Solid State Technology articles from February 2008

Solid State Technology archives from February 2008

Yield at any cost.(MASKS)(Brief article)
February 1, 2008... Expanding on this month's Industry Forum (p. 64), the author explores how photomask costs are a painfully visible issue in today's competitive semiconductor market. This puts substantial pressure on the profitability of photomask makers. It...

A recession may be coming, but not to worry, ISS hears.(INDUSTRY STRATEGY SYMPOSIUM)(Brief article)
February 1, 2008... The "R" word is spiking in the media, and even in blogs, speakers told concerned execs at the Industry Strategy Symposium (ISS) at Half Moon Bay, CA (Jan. 14). But 2008 is far from 2001, they were reassured by Nariman Behravesh, chief economist...

Risk is reshaping the chip industry.(Editorial)
February 1, 2008... What does the sub-prime mortgage meltdown have to do with chipmaking? In today's global, interconnected economy, probably much more than we may think. When there is overheating in the economy, which happens periodically, Wall Street...

Brace for 10% slide in 2008 capex.(BUSINESS TRENDS)
February 1, 2008... Semiconductor equipment spending will slip 9.9% in 2008 in large part due to measures taken to absorb memory oversupplies, though the second half of the year should pick up strength and set the stage for a return to growth in 2009, according to...

Toshiba has extended its two-year collaboration with IBM on 32nm and below node technologies to now include 32nm bulk CMOS process technology, joining five other participants in the work (AMD, Chartered, Freescale, Infineon, and Samsung).(WORLDWIDE HIGHLIGHTS)(Brief article)
February 1, 2008... Toshiba has extended its two-year collaboration with IBM on 32nm and below node technologies to now include 32nm bulk CMOS process technology, joining five other participants in the work (AMD, Chartered, Freescale, Infineon, and Samsung). The...

Lam Research has agreed to acquire SEZ Group for $568M in cash, claiming SEZ's wafer cleaning and decontamination (based on its spin-process single-wafer cleaning tools) is a key process adjacent to Lam's bullseye market of etch.(WORLDWIDE HIGHLIGHTS)(Brief article)
February 1, 2008... Lam Research has agreed to acquire SEZ Group for $568M in cash, claiming SEZ's wafer cleaning and decontamination (based on its spin-process single-wafer cleaning tools) is a key process adjacent to Lam's bullseye market of etch. For Lam, the...

Infineon.(WORLDWIDE HIGHLIGHTS)
February 1, 2008... IBM has agreed to license Infineon's 130nm embedded flash technologies, expanding its custom foundry services capabilities and giving Infineon an extra manufacturing source for the process, which has been in volume production since early 2006...

ASML and Carl Zeiss SMT say they have agreed to cross-license patents with Canon in their respective fields of semiconductor lithography and optical components.(WORLDWIDE HIGHLIGHTS)(Brief article)
February 1, 2008... ASML and Carl Zeiss SMT say they have agreed to cross-license patents with Canon in their respective fields of semiconductor lithography and optical components, involving no technology transfers, in order to "compete more freely" in areas of...

Qimonda.(WORLDWIDE HIGHLIGHTS)
February 1, 2008... Qimonda is taking steps to reduce its worldwide 200mm manufacturing capacities, to increase its 300mm production mix to 90%. The plan involves discontinuing 200mm contract manufacturing done by Infineon in Dresden, Germany, by March, and...

SEMATECH's Advanced Technology Development Facility (ATDF) R&D foundry subsidiary is merging with the Silicon Valley Technology Center to expand their capaabilities as an alternative to dedicated R&D fabs and shared development/production operations.(USA)(Brief article)
February 1, 2008... SEMATECH's Advanced Technology Development Facility (ATDF) R&D foundry subsidiary is merging with the Silicon Valley Technology Center to expand their capaabilities as an alternative to dedicated R&D fabs and shared development/production...

Cypress Semiconductor.(USA)(Brief article)
February 1, 2008... Cypress Semiconductor says it will "exit" its Fab 2 (150mm/0.35im) in Round Rock, TX, by late 2008, transitioning production work to its 200mm Fab 4 in Bloomington, MN, where its newer products are being designed, and to external foundry...

Rudolph Technologies has acquired the semiconductor business assets of Applied Precision, a provider of wafer probe card metrology systems and wafer probe process management technologies.(USA)(Brief article)
February 1, 2008... Rudolph Technologies has acquired the semiconductor business assets of Applied Precision, a provider of wafer probe card metrology systems and wafer probe process management technologies. The business will be re-formed under a new "probe card...

Verigy, the former semiconductor automated test equipment (ATE) business of Agilent Technologies.(USA)(Brief article)
February 1, 2008... Verigy, the former semiconductor automated test equipment (ATE) business of Agilent Technologies, has agreed to acquire privately held Inovys, which develops design, failure analysis, and yield software, to better target "the crossroads of...

IBM and JSR Micro.(USA)(International Business Machines Corp. Almaden Research Center)(Brief article)
February 1, 2008... IBM and JSR Micro say they will work together to explore new technologies for emerging semiconductor materials and processes, targeting next-generation lithography as well as self-assembly applications. Work will be done at IBM's Almaden...

Fab construction firm M+W Zander says it has received a $400M contract to design and build an advanced semiconductor fab in Dalian, China, with around 20,000 sq. m of cleanroom space.(ASIAFOCUS)(Brief article)
February 1, 2008... Fab construction firm M+W Zander says it has received a $400M contract to design and build an advanced semiconductor fab in Dalian, China, with around 20,000 sq. m of cleanroom space. Though the customer was undisclosed, this northeast coastal...

SMIC.(ASIAFOCUS)(Brief article)
February 1, 2008... SMIC says its Fab 8 300mm fab in Shanghai, China, has commenced production, following equipment move-in in May and pilot production starting in July. The chipmaker's existing capacities include three 200mm lines in its Shanghai fab, plus two...

Hitachi Chemical.(ASIAFOCUS)
February 1, 2008... Hitachi Chemical plans to boost its production capacity for CMP slurry by 50% to 15,000 tons/year by June through a projected 3.5B [yen] (US $31.8M) expansion at Yamakazi Works in Ibaraki Prefecture, Japan, deciding there is sufficient demand...

Taiwan's Sino-American Silicon Products has agreed to buy TI spinoff GlobiTech for $45M to extend and expand its process capabilities from ingot growing, slicing, grinding, and polishing into epitaxial deposition.(ASIAFOCUS)(Brief article)
February 1, 2008... Taiwan's Sino-American Silicon Products has agreed to buy TI spinoff GlobiTech for $45M to extend and expand its process capabilities from ingot growing, slicing, grinding, and polishing into epitaxial deposition. Globitech also opens direct...

ShinMaywa Industries.(ASIAFOCUS)(Brief article)
February 1, 2008... ShinMaywa Industries has developed a method for sputtering copper thin films onto semiconductor substrates that wastes virtually none of the starting material, according to the Nikkei Business Daily. The new method uses magnets to narrow the...

Samsung Electronics and Toshiba.(ASIAFOCUS)(Brief article)
February 1, 2008... Samsung Electronics and Toshiba have agreed to cross-license their respective OneNAND and LBA-NAND NAND flash memory technologies to spur overall growth in the burgeoning market for "fusion" flash technologies. First products are expected...

Nippon Polypenco.(ASIAFOCUS)
February 1, 2008... Nippon Polypenco, a subsidiary of Mitsubishi Plastics, is shipping samples of a durable material for retaining rings used in the CMP process of semiconductor manufacturing, notes the Nikkei Business Daily. Developed by Polypenco's 45%...

Hynix.(ASIAFOCUS)
February 1, 2008... Four years after spinning off its original nonmemory business (now MagnaChip Semiconductor), Hynix has agreed to manufacture and sell image sensors for SiliconFile Technologies, and also is taking an undisclosed ownership stake in the fellow...

An appeal conducted by the World Trade Organization (WTO) has reiterated a July ruling that Japan's 27.2% tariffs levied against Korean DRAM chips (i.e., Hynix) are illegal.(ASIAFOCUS)(Brief article)
February 1, 2008... An appeal conducted by the World Trade Organization (WTO) has reiterated a July ruling that Japan's 27.2% tariffs levied against Korean DRAM chips (i.e., Hynix) are illegal. But other findings from the earlier ruling against Japan were...

NXP.(EUROFOCUS)
February 1, 2008... NXP says it has sold off equipment from its participation in the Crolles2 partnership, mainly used for R&D and pilot manufacturing, to an undisclosed buyer for an undisclosed price. Ownership will be transferred in two stages over the next six...

X-Fab Silicon Foundries.(EUROFOCUS)(Brief article)
February 1, 2008... X-Fab Silicon Foundries has agreed to license its 0.6im process technology to Brazil's CEITEC (Excellence Center for Advanced Electronic Technology), for use in CMOS semiconductor manufacturing in the country's 150mm prototype frontend wafer...

STMicroelectronics says it will acquire Genesis Microchip for ~$336M to widen its presence as a provider of system-on-chip (SoC) technologies to the $1.5B digital TV space.(EUROFOCUS)(Brief article)
February 1, 2008... STMicroelectronics says it will acquire Genesis Microchip for ~$336M to widen its presence as a provider of system-on-chip (SoC) technologies to the $1.5B digital TV space. Essentially, the deal combines ST's compression/decompression...

Litho workshop: 193nm/DEDE for 32nm, weighing 22nm options.(TECHNOLOGY NEWS)
February 1, 2008... Immersion lithography was the central theme at the 2007 (formerly IEEE) Lithography Workshop (Dec. 9-13, Puerto Rico)--literally. For the first time in 50 years a tropical storm hit after the hurricane season, soaking attendees trying to relax...

Post-FET future discussed at IEDM.(TECHNOLOGY NEWS)
February 1, 2008... Silicon-based CMOS FETs will still be used in commercial ICs in twenty years, but it's likely that completely new devices will also be in production. It seems highly likely that nMOS and pMOS FET "switches" will be used for mainstream logic and...

Novel device concepts explored at IEDM.(TECHNOLOGY NEWS)
February 1, 2008... There were many novel device concepts explored at the recent 2007 International Electron Devices Meeting (IEDM) in Washington DC. While several papers discussed high-k/metal gate dielectric concepts to cut leakage currents, there was also some...

Axcelis mixes it up at high energy with latest implanter.(TECHNOLOGY NEWS)
February 1, 2008... Completing its suite of Optima single wafer product implanters, Axcelis introduced the last offering in the family: the Optima XE high-energy ion implanter, which supports a broad energy range (10keV-4MeV) and targets the requirements of DRAM,...

MIT develops tiny, quick gas sensor.(TECHNOLOGY NEWS)(Brief article)
February 1, 2008... Engineers at MIT are developing a tiny sensor that could be used to detect minute quantities of hazardous gases--including toxic industrial chemicals and chemical warfare agents--much more quickly than current devices, says the MIT news office....

The state of standard.(MEMS)(Survey)
February 1, 2008... EXECUTIVE OVERVIEW A survey of MEMS industry players reveals points of agreement and divergence on the ever-controversial topic of production standards. The growing MEMS industry is similar in many ways to its predecessor--the...

High-index materials research key to extending immersion lithography.(LITHOGRAPHY)
February 1, 2008... EXECUTIVE OVERVIEW The adoption of water-based immersion lithography into 45nm half-pitch processes is in full swing, but if optical lithography is to continue to dominate leading-edge semiconductors, some advances are needed. In this...

2007 International Technology Roadmap: MOSFET scaling challenges.(MATERIALS)
February 1, 2008... EXECUTIVE OVERVIEW The 2007 International Technology Roadmap for Semiconductors (ITRS) makes projections covering the next 15 years, through 2022. For transistors, these projections include the scaling of key parameters such as gate...

Influence of immersion lithography on wafer edge defectivity.(METROLOGY FOR LITHOGRAPHY)
February 1, 2008... EXECUTIVE OVERVIEW In semiconductor manufacturing, the control of defects at the edge of the wafer is a key factor to keep the number of yielding die on a wafer as high as possible. Using dry lithography, this control is typically...

Membrane compatibility for nanofiltration applications in DUV lithography.(CONTAMINATION CONTROL)
February 1, 2008... EXECUTIVE OVERVIEW Typical photochemical solutions contain a variety of additives, often in trace amounts. The slightest unintended alteration of a photochemical formulation's chemical composition could have a detrimental effect on the...

Improve productivity at nm nodes with faster physical verification.(DFM)
February 1, 2008... EXECUTIVE OVERVIEW The increasing number and complexity of design rules result in a significant increase in design rule check (DRC) run times, many more DRC violations, and an increase in the intricacy of these violations that makes them...

Critical issues for commercialization of thin-film PV technologies.(SOLAR REPORT: THIN-FILM PV)
February 1, 2008... EXECUTIVE OVERVIEW The market share for thin-film PV in the US continues to grow rapidly, from 10% in 2003 to ~44% in 2006. Worldwide estimated projections for 2010 thin-film PV production capacity are >3700MW. A 40MW thin-film CdTe solar...

Crystalline silicon solar cell manufacturing requires vacuum-based solutions.(SOLAR REPORT: VACUUM)
February 1, 2008... EXECUTIVE OVERVIEW Crystalline silicon solar cell manufacturing requires vacuum-based processing tools for many critical steps, from mono- to polycrystalline silicon growth to thin-film depositions on silicon wafers. Manufacturing...

Single-wafer high-energy ion implanter.(PRODUCT NEWS)(Axcelis Technologies Inc.)(Brief article)
February 1, 2008... The Optima XE high energy ion implanter, the final component of the Optima single-wafer suite of tools, provides a complete range of energy levels from 10keV to 4MeV. Its inherent flexibility and broad energy range allow a single tool to...

ArF excimer laser light source.(PRODUCT NEWS)(Brief article)
February 1, 2008... The GT62A argon fluoride (ArF) excimer laser light source has an emission wavelength of 193nm, output of 90W, and repetition rate of 6000Hz. It is designed for double-patterning immersion lithography, reportedly considered the most promising...

Nanotopography metrology system.(PRODUCT NEWS)(KLA-Tencor Corp.)(Brief article)
February 1, 2008... The WaferSight 2 metrology system enables wafer suppliers and chipmakers to measure bare wafer flatness, shape, edge roll-off , and nanotopography in a single system with the high precision and tool matching required for 45nm and beyond. The...

200wph coat/develop system.(PRODUCT NEWS)(Brief article)
February 1, 2008... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] The RF3T coat/develop track system is targeted for the full range of lithography applications. This system extends the capabilities of this company's established RF3 platform to achieve 200wph throughput, reportedly...

Linear ball-screw stage.(PRODUCT NEWS)
February 1, 2008... The ATS165 series hardcover, linear ball-screw stage is a rugged linear stage that is for use in applications requiring debris protection and medium travel and mid-tier positioning performance. It is similar in design to the ATS115 series, but...

Etch and STI systems.(PRODUCT NEWS)
February 1, 2008... The Primo D-RIE (decoupled reactive ion etch) system for critical and other dielectric etch applications and the Primo HPCVD (high-pressure chemical vapor deposition) system for shallow trench isolation (STI) and pre-metal dielectric deposition...

Advanced defect review SEM.(PRODUCT NEWS)(Applied Materials Inc.)(Brief article)
February 1, 2008... The SEMVision G4 advanced defect review SEM extends the technology and productivity of this company's SEMVision system to 45nm and beyond applications. Key to this system are its new SEM column technology and enhanced multiperspective SEM...

Thermally conductive compound.(PRODUCT NEWS)(Dow Corning Corp.)(Brief article)
February 1, 2008... The TC-5121 thermally conductive compound is designed for mid-range electronic systems, such as desktop computers and graphic processing units. The new compound reportedly provides good thermal performance, as well as a formula less likely than...

Idle mode for exhaust management system.(PRODUCT NEWS)(Brief article)
February 1, 2008... An "idle mode" for this company's ATLAS and TPU families of combustion exhaust management systems is now available. Idle mode allows the abatement system to go into a standby mode with reduced fuel and water consumption when exhaust is not...

Wafer probe card.(PRODUCT NEWS)
February 1, 2008... The TrueScale PP40 probe card for wire bond system-on-chip (SoC) devices offers scalability down to 40im pad pitch and is designed to enable high-efficiency and high-parallelism wafer probing on advanced wire bond logic and SoC devices. The...

Palladium pure metal and alloys.(PRODUCT NEWS)(Goodfellow Corp.)(Brief article)
February 1, 2008... Palladium, one of the most reactive members of the platinum group of metals, is available as a pure metal or alloyed with other metals. This company offers the pure metal as microfoil (as thin as 0.05 [micro]m), foil, sputtering target, wire,...

Plasma accelerator.(PRODUCT NEWS)
February 1, 2008... The Plasma Accelerator for advanced die processing delivers increased etching speeds, superior duplication rates, straightforward operation and low damage while supporting a full range of dry-etch FA processes including passivation removal and...

Die attach solder paste.(PRODUCT NEWS)
February 1, 2008... The Multicore DA100 dispensing-grade die attach solder paste offers the thermal management required for devices such as rectifiers, power transistors, amplifiers, voltage regulators, and other automotive and consumer packages. Because these...

Benchtop mass spectrometer.(PRODUCT NEWS)(Hiden Analytical Ltd.)(Brief article)
February 1, 2008... Optimized specifically for monitoring fast evolved-gas events, the latest update of the Hiden HPR-20 TGA benchtop mass spectrometer features a state-of-the-art integrated interface and analysis system for real-time unequivocal detection of...

Piezo force microscopy module.(Metrology/Inspection)(Asylum Research)(Brief article)
February 1, 2008... The MFP-3D atomic force microscope module enables very high sensitivity, high bias, and crosstalk-free measurements of piezoelectrics, ferroelectrics, multiferroics, and biological systems. The module is an MFP-3D accessory that enables high...

300mm wafer probe station.(Metrology/Inspection)(Cascade Microtech Inc.)(Brief article)
February 1, 2008... The Elite 300 300mm wafer probe station for devices with process nodes at 45nm and below incorporates electrical and mechanical technology, advanced materials, and leading-edge measurement techniques. The station offers end-to-end productivity...

Vision-based wafer pre-aligner.(Metrology/Inspection)(Cognex Corp.)(Brief article)
February 1, 2008... The In-Sight 1820 vision-based wafer pre-aligner uses this company's NotchMax alignment technology and provides precise noncontact measurement of wafer position and orientation that is faster and reportedly more accurate than comparably priced...

Microspectroscopy tool.(Metrology/Inspection)
February 1, 2008... The QDI 2010 UV-visible-NIR microspectrophotometer for semiconductor and flat panel display analysis is designed for spectroscopic analysis on the microscopic scale, including film thickness measurement, colorimetric analysis of individual FPD...

Laser voltage probing system.(Metrology/Inspection)(Credence Systems Corp.)(Brief article)
February 1, 2008... The Ruby laser voltage probing system provides accurate waveform and timing measurements of signals switching inside sub-volt devices. The Ruby system is based upon this company's mature laser voltage probing technology using a polarization...

Auto vibration system.(Metrology/Inspection)(CyberOptics Corp.)(Brief article)
February 1, 2008... The WaferSense auto vibration system (AVS) is designed to detect wafer-damaging equipment vibrations. It enables faster identification of wafer contamination sources and maximizes motion parameters. It is designed to monitor three-axis...

Mobile scanning electron microscope.(Metrology/Inspection)(JEOL U.S.A. Inc.)(Brief article)
February 1, 2008... The CarryScope mobile scanning electron microscope can travel or easily be moved to different locations as needed. In the research or manufacturing setting, the CarryScope can be transported between the lab, conference room, or office for...

X-ray metrology platform.(Metrology/Inspection)(Jordan Valley Semiconductors Inc.)(Brief article)
February 1, 2008... The 6200 three-channel next generation x-ray metrology platform is based on novel, rapid, noncontacting, and nondestructive x-ray technology, and has been in use for various thin film measurement applications in high volume semiconductor fabs...

Smart sampling option for YieldManager software.(Metrology/Inspection)(Magma Design Automation Inc.)(Brief article)
February 1, 2008... The Knights Smart Sampling option for this company's YieldManager yield management software automates inline wafer inspection review sampling for the defect-review tools used in semiconductor manufacturing. With this new option, fab engineers...

Laser confocal system.(Metrology/Inspection)
February 1, 2008... The LEXT OLS3100 3D laser confocal microscopy-based metrology system minimizes the need for manual operation, improving the ease of use for all functions. The new system features improved functionality and a higher level of measurement...

Metrology automation platform.(Metrology/Inspection)(Owens Design Inc.)(Brief article)
February 1, 2008... The Atlas platform for semiconductor metrology OEMs uses an industry standard 300mm/200mm capable EFEM to reliably align and transfer wafers from the loadports to the inspection station. Overall airflow and pressure balance between the process...

Transparent thin film metrology tools.(Metrology/Inspection)(Rudolph Technologies Inc.)(Brief article)
February 1, 2008... The S3000A transparent thin film metrology system combines this company's industry-standard multiwavelength focused beam ellipsometry and a new, faster, deep ultraviolet reflectometer (DUVR) on the company's high-speed XPort automation...

ESD event detector.(Metrology/Inspection)
February 1, 2008... Th e model 900 ESD event detector is a diagnostic tool for manufacturing environments that are sensitive to electrostatic discharge (ESD). It is used to identify incidents of or verify suspected areas of ESD activity within a manufacturing...

Etch measurement suite.(Metrology/Inspection)(KLA-Tencor Corp.)(Brief article)
February 1, 2008... The PlasmaWafer Suite is an application for this company's SensArray wafer-level metrology tools that provide a measurement capability to help verify plasma etch chamber health and quickly identify problems such as drift, non-uniformity, and...

Automated bonded wafer inspection tool.(PRODUCT NEWS)(Sonoscan Inc.)(Brief article)
February 1, 2008... The AW200 series C-SAM acoustic micro-imaging system performs automated inspection, analysis, and sorting of bonded wafers up to 200mm dia. To avoid immersing the bonded wafer pair in water--a technique that can conceal defects--the AW200...

300mm single-wafer cleaning tool.(PRODUCT NEWS)(Tokyo Electron Ltd.)(Brief article)
February 1, 2008... The CELLESTA+ single-wafer cleaning tool, based on this company's coater/ developer CLEAN TRACK LITHIUS Pro platform, provides high reliability, process performance, and throughput for the most advanced critical cleans for the 45nm technology...

Yield at any cost.(INDUSTRY FORUM)
February 1, 2008... Photomask costs are a painfully visible issue in today's competitive semiconductor market. This puts substantial pressure on the profitability of photomask makers. Firms typically combat eroding profit margins by increasing price or market...