07/10/2006  The first commercial magnetoresistive random access memory (MRAM) device is now in volume production and available from Freescale Semiconductor.

07/10/2006 

07/07/2006  July 6, 2006 - Cymer Inc. has unveiled an argon fluoride (ArF) laser light source targeting 45nm production immersion photolithography, touting a 1.5x improvement in energy stability performance and >20% reduction in cost-of-ownership vs. previous-generation ArF products.

07/07/2006  July 7, 2006 - Soitec, Bernin, France, has revealed more details about its plans to expand capacity for silicon-on-insulator wafers, involving a new 350 million euro, 300mm facility to open in Singapore in mid-2008 that will boost annual production capacity by nearly 40%.

07/07/2006 

07/06/2006  Staktek Holdings, Inc. formed a licensing agreement with Toshiba Corporation involving Staktek's NAND flash-memory stacking technologies. According to the terms of the agreement, Toshiba will be able to use certain Staktek stacking technologies for flash leaded packages until 2008.

07/06/2006  July 6, 2006 - Three months after tentatively agreeing to an eight-year, $1.6 billion deal to supply wafers to Taiwanese solar cell producer Motech Industries Inc., MEMC Electronic Materials Inc. has found greener pastures in a new 10-yr, $6B deal with Beijing-based Suntech Power Holdings Ltd.

07/06/2006 

07/05/2006  Among this year's crop of companies in the spotlight at this year's SEMICON West Technology Innovation Showcase include a Swiss company controlling the beer flow at the World Cup stadium, thinking controlling slurry flow will be less demanding; a trio of metrology startups pushing radical new approaches to thin-film metrology; and a familiar face touting a new tungsten slurry for better yields at 45nm.

07/05/2006  July 5, 2006 - Worldwide sales of semiconductors inched back up to a positive gain in May 2006, growing 0.7% from April to $19.6 billion, according to the SIA. Year-on-year, sales growth increased to 9.4%, from 8.1% in the previous month, and is expected to remain at 9%-10% ahead of last year's levels throughout the summer months.

07/05/2006  June 26, 2006 -- Flanders, NJ -- Rudolph Technologies, Inc. (NASDAQ: RTEC), a leading provider of process control equipment for thin film measurement and macro defect inspection, including data analysis software solutions, today announced the first shipment of an advanced all-surface macro defect detection system to a leading U.S.-based flash memory manufacturer.

07/05/2006 

07/03/2006  July 3, 2006 - Ultratech Inc., San Jose, CA, a supplier of lithography and laser-processing systems, has entered into a nonbinding letter of intent to purchase the assets of Oraxion Inc., a startup developer of wafer stress metrology tools. Financial terms of the deal, which is subject to "the negotiation of definitive agreements and other standard conditions," were not disclosed.

07/03/2006  The Correct-A-Chip ball grid array (BGA) adapter enables an operator to mount a 0.8-mm pitch device to a PCB assembled for 1.0-mm-pitch devices. The bottom of the adapter mounts to a PCB with a BGA pad footprint of 1.0-mm pitch, while the top accepts BGA devices with 0.8-mm pitch.

07/03/2006  By Meredith Courtemanche, assistant editor

A recent report analyzing delivery time length and prices of laminate flip chip build-up substrates found that increased demand for the substrate in 2005 created supply deficiencies. TechSearch International, who created the report, expects the problem to continue through 2006, and possibly into 2007 and 2008 as well.

07/01/2006  The residual moisture within the gas panel can react with a halogen-based gas, leading to corrosion that can gradually affect the performance of critical components.

07/01/2006  Liquid immersion lithography (LIL) has catapulted to the forefront of all lithography discussions recently.

07/01/2006  From semiconductor lithography to the imaging of living cells, optical techniques are being challenged by alternative approaches.

07/01/2006  A Damage-free Dicing Solution

07/01/2006  In late May, semiconductor manufacturers confirmed that the jump from 300- to 450-millimeter wafers was too broad to be covered in one step.