Tag Archives: Small Times Magazine

Oct. 24, 2006 — Hymite A/S, a manufacturer of silicon-based packaging products for electronic devices, announced the expansion of its North American sales operations with the addition of a worldwide sales director and new offices in Rockwall, Texas. The expansion is designed to answer the growing market need for wafer-scale packages for consumer and industrial, medical and automotive components, including LEDs.

Hymite designs and supplies innovative wafer-scale silicon packages for MEMS and ICs that are significantly smaller and more cost-effective than traditional packaging, while conforming to standard QFN/SON specifications for high-volume applications. The company’s silicon packaging offers several advantages, including IC-style batch manufacture, package miniaturization, reduced labor costs and hermetic sealing.

The company hired Eric Leonard as director of worldwide sales. Leonard will help develop the company’s strategic sales direction and oversee all sales activity. He joined Hymite from Quantum Leap Packaging, where he oversaw strategic sourcing and built a global supply chain. Prior to that Mr. Leonard served as vice president at Amkor Technology, where he was responsible for managing an international team supporting assembly and test revenue of over $100 million. Hymite’s corporate offices are located in Copenhagen, Denmark and its main design facility is in Berlin, Germany.

Oct. 24, 2006 — SiTime, a Sunnyvale, Calif., company bringing MEMS-based all silicon timing solutions to market, introduced what it claims is the smallest and thinnest megahertz resonator.

The SiT0100 measures 0.8 mm tall x 0.6 mm wide x 0.15 mm thick. Unlike quartz, the megahertz resonator, which is shipped in die form, may be placed in a multiple chip module or system-in-package solution and handled as any semiconductor die. The resonator may be wire bonded or flip chipped and then plastic encapsulation with no substantial change in performance.

“SiTime offers this tiny resonator to the technical community knowing that it will find a home into applications we cannot conceive of,” said Markus Lutz, co-inventor and co-founder of SiTime, in a prepared statement. “This is not simply a quartz replacement technology, but a technology that will stand on its own enabling more functional, smaller, higher value, and more reliable products.”

The SiT0100 SiRES resonator operates at 5.1 MHz and has a Q of approximately 80,000. The phase noise performance is -115 dBc / Hz @ 10 kHz allowing it to be used in most consumer, automotive, and industrial frequency control applications. The device is passive and consumes no power. When combined with an oscillator circuit the power consumption is similar to quartz devices with similar Q’s.


The SiT0100 measures 0.8 mm tall x 0.6 mm wide x 0.15 mm thick.

While SiTime’s MEMS oscillators are designed to directly replace quartz oscillators, SiTime’s MEMS resonators are not directly compatible with Quartz resonators. MEMS resonators require a unique drive circuit and a stable bias voltage for proper operation. Therefore, SiTime has prepared a design-in kit with a detailed datasheet, LRC model, an example 0.18 um CMOS drive circuit, and documentation for rapid and successful design-in and final plastic packaging of this new technology. The SiRES resonator design-in kit is available from SiTime under a non-disclosure agreement which includes three days of on-site support.

The SiT0100 is manufactured with SiTime’s proprietary MEMS First and EpiSeal process, which is designed to withstand extremely harsh environmental conditions. SiTime says it can withstand 30,000 G’s of shock and a 50 Hz to 1 kHz 15 G continuous sine wave.

Related Stories

The EpiSeal process encapsulates the resonator in an extremely clean, high vacuum cavity. This vacuum cavity allows the single crystal silicon beam to resonate in a completely contamination free environment. SiTime says the near perfect environment yields a part that ages less than 0.15 ppm per year for 25 years with no detectable thermal hysteresis, thus eliminating frequency error sources that are impossible to calibrate.

The remaining frequency error sources are a function of well characterized ultra pure single crystal silicon and 0.18 µm CMOS processing. A single point temperature calibration will yield a resonator that is better than +/-50 ppm over -40 to 85 °C and typically +/- 10 ppm.

The SiT0100 is available in 1 MU and 10 MU quantities priced at $0.35 to $0.25 respectively. The SiT0100DK development kit is available for $150,000.

Oct. 23, 2006 — Infineon Technologies introduced its SP35 Tire Pressure Sensor, the first device to incorporate all the major active functions of a wheel-mounted Tire Pressure Monitoring System (TPMS) module into a single package.

The highly integrated device, which is mounted on a PCB (printed circuit board) with a battery and antenna to form a complete TPMS module, enables automotive industry suppliers to cost-effectively meet the requirements of U.S. safety regulations, and to address the growing worldwide demand for TPMS in new passenger cars and light trucks.

By eliminating the need for separate communications chips in the TPMS module, the SP35 reduces the complexity and cost of the module by approximately 10 percent. The single-package device integrates a MEMS pressure, acceleration and temperature sensor with an 8-bit microcontroller (MCU) and wireless communication between the TPMS module and the electronic control unit via an AM/FM (Amplitude Modulation/Frequency Modulation) RF transmitter and LF (low-frequency) receiver. The MCU silicon also includes memory, a battery voltage monitor, and advanced power control elements.

Oct. 23, 2006 — EV Group, a St. Florian, Austria, supplier of wafer-bonding and lithography equipment for the advanced packaging, MEMS and semiconductor markets and Datacon Technology GmbH, a leading supplier of flip-chip and die bonding equipment, announced the installation of an EVG540C2W System at Datacon.

During the long-term cooperation and development agreement in the field of advanced-chip-to-wafer (AC2W) technology, Datacon extended their application lab with EVG equipment. The AC2W technology combines Datacon’s leading expertise chip-bonding and key flip-chip bonding technologies with the unique wafer-level know-how from EV Group. It was developed in a joint R&D project.

In the AC2W technology, single chips are temporarily placed onto a carrier wafer with highest accuracy and high speed by a Datacon Flip-Chip bonder. In the next step, those stacked chips are permanent bonded on wafer-scale onto an EVG-bonding system.

During the initial phase, which started with the R&D project, the technology offered high device density through stacked devices, short interconnects and higher functional density for applications. The companies say the technology provides unique advantages for chip manufacturers as it enables the integration of various device processes such as hybrid integration of IC and MEMS functionality.

In addition, they claim the AC2W approach can generate packages that are an alternative to expensive embedded processes. It is intended to save device manufacturers time and money by combining the highest throughput and utilization of well established flip-chip and die attach processes with the permanent bonding process under well-controlled process parameters.

With these equipment installations, Datacon and EVG can now demonstrate and run the complete AC2W process, including metrology technologies, within one lab.

Oct. 23, 2006 — Industrial Nanotech Inc. of Naples, Fla., announced that Kolorgen Ltd., an international distributor, has reached an agreement with one of the largest dyehouses in Turkey for the application of the company’s Nansulate coatings on all extreme temperature equipment.

The dyehouse, located in the Trakya region of Turkey, manufactures products for clientele which includes two of the largest sports apparel manufacturers in the world. According to the agreement, Kolorgen will apply Industrial Nanotech’s Nansulate High Heat throughout the factory on equipment such as liquified natural gas burners, dye machines, fabric drying and ranges, steam pipes, valves and hot water storage tanks.

Oct. 23, 2006 — The Pellissippi Research Center, a new 45-acre park in the Knoxville-Oak Ridge Innovation Valley region, announced that its first tenant will be Molecular Pathology Laboratory Network (MPLN). The Maryville- based molecular diagnostic company will build a new 70,000-square-foot, state- of-the-art laboratory on a promontory in the new park.

MPLN president Roger Hubbard said he expects MPLN to increase from about 100 employees to 500 professionals within the next five to ten years. He said most of the new hires would have Master’s, MD or Ph.D. degrees.

Nearby Oak Ridge National Laboratory has undergone a resurgence, especially in the area of materials science, with a Department of Energy investment of nearly $2 billion in nano-, bio- and information technology assets.

The Innovation Valley is also home to numerous industrial parks and incubator facilities including the Horizon and Heritage Center, a proposed Innovation Valley Science and Technology Park at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory and a new business incubator planned on the University of Tennessee campus in Knoxville.

Oct. 23, 2006 — Benchmark Technologies of Lynnfield, Mass., and Holographix LLC of Hudson, Mass., announced they have entered into an exclusive manufacture and resale agreement for the fabrication and distribution of custom nano-imprint templates.

Under the agreement, Holographix will provide replicated nano-imprint lithography templates (molds and stamps) produced from master templates using its proprietary room-temperature UV-cure polymer replication process. Benchmark will provide sales, marketing and application support and will assist customers with design and procurement of the master templates used in the process.

“Holographix’ proprietary polymer replication process has been proven robust and capable of producing stable nano-scale features. We have been providing such replication services to a wide array of industries including life sciences, telecom, and metrology for several years,” said David Rowe, president and CEO of Holographix, in a prepared statement. “We look forward to working with Benchmark Technologies to service the needs of those customers in the nano-imprint arena.”

Patrick Reynolds, Benchmark Technologies president and founder said the Holographix replication process fills a void in the imprint template infrastructure by allowing for the fabrication of transparent UV nano-imprint lithography (UV-NIL) templates from relief structures fabricated on any substrate, including those that are opaque to UV radiation. He said the company believes the new partnership will open new template possibilities for nano-scale research that had not been previously available.

Holographix is a leading provider of replication services for optics, micro-optics, diffraction gratings, micro-fluidic structures and nano-imprint templates. Benchmark provides lithographic test reticle design and fabrication services to the semiconductor, MEMS, disc drive, photonics and other industries. The company also provides consultative fabrication procurement services to companies that require precision complex pattern and relief structures by leveraging the semiconductor industry lithography infrastructure.

Oct. 20, 2006 — The UK government has published a progress report which provides an update on the government’s direction and details of progress made on research into possible risks posed by engineered nanoparticles to human health and the environment.

The report demonstrates the work already in hand across government to ensure that fundamental elements of understanding, such as how to measure and detect nanoparticles, is known. Further results from the research are intended to help inform decisions on appropriate control within the development of nanotech-based products and throughout their lifecycle.

The interim report follows the publication in November 2005 of the first UK government research report ‘Characterising the potential risks posed by engineered nanoparticles’. The 2005 report committed the government to an program of research to help address recognized gaps in knowledge about the health and environment-related risks and identified 19 research objectives.

The area is being looked at by five task forces, reporting to the Nanotechnology Research Coordination Group, addressing the following subjects/areas:

1: Metrology, Characterisation, Standardisation and Reference Materials

2: Exposure – Sources, Pathways, Technologies

3: Human Health Hazard and Risk assessment

4: Environmental Hazard and Risk assessment

5: Social and Economic Dimensions of Nanotechnologies

The new report includes details of the UK’s action plans covering the above subjects and sets out progress made towards meeting the 19 research objectives. It is intended to contribute evidence for regulators and provide a source of information both for applicants for research funding and for managers of research funding bodies.

This report can be viewed at http://www.defra.gov.uk/environment/nanotech/research/reports/index.htm. A full progress report, updating both current knowledge and research objectives, is slated to be published by the end of 2007.

Oct. 20, 2006 — BioForce Nanosciences Inc., a nanotechnology tools and applications company and a wholly owned subsidiary of BioForce Nanosciences Holdings Inc (OTC Bulletin Board: BFNH.OB), reported that it has completed the first Canadian installation under the pilot placement program of the Nano eNabler system, at the Institute for Optical Sciences in Toronto.

The BioForce Nano eNabler bench top molecular printing system places tiny domains of biological material on a variety of surfaces with nanometer spatial precision, BioForce said.

Oct. 19, 2006 — NanoGram Corp., a Milpitas, Calif., developer and licensor of core process technology for the manufacture of unique nanostructured materials for optical, electronic and energy applications, announced today that it has entered an agreement with Nagase & Co. Ltd.

Under this agreement Nagase has created a team of dedicated business development and technical resources to support the commercialization and future manufacturing of NanoGram’s technology in the Japanese market.

“NanoGram’s technology has the potential to create materials that will be critical to many industries,” said Mr. Kyoichi Zushi, director and managing executive officer of Nagase & Co. Ltd. and president of Nagase ChemteX Corp., in a prepared statement. “Nagase is happy to have established this relationship and looks forward to a very successful collaboration.”

This agreement follows the September 2006 incorporation of NanoGram K.K., the Japan-based operations of NanoGram Corp., further solidifying its local presence as the company continues to work with a growing number of Japanese customers.

Begun in 1832 as a wholesaler of dyestuffs, Nagase & Co., Ltd. is a major trader, developer, and manufacturer of chemical products in Japan. The company is also engaged in the provision of logistics and information processing services. Headquartered in Tokyo, Nagase & Co., Ltd. has 69 subsidiaries and 30 associated companies. The company has overseas operations in Taiwan, Singapore, China, the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Germany, and other locations.

NanoGram develops and licenses core process technology that enables the manufacture of unique nanoscale compositions for optical, electronic and energy products. NanoGram has developed an extensive intellectual property portfolio that is expanding the boundaries of nanomaterials technologies and enabling the development and manufacture of new generations of materials, devices, components and applications across a broad range of industries.