Solid State Technology articles from December 2003

Solid State Technology archives from December 2003

Are we forever blowing bubbles?(Editorial)(Evaluating notebook computers)
December 1, 2003... Recently, I looked for an upscale, Wi Fi-ready notebook computer at a major computer store. It had to have fast graphics, compatibility with 802.11b and g (back compatible with a), and Hot Spot capability for wireless Internet links. The store...

Japanese toolmakers: global orders hot, domestic orders not.(Business Trends)(Industry Overview)
December 1, 2003... Global sales in August of Japanese semiconductor equipment achieved levels not seen in nearly 15 months, according to the latest figures from the Semiconductor Equipment Association of Japan (SEAJ), while results from a broader perspective...

Semiconductor Equipment and Materials International (SEMI).(Worldwide Highlights)(publishes new technical standards)(Brief Article)
December 1, 2003... Semiconductor Equipment and Materials International (SEMI) has published 11 new technical standards for improving productivity in semiconductor and flat-panel display manufacturing operations. Included in the new crop of standards are methods...

Gartner Dataquest.(Worldwide Highlights)(Brief Article)
December 1, 2003... The long-term forecast remains upbeat despite slow 2Q equipment sales, says Gartner Dataquest, which reduced its estimates for 2003 semiconductor equipment sales. Gartner says worldwide semiconductor capex will be $29.7 billion in 2003, a 7.9%...

Fabless Semiconductor Association (FSA).(Worldwide Highlights)(Brief Article)
December 1, 2003... CMOS wafer prices rose an average of 3% from 2Q03 to 3Q03, according to the Fabless Semiconductor Association (FSA). In its quarterly pricing survey of 122 fabless companies and IDMs, the FSA says the majority of fabless respondents ordered...

IBM.(USA)(Brief Article)
December 1, 2003... IBM says it has created a new chip design that combines a SiGe bipolar communications chip and CMOS computing chip on a single SOI wafer. IBM's technique, the first to build SiGe bipolar chips onto thin-silicon SOI, could result in a fourfold...

Mykrolis Corp., Billerica, MA, plans to acquire the assets of privately held gas-purification provider Aeronex, San Diego, for an undisclosed amount.(USA)(Brief Article)
December 1, 2003... Mykrolis Corp., Billerica, MA, plans to acquire the assets of privately held gas-purification provider Aeronex, San Diego, for an undisclosed amount. The deal adds to Mykrolis' portfolio of gas contamination-control products and fluid handling...

Applied Materials, Santa Clara, CA, has signed a deal with SCP Global Technologies to include SCP's single-wafer vapor drying technology with Applied's Reflexion LK CMP system.(USA)(Brief Article)
December 1, 2003... Applied Materials, Santa Clara, CA, has signed a deal with SCP Global Technologies to include SCP's single-wafer vapor drying technology with Applied's Reflexion LK CMP system. The drying technology will be used in place of a spin-rinse-dry...

Across the fab and around the world. Rudolph Technologies, Inc.(Corporate Profile)
December 1, 2003... Rudolph Technologies, Inc. supplies metrology systems that keep semiconductor manufacturers ahead of the Roadmap. The International Technology Roadmap for Semiconductors outlines aggressive technology timelines. To be successful, manufacturers...

Jazz Semiconductor, Newport Beach, CA, and Skyworks Solutions Inc., Woburn MA, have signed an agreement to co-develop SiGe and BiCMOS technologies for Skyworks' wireless cellular systems.(World News)(Brief Article)
December 1, 2003... Jazz Semiconductor, Newport Beach, CA, and Skyworks Solutions Inc., Woburn MA, have signed an agreement to co-develop SiGe and BiCMOS technologies for Skyworks' wireless cellular systems. Under the four-year deal, Jazz will also provide wafers...

Infineon Technologies.(World News)(Infineon Technologies, Munich, Germany, has opened a facility in New York City)(Brief Article)
December 1, 2003... Infineon Technologies, Munich, Germany, has opened a facility in New York City, as part of a plan to become a top five semiconductor supplier in North America. CEO Ulrich Schumacher told the Financial Times Deutschland that the company plans to...

Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. (TSMC).(China)(has invested $56 million into its subsidiary in Shanghai)(Brief Article)
December 1, 2003... Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. (TSMC) has invested $56 million into its subsidiary in Shanghai, the first Taiwanese chipmaker to send investment funds to the mainland. TSMC plans to invest up to $1 billion in the plant, which it expects...

Fairchild Semiconductor.(China)(Fairchild Semiconductor has completed the first phase of its new assembly and test facility)(Brief Article)
December 1, 2003... Fairchild Semiconductor, South Portland ME, has completed the first phase of its new assembly and test facility in Suzhou, China. Half of the 800,000-sq. ft. facility is now open, employing 570 people; by 2005 that will nearly quadruple to...

China's Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corp. (SMIC) has signed a deal with MicroFab Technology, a subsidiary of Singapore design and packaging services specialist Ellipsiz Group, to provide wafer bumping solutions, according to the Xinhua Financial News.(China)(Brief Article)
December 1, 2003... China's Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corp. (SMIC) has signed a deal with MicroFab Technology, a subsidiary of Singapore design and packaging services specialist Ellipsiz Group, to provide wafer bumping solutions, according to the...

Fujitsu Ltd.(China)(Fujitsu Ltd. has established a subsidiary in Shanghai)(Brief Article)
December 1, 2003... Fujitsu Ltd. has established a subsidiary in Shanghai. Fujitsu Microelectronics Co., wholly owned by Fujitsu China Co., started operations on October 30, with a capex of $400,000 and a sales target of $223 million in 2004. Fujitsu's China...

Mitsubishi Heavy Industries and Fuji Xerox have agreed to develop optical chip technologies.(Japan)(Brief Article)
December 1, 2003... Mitsubishi Heavy Industries and Fuji Xerox have agreed to develop optical chip technologies. The deal will combine Fuji's method for layering metal films using optical lithography techniques with Mitsubishi's fabrication equipment for 100nm...

A group of Japanese semiconductor firms are combining to promote standardization for 65nm process technologies, according to the Nihon Keizai Shimbun.(Japan)(Japan Electronic Industry Development Association is developing the strategic plan. )(Brief Article)
December 1, 2003... A group of Japanese semiconductor firms are combining to promote standardization for 65nm process technologies, according to the Nihon Keizai Shimbun. Toshiba, NEC Renesas, and other companies want to tap the experience of the Advanced SoC...

Fujitsu has signed a deal with mobile chipmaker Transmeta to be the initial foundry for Transmeta's Efficeon processors, based on Fujitsu's CS100 90nm CMOS process.(Japan)(Brief Article)
December 1, 2003... Fujitsu has signed a deal with mobile chipmaker Transmeta to be the initial foundry for Transmeta's Efficeon processors, based on Fujitsu's CS100 90nm CMOS process. Transmeta had previously worked with TSMC for the chip's 130nm generation...

LSI Logic Corp., Milpitas, CA, has sold its 6-in. wafer manufacturing facility in Tsukuba, Japan, to Kyoto-based Rohm Co. for approximately $23.5 million.(Japan)(Brief Article)
December 1, 2003... LSI Logic Corp., Milpitas, CA, has sold its 6-in. wafer manufacturing facility in Tsukuba, Japan, to Kyoto-based Rohm Co. for approximately $23.5 million. LSI also has signed a wafer supply contract with the fab, which produces 25,000...

Tessera Inc., San Jose, CA, and Japan's Sanyo Electric Co. Ltd. have signed a licensing agreement to use Tessera's packaging technology for Sanyo's consumer electronics products.(Japan)(Brief Article)
December 1, 2003... Tessera Inc., San Jose, CA, and Japan's Sanyo Electric Co. Ltd. have signed a licensing agreement to use Tessera's packaging technology for Sanyo's consumer electronics products. The deal incorporates over 150 patents for Tessera's Compliant...

Toshiba Corp.(Japan)(Toshiba Corp. is boosting production in China and Malaysia )(Brief Article)
December 1, 2003... Toshiba Corp. is boosting production in China and Malaysia in order to more quickly respond to domestic demand, according to the Nihon Keizai Shimbun. In China, Toshiba plans to increase product lines at its production subsidiary in Jiangsu...

Chipmaker International Rectifier, El Segundo, CA, has filed a lawsuit in Tokyo District Court seeking to nullify the formation of Renesas Technology, the JV of Hitachi and Mitsubishi Electric.(Japan)
December 1, 2003... Chipmaker International Rectifier, El Segundo, CA, has filed a lawsuit in Tokyo District Court seeking to nullify the formation of Renesas Technology, the JV of Hitachi and Mitsubishi Electric. IR claims that Hitachi didn't properly notify it...

Brewer Science has established Brewer Science Taiwan Ltd. in Taipei.(Taiwan)(in a joint venture with Trivet Industrial Corporation)(Brief Article)
December 1, 2003... Brewer Science has established Brewer Science Taiwan Ltd. in Taipei. The subsidiary of Brewer is a joint venture between Brewer Science Inc., US, and Trivet Industrial Corp., a Taiwanese technology and trading company. The new company will...

Fairchild Semiconductor, South Portland, ME, has signed an agreement to sell equipment and supply agreements from its plants in Wuxi, China, and Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia to Taiwan's Lite-On Technology Corp.(Taiwan)(Brief Article)
December 1, 2003... Fairchild Semiconductor, South Portland, ME, has signed an agreement to sell equipment and supply agreements from its plants in Wuxi, China, and Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, to Taiwan's Lite-On Technology Corp. The transfer is expected to be...

Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd.(Korea)(will boost memory chip sales to $10 billion next year)(Brief Article)
December 1, 2003... South Korea's Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd. says it will boost memory chip sales to $10 billion next year, largely on the back of its NAND flash memory chips. Samsung has invested nearly $3 billion this year to boost output of flash memory...

Korea International Trade Association.(Korea)(Korean semiconductor exports to the US and Europe were down in August to their lowest amount in a decade)(Brief Article)
December 1, 2003... Korean semiconductor exports to the US and Europe were down in August to their lowest amount in a decade, according to the Korea International Trade Association. Chip exports to the US were $2.01 billion in August, a 17.7% decrease from August...

Silterra Malaysia Sdn. Bhd.(Malaysia)(Wafer foundry Silterra Malaysia Sdn. Bhd. plans to expand manufacturing capacity )(Brief Article)
December 1, 2003... Wafer foundry Silterra Malaysia Sdn. Bhd. plans to expand manufacturing capacity to support ramping up of sub-18[micro]m technologies. At its Fab 1 facility, utilization is over 90%.

Bookham Technology, Oxfordshire, UK, has agreed to acquire a pair of companies in all-stock transactions.(United Kingdom)(Brief Article)
December 1, 2003... Bookham Technology, Oxfordshire, UK, has agreed to acquire a pair of companies in all-stock transactions. The $190 million purchase of photonics and microwave systems provider New Focus, San Jose, CA, triples Bookham's nontelecom business, and...

Wacker Siltronic.(Germany)(Wacker Siltronic, Burghausen, Germany, announced plans to shut down 200mm wafer production facilities )(Brief Article)
December 1, 2003... Wacker Siltronic, Burghausen, Germany, announced plans to shut down 200mm wafer production facilities in Wasserburg and Burghausen, Germany, in order to concentrate its global 200mm capacity in Asia. Global overcapacity, pricing pressures, and...

Schott Lithotec, Jena, Germany, has signed EUV lithography agreements with a pair of industry groups.(Germany)(Brief Article)
December 1, 2003... Schott Lithotec, Jena, Germany, has signed EUV lithography agreements with a pair of industry groups. Schott will provide International SEMATECH, Austin, TX, with advanced mask blanks for EUV lithography under the one-year deal. Schott will...

Surface prep/wafer bonding process enables low anneal temps.(Technology News)(SUSS MicroTec)(Brief Article)
December 1, 2003... A new surface activation and wafer-to-wafer bonding process that uses atmospheric pressure plasma has been developed by SUSS MicroTec, eliminating the need for a vacuum chamber and associated process time and opening the door for new materials...

'Nanosprings' may work as actuators and transducers in microsystems.(Technology News)
December 1, 2003... A new zinc oxide nanostructure that spontaneously forms helical shapes with useful piezoelectric properties could be the basis for a new class of small-scale transducers and actuators useful in sensing and microsystem applications. ...

Philips AMS expands applications range for low-[kappa] dielectrics.(Technology News)(Philips AMS has extended the capabilities of its Series 1200 tool to include measurement of low-k dielectric material )
December 1, 2003... Philips AMS, in partnership with IMEC, the independent research center in Leuven, Belgium, has recently extended the capabilities of its Series 1200 tool to include measurement of low-k dielectric material properties (modulus and density). The...

New 193nm tool offers 70nm resolution for 200mm fabs.(Technology News)(Brief Article)
December 1, 2003... Any guru who had predicted this some years ago would have been laughed out of the industry--a 193nm stepper that makes incremental improvements to get ordinary old optical lithography down to 70nm half-pitch line resolution with ordinary old...

Alternating-aperture masks ready for dense patterns.(Front End Of Line)
December 1, 2003... Alternating-aperture phase-shifting masks (alt-PSM) rely on the fact that photoresists are insensitive to the phase of the light exposing them. Thus, spaces that differ only in phase print identically, at least in theory. Alt-PSMs have been...

MEMC[R]: Technology is built on us.(Corporate Profile)
December 1, 2003... MEMC is a leading global supplier of silicon wafers, with over 40 years of silicon experience and leadership. MEMC silicon wafers... the foundation of technology LEADERSHIP MEMC maintains a leadership role in the silicon wafer...

The case for nonporous low-k dielectrics.(Interconnect)
December 1, 2003... Porous dielectric films made by both spin-on and CVD processes have long been promoted as the solution for the industry's needs for ultralow-k (ULK) performance given the lack of viable alternatives. Only recently has the industry started to...

Increase device yield with FEOL dry-clean processes.(Cover Story)
December 1, 2003... OVERVIEW Cleaning at the gate transistor and SAC modules with conventional downstream plasmas and wet cleans has been improved with dual plasma dry-clean processing. Etch polymer removal, resist strip, and surface preparation were enhanced...

Meeting deep silicon etch challenges for silicon MEMS devices.(Special report: MEMS)
December 1, 2003... OVERVIEW Production solutions are established using a cassette-to-cassette system with an enhanced set of processes tailored for volume production, including a signal-processing approach that can provide Si[O.sub.2] sensitivity to load...

Greene Tweed: the inside advantage[R]: semiconductor group.(Corporate Profile)
December 1, 2003... Real Solutions--Expect them from Greene, Tweed's Collaborative Approach The Semiconductor Group of Greene, Tweed & Co. is a leading global supplier of high-performance seals, plastic components, and engineered products used in chip...

Defined film thickness leads to more MEMS on SOI.(Special report: MEMS)
December 1, 2003... OVERVIEW Microelectromechanical systems--also commonly referred to in Europe as microsystem technologies--are currently undergoing what can only be termed a revolution. An important component helping to drive this new wave is the growing...

BOC Edwards: corporate profile.(a leading supplier of integrated solutions for the manufacture of microelectronics devices, including silicon semiconductors, compound semiconductors and flat panel displays)
December 1, 2003... BOC Edwards is a leading supplier of integrated solutions for the manufacture of microelectronics devices, including silicon semiconductors, compound semiconductors and flat panel displays. Partnering with fabs, foundries and process tool...

Targeting gate CD using feedforward APC and voltage control.(Etching)
December 1, 2003... OVERVIEW A method of power delivery has been developed that reduces chamber-to-chamber CD variation by controlling the RF peak voltage in a high-density inductively coupled plasma reactor [1]. Advanced process control in the form of a...

Mykrolis Corporation: product offerings.
December 1, 2003... Profile Mykrolis develops, manufactures and sells liquid and gas delivery systems, components and consumables used to precisely measure, deliver, control and purify the process liquids, gases and chemicals, as well as the deionized water,...

Step-and-scan system images down to 80nm.(Top Products of 2003)
December 1, 2003... The TWINSCAN AT:1200B step-and-scan system is a high numerical aperture (NA) 193nm system that extends ArF imaging technology for volume production of devices with features as small as 80nm. The dual-stage technology exposes one wafer while...

300mm coater/developer offers flexible setup.(Top Products of 2003)
December 1, 2003... CLEAN TRACK LITHIUS targets stable production at the 70nm technology node. It is capable of 150wph throughput. LITHIUS offers flexible one-block and two-block configurations. The system is designed to increase productivity by introducing...

FIB system features fast editing for 90nm node.(Top Products of 2003)
December 1, 2003... The Vectra Vision advanced focused ion beam (FIB) system is for circuit edit applications at the 90nm process node. The tool enables chipmakers to rapidly modify circuit functionality and verify new circuit designs. The Vectra Vision allows...

e-beam inspection system combines speed and sensitivity.(Top Products of 2003)
December 1, 2003... The eS30 e-beam inspection system combines speed, sensitivity, and ease-of-use into a single platform for all phases of the IC technology lifecycle. Significant reductions in tool overhead, including wafer loading and set-up time, coupled with...

ArF scanner projects 85nm features.(Top Products of 2003)
December 1, 2003... The FPA-6000AS4 ArF scanner boasts a numerical aperture of 0.85 and an ultralow-aberration lens system. Used with a dual-chamber 193nm light source, the scanner projects features as small as 85nm. Synchronized wafer scan speed is 500mm/sec. The...

Metrology system features wireless communication.(Top Products of 2003)
December 1, 2003... The Accura C metrology system for advanced lithography is robot-loadable and is for lithography tracks with two or more robot arms. The system provides precise thermal data from real-time measurements of transient and steady-state temperature,...

Wafer geometry tool handles 90nm and below.(Top Products of 2003)
December 1, 2003... The WaferSight optical flatness metrology tool provides high-throughput wafer mapping of shape, flatness, and thickness variations. High-grade optics along with precision engineering enable both surfaces of a 300mm wafer to be mapped during a...

Overlay metrology for 65nm reduces measurement uncertainty.(Top Products of 2003)
December 1, 2003... By providing data that correlate precisely to in-device overlay performance, the Archer AIM system enables lithographers to achieve tighter overlay control for 65nm and below production. Archer AIM's new grating-style targets are denser than...

Laser profiler combines interferometer and reflectometry.(Top Products of 2003)
December 1, 2003... The Nano CLP-9010 copper laser profiler nondestructively monitors the metal toss between an isolated copper feature and the surrounding dielectric region. Unlike reflectance-only methods, the laser profiling technology is immune to previous...

Laser pattern generator performs like wafer stepper.(Top Products of 2003)
December 1, 2003... The Sigma7300 laser pattern generator's resolution and pattern accuracy are targeted to volume production at the 90nm and 65nm technology nodes: The system works like a micro-stepper with a programmable mask. It is based on this company's...

Metrology tools inspect up to 120wph.(Top Products of 2003)
December 1, 2003... These stand-alone and integrated 200mm and 300mm metrology tools for 65nm and 45nm nodes have the repeatability and matching needed to enable reliable process control. The capabilities of the ultra-II tools on CVD etch/polish stops and hard...

300mm coating/developing system for DUV lithography.(Top Products of 2003)
December 1, 2003... The R[F.sup.3] 300mm coating/developing system for advanced DUV lithography delivers 150wph throughput, which meets the demand of next-generation scanners. Plans are in place to increase this capability to 180wph. The R[F.sup.3] is designed...

Teseda Corp.(People)(Brief Article)
December 1, 2003... Teseda Corp, Portland, OR, has appointed Roger Bitter VP of sales and William Lattin to its board of directors. Most recently, Bitter was worldwide VP of sales and marketing at Xpedion. Lattin began his 32-year career in the semiconductor...

Soitec.(People)(Brief Article)
December 1, 2003... Soitec, Bernin, France, has named Camille Darnaud-Dufour to the newly created position of VP of communications. Darnaud-Dufour will be leading worldwide corporate media and public relations programs for the company and managing other areas of...

Milford Manufacturing Services.(People)(Brief Article)
December 1, 2003... Milford Manufacturing Services, Milford, MA, has appointed Douglas E. Voiland as VP, general manager. Voiland has worked with mid-market business owners to solve complex business and financial problems, and founded Abacus Associates LLC,...

Kulicke & Soffa.(People)(Brief Article)
December 1, 2003... Kulicke & Soffa, Willow Grove, PA, has named Brian Bachman to its board of directors. Bachman, the former CEO of Axcelis Technologies, led that company's spin-off from Eaton Corp. in Apri12000, and has held executive management positions at...

Honeywell Electronic Materials.(People)(Brief Article)
December 1, 2003... Honeywell Electronic Materials has named Rick Widden director of sales, marketing, new business development, and IP. In addition, Jim Favier has been appointed GM for the Chemicals Business segment. Honeywell has also named Mike Kotelec general...

Calendar.(Brief Article)(Calendar)
December 1, 2003... * JANUARY 2004 8--90nm and Beyond Conference--Taipei, Taiwan. Info: Greg Fawson, Semico Research, ph 602/997-0337, fax 602/997-0302, e-mail gregf@semico.com, www.semico.com. 11-14--Industry Strategy Symposium--Pebble Beach, CA, Info:...

More responsibility for equipment suppliers?(Perspectives)
December 1, 2003... Can equipment makers gain clout? Daniel Queyssac, former president and COO, Front-end Operations, ASM International, Phoenix, Arizona In the beginning, process tools were made by semiconductor manufacturers who considered them to be a...