02/01/2004  An Industry Perspective

02/01/2004  Like many involved with contamination control, Bob Groves, project leader at International Sematech, worries about what he can't see because he knows what you can't see can kill your product.

01/29/2004  January 29, 2004 - Infineon Technologies AG, Munich, Germany; Genus Inc., Sunnyvale, CA; and the U. of Albany Center of Excellence in Nanoelectronics are partnering to develop next-generation memory chip devices.

01/29/2004  Raymond Chui of U-Right International wants consumers to think of Texcote when they think of stain-repellent fabrics – the same way that soda refers to Coca-Cola. But U-Right might have to settle for being Pepsi, since Nano-Tex is already entrenched in U.S. markets. The garment industry is one of the first consumer markets in which nanotechnology has taken off, and the battle for shares seems to be taking a page from the cola wars – where similar products depend on branding.

01/28/2004  Chances are, consumers will never see IBM’s nanocrystal flash memory on the marketplace. But the self-assembly technique used for making the nanocrystals could become a cornerstone in Big Blue’s future miniaturized components. IBM uses a technique that allows polymers to self-assemble into a honeycomb pattern with holes as small as 20 nanometers.

01/27/2004  January 27, 2004 - FormFactor Inc., Livermore, CA, has introduced a new frequency probe card for testing DRAM die on-wafer.

01/27/2004  January 27, 2004 - MEMC Electronic Materials Inc., St. Peters, MO, plans to acquire the remaining 55% of shares it does not own in Taisil Electronic Materials Corp., a Taiwanese manufacturer of polished and epitaxial silicon wafers.

01/26/2004  January 26, 2004 - Intel Corp., Santa Clara, CA, will invest $20 million over three years in Cymer Inc., San Diego, CA, to help develop extreme-ultraviolet (EUV) lithography.

01/23/2004  JAN. 23--MINNEAPOLIS--August Technology Corp., a supplier of inspection and metrology solutions for the microelectronic industries, announced the expansion of their Taiwan operations in Hsinchu to better serve the growing number of customers in this region.

01/23/2004  January 23, 2004 - Toshiba Corp. said it has developed a multi-chip package that can stack nine layers, with 70-micron chip thickness and an overall thickness of 1.4mm -- the same as the company's 6-layer, 85-micron chip stack.

01/21/2004  January 21, 2004 - The Semiconductor Industry Association (ITRS) has released the 2003 edition of the International Technology Roadmap for Semiconductors (ITRS), which provides detailed technical guidance and milestones for semiconductor manufacturing for the next 15 years.

01/21/2004  January 21, 2004 - Litigation brought by International Rectifier Corp. against Hitachi Ltd. and Renesas Technology Corp., Hitachi's JV with Mitsubishi Electric, has been settled, with all parties reaching patent cross-licensing agreement.

01/21/2004  January 21, 2004 - ASML and European research center IMEC have extended their collaboration on immersion lithography with the planned launch of an industrial affiliation program for 193nm liquid immersion lithography.

01/21/2004  January 21, 2004 - Nanometrics, Milpitas, CA, has signed a deal to supply metrology units to be integrated into Tokyo-based Hitachi High-Technologies' (HHT) semiconductor inspection products.

01/21/2004  January 21, 2004 - August Technology, Bloomington, MN, a provider of automated inspection and metrology equipment, is expanding its service and applications operations in Hsinchu, Taiwan.

01/21/2004  January 21, 2004 - Jazz Semiconductor, a Newport Beach, CA-based wafer foundry, has filed with the SEC for an initial public offering of common stock.

01/21/2004  January 21, 2004 - MEMC Electronic Materials, St. Peters, MO, has agreed to license strained silicon technology from European consortium IMEC, and bonded-SOI wafer transfer technology from Silicon Genesis Corp.

01/21/2004  California’s inability to produce a technically skilled work force compromises the state’s standing as a leader in nanotechnology, according to a state-sponsored report released today. But the problem lies as much with state legislators as with its beleaguered public education system, particularly if lawmakers see school cuts as a quick-fix solution to the state’s budget crisis, proponents said.

01/20/2004  January 20, 2004 - Praxair Inc., Danbury, CT, has signed agreements to supply various gases including nitrogen, helium, and hydrogen for two of Samsung Electronics' production facilities in Korea.

01/20/2004  January 20, 2004 - Dow Corning, Midland, MI, has unveiled new lithographic materials for use in developing 193nm photoresists and anti-reflective coatings used in 65nm processes.