03/17/2008  March 17, 2008 - Intel has given a nod to four dozen of its key suppliers from its roster of thousands of supply-chain partners, ranging from capital equipment manufacturers to materials, components, and service providers, as the 2007 winners of its awards for Preferred Quality Supplier (PQS) and Supplier Continuous Quality Improvement (SCQI).

03/16/2008  ; Wafer bumping is often separated into two different categories: flip chip bumping and wafer-level chip scale packaging (WLCSP). This categorization and affiliated nomenclature is mainly based on solder bump size and the type of equipment used to create them. "Flip chip" refers to bumps on semiconductor wafers in the range of 50-200 µm in height. "WLCSP" refers to bumps that are in the range of 200-500 µm.

03/14/2008  ; A U.S.-based personal computer maker has qualified Dow Corning's TC-5121 thermally conductive compound for use in its manufacturing operations in China. TC-5121, introduced in December, is designed for mid-range electronic systems such as desktop computers and graphic processing units.

03/11/2008  ; BTU International, a supplier of advanced thermal processing equipment for the alternative energy and electronics manufacturing markets, today announced the receipt of a $3M multiple-machine order, the largest single Pyramax order in company history, from a leading semiconductor assembly and test subcontractor (SATS).

03/07/2008  ; The SMTA has announced "Best of Conference Awards" to two presenters from this year's Annual Pan Pacific Microelectronics Symposium and Tabletop Exhibition, held in late January in Hawaii. These awards are chosen by attendee ratings.

03/07/2008  SUSS MicroTec has launched an "advanced nanotechnology" tool set for its mask aligners. The new nanoimprint lithography (NIL) add-on enables MA6 aligners to print resist thicknesses from less than 100 nanometers to a few hundred microns, with a printing resolution of a few nanometers.

03/03/2008  ; In the semiconductor industry, device characterization or screening occurs through the use of two related tests: burn-in and elevated temperature device characterization, with both tests using temperatures >99°C: the first to accelerate device failure modes that could be related to those in the field, and the second to simulate functional device behavior while characterizing its performance level.

02/29/2008  ; Zygo Corp. has announced that it has acquired the assets of Solvision Inc., a Canadian-based company, including the shares of its Singapore subsidiary. With this acquisition, Zygo enters the market for in-line inspection of flip chip substrates and packaged ICs.

02/29/2008  ; The IMAPS Global Business Council (GBC) is pleased to announce that Bi Keyun, PhD and president of the China Electronic Packaging Society, will head a delegation from China and will speak at GBC Spring Conference in Scottsdale, AZ, on March 16 and 17, 2008.

02/28/2008  Amkor Technology, Inc. introduced FusionQuad, a novel package technology designed for applications that call for high electrical and thermal performance at low cost. Broad application of this package includes consumer electronics, Ethernet, and a variety of applications across all semiconductor markets.

02/27/2008  ; Technological advances on the horizon and future industry demands: this is the focus of "Will You Be Ready?: An Endicott Technology Interchange," sponsored by IPC, the Association Connecting Electronics industries. On May 14, Endicott Interconnect Technologies Inc. will open up its headquarters in Endicott, NY, for a day of information exchange and networking in order to provide a vision of future direction and needs.

02/21/2008  Feb. 21, 2008 - The latest move in metrology industry consolidation has occurred with KLA-Tencor's proposed "friendly" acquisition of Belgium firm ICOS Vision Systems in a proposed €316.9M (US $465.8M) cash transaction.

02/21/2008  ; MEPTEC, the MicroElectronics Packaging and Test Engineering Council, has finalized the program for its 4th Annual Thermal Management symposium titled "The Heat Is On: Thermal Technology Solutions for Advanced Products." This one-day technical event will be held on February 28, 2008, at the Wyndham Hotel, San Jose, CA.

02/21/2008  ; Indium Corp.'s Semiconductor Packaging Materials team presented their Equipment Partner of the Year Award to Zen Voce. The award, presented in Singapore, was given to Zen Voce's GM, Jeffrey Mah, by Indium's managing director for Asia-Pacific operations, Pang Weng Fai.

02/20/2008  With the recent investment of $5 million in MEMS packaging capabilities, Infotonics Technology Center (ITC) is positioning itself as a full-service partner for customers seeking to create new MEMS-based devices and microsystems.

02/19/2008  ; Going to SEMICON West? PTI Seminars and SEMI have announced semiconductor courses at the San Francisco show in July. Some courses of interest include: Fundamentals of MEMS Design and Fabrication, Introduction to Chip and Wire Assembly in Microelectronics Packaging, and Low-cost Flip Chip, WLCSP, and Lead-free Technologies.

02/15/2008  ; Yole Developpement has just released a new report entitled "WLP & Embedded Die Technologies 2008". This report presents the manufacturing challenges faced by the wafer level packaging industry in terms of MEMS, CMOS image sensors and semiconductor ICs.

02/14/2008  Since the beginning of February, a number of companies have announced significant shifts in management and personnel. Among them were Amkor, who's COO accepted a CEO position elsewhere; Tessera Technologies, who appointed former CTO of Flextronics to their board; Asymtek, who promoted their European sales and marketing manager to general manager; SUSS MicroTec, who appointed a V.P of sales; and...

01/24/2008  Jan. 24, 2008 - Rudolph Technologies has acquired all IP and selected assets from privately held RVSI Inspection in Hauppauge, NY, in a move to add the firm's flagship 3D wafer inspection to its own 2D macrodefect inspection technologies, and strengthen its presence in advanced packaging applications.

01/22/2008  ; Mouser Electronics Inc. has signed a global distribution agreement with HI-TECH Software. HI-TECH software is used in a variety of embedded microcontroller product families from Microchip Technology and Cypress Semiconductor.