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May 21, 2007 — Potential solutions are starting to emerge for preparing wafers for manufacturing at and beyond the 45 nm technology generation, technologists indicated at a recent industry meeting organized by SEMATECH .

The 2007 Surface Preparation and Cleaning Conference reported several techniques for non-damaging particle removal from wafer surfaces, along with multiple methods for removing photoresist with minimal silicon and oxide loss.

“The 45 nm generation is coming up fast – and some chip-makers are there already – and many of the manufacturing issues are connected to surface preparation and cleaning,” said SEMATECH’s Joel Barnett, conference chair. “The conference made it clear that many of our chemistries and approaches will have to change, but that plenty of potential solutions are being considered for 45 nm and beyond.”

Twelve presentations covered non-damaging nanoparticle removal, and seven offered new or enhanced methods for minimizing silicon and oxide loss during photoresist removal.


The IX-70 can assist many micromachining applications. (Photo: JPSA)

May 21, 2007 — Developed for the repair of flat panel displays, micro circuits and wafers, the new IX-70 ChromAblate on-target inspection and short deletion system from J.P. Sercel Associates promises precision and power in a small package. This laser-based materials processing system is on display this week at the Society for Information Display International Symposium, a gathering of professionals in the electronic-display industry.

The IX-70 can be applied to a variety of micromachining applications, and can be configured with IR, visible, or UV wavelengths to process a wide range of materials from metals to polymers.

The system features precise control of laser power through an integrated adjustable attenuator. Various geometric shapes can be projected onto the work surface through an adjustable aperture and an optional mask indexing wheel. For alignment and inspection of the work surface, the IX-70 incorporates a co-axial high resolution CCD camera, adjustable zoom lens, and LCD display for real-time process viewing.

The IX-70 is available in multiple wavelengths, and offers high power for its size, up to 90mJ at 1064nm, 50mJ at 532nm, 11mJ at 355nm or 10mJ at 266nm. Its non-contact technique assures continuouse, maintenance-free operation.

In addition to its benchtop configuration, the IX-70 is also available in a gantry-mounted version for large FPD repair.

May 18, 2007 — Veeco Instruments Inc., supplier of instrumentation for nanoscience, has sold its new Dektak 150 Surface Profiler to PrimeStar Solar, an emerging manufacturer of cadmium telluride (CdTe) photovoltaic (PV) modules for the solar energy market.

Dr. Fred Seymour, PrimeStar’s PV Technology Director, said tool will be important as the company ramps up to produce very low cost solar PV modules. “We will rely heavily on the Dektak to calibrate our coatings,” he said. Veeco says the Dektak can monitor surface roughness, key for optimal absorption of photons, and thus efficiency.

The Dektak 150 promises high resolution for measuring thin films to 10 nanometers and below.

By Tom Cheyney, Small Times Senior Contributing Editor

May 18, 2007 — The inaugural California Clean Innovation (CACI) conference
focused on what Caltech president Jean-Lou Chameau called “two vital segments of the clean technology value chain — energy and transportation.” Some 300 people from the academic, industrial, government, and financial communities attended the event on May 11 at the California Institute of Technology, where discussion included micro- and nanotechnology solutions.

“We are in the midst of the biggest experiment of all time, and the world won’t be the same in 20 years. We have one time to get it right,” warned Nate Lewis, one of the principal faculty at the Caltech Center for Sustainable Energy Research (CCSER), during his morning keynote, “Powering the Planet: A Global Energy Perspective.”
Lewis outlined the environmental and economic pressures created by dependence on carbon/fossil-based energy, the constraints imposed by attempts to achieve sustainability, and the energy potential of renewable carbon-free sources as well as the challenges inherent in exploiting those resources economically on a scale to satisfy the world’s multi-terawatt appetite.

“We need as much carbon-free energy online in the next 30 years as all the carbon and nuclear power combined,” Lewis explained. He then presented data on alternatives to fossil fuels: nuclear, carbon sequestration, and renewables such as solar, biomass, wind, hydroelectric, and geothermal.

He pointed to solar as “the big card…the only source that can supply what we need.” In addition to noting the difficult cost-versus-efficiency tradeoffs faced by current silicon and thin-film photovoltatic (PV) technologies, he cited energy conversion/storage as the biggest problem, quipping “he that cannot store will not have energy after four.”

Lewis and fellow CCSER professors Harry Atwater and Sossina Haile in later presentations discussed several Caltech projects using micro/nano-type approaches in the solar-cell and energy-storage arenas, such as photoelectrolysis cells (sun-powered catalysts for fuel formation) and disruptive thin-film, multijunction, and nanostructured photovoltaics, including paintable PV materials.

Atwater believes that there needs to be “as much innovation put into the [solar] module as into the cell itself” in order to improve production output and push down costs. He sees PV efficiencies in the “range of 50-70%” as “quite reasonable,” providing an “opportunity for terawatt energy supply,” as long as the price of solar energy “scales down dramatically within the next 10 years or so.”

CACI’s FastPitch Business Case Competition brought together 10 early-stage clean-tech companies (selected from 25 submissions) to make their cases to — and hear feedback from — a panel of VC judges. After hearing the pitches, the judges narrowed the field to three finalists, two of which gave extended presentations in the afternoon.

San Diego-based Riverside Technologies, which has developed a pyrolysis-based, carbon-neutral technique for green reprocessing of used tires into oil, gas, steel, and synthetic carbon-black products, won the grand prize of $5000 cash, free management consulting and VC sessions, and various promotional considerations. The FastPitch contest’s runner-up was Assure Controls, which has a rapid onsite water and soil contamination analysis tool based on bioluminescence research originally conducted by the U.S. Navy. The third finalist, PowerMEMS, was a no-show for the final round.

May 17, 2007 — Nano-Terra Inc. has announced a multi-year development and licensing agreement with 3M to help realize the potential of nanotechnology fabrication in advanced materials and devices.

The agreement is part of Nano-Terra’s effort to commercialize industrial applications of nano- and microtechnologies developed by company co-founder Dr. George Whitesides at his Harvard University lab. The agreement is designed to bring to market nanotechnology-based products made possible by molecular fabrication methods that Professor Whitesides and the scientists at Nano-Terra have pioneered. The company is using the design and manipulation of molecular structures for the creation of new properties and functionalities in materials.

“As a first step, we are focusing on how our expertise in soft lithography and in molecular self-assembly can support 3M’s own development work in certain application areas,” said.Carmichael Roberts, Vice Chairman and co-founder of Nano-Terra. “3M is an innovative, diversified technology company with a stable of well-known brands, and is a global leader in commercializing nanotechnology,” he added.

The co-development work will be performed primarily at Nano-Terra’s lab facilities in Cambridge, Massachusetts, with frequent input from and milestone reviews by 3M.

May 17, 2007 — The U.K. Department for Environment, Food, and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) has published the results of a study that explored how nanotechnologies could cut the use of non-renewable energy sources and reduce greenhouse gas emissions. The study investigated the opportunities and potential obstacles to adoption of a number of environmentally beneficial nanotechnologies.

The resulting report,
Environmentally Beneficial Nanotechnologies: Barriers and Opportunities, discusses the application of nanoscience in the areas of insulation, photovoltaics, electricity storage, engine efficiency and the hydrogen economy.

DEFRA’s Chief Scientific Adviser, Howard Dalton, said the report “indicates the key areas where nanoscience may help lessen its effects and contribute to achieving society’s ambitions for a sustainable future. However, the report draws particular attention to the need for government, industry and scientific communities to work together in answering some of the fundamental questions regarding the behaviour and toxicity of nanomaterials”.

According to DEFRA Minister Lord Rooker, “Government is considering the report’s recommendations for further research and action to foster progress and bring about the adoption of some exciting new technologies.”

The study investigated five nanotechnology applications: fuel additives, photovoltaics (solar cells), the hydrogen economy, electricity storage, and insulation.

May 16, 2007 — The Micro and Nanotechnology Commercialization Education Foundation’s (MANCEF) COMS 2007 conference (Melbourne, Australia September 2 – 6, 2007) is sponsoring a Micro and Nanotechnology Commercialization Competition for students enrolled in any university that has a focus on research activities in the micro/nano technology areas.

Individuals and teams must register a Notice of Intent to Monash University no later than May 31, 2007. Entries of no more than ten standard-size Power Point pages are due by July 31, and six finalists will be notified by August 14.

The winner will receive AUD $5,000 plus in-kind mentoring and business-development assistance. All finalists will receive mentoring and other assistance. Entries will be judged on three criteria:
1. The extent to which the idea or product is unique and innovative in nature, and the amount of cooperation and input from various disciplines employed in development of the idea and the plan.
2. How clearly the product/business idea and proposed plan of implementation are presented (within the guidelines set forth) and the attention given to detail.
3. The viability, feasibility, and potential profitability of the proposed product or service.

May 16, 2007 – The SAES Getters Group of Milan, Italy, known for its getter technology for high-vacuum applications, has signed an agreement with MEMS manufacturer STMicroelectronics to develop and produce next-generation MEMS gyroscopes. STMicroelectronics’ gyroscopes will integrate SAES’ PageWafer, which the partners call “the most advanced getter thin-film solution for high-vacuum maintenance in wafer-level packaged MEMS.” The result, they say, will deliver higher sensitivity and stability for measurement of angular speed.

The new gyroscopes will complement ST’s portfolio of two- and three-axis MEMS accelerometers to offer customers a complete inertial sensor platform. ST expects to ramp to industrial volume production in the first half of 2008.

Combining small size, high sensitivity and low power consumption, ST’s MEMS gyro promise to enable new uses for a wide range of consumer applications (such as mobile phones, portable devices, MP3/MP4 players, PDAs, and gaming and navigation devices), a market in which analysts predict strong growth.

In November 2006, STMicroelectronics inaugurated a new 200mm (8-inch) semiconductor wafer fabrication line dedicated to MEMS devices. ST’s first-generation gyroscopes, currently under pilot production and qualification, will share this production line with its range of linear accelerometers.

SAES recently upgraded its PageWafer production line to process 8-inch size wafers, in addition to 4-, 5- and 6-inch. PageWafer promises long-term stability to a vacuum or an inert gas atmosphere in wafer-to-wafer hermetically bonded MEMS devices.

In addition to supplying PageWafer technology, SAES Getters will support STMicroelectronics with technological consulting for the hermetic package design and characterization, as far as vacuum requirement definition, and it will also provide outgassing and residual gas-analysis service.

May 15, 2007 — International SEMATECH, the consortium of nanoelectronics manufacturers, has announced a major expansion of its existing research and development program at the Center of Excellence in Nanoelectronics and Nanotechnology at the University at Albany (UAlbany) in New York. The expansion is the largest in the history of the consortium, and the seven-year agreement will significantly expand the consortium’s New York operations.

As part of the partnership with UAlbany’s College of Nanoscale Science and Engineering (CNSE), International SEMATECH has agreed to locate its headquarters in Albany, increase its workforce by 450 jobs over three years, and provide $25 million to fund research at colleges and universities at five centers around the state. To facilitate this expansion, legislative leaders agreed to introduce and pass shortly a bill providing $300 million in funding which will be made available over five years to help SEMATECH purchase advanced semiconductor process equipment.

SEMATECH has made a financial commitment of $300 million in cash and in-kind contributions. The project will support new research at the Nanotech Center in Albany as well as serve as an additional resource supporting existing operations of SEMATECH members in the Hudson Valley and the Capital Region.

New Yorl’s funding, introduced by the legislature, will be used to both build state-of-the-art infrastructure and acquire advanced semiconductor tooling. In addition, $25 million of the funds will be devoted to research at colleges and universities at five centers around the state, including the Nanoscale Metrology and Imaging Center in Albany.

In 2002, International SEMATECH (Semiconductor Manufacturing Technology) brought global attention to the strength of New York State’s academic research and development facilities for semiconductor technology when it chose Albany — over competing bids from sites in the U.S., Europe and the Pacific Rim — as the site for its first center outside of Austin, TX. Since that time, SEMATECH North has become a leader in the development and commercialization of leading-edge nanolithography technology.

In addition, SEMATECH North provided a critical mass of nanotechnology intellectual assets and state-of-the-art infrastructure at UAlbany that allowed for the creation of the College of Nanoscale Science and Engineering and its rapid rise to a global resource for research and education in nanoscience and nanoengineering.

May 15, 2007 — The number of consumer products using nanotechnology has more than doubled, from 212 to 475, in 14 months, says the Project on Emerging Nanotechnologies (PEN). March 2006 is when the group launched what it calls the world’s first online inventory of manufacturer-identified nanotech goods.

Clothing and cosmetics top the inventory at 77 and 75 products, respectively. The full list of nanotechnology-based products also includes bedding, jewelry, sporting goods, nutritional and personal care items. According to PEN,

+ The food and beverages category, including containers and dietary supplements, doubled to 61 products since last year.

+ Nanoscale silver is the most cited nanomaterial used. It is found in 95 products or 20 percent of the inventory. Carbon, including carbon nanotubes and fullerenes, is the second highest nanoscale material cited.

+ Merchandise from 20 countries is now represented. The United States leads internationally with 52 percent or 247 consumer products that contain nanotechnology. East Asia now boasts 123 products, a 58 percent increase over last year.

+ New products in the inventory include the Corsa Nanotech Ice Axe, which uses a steel alloy that claims to be 20 percent lighter and up to 60 percent stronger than conventional steel. There’s also MaatShop Crystal Clear Nano Silver, a clear liquid dietary supplement that promises protection against colds, flu, and other diseases including anthrax.

The group says that in 2005 nanotechnology was incorporated into more than $30 billion in manufactured goods. By 2014, Lux Research estimates $2.6 trillion in manufactured goods will incorporate nanotechnology—or about 15 percent of total global output.