Solid State Technology articles from January 2005

Solid State Technology archives from January 2005

Alternatives advance FPD production process.(Solid State Technology Online)(flat panel displays, organic tight-emitting diode usage)(Brief Article)
January 1, 2005... Vacuum thermal evaporation (VTE) has been the leading technology for organic tight-emitting diode (OLED) production, but organic vapor-phase deposition (OVPD), ink-jet printing, and laser-induced thermal imaging have the potential to drive...

IMEC aims to redefine DFM: IMEC explores self-adjusting circuits to solve future scaling problems.(Solid State Technology Online)(Brief Article)
January 1, 2005... Researchers at the Interuniversity MicroElectronics Center (IMEC) in Belgium have embarked on an ambitious program to change the meaning of "design for manufacturing." During IMEC's Annual Research Review Meeting last fall, managers outlined a...

3D interconnect gets real: vertically integrated chips coming out in low-cost consumer products.(Solid State Technology Online)(Brief Article)
January 1, 2005... After years of hype, vertical interconnects finally are starting to replace horizontal connections in actual products. While the longer-term potential for increasing speed by using shorter interconnects is perceived to be in high-performance...

ISMI 450mm wafer program? SEMATECH hunts for collaborative path.(Solid State Technology Online)(International SEMATECH Manufacturing Initiative)(Brief Article)
January 1, 2005... Chip consortium SEMATECH Inc., which oversees annual updates to the ITRS, has begun the groundwork to identify issues for manufacturing on 450mm substrates. The International SEMATECH Manufacturing Initiative (ISMI) is exploring the possibility...

Let's not get nano-crazy.(Editorial)
January 1, 2005... As we move toward the nano-world of tomorrow, the potential is enormous. While hype artists with wild imaginations have suggested powerful, invisible, self-reproducing machines that could run around fixing things inside our bodies or building...

Semi: wafer shipments to slow in 2005, 2006.(Business Trends)(Brief Article)
January 1, 2005... Preliminary estimates from silicon wafer suppliers indicate wafer shipments increased 23% in 2004, but that rapid pace of growth will significantly peter out in the coming years, according to the SEMI Silicon Manufacturers Group (SMG). A...

Advanced Micro Devices Inc. (AMD), Sunnyvale, CA, has signed Singapore's Chartered Semiconductor Manufacturing as an additional manufacturing source for its 64bit processors starting in 2006, to augment capacity from its Dresden, Germany, facility.(Worldwide Highlights)(Brief Article)
January 1, 2005... Advanced Micro Devices Inc. (AMD), Sunnyvale, CA, has signed Singapore's Chartered Semiconductor Manufacturing as an additional manufacturing source for its 64bit processors starting in 2006, to augment capacity from its Dresden, Germany,...

IMEC.(Worldwide Highlights)(Interuniversity Micro-Electronics Center)(Brief Article)
January 1, 2005... European research consortium IMEC (the Interuniversity Micro-Electronics Center) plans to launch a new industrial affiliation program exploring issues with extreme-ultraviolet (EUV) lithography for the 32nm node and beyond in early 2006. Topics...

DuPont Photomasks Inc.(USA)(Investments)(Brief Article)
January 1, 2005... DuPont Photomasks Inc. is spending more than $30 million to install an advanced photomask production line at its facility in Round Rock, TX, to support volume production of 90nm semiconductor devices as well as prototyping and early production...

KLA-Tencor Corp.(USA)(Instrument industry)(Brief Article)
January 1, 2005... KLA-Tencor Corp., San Jose, CA, has acquired the defunct wafer-inspection business of Inspex Inc., a US subsidiary of Japan's Hamamatsu Photonics KK that filed for bankruptcy in November 2003. Terms of the deal were not disclosed. It was the...

Grace Semiconductor Manufacturing Corp.(China)(Brief Article)
January 1, 2005... Grace Semiconductor Manufacturing Corp. reportedly is in the final stages of talks with an unnamed US chipmaker to transfer development of 0.13[micro]m process technologies, with test production already in process and volume runs by 2H05. The...

India Semiconductor Association.(India)(Brief Article)
January 1, 2005... More than two dozen semiconductor firms in India have formed a group to boost the local industry's profile. The 31-member India Semiconductor Association aims to represent the approximately 125 firms in India involved in semiconductor work....

Sanyo.(Japan)(Brief Article)
January 1, 2005... On Dec. 6, Sanyo began trial semiconductor production on one of its lines at its quake-hit factory in Niigata Prefecture, northern Japan. Based on the results, the company will decide whether it can restart operations. In November, Sanyo began...

The Semiconductor Equipment Consortium for Advanced Packaging (SECAP), Amkor Technology Inc., and its Unitive subsidiaries have achieved volume production with the first high-volume 300mm electroplated solder-bumping line installed at a wafer-level packaging service provider.(Taiwan)(Brief Article)
January 1, 2005... The Semiconductor Equipment Consortium for Advanced Packaging (SECAP), Amkor Technology Inc., and its Unitive subsidiaries have achieved volume production with the first high-volume 300mm electroplated solder-bumping line installed at a...

Wacker-Chemie GmbH.(EuroFocus)(Chemical industry)(Brief Article)
January 1, 2005... Wacker-Chemie GmbH has unveiled a plan to reorganize its businesses into five divisions, effective this month. Newly separated operations will target polysilicones, silicones, polymers, and fine chemicals. The fifth unit is Siltronic AG, which...

Consumer gearmakers choosing SiP over SoC.(Technology News)(system-in-a-package, system-on-a-chip)
January 1, 2005... While fab folks are still mostly only talking about design for manufacturing and 3D chip stacking, the assembly world is actually doing it, and getting significant improvements in system-in-a-package (SiP) cost and performance. Increasingly,...

A survey of nanoengineered memory solutions.(Nanotechnology)
January 1, 2005... It is tempting to dismiss much of the cutting-edge research being conducted in the nanomemory sector as having little commercial application. However, there are fundamental weaknesses with the technologies currently in use, and until recently,...

Latest technology roadmap sharpens industry's future course.(Special report: 2004 update)(International Technology Roadmap for Semiconductors)
January 1, 2005... OVERVIEW In even-numbered years, such as 2004, the International Technology Roadmap for Semiconductors (ITRS) undergoes an update in preparation for a full revision the following year, as is expected in 2005. Solid State Technology worked...

Wafer-to-wafer control using on-demand pattern metrology.(Metrology)
January 1, 2005... OVERVIEW Yield in the sub-100nm ground-rule regime strongly depends on controlling the semiconductor patterning process. Three types of measurements govern pattern control: critical dimension (including profile), overlay, and film...

Critical aqueous wet chemicals require proper use of fluoropolymer filters.(Chemicals/Chemical Handling)(polytetrafluoroethylene)
January 1, 2005... OVERVIEW A growing number of wet chemical processes are moving to filtration systems with fluoropolymer membranes to achieve higher levels of purity. High-performance hydrophobic membranes in critical aqueous chemical applications present...

Putting the roadmap to work.(Perspectives)(International Technology Roadmap for Semiconductors' service)(Column)
January 1, 2005... 'Grand challenges' can help differentiate ICs Seshadri Subbanna, director, SOI technology development, Systems & Technology Group, IBM Corp. Over the years, the International Technology Roadmap for Semiconductors (ITRS) has been an...