01/10/2006  January 10, 2006 - Mentor Graphics Corp., Wilsonville, OR, has unveiled a new product to help verify post-optical-proximity correction (OPC) output, and help chipmakers minimize costly mask respins and delays getting products through production.

01/09/2006  Austin, TX — Freescale Semiconductor has added two prominent executives to its manufacturing team — Chris Chi, formerly of United Electronics Corp. (UMC), joins as VP of external manufacturing, and Gulzar Mohd Ali, previously with Intel, is now VP of final manufacturing, overseeing assembly and test operations. Both will report to Alex Pepe, Freescale's senior VP of manufacturing operations.

01/06/2006  January 5, 2006 -- /MARKET WIRE/ -- AUSTIN, Texas -- SEMATECH today announced the 2006 SEMATECH Knowledge Series (SKS), a set of public, single-focused industry meetings designed to increase global knowledge in key areas of semiconductor R&D.

01/03/2006  San Jose, CA — Worldwide semiconductor sales reached a record $20.4 billion in November, according to the Semiconductor Industry Association (SIA). These sales increased 7.2% from the $19.0 billion reported for November 2004, and were up 1.7% sequentially from the $20.1 billion reported in October.

01/03/2006 

01/01/2006  Making sense of the molecular machine shop

01/01/2006  One of the most nagging questions asked by young children on a long trip is, “Are we there yet?”

01/01/2006  Freescale Semiconductor Inc., the Austin, Texas-based Motorola spinoff, announced it has proven a 24-Mbit memory array based on silicon nanocrystals - a milestone toward developing a nanocrystal memory that could compete with embedded Flash memory in years ahead.

01/01/2006  Gajus Worthington knew three years ago that he needed to find a manufacturing site for Fluidigm Corp.

01/01/2006  Since its founding in 1953, the Institute of Environmental Sciences & Technology (IEST) has played a critical role in identifying and establishing standards for effective contamination-control practices, processes and environments.

12/29/2005  December 29, 2005 - MEMC Electronic Materials Inc., St. Peters, MO, said it is suing French wafer supplier Soitec alleging infringement of European patents concerning defect-free silicon used in making silicon-on-insulator wafers.

12/20/2005 

12/19/2005  December 19, 2005 - Hitachi Ltd. and Renesas Technology Corp. say they have successfully prototyped low-power phase-change memory cells programmed at a power supply voltage of 1.5V and current of 100mA, consuming about 50% less power consumption/cell than the companies' previous technology.

12/19/2005 

12/15/2005  Kalispell, MT — Wafer processing equipment supplier Semitool, Inc. has installed its third Raider platform at the CEA Leti Nanotec (LETI) in Grenoble, France. This latest version of the Raider single-wafer system will allow LETI to develop and deploy 45- and 32-nm processes for copper-interconnect-related applications on 300-mm wafers using Semitool's latest ElectroChemical Deposition (ECD) system.

12/15/2005 

12/13/2005  By Ed Korczynski, Senior Technical Editor

The ISMI Symposium on Manufacturing Effectiveness in Austin, TX, in October provided insights into the near future of high-volume semiconductor manufacturing. With fabs ramping 90nm and 65nm node processes, new mindsets and techniques are needed to manage the inherent complexity of manufacturing nanometer-scale IC structures.

12/13/2005  By Bob Haavind, Editorial Director

Opportunities may be limitless for the future of nanotechnology-based products, but for hundreds of startups, many of them at the NanoCommerce/NanoForum (organized by Small Times, the NanoBusiness Alliance, and SEMI), reaching success will mean a lengthy struggle through what is being called the "Valley of Death." While the potential may be great, it won't help if the company's money runs out before research turns into profitable products.

12/13/2005  December 13, 2005 - Cypress Semiconductor Corp. and Grace Semiconductor Manufacturing Corp. have entered into a strategic foundry partnership where Cypress will transfer its programmable system-on-chip mixed signal array, CMOS image sensor, WirelessUSB, and PC clock process technologies to Grace and in turn receive preferential volume access to Grace's foundry capacity.

12/12/2005  Hsinchu, Taiwan, and Sunnyvale, CA — ChipMOS Technologies Inc., a subsidiary of ChipMOS, has entered into an assembly and testing agreement with Spansion LLC, the Flash memory venture of Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. and Fujitsu Limited. ChipMOS Taiwan will become an outsource provider of assembly and testing services for Spansion under the terms of the agreement.