11/11/2011 

Boston Semi Equipment LLC (BSE Group) established Boston Semi K.K. in Tokyo, Japan, for customers of its flexible financing on front-end and back-end semiconductor manufacturing equipment.

11/11/2011 

Backside-illuminated image sensors require more precise wafer processing -- uniform extreme wafer thinning, dopant control, epitaxy growth, trench manipulation, etc. -- but the payoff in image quality is significant. Researchers at imec experimented with different wafer fab technologies to make a record BSI sensor. They also consider new architectures/packaging techniques for this technology.

11/09/2011 

NIST and the University of Virginia have demonstrated that electron microscope beams can be used to move around nanoscale objects, raising the possibility of positioning and assembling nanoelectronics.

11/09/2011 

TSMC's Board of Directors approved additional capital expenditures for advanced semiconductor manufacturing technologies and more 12" wafer capacity. The company also nailed down its R&D and 2012 capex budgets.

11/09/2011 

Plasma-Therm LLC sold a multi-chamber VERSALINE etch and deposition system to a leading North American wireless compound semiconductor manufacturer.

11/09/2011 

Deca Technologies, a new company backed by Cypress Semiconductor and SunPower, will combine solar wafer manufacturing methods with semiconductor manufacturing support to create wafer-level chipscale packaging (WLCSP) derivatives.

11/07/2011 

Simulation work can play an important role in understanding fundamental plasma physics, and providing insights into process optimization and development in wafer etch and deposition. Quantemol and TEL authors discuss their simulations and observations.

11/04/2011 

Key themes summed up from ISMI's Manufacturing Week (Oct. 17-21) included predicting and monitoring equipment health, optimizing WIP and maintenance scheduling, reducing energy consumption at both the tool and fab-wide level, and various areas of nanomaterial health/safety concerns.

11/04/2011 

"Silicon shipments for the most recent quarter are reflecting the general hesitancy of the market,

11/03/2011 

Avantor Performance Materials and SSMC Inc. compare the use of a semi-aqueous post-etch ash residue remover with an industry-standard HA-based residue removal chemistry. The semi-aqueous-based product was shown to reduce COO for manufacturing of low- and high-voltage logic devices, and increase yields.

11/03/2011 

The Semiconductor Industry Association (SIA) elected Freescale Semiconductor CEO Rich Beyer as its 2012 chairman. This will be the SIA's 35th year.

11/03/2011 

Ziptronix ZiBond direct bonding process contribute minimum distortion in backside illuminated (BSI) image sensors because of its low-temperature processing and high bond strength, the company reports.

11/01/2011 

ATMI has taken control of, and responsibility for, worldwide distribution of its proprietary Safe Delivery Source (SDS), gas storage and delivery system and related technologies from Matheson Tri-Gas.

11/01/2011 

Crossing Automation Inc. introduced its Crossing Spartan 450mm Development Platform and Crossing Certon 450 Loadport. Crossing Automation's May Su discusses the product design, including single FOUP EFEM.

10/31/2011 

GLOBALFOUNDRIES named Ajit Manocha its permanent CEO, chosen by the foundry's Board of Directors. He had served as interim CEO since June 2011.

10/28/2011 

Two Wall Street analysts report their impressions from last week's EUV Symposium (Oct. 17-19 in Miami), where companies in the EUV supply chain reported their latest results and planned progress through 2012. And don't look now but there's a competition brewing in source power.

10/28/2011 

ACM Research Shanghai Ltd. will install its Ultra C 12" (300mm) single-wafer megasonic cleaning tool at a leading Korea-based memory manufacturer. The tool will be implemented as part of the customer

10/28/2011 

ACM Research Shanghai, Ltd., introduced the integrated Ultra iSFP stress-free polishing (SFP) semiconductor manufacturing tool for 65-45nm copper (Cu) interconnects, improving through silicon vias (TSV) with better heat dissipation.

10/27/2011 

The GSA released its September statistics for monthly, year-to-date, and year-over-year semiconductor funding, initial public offerings (IPO), and mergers and acquisitions (M&A).

10/26/2011 

Paul Fego from Texas Instruments, a keynote speaker at ISMI Manufacturing Week (Oct. 17-21, Austin, TX), summarizes how TI's collaborative culture can address specific semiconductor manufacturing challenges -- notably the ramps of its 300mm analog fab and assembly/test factory.