08/09/2006  JMAR Technologies Inc. announced it received a $3.1 million award by Naval Air Systems Command (NAVAIR). This is the latest increment to be added to JMAR's current contract, valued at $17.5 million, to continue development of sub-100nm feature x-ray masks and next generation nanolithography.

08/08/2006  While the overall IC industry seems poised for around 10% growth in 2006, the pure-play foundry sector will more than double up that growth rate, up a projected 22% to more than $20 billion, according to a new report from IC Insights Inc.

08/08/2006  August 8, 2006 - Brion Technologies and Dainippon Printing have signed a joint development program to combine their technologies into a system that can simulate and verify photomask pattern data prior to the printing of the wafer.

08/08/2006  New Way Air Bearings, Aston, PA, has created a new "vacuum chamber stage" demo system which could have application in lithography, ion implant, mask-writing, and metrology processes requiring high precision in deep vacuum. Essentially, instead of putting a precision stage into a vacuum, the vacuum is put into the precision stage -- so the chamber volume is little more than the size of the wafer, and all mechanical linkages are outside the chamber.

08/08/2006  August 8, 2006 - Continued strong demand for semiconductors, particularly in North America and Asia-Pacific, is keeping not only chipmakers busy, but it's turning into a great year for chemical and materials suppliers as well, according to a report from The Information Network.

08/07/2006  DuPont Electronic Technologies established a Semiconductor Materials Technical Center in Taiwan's Hsinchu Science Park, as part of its long-term growth plan. The Semiconductor Materials Technical Center is DuPont Taiwan Technical Center's (DTTC's) third Taiwan facility. The facility includes single wafer processing capability, analytical and metrology tools, and a semiconductor process technology research staff.

08/07/2006  August 7, 2006 - Fujitsu Microelectronics America Inc. and the Tokyo Institute of Technology say they have developed a new material for use with non-volatile ferroelectric random access memory (FeRAM) targeting 65nm manufacturing processes, enabling up to 5x greater data storage capacity than materials currently used in FeRAM production.

08/07/2006  August 7, 2006 - MoSys Inc., a provider of high-density system-on-chip (SoC) embedded memory technology IP, says it has completed the basic R&D phase for porting its 1T-SRAM embedded memory to 65nm semiconductor manufacturing processes.

08/07/2006  August 7, 2006 - Helium Leak Testing Inc., Northridge, CA, a provider of helium leak detection systems, has formed a semiconductor fabrication service group to support installation, repair and servicing of vacuum systems from US and international manufacturers.

08/07/2006  August 7, 2006 - Semiconductor Research Corp., a university-research consortium for semiconductor technologies, has appointed Jeffrey Welser as director of its Nanotechnology Research Initiative (NRI), overseeing research in nanoelectronics in collaboration with U.S. federal and state government research agencies.

08/04/2006  August 4, 2006 - Brion Technologies says it is expanding its management roster following "considerable" growth over the past year, to help support work with partners spanning design to manufacturing and wafer metrology.

08/04/2006  August 4, 2006 -- /BUSINESS WIRE/ -- TOKYO & MILPITAS, Calif. -- Toshiba Corporation (Minato-ku, Tokyo, Japan) and SanDisk(R) Corporation (Milpitas, CA, USA) today announced that, further to definitive agreements that the companies entered into in July 2006, construction has started of Fab 4, a 300-millimeter (mm) wafer fab, in Yokkaichi, in Mie Prefecture, Japan.

08/03/2006  August 3, 2006 - Matsushita Electric Industrial Co. Ltd. and Renesas Technology Corp. say they have entered full integration testing of 45nm system-on-chip (SoC) manufacturing technology. The process will be used by both companies in manufacturing SoCs for mobile products and networked consumer electronics products.

08/03/2006  August 3, 2006 - SanDisk Corp. has appointed Atsuyoshi Koike as president of SanDisk Ltd. KK, its wholly owned subsidiary in Japan, to focus on technology and fab operations at its flash wafer development and manufacturing facility in Yokkaichi, a JV with Toshiba. He also will oversee development of the JV's upcoming Fab 4 facility, a 300mm/100,000 WPM fab projected to come online in late 2007.

08/02/2006  August 2, 2006 - Calling it a case of "deceptive conduct" that resulted in an anticompetitive "hold-up of the computer memory industry," the US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has overturned a previous court ruling, finding that Rambus Inc. unlawfully monopolized markets for four computer memory technologies that were incorporated into industry standards for SDRAM and DDR SDRAM.

08/02/2006  August 2, 2006 - The top suppliers of semiconductors welcomed new neighbors in 1H06 -- pure-play foundry giant Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. (TSMC) and fabless giant Qualcomm, which vaulted to the ranks among leading chip suppliers in 1H06, according to the latest rankings from IC Insights Inc.

08/01/2006  The double-side process module DV-38DS enables the simultaneous removal of front-side polymers and backside defects. This process uses DSP+ chemistries followed by a double-sided deionizing water rinse. The module joins other Da Vinci series back-end post-etch residue removal processors in SEZ's back-end-of-line suite.

08/01/2006  August 1, 2006 - Photronics Inc., Brookfield, CT, has lowered its outlook for fiscal 3Q06, citing a shortfall in flat-panel display mask orders and shipments vs. previous forecasts, particularly in Korea and Taiwan.

08/01/2006  August 1, 2006 - Therma-Wave Inc., Fremont, CA, said it has tacked on a year to its $15 million line of credit from SVB Silicon Valley Bank, which is now available to finance working capital needs through June 2008.

08/01/2006  Comfort is important to contamination-control professionals confined to the cleanroom or lab for extended periods of time.