technology will reportedly enable image processing in mobile applications. The SMAFTI product combines a SMArt connection with a feed-through imposer. It uses a 3-D chip connection and a 50-micron pitch microbump between the logic and memory devices.

08/11/2006  August 10, 2006 - Nova Measuring Instruments Ltd., Rehovoth, Israel, said that its two cofounders and top execs have stepped down, amid a transition into a new phase of growth.

08/10/2006  August 10, 2006 - On the heels of a favorable ruling in a Korean patent court, FormFactor Inc., Livermore, CA, has filed two more patent infringement lawsuits against Phicom Corp. concerning the same wafer probe card technology that allegedly has been incorporated into Phicom's products.

08/10/2006  August 10, 2006 - Investors greeted the trading launch of Infineon's former memory chip unit, Qimonda, with lukewarm interest, pushing shares up about 4% on its first day of trading to $13.54. The IPO had been cut down from initial pricing of $16-$18/share to help spur demand.

08/10/2006  August 10, 2006 - Israeli foundry Tower Semiconductor Ltd. said it is making a new series of 3.0-megapixel CMOS image sensors, based on its "Advanced Photo Diode" process, for Biomorphic Microsystems Corp., to be used in mobile applications including cell phones and PDAs.

08/09/2006  August 9, 2006 - South Korean specialty foundry Dongbu Electronics and Cadence Design Systems Inc. have developed a high-voltage BCDMOS (bipolar, CMOS, DMOS) process design kit for processing 60V chip designs using 0.35-micron process technologies.

08/09/2006  August 9, 2006 - JMAR Technologies Inc., San Diego, CA, has received an additional $3.1 million from the US Naval Air Systems Command to continue developing sub-100nm feature x-ray masks and next generation nanolithography, for use in fabricating high-speed chalcogenide random-access memory.

08/09/2006  Industry veteran Frank McKiney accepted the position of president and CEO at GuideTech. I followed GuideTech's development in the market while still at Agilent (then Hewlett-Packard), in 2000, said McKiney. In over 30 years of management experience in the industry, McKiney has held positions with HP, Agilent, Teradyne, FormFactor, and ADR Test Systems.

08/09/2006  August 9, 2006 - Worldwide silicon area wafer shipments rose another 4% in 2Q06 vs. the prior quarter to nearly 2000 million sq. inches (MSI), more proof that wafer suppliers are enjoying robust sales and heavy demand.

08/09/2006  2Q06 was a solid quarter for Taiwan's top two foundries, although each raised some concerns about inventory levels among customers and some cloudy outlooks for the quarters ahead.