08/16/2002  AUG. 16--FREMONT, CA-- Asyst Technologies Inc., a provider of integrated automation solutions that aim to maximize productivity in semiconductor manufacturing, has received a multimillion-dollar order from Grace Semiconductor Manufacturing Corp. (GSMC;Shanghai, China).

08/15/2002  Aug. 15, 2002 - Fremont, CA - Therma-Wave Inc., a supplier of metrology equipment, has opened a new sales and service office in Shanghai, China.

08/15/2002 

08/14/2002  Allentown, PA - Agere Systems is set to redefine its business to focus on providing advanced IC solutions that access, move, and store network information. It will exit its optoelectronics business, which represented about 10% of the company's total revenues in the June quarter of FY02. With the refocus of its business, Agere is going to reduce its work force from 11,200 to 7,200 by the end of December 2003.

08/13/2002  Hillsboro, OR - Intel Corp. has unveiled several technology developments that it has integrated into its new 90nm process, which it says it has already used to build "record-breaking" silicon structures and memory chips.

08/12/2002  Aug. 12, 2002 - San Jose, CA & Chandler, AZ - Novellus Systems Inc. and SpeedFam-IPEC Inc. have signed a definitive agreement in which Novellus will acquire all outstanding shares of SpeedFam-IPEC in a stock-for-stock merger and will assume all of SpeedFam-IPEC's 6.25% convertible subordinated notes due 2004, totaling $115 million.

08/09/2002  Dongbu and ASE to Offer CMOS Image Sensors MOUNTAIN VIEW, CALIF. Korean foundry Dongbu Electronics Co. Ltd. is entering the CMOS image sensor field with a suite of design, manufacturing and testing services for these products.

08/09/2002  America's top general is urging small tech developers seeking Defense Department dollars to get out of the labs and make friends with the military's war fighters. "If you are in the research and development business … your best friends ought to be a bunch of operators," said the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. "Operators" means anyone putting together the war on terrorism's game plan.

08/08/2002  Among the 2001 ITRS grand challenges for yield enhancement, detecting defects associated with high aspect ratio trenches, contacts, and vias continues to be difficult and complicated by simultaneous needs for high sensitivity and high throughput with cost effective detection tools.

08/08/2002  Aug. 8, 2002 - Tokyo, Japan - Dai Nippon Printing Co. and Hoya Corp. have penned a cooperative agreement in the field of mask blanks.

08/08/2002 

08/06/2002  Aug. 6, 2002 - Seoul, Korea - Samsung Electronics Co. plans to invest 133.5 billion won (some $112 million) to build two additional semiconductor lines that utilize 300mm wafers.

08/05/2002  Aug. 5--CHELMSFORD, MA--Brooks-PRI Automation, Inc., a maker semiconductor manufacturing automation, has been selected by chipmaker Macronix International Co. Ltd., a Taiwan-based nonvolatile memory maker, to outfit a 200 mm production line and a 300 mm test line in its Fab 3 facility.

08/05/2002  Aug. 5, 2002 - Beijing, China - US telecommunications equipment maker Motorola Inc. has delayed plans to begin mass wafer production in China to the second half of this year, a company spokeswoman said.

08/02/2002  France-based MEMSCAP said Thursday it will buy JDS Uniphase's MEMS Business Unit in a stock deal valued at about $10 million - the very same unit JDSU acquired in 2000 for stock worth $750 million. At least half of the unit's 80 employees are expected to get pink slips, as machinery is moved from North Carolina to Bernin, France.

08/01/2002  AUG. 1--HSIN-CHU, TAIWAN--Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co.'s 300 mm Fab 12 has been certified in risk, environmental and safety management by completing the AAA Damage Prevention and Fire Safety, the ISO 14001 and the OHSAS 18001 certification protocols

08/01/2002  Tokyo, Japan - Hoya Corp., an advanced glass products manufacturer, plans to establish a new company, Hoya Advanced Semiconductor Technologies Co. Ltd., at Akishuma-shi, Tokyo, for the development and production of silicon carbide wafers.

08/01/2002  The annual International Interconnect Technology Conference (IITC) added advanced packaging as one of its focus topics this year

08/01/2002  We were young, some of us were barely out of high school, and it really didn't matter to us if the blood was visible or not

07/31/2002  Tokyo, Japan - Advanced Micro Devices Inc. (AMD), Fujitsu Ltd. and Saifun Semiconductors Ltd. have begun a comprehensive collaboration under which the three companies have agreed to cross-license patents and technology, settle all pending litigation and collaborate in the development of future generations of non-volatile memory (NVM) technology.