Solid State Technology articles from April 2009

Solid State Technology archives from April 2009

SPIE advanced lithography conference.(SST On the Scene)(Conference news)
April 1, 2009... Infrastructure for advanced litho makes progress In exclusive video interviews with SST's Debra Vogler, industry experts summarized the status of immersion lithography at 32nm and 22nm. Harry Levinson of AMD notes that, although [k.sub.1]...

Solar photovoltaics.(Web Exclusives: ONLINE AT WWW.SOLID-STATE.COM)(Brief article)
April 1, 2009... Why the US is lagging in global PV--and how to change it A decade ago the US was the manufacturing leader for photovoltaic technologies. Today, though its market continues to have strong potential, domestic manufacturing continues to lag....

Basic research is now applied.(American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009)(Editorial)
April 1, 2009... The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (HR 1), which was signed into law on February 17th by President Obama, includes more than $15 billion for vital scientific research programs. It includes significant increases in funding for the...

Fabless up, memory down in 2008.(BUSINESS TRENDS)(Brief article)
April 1, 2009... The top-ranked chip suppliers stayed essentially the same at year's end, but within the top 20 companies there were some significant changes, as tracked by IC Insights. Sales of at least $3.6B were required to make the top 20 suppliers list in...

Spending on worldwide fabs for frontend manufacturing will hit a 15-year low point in 2009, according to SEMI.(WORLDWIDE HIGHLIGHTS)(Semiconductor Equipment and Materials International )(Brief article)
April 1, 2009... Spending on worldwide fabs for frontend manufacturing will hit a 15-year low point in 2009, according to SEMI. And Gartner (-24%), IDC (-22%), and In-Stat (-20%) all see an increasingly lousy year ahead for chip sales.

CEA-Leti and Brewer Science are extending their work with 3D chip stacking into a lab pact.(WORLDWIDE HIGHLIGHTS)
April 1, 2009... CEA-Leti and Brewer Science are extending their work with 3D chip stacking into a lab pact targeting 3D integration and MEMS coatings.

SEMATECH and Asahi Glass aim to speed commercialization.(WORLDWIDE HIGHLIGHTS)
April 1, 2009... SEMATECH and Asahi Glass aim to speed commercialization of EUV mask blanks.

Synopsys, Powerchip, and Nikon are collaborating.(WORLDWIDE HIGHLIGHTS)
April 1, 2009... Synopsys,Powerchip, and Nikon are collaborating on 42nm flash memory optimization.

Selete is using Mentor Graphics' Calibre platform for simulation and compensation of EUV flare.(WORLDWIDE HIGHLIGHTS)
April 1, 2009... Selete is using Mentor Graphics' Calibre platform for simulation and compensation of EUV flare for memory and logic ICs.

IBM, Applied Materials, and the U. of Albany are jointly developing process modeling.(USA)
April 1, 2009... IBM, Applied Materials, and the U. of Albany are jointly developing process modeling for 22nm finFETs.

Tela Innovations has acquired Blaze DFM.(USA)
April 1, 2009... Tela Innovations has acquired Blaze DFM, adding power optimization to its own layout optimization capabilities.

IBM and PDF Solutions are developing a software/design IP platform.(USA)
April 1, 2009... IBM and PDF Solutions are developing a software/design IP platform focused on chip scaling by "design co-optimization."

Brion has added specs for Cymer lasers.(USA)
April 1, 2009... Brion has added specs for Cymer lasers to its computational lithography modeling.

Wacker Chemie AG.(USA)
April 1, 2009... Wacker Chemie AG plans build $1B polysilicon plant in Bradley County, TN.

IBM will fab Ramtron's 0.18[micro]m FRAMs.(USA)
April 1, 2009... IBM will fab Ramtron's 0.18[micro]m FRAMs at its Burlington, VT site.

Axcelis is selling its 50% stake in a Japanese JV to partner Sumitomo Heavy Industries.(USA)(joint ventures)(Brief article)
April 1, 2009... Axcelis is selling its 50% stake in a Japanese JV to partner Sumitomo Heavy Industries, and will use some of the cash to pay off defaulted notes.

Tokyo Electron will sell Oerlikon's PV tools in Japan.(ASIAFOCUS)
April 1, 2009... Tokyo Electron will sell Oerlikon's PV tools in Japan and elsewhere in Asia.

Formosa Epitaxy.(ASIAFOCUS)
April 1, 2009... Formosa Epitaxy reportedly is eyeing a new LED plant in China's eastern Shandong province.

Mitsubishi Electric.(ASIAFOCUS)
April 1, 2009... Mitsubishi Electric is touting a record 18.9% conversion efficiency rate for a 150x150mm multi-crystalline silicon PV cell, thanks to a new rear-surface reflection structure.

Shin-Etsu Chemical.(ASIAFOCUS)
April 1, 2009... Shin-Etsu Chemical has developed an ultrathick photoresist for thick plating applications such as copper pillar bump processing in semiconductor packaging.

South Korean scientists claim to have discovered electrical properties in a "multi-ferroic material.(ASIAFOCUS)
April 1, 2009... South Korean scientists claim to have discovered electrical properties in a "multi-ferroic material" that may lead to better memory devices and solar power cells.

ASE and AMPI plan to offer semiconductor manufacturing turnkey services.(ASIAFOCUS)
April 1, 2009... ASE and AMPI plan to offer semiconductor manufacturing turnkey services for MOSFET, power IC, and discrete customers.

Qimonda.(EUROFOCUS)(Brief article)
April 1, 2009... Talks with potential investors was unresolved approaching a March deadline, so Qimonda began ramping down production at its Dresden site to "stand-by mode" to preserve its Buried Wordline technology until/if needed.

Suss MicroTec and iX-factory are combining efforts to work on microfluidics and optical MEMS.(EUROFOCUS)
April 1, 2009... Suss MicroTec and iX-factory are combining efforts to work on microfluidics and optical MEMS, based on Suss' new mask/bond aligners and wafer bonders.

The tightening litho horse race.(TECHNOLOGY NEWS)(Lithography Circuit fabrication conference)
April 1, 2009... Experts say we're on an 'optics forever' path. EUV is gaining momentum and closing the gap, though the finish line is still several years away (and may keep moving). This year's SPIE's Advanced Lithography Conference in San Jose, CA, provided a...

"Virtuous cycle" for ICs, LCD applies to PV too.(TECHNOLOGY NEWS)(integrated circuits)(Liquid crystal display )(photovoltaics)(Brief article)
April 1, 2009... Moore's Law predicts the supply side of ICs, but the demand side can be understood as a "virtuous cycle" of technology advancement, lower costs, and rising demand leading to reinvestment. This same principle is in play for the emerging market...

NEC: trumping conventional scaling with 3D packaging.(TECHNOLOGY NEWS)(three dimension)
April 1, 2009... In a bid to expand applications for 3D packaging, NEC has developed a 3D chip-stacked flexible memory to support large-scale high-performance systems-on-chip (SoC). The new SoC's architecture consists of separate logic (excluding embedded...

Precursors for group IV epitaxy for micro/opto-electronic applications.(SILICON EPITAXY)(Cover story)
April 1, 2009... As CMOS dimensional scaling has progressed along the Moore's Law path for the last 40 years, increasing transistor performance year over year has become more difficult. To this extent, new materials have become an integral component for...

Progress towards the merger of compound semiconductors and silicon.(TRANSISTOR ENGINEERING)
April 1, 2009... As a recap, compound semiconductors are interesting within the context of integration into mainstream silicon technology because their high mobility allows substantial voltage reduction while keeping performance constant. Because voltage swing...

Automation is key to getting lean for 450mm manufacturing.(450mm UPDATE)
April 1, 2009... As global competition increases, semiconductor chip makers are constantly looking for ways to be more efficient and competitive. At a time when getting more for less has become a common buzzword in any business sector, it is an absolute...

Deep silicon etch for TSVs with improved via profile/process control.(TSVs)(through silicon via)
April 1, 2009... TSV is an evolution of 3D packaging, combining the best aspects of system-on-chip (SOC), where different functional blocks are fabricated on the same substrate, and system-in-package (SIP) schemes. 3D semiconductor applications include power...

Codesign enables rapid development and high performance.(Advanced Packaging: CHIP/PACKAGE DESIGN)(Technical report)
April 1, 2009... Traditional package design is initiated only after chip design is completed. The chip design team passes a bump map, netlist, and general electrical constraints to package designers, allowing the package physical design and electrical...

High repetition rate EUV source.(PRODUCT NEWS)
April 1, 2009... The EQ-10HR operates at a high pulse rate of 10kHz to simulate the requirements of high-volume manufacturing for EUV lithography implementation. Patented electrodeless "Z-Pinch" technology inductively couples the current into the discharge...

Confocal materials microscopy.(PRODUCT NEWS)
April 1, 2009... The LSM 700 laser scanning microscope combines fluorescence and reflection techniques enables high-precision examination of semiconductors, metal, glass, and polymers with precise 3D imaging. (Image is a 3D surface topography of a solar...

300mm coat/develop cluster for 3D integration.(PRODUCT NEWS)
April 1, 2009... The ACS300 Gen2 is a modular system for coating, baking and developing of 200mm-300mm wafers, for various special spin coating applications such photosensitive polymers like polyimide, PBO or Cyclotene (BCB). Features include concurrent wafer...

Nondestructive Hall mobility testing.(PRODUCT NEWS)
April 1, 2009... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] The LEI 1605 manually measures electron mobility (EM) through a non-destructive contactless means on a variety of substrates and materials in situ, without van der Pauw Hall and Parallelepiped or Bridge Type methods....

Source mask optimization software.(PRODUCT NEWS)
April 1, 2009... The Tachyon SMO (source mask optimization) software co-optimizes and analyzes scanner source and mask design simultaneously, extending 193nm low-k1 imaging, with what the company claims is a 40% process window improvement vs. previous iterative...

Solar, coating pumps.(PRODUCT NEWS)
April 1, 2009... The RUVAC WH Roots pump series (4400 and 7000) incorporate a hermetically sealed motor and integral liquid cooling technology in a small and energy-efficient package. The motor is isolated by an epoxy-encapsulated enclosure instead of the...

Full-wafer contact probe card for flash memory.(PRODUCT NEWS)
April 1, 2009... The Harmony OneTouch ATC for 300mm flash memory wafers (128MB NOR to 64GB NAND devices) provides as much as 25% improved planarity over the company's previous-generation platform. Improved X/Y placement accuracy offers high accuracy at both hot...

CMP grows a paunch.(INDUSTRY FORUM)(critical materials report)
April 1, 2009... There's no question about it. CMP is showing all the signs of middle age as it ambles past its quarter century milestone. Its rampant growth has decayed to match that of other semiconductor process materials sectors (Techcet Group 2008 CMP...