Tag Archives: Small Times Magazine

July 14, 2011 — The Fraunhofer Institute for Photonic Microsystems (IPMS) is helping video eyewear company Vuzix Corporation (TSX-V: VZX, OTC:BB: VUZI, FMB: V7X) develop micro electromechanical system (MEMS) devices optimized for augmented and virtual wearable displays. The goal is a MEMS device that integrates the display and optics into a monolithic display engine, aiming for "sunglass-styled" video glasses.

Fraunhofer’s MEMS devices can help create a single electro-optic device for Vuzix’ next generation HD Video Eyewear displays. Fraunhofer joins a team of technology partners working with Vuzix on the monolithic display engine. The partners report that they are already seeing promising results for near-eye mobile display technology.

Also read: Fraunhofer develops gas-based etch for MEMS fab

Vuzix provides video eyewear products to the defense, consumer and media & entertainment sectors. For more information visit www.vuzix.com.

Fraunhofer IPMS, an institute Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft, carries out customer specific developments in fields of microelectronic and micro systems technology. Fraunhofer IPMS develops and fabricates next-generation MEMS and OLED devices in its own clean room facilities, taking concepts from design and R&D to pilot production. For more information, visit www.ipms.fraunhofer.de

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July 14, 2011 — Kurt J. Lesker’s new Atomic Layer Deposition system, the ALD 150LX, can operate as a stand-alone or fully integrated cluster tool system for nano, microelectronics, optics, MEMS, semiconductor, photovoltaics, photonics, catalysis & fuel cells, and OLED manufacturing. It integrates process control, pumping, pressure management, and gas delivery packages tailored for the specific application.

The ALD 150LX features proprietary perpendicular flow reactant delivery with central pump for reactant dispersion. The expandable LVP, HVP precursor delivery suits multiple ALD layer deposition, including metals, oxides and nitride layers. Remote inductively coupled plasma source is optional.

The system heats substrates to 500°C, with heated chamber walls, delivery lines and pumping lines supporting deposition.

Up to 6" wafers can be handled, and the tool offers optional Load Lock. It is fully enclosed with a standalone control console. Monitoring is acheived in-situ via standard ellipsometry ports.

John Morris Scientific installs the system and provides onsite user training. Preventative maintenance and extended warranty agreements are also available.

For further information on the ALD-150LX, visit http://www.johnmorris.com.au/home.aspx or go to http://www.lesker.com/

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July 14, 2011 — MIT researchers used hydrothermal synthesis — a liquid-based method to grow submicroscopic wires — to fab a functional light-emitting diode (LED) array made of zinc oxide nanowires in a microfluidic channel.

The LED was manufactured at the lab bench under fairly benign conditions at low process temperatures, which may open up new substrate material options like flexible polymers and plastics. Researchers using a syringe to push solution through a capillary tube one-tenth of a millimeter wide. Capital-intensive semiconductor manufacturing processes and facilities were unneccessary. The microfluidic structure used to build the nanowires also packaged the final LED device. Testing was carried out continuously through the manufacturing process.

Nanomaterial geometry is coupled with electrical and optical properties, notes Brian Chow PhD 2008, so MIT uses its system to control nanowire aspect ratios — creating long thin wires, flat plates, etc. The researchers’ goal was to determine the controlling factor for nanowire shape and structure, said Jaebum Joo PhD 2010, now a senior research scientist at Dow Chemical Co. They discovered that aspect ratios could be tuned via the zinc oxide’s electrostatic properties in the growth solution. Ions of different compounds, when added to the solution, attach themselves electrostatically only to certain parts of the wire, which inhibits growth in that direction. Inhibition could be tuned by the specific properties of the compounds.

The manufacturing method could be ramped for large-scale production. Titanium dioxide and other materials may also be controllable in this manner, said  Joo, enabling flexible displays, solar cells, and other end products. Zinc oxide could be used to make batteries, sensors and optical devices in addition to LEDs.

The MIT team is also investigating fabricating "spatially complex devices from the bottom up, out of biocompatible polymers" with hydrothermal synthesis, Joo adds, targeting life sciences and medical applications.

The method developed out of discussions between Joo (nanomaterials), Chow (applied chemistry), and Manu Prakash PhD 2008 now an assistant professor of bioengineering at Stanford University (applied physics) about better ways to manufacture electronic circuits than the front-end fab, back-end package, test linear methods in use today.

The research was carried out with Media Lab associate professors Edward Boyden and Joseph Jacobson, and was funded by the MIT Center for Bits and Atoms, the MIT Media Lab, the Korea Foundation for Advanced Studies, Samsung Electronics, the Harvard Society of Fellows, the Wallace H. Coulter Early Career Award, the NARSAD Young Investigator Award, the National Science Foundation and the NIH Director’s New Innovator Award.

A paper describing the results was published July 10 in the journal Nature Materials. Access it here: http://www.nature.com/nmat/journal/vaop/ncurrent/full/nmat3069.html

Learn more at www.mit.edu

July 12, 2011 — CEA-Leti acheived higher reliability in its RF MEMS switch technology via a new design for its electrostatic actuators. The dielectric-less design uses an air gap to prevent contact between the electrodes when the bridge is down, thanks to small dielectric dots placed under the mobile electrode.

Long-term tests show no pull-down voltage drift and significantly increased reliability. By replacing gold with ruthenium for the contacts, CEA-Leti reduced stiction sensitivity and improved device performance. A hermetic thin-film packaging process was developed to prevent organic contamination and lower contact resistance.

The new switch-manufacturing process has been demonstrated on 200mm silicon wafers at the MINATEC dedicated MEMS fabrication platform. Yields close to industrial standards have been achieved, providing thousands of working devices per wafer.

Leti’s industrial partners are currently evaluating samples of these switches for use in efficient reflect-array antennas and redundancy switching matrices for microwave applications.

Leti is an institute of CEA, a French research-and-technology organization with activities in energy, IT, healthcare, defence and security. Leti is focused on nanotechnologies and their applications, mainly NEMS and MEMS. For more information, visit www.leti.fr.

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July 12, 2011 — Pure-play MEMS foundry Micralyne Inc. and A.M. Fitzgerald & Associates (AMFitzgerald), a MEMS product development firm, partnered to fast-track product commercialization. Customers can move early-stage designs through proof-of-concept to volume manufacturing via AMFitzgerald’s expert MEMS design and rapid prototyping services and Micralyne’s high-value MEMS manufacturing experience.

Customers with an "in-depth understanding of the problems addressed by their specific application" do not always have MEMS design or manufacturing experience, said Nancy Fares, CEO of Micralyne. In this partnership, she adds, customers can focus on the concept while the foundry partners focus on manufacturing efficiency and fast time-to-market.

“Our clients need to turn their ideas into silicon. We offer the design, modeling and rapid prototyping that moves them quickly from the idea stage to a foundry-ready MEMS design,” explained Alissa M. Fitzgerald, PhD, founder and managing member of AMFitzgerald. "An important part of our work is the delivery of a proven MEMS prototype—both a mask design and a robust process flow—to the foundry for a fast ramp to high-yield volume production." Micralyne as a manufacturing partner adds significant value through "coordinated design-for-manufacture development and seamless foundry transfer."

Micralyne is a large, independent MEMS foundry. For more information on Micralyne, visit http://www.micralyne.com

AMFitzgerald offers MEMS product development via custom device design, MEMS prototyping and process development, multiphysics finite element modeling, foundry transfer, production support, and technology strategy consulting. Visit: http://www.amfitzgerald.com

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July 11, 2011 — Nordson ASYMTEK introduced the MH-910W + Spectrum S-920N dispenser automated workcell for film-frame wafer-level packaging applications, with same-side loader/unloader integrated with the Spectrum S-920N dispenser. It can be used to cap MEMS and image sensors, coat wafers for imaging devices such as digital light processing (DLP), jet thin coatings to improve laser dicing, and more.

The tool is designed for 150mm film-frame wafer processing, and supports various sizes. Integrating the dispensing and handling operation into a single workcell improves throughput and simplifies the packaging line, according to the company. Advanced process controls prevent errors during transport and dispense. Both the MH-910W film-frame loader/unloader and S-920N dispensing system are fully enclosed with interlocked doors and windows. For service, access panels are removable and the system includes built-in software maintenance tools.

Handling features include programmable transport speed, multiple sensors, soft-touch grippers, and active pinch wheels. Film-frame wafers are pulled from one cassette and returned to a second cassette after dispense. A frame sensor identifies the next available wafer. Sensors also ensure cassette slots are empty before returning processed wafers to the second cassette.

The workcell has a 1225 x 1321mm footprint and meets SEMI-S2, SEMI-S8, SMEMA, and CE standards and certifications.

The new workcell will be on display at the Nordson ASYMTEK booth #6071 at SEMICON West, July 12-14, Moscone Center, San Francisco, CA.

Nordson ASYMTEK provides automated fluid dispensing, conformal coating, and jetting technologies. For more information, visit www.nordsonasymtek.com.

Nordson Corporation (Nasdaq: NDSN) makes precision dispensing equipment, systems for testing and inspection of electronic components, and UV curing and surface treatment tools. Visit Nordson on the web at www.nordson.com.

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Updated August 2, 2011 – PR Newswire — SPTS Technologies, formerly known as SPP Process Technology Systems (SPTS), a leading manufacturer of etch, deposition, and thermal processing equipment for the semiconductor and related industries today announced the completion of the transaction by SPTS management and Bridgepoint to acquire the company from Sumitomo Precision Products Co., Ltd. (SPP). The deal closed with an enterprise value of nearly $200 million. SPP will continue to have an association with SPTS through a minority equity stake in the company, and will cooperate with SPTS to jointly serve the Japanese market.

Updated July 10, 2011 – Marketwire — Wafer processing equipment maker SPP Process Technology Systems (SPTS) received the investment backing of Bridgepoint, a European private equity firm, for a management buyout from parent company SPP.

Under the plan, SPP would maintain a minority stake in the new business entity and continue as its partner in a Japan-based joint venture. The company name will remain as SPTS.

SPTS boasts 500 employees in 19 countries. In 2010 it generated sales of $217 million and Earnings Before Interest, Taxes, Depreciation and Amortization (EBITDA) of $58 million. In 2011, SPTS has acquired etch technologies from Primaxx and Tegal. Bridgepoint calls the company an "attractive opportunity" in the wafer processing equipment sector, as it targets emerging semiconductor growth areas like micro electro mechanical systems (MEMS) and light emitting diodes (LEDs).

Chris Bell, a director at Bridgepoint, noted that the investment company helped SPTS identify initiatives to optimize "operational performance, including acquisitions in attractive niche markets and joint ventures." William Johnson, SPTS president and CEO, added that Bridgepoint’s investment will be applied to market growth in MEMS, compound semiconductor, advanced packaging and power electronics manufacturing equipment sectors. Johnson, along with COO, Kevin Crofton, discussed the deal with Bridgepoint in this podcast interview.

Johnson said that, although the SPP has been very pleased with the progress made by SPTS since its acquisition, the company’s champion during its acquisition, SPP’s president, Susumu Kaminaga, has announced his retirement (within the next few years), and others within SPP were concerned about the cyclicality inherent in the semiconductor business. With SPP being largely an industrial company (it was spun out of Sumitomo Metals Industry, which is in the process of merging with Nippon Steel), the movement by SPTS management to do a buy-out was a welcome overture. The buy-out was initiated by Johnson, Crofton, and Richard Rees in February 2011. Johnson noted that SPP kept a small equity position in the company and both companies intend to enter into a joint venture in Japan later this year.

According to Crofton, Bridgepoint has placed no requirements on the deal other than that the management team executes to its business plan. "Their expectations are very different from what you would see in a US-based VC firm," said Crofton. "They expect to make their return on exit — their investment horizons are typically a 5-year horizon. There isn’t even an expectation to pay any dividends or any sort of monies back to Bridgepoint during their investment period."

Johnson explained that there was no debt involved in the deal: "it is a 100% equity deal. This confirms Bridgepoint’s belief in the strength of our business and future possibilities." He also noted that SPTS will be partnering with Australian company, BluGlass (in a JV), to bring the remote plasma CVD (RPCVD) technology to market in the HB-LED industry. SPTS acquired about 20% of BluGlass last year and formed a JV with them to commercialize its RPCVD process. Johnson characterized RPCVD technology as a potentially disruptive technology for deposition of GaN for the LED and solar markets. "From Bridgepoint’s point of view, it appeared to be one of the jewels in our crown," said Johnson.

Advisers involved in this transaction include: for vendor — BDO (corporate finance), Bingham (legal); for management — Osborne Clarke (legal), Ernst & Young (corporate finance); for Bridgepoint — Ernst & Young (transaction services), Travers Smith (legal), McKinsey, Prismark and OC&C (market due diligence). The transaction is subject to standard competition clearances.

SPP Process Technology Systems (SPTS) was established in October 2009 as the vehicle for the merger of Surface Technology Systems and acquired assets of Aviza Technology. The company was a wholly owned subsidiary of Sumitomo Precision Products Co., Ltd.

SPTS designs, develops and manufactures capital equipment that is used in the production of MEMS, power management devices, advanced packaging, high speed RF components, and LEDs on compound semiconductor substrates. Learn more at www.spp-pts.com.

Bridgepoint is a European private equity firm focusing on the acquisition of companies valued up to €1 billion. See www.bridgepoint.eu.

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July 8, 2011 – JCN Newswire — The Institute of Microelectronics (IME), an institute of the Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*STAR) brought Touch Micro-System Technology (tMt), Taiwan-based 8" micro-electro-mechanical systems (MEMS) foundry, into its efforts for lab-to-fab MEMS supply chain development.

tMt will help refine areas in IME’s three-party collaboration model for MEMS prototyping and mass production for medical, consumer, and other applications. tMt will bring its mass production expertise to the fabless/fablite partners at IME, looking in particular at cost pressures and the transition from concept to product. The foundry tMt will bring the partners "beyond R&D and prototyping," said Prof. Dim-Lee Kwong, executive director of IME, "towards productization and mass production."

IME has added other speciality foundries to its research consortium, recently partnering with specialty foundry TowerJazz on MEMS and other projects. GLOBALFOUNDRIES joined the IME in late 2010 to work on MEMS Capacitive Sensor Platform Technology.

The Institute of Microelectronics (IME) is a research institute of the Science and Engineering Research Council of the Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*STAR) in Singapore. Its key research areas are in integrated circuits design, advanced packaging, bioelectronics and medical devices, MEMS, nanoelectronics, and photonics. For more information, visit IME at http://www.ime.a-star.edu.sg. A*STAR is the lead agency for fostering world-class scientific research and talent for a vibrant knowledge-based and innovation-driven Singapore.

Touch Micro-System Technology (tMt), spun off from Walsin Lihwa MEMS Business Unit in 2004, is a specialized 8" MEMS foundry, partnering with over 30 global MEMS companies to develop and produce pressure sensor, motion sensor, MEMS microphone, micro-mirror, and other products. Please visit http://www.tmt-mems.com/.

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July 7, 2011 — poLight AS, reflowable autofocus actuated cameraphone lenses maker, closed its Series B financing round with NOK100 million (USD 18.5 million), led by Norway’s Investinor. Existing shareholders Viking Venture III AS, Alliance Venture Polaris AS and SINTEF Venture III AS also funded the round.

poLight is tapping into a viable market — improving consumers’ cameraphones — while leveraging the established semiconductor supply chain for manufacturing, said Christian Dupont, CEO of poLight, asserting that investors recognize this lucrative combination.

Viking Venture cites poLight’s progress since its series A investment (2009): bringing in Dupont and a management team, sampling the lens technology with major cameraphone makers, and developing partnerships with leading micro electromechanical systems (MEMS) suppliers. poLight has been featured by analysts for its use of ferroelectric thin films in MEMS.

poLight’s round B of financing could be extended to NOK130M (USD 24.5 million) in the second part of the year with additional investors joining the consortium.
 
poLight’s tunable lens (TLens) offers auto focus (AF) actuators based on the company’s optical polymer technology. The construction halves the camera module’s power consumption.

The device can focus instantly for videos and photos. The lens can be used in devices as high-quality as 12 mega-pixel.

poLight develops micro-optics components with wafer-scale polymer layers. It was spun out of Ignis ASA. For more information, visit www.polight.com.

Investinor wis funded by the Norwegian government to invest in highly competitive and promising Norwegian companies aiming for international growth and/or expansion. For more information, visit www.investinor.no.

Viking Venture is a technology-focused venture fund in Norway. Viking Venture invests in companies that have passed the seed phase and are ready for commercialization.

Alliance Venture is a venture capital firm investing in privately held, early stage technology companies.

SINTEF is a large contract R&D institute in Europe. SINTEF’s subsidiary Sinvent AS manages the IPR and venture portfolio of SINTEF.

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July 7, 2011 — A quadcopter designed by "Team McGill," students at McGill University, won the iNEMO Design Contest, hosted by STMicroelectronics (STM) and Digi-Key. Team McGill used the iNEMO evaluation board and 9 embedded degrees of freedom for their winning quad-copter design. The second place finisher, Stanford University’s team, also designed a quadcopter.

Each project in the contest incorporates an iNEMO Inertial Measurement Unit and was judged on the number of degrees of freedom (DoF) used (the MEMS device enables 10), hardware and firmware/software quality, the design’s novelty, its use of daughter boards, ease of use, and appeal of its user interface.

ST’s iNEMO offers 9-axis MEMS sensing of linear, angular, and magnetic motion, along with pressure and temperature sensing, managed by the STM32 32-bit microcontroller. Digi-Key stocks iNEMO on its US and Canadian websites.

Team McGill will receive a $5,000 cash prize and an all-expense-paid trip, including airfare and accommodations for three nights, to Europe to visit the ST iNEMO Development Labs in Catania, Sicily, Italy. For their second-place efforts, Team Stanford received a $2,500 cash prize.

STMicroelectronics provides semiconductors for multimedia convergence and power applications. Further information on ST can be found at www.st.com

Digi-Key Corporation is an Internet-based distributor of electronic components. Learn more at www.digikey.com.

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