01/07/2009  January 7, 2009: A team of University of Toronto physicists have demonstrated a new technique to squeeze light to the fundamental quantum limit, a finding that has potential applications for high-precision measurement, next-generation atomic clocks, novel quantum computing and our most fundamental understanding of the universe.

01/01/2009  Spending on equipping of frontend semiconductor fabs is expected to plummet 31% in 2008 to $26 billion, and recent announcements suggest another 30%-40% decline in 2009, resulting in the lowest spending level over the past 10 years. This article tracks the changing landscape of semiconductor fab spending, and what the future holds for 2009 and beyond.

01/01/2009  Defect detection within MEMS devices is vital to ensure their operation, but many mechanical properties cannot be determined through electrical or functional test.

01/01/2009  On a picture-perfect day in October, the Advanced Packaging roadshow crew took to the autobahn from Stuttgart, Germany to Hanau, to tour Umicore Electronic Materials.

12/24/2008  More challenging overlay requirements are driving a trend to use high-order control knobs for production set-up of scanners. This article explores the overlay requirements that are driving this trend, the challenges involved with implementing in production, and the cost-of-ownership trade-offs between different high-order control strategies.

12/23/2008  Once content to salvage silicon scrap from the IC industry, manufacturers of wafer-based solar cells have become the largest consumer of high-purity silicon. Rising raw material costs and the emergence of less expensive alternative technologies have led manufacturers to find ways to rapidly reduce their silicon consumption in some nifty ways.

12/16/2008  Let's Hope They Eventually Come Back
By Jim Walker, Gartner/Dataquest
Even though we all like to hear "Merry Christmas" and "Happy New Year" during this holiday season, our worldwide financial meltdown has made it much less cheerful. The outlook for 2009 is very bleak for worldwide economies and, more specifically, the semiconductor industry.

12/12/2008  Multitest Elektronische Systeme GmbH announced it will merge with the Everett Charles Technologies, semiconductor test group (STG). While the original brand names will reportedly be maintained, the key objective of this merger is to leverage combined strengths.

12/11/2008  The ProberBench Operating Environment, from SUSS MicroTec Test Systems, is a full-featured software suite designed for efficient, intuitive and safe wafer-level probing. The ProberBench Operating Environment, from SUSS MicroTec Test Systems is a full-featured software suite designed for efficient, intuitive and safe wafer-level probing. Development of the interface and architecture was reportedly based on a three-month user study in the laboratories semiconductor design houses and manufacturers.

12/11/2008  In a pre-emptive measure to avert an increase in unemployment throughout Europe, SEMI is appealing to EU and national policymakers to invest in Europe's semiconductor industry, citing its importance to the health and global competitiveness of the EU economy.

12/10/2008  MLW peers under the hood of ASML's new NXT 1950i with company exec Frank van de Mast to understand the platform's benefits for double-patterned immersion litho, as well as leading-edge single patterning and spacer-layer DPT applications, and even EUV.

12/09/2008  The Q304-HD laser from JDSU is a high-powered ultra-violet (UV) laser based upon the company's Q Series UV laser platform. This laser reportedly provides 50% more power and is designed to increase throughput, or the rate at which it conducts micromachining functions such as hole drilling, wafer cutting or singulation, and solar cell processing.

12/09/2008  In MOSFETs used for analog and RF circuits, 1/f noise is an important figure of merit. This article describes a wafer-level measurement method and setup to evaluate the 1/f noise of MOSFETs, which can be automatically performed on the wafer and can measure <100Hz low-frequency noise components.

12/06/2008  Wafer shipments at the world's top two foundries, TSMC and UMC, are set to plunge further than anticipated in 4Q, but the picture for 1Q is even uglier with "historic lows" looming for utilizations, according to an analyst report.

12/02/2008  Chinese foundries Hua Hong NEC (HHNEC) and Grace Semiconductor Manufacturing Corp. are finalizing merger plans in the next few weeks, according to a report by Digitimes citing a local chip industry group.

12/01/2008  December 1, 2008: Applied Materials Inc. says it is leading a major effort to enable the widespread adoption of through-silicon vias (TSVs) for vertically stacking integrated circuits (ICs) to boost chip performance and functionality, working internally and with other equipment suppliers to develop an integrated, high-performance on-wafer process flow to lower costs, reduce risk, and accelerate time-to-market for customers.

12/01/2008  I would like to clarify the comments you attributed to me as a result of our conversation at IMAPS International. I do not believe I said that through silicon vias (TSVs) were a pipedream, nor did I doubt that they would be adopted. What I said was that they would not be adopted at the rate projected. That is why I referenced the flip chip vs. wire bond issue as an historical reference.

11/26/2008  Pattern transfer is becoming trickier at 4x/32nm nodes and beyond, with thinner resist layers and higher aspect ratios/etch requirements for both logic and memory. Enter ashable hardmasks as a possible solution. Novellus VP Tim Archer tells SST about the company's strategy and technology to address this pain point.

11/25/2008  STATS ChipPAC Ltd. has expanded its quad flat no-lead (QFN) packaging portfolio with a strip-etch version for applications requiring increased design flexibility and higher input/output (I/O) performance in a small, thin package profile. The new QFN package family, referred to as QFNs-se, reportedly features a higher number of very thin I/O terminal pads than conventional single or dual-row QFN or leadframe-based quad flat packages (QFPs).

11/20/2008  Crediting the continued demand in the 3D interconnect interconnect/through-silicon via (TSV) an nanoimprint lithography markets, EV Group reports an increase in revenue for 2008 of more than 15%. Despite the current global economic slowdown, the company says it remains cautiously optimistic about its outlook for 2009 given the expected growth opportunities to ensue as these novel technologies gain market acceptance/penetration.