Solid State Technology articles from March 2002

Solid State Technology archives from March 2002

Time for new thinking on fabs? (Editorial).(semiconductor manufacturing industry)(Editorial)
March 1, 2002... Semiconductor manufacturing is a driven industry, continuously updating itself as it chases the elusive rabbit defined by Moore's Law -- double the circuitry on a chip every 18 months, and halve the price per function. Competition is what keeps...

Letters.(Letter to the Editor)
March 1, 2002... "Quick-and-dirty" metrology earns kudos I was happy to see your Jan. 2002 editorial ("Time for 'quick-and-dirty' metrology?" p. 12) regarding the need for in situ metrology, and the likely cost implications. There's one point I felt you...

N.A. book-to-bill goes up; chip sales drop in December. (Worldwide Highlights).(Semiconductor Equipment and Materials International's report)(Brief Article)
March 1, 2002... The North American book-to-bill ratio rose again for the month of December, reaching 0.78, up from November's 0.73, according to Semiconductor Equipment and Materials International (SEMI). SEMI reports that North American-based equipment...

Nine new companies have joined the X Initiative. (World News: USA).(Brief Article)
March 1, 2002... Nine new companies have joined the X Initiative, a supply chain consortium set up to promote and perfect the new, diagonal interconnect approach to chip design. These latest additions mean that the consortium's ranks have tripled since it was...

Daw Technologies Inc., Salt Lake City, UT, has established a new subsidiary business unit Daw Mexico, S. de R.L. de C.V., in Guadalajara, Mexico. (World News: USA).(Brief Article)
March 1, 2002... Daw Technologies Inc., Salt Lake City, UT, has established a new subsidiary business unit, Daw Mexico, S. de R.L. de C.V., in Guadalajara, Mexico. The company has hired Jose de Jesus Cazares G. to manage the new business unit. Most recently,...

Brooks Automation Inc., Chelmsford, MA, and Unaxis Semiconductors, Zurich, Switzerland, have signed a long-term agreement for the supply of Brooks' integrated cluster tool platforms to Unaxis. (World News: USA).(Brief Article)
March 1, 2002... Brooks Automation Inc., Chelmsford, MA, and Unaxis Semiconductors, Zurich, Switzerland, have signed a long-term agreement for the supply of Brooks' integrated cluster tool platforms to Unaxis. Under the terms of the purchasing agreement, Unaxis...

Varian Semiconductor Equipment Associates (VSEA), Gloucester, MA, and Lam Research Corp., Fremont, CA, have amicably resolved the patent infringement litigation between them that was filed by Varian in October 1993. (World News: USA).(Brief Article)
March 1, 2002... Varian Semiconductor Equipment Associates (VSEA), Gloucester, MA, and Lam Research Corp., Fremont, CA, have amicably resolved the patent infringement litigation between them that was filed by Varian in October 1993. Under the settlement...

Veeco Instruments Inc., Woodbury, NY, and Photronics Inc., Jupiter, FL, have formed a strategic relationship. (World News: USA).(Brief Article)
March 1, 2002... Veeco Instruments Inc., Woodbury, NY, and Photronics Inc., Jupiter, FL, have formed a strategic relationship in hopes of accelerating the development of manufacturing technologies for enhanced reticle and next-generation lithography mask...

MEMC Electronic Materials Inc. (World News: USA).(Brief Article)
March 1, 2002... MEMC Electronic Materials Inc., St. Peters, MO, has completed the transition of its center of excellence from a pilot line to a full-scale 300mm silicon-manufacturing site.

MKS Instruments Inc. (World News: USA).(Brief Article)
March 1, 2002... MKS Instruments Inc., Andover, MA, is set to acquire ENI, an Emerson company. ENI is a supplier of solid-state rf and direct current plasma power supplies, matching networks, and instrumentation to the semiconductor and thin-film processing...

Isonics Corp., Golden, CO, and Silicon Quest International Inc. (SQI), Santa Clara, CA, have agreed to work together to manufacture, market, and sell SOI wafers under the Isonics brand name. (World News: USA).(Brief Article)
March 1, 2002... Isonics Corp., Golden, CO, and Silicon Quest International Inc. (SQI), Santa Clara, CA, have agreed to work together to manufacture, market, and sell SOI wafers under the Isonics brand name. Under the terms of the agreement, SQI will...

ECI Technology. (World News: USA).(Brief Article)
March 1, 2002... ECI Technology, East Rutherford, NJ, a provider of cyclic voltametric stripping for plating bath analysis, has completed construction on its worldwide headquarters, which has been expanded by 40%. The new space will be used to increase...

Therma-Wave Inc., Fremont, CA, has completed the acquisition of Sensys Instruments Corp., a provider of optical metrology systems. (World News: USA).(Brief Article)(Product Announcement)
March 1, 2002... Therma-Wave Inc., Fremont, CA, has completed the acquisition of Sensys Instruments Corp., a provider of optical metrology systems. Sensys has become a wholly owned subsidiary of Therma-Wave.

Brooks Automation. (World News: USA).(Brief Article)
March 1, 2002... Caption: Brooks Automation, Chelmsford, MA, recently opened its new training facility, "Brooks University' located at its corporate headquarters. The University enables Brooks' Learning Systems Group to give customers state-of-the-art...

Cadence Design Systems Inc., San Jose, CA, and Simplex Solutions Inc., San Jose, CA, have signed a technology-licensing agreement. (World News: USA).(Brief Article)
March 1, 2002... Cadence Design Systems Inc., San Jose, CA, and Simplex Solutions Inc., San Jose, CA, have signed a technology-licensing agreement that gives Cadence exclusive distribution rights to the Simplex stand-alone parasitic extraction technology, Fire...

Amkor Technology Inc., Chandler, AZ, has signed an agreement in which Agilent Technologies Inc. (World News: USA).(Brief Article)
March 1, 2002... Amkor Technology Inc., Chandler, AZ, has signed an agreement in which Agilent Technologies Inc. will outsource its printer ASIC assembly requirements to Amkor. Amkor will provide Agilent with a broad range of semiconductor-packaging technology,...

Tektronix Inc. (World News: USA).(Brief Article)
March 1, 2002... Tektronix Inc., Beaverton, OR, has been granted a US patent on its digital phase analysis technology, a jitter analysis approach that tests optical communications networks.

Princeton University, the research partner working in conjunction with Universal Display Corp. (UDC). (World News: USA).(Brief Article)
March 1, 2002... Princeton University, the research partner working in conjunction with Universal Display Corp. (UDC), Ewing, NJ, has been issued a new patent for an organic vapor phase deposition process that can provide advantages for the manufacturing of...

MEMSCAP, Grenoble, France, has entered into an agreement to acquire Capto AS from SensoNorASA. (World News: Europe).(Brief Article)
March 1, 2002... MEMSCAP, Grenoble, France, has entered into an agreement to acquire Capto AS from SensoNorASA, for 10 million euros. Capto, a wholly owned subsidiary of SensoNor, specializes in MEMS-based sensor products.

Micronic Laser Systems AB, Taby, Sweden, has signed an agreement to increase and strengthen its cooperation with the Fraunhofer Institute for Microelectronic Circuits and Systems. (World News: Europe).(Brief Article)
March 1, 2002... Micronic Laser Systems AB, Taby, Sweden, has signed an agreement to increase and strengthen its cooperation with the Fraunhofer Institute for Microelectronic Circuits and Systems, extending their current agreement by three years. Additionally,...

Pfeiffer Vacuum, Asslar, Germany, will acquire the activities of Aschaffenburg, Germany-based Multimedia Machinery GmbH. (World News: Europe).(Brief Article)
March 1, 2002... Pfeiffer Vacuum, Asslar, Germany, will acquire the activities of Aschaffenburg, Germany-based Multimedia Machinery GmbH, formerly Leybold Systems. Purchase details were not disclosed. The new company will be called Pfeiffer Vacuum Systems GmbH....

IMEC, Leuven, Belgium, is searching for partners in Asia and Japan for joint operations in deep submicron technologies. (World News: Europe).(Brief Article)
March 1, 2002... IMEC, Leuven, Belgium, is searching for partners in Asia and Japan for joint operations in deep submicron technologies. It is focusing on five categories: design technology for integrated information and communication systems; semiconductor...

Nikon Precision Europe GmbH (NPE). (World News: Europe).(Opening branch in Israel)(Brief Article)
March 1, 2002... Nikon Precision Europe GmbH (NPE), a supplier of microlithography-manufacturing equipment headquartered in Langen, Germany, has opened a branch in Herzelia Pituah, Israel, to replace the former M.T.S. Technical Services Ltd./Herzliya. There...

Japanese trading houses Mitsubishi Corp. and Mitsui & Co. are set to begin mass production of high-tech materials based on nanotechnology. (World News: Japan).(Brief Article)
March 1, 2002... Japanese trading houses Mitsubishi Corp. and Mitsui & Co. are set to begin mass production of high-tech materials based on nanotechnology, according to local news reports. In September, Mitsui subsidiary Carbon Nanotech Research Institute Inc....

Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Sharp Corp., and Nippon Control System Corp. have joined the Low Energy Electron-beam Proximity Lithography Technology Consortium (LEEPL) led by Tokyo Seimitsu Co. (World News: Japan).(Brief Article)
March 1, 2002... Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Sharp Corp., and Nippon Control System Corp. have joined the Low Energy Electron-beam Proximity Lithography Technology Consortium (LEEPL) led by Tokyo Seimitsu Co. Adding these companies raises the number of...

Furukawa Electric. (World News: Japan).(discontinues production of gallium arsenide)(Brief Article)
March 1, 2002... The world's second-largest supplier of gallium arsenide has given up trying to make money in the market. Despite its 15% market share, Furukawa Electric will stop making GaAs, blaming intense price competition from new entrants in Taiwan. The...

Computational fluid dynamics (CFD) software makes it possible to simulate the effects of fluid flow, heat transfer, and chemical reactions. (CFD Software).(Brief Article)
March 1, 2002... Computational fluid dynamics (CFD) software makes it possible to simulate the effects of fluid flow, heat transfer, and chemical reactions as they apply to the user's equipment, allowing optimization early in the design process. Fluent Inc.'s...

Adotech Engineering. (World News: Japan).(is entering the semiconductor lithography market)(Brief Article)
March 1, 2002... Adotech Engineering, Tokyo, Japan, is entering the semiconductor lithography market with a new 2x projection exposure tool for wafer-level packaging applications that exposes an entire 300mm wafer at one pass. The maker of photo exposers for...

Technos, Tokyo, Japan, has entered the market for quick-and-dirty metrology. (World News: Japan).(Brief Article)
March 1, 2002... Technos, Tokyo, Japan, has entered the market for quick-and-dirty metrology. The sensor maker puts one of its sensitive graphics sensors in a CCD camera above the wafer fab line, where it says the combined sensor and camera can check the edges...

Furukawa Co. (World News: Japan).(semiconductor production equipment)(Brief Article)
March 1, 2002... Furukawa Co. plans to enter the market for MOCVD tools that grow epitaxial layers of gallium arsenide and indium phosphide. The company says it plans to have a tool ready for sale by the fall, and targets sales of around $8 million the first...

Asahi Glass says work with Selete. (World News: Japan).(Brief Article)
March 1, 2002... Asahi Glass says work with Selete on testing its highly transparent fluorine resin has made 100nm lines with a 250mm layer of resist the typical production thickness, suggesting the material will likely work to make [F.sub.2] photoresist for...

Cadence Design Systems, San Jose, CA, will invest $50 million to establish a direct sales presence in the Chinese market. (World News: Asia Pacific).(Brief Article)
March 1, 2002... Cadence Design Systems, San Jose, CA, will invest $50 million to establish a direct sales presence in the Chinese market. It has established Beijing Cadence Electronic Technology as a wholly owned subsidiary in Beijing, Shanghai, Chengdu, and...

Sony. (World News: Asia Pacific).(Shifts production to Thailand)(Brief Article)
March 1, 2002... Sony plans to shift more assembly to Thailand, increasing capacity at its Thai plant from 39 to 43 million units/month, or from 50 to 80% of its total assembly work. It will transfer work from its Oita plant and convert the advanced assembly...

China plans to set up a national R&D center for ICs, according to Wang Yangyuan, an expert at the Chinese Academy of Sciences and chairman of Shanghai-based Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corp. (World News).(Brief Article)
March 1, 2002... China plans to set up a national R&D center for ICs, according to Wang Yangyuan, an expert at the Chinese Academy of Sciences and chairman of Shanghai-based Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corp. The center will be funded by Peking...

Clarification. (World News).(Semiconductor rinses)(Brief Article)
March 1, 2002... In Feb. 2002's Tech News article "Intermediate rinse improves post-etch via cleans," p. 26, the middle and bottom SEMs in the figure were incorrectly labeled. They appear here with the correct explanation. "Intermediate rinse cleaning...

MRS Fall Meeting: Nanotubes, self assembly, and harnessing phages. (Technology News).(Fall 2001 Materials Research Society meeting in Boston in December)(Brief Article)
March 1, 2002... As integrated circuit features shrink toward the molecular scale, intense effort is going toward moving beyond CMOS to the nanoworld. The wide range of this R&D was evident at the Fall 2001 Materials Research Society meeting in Boston in...

Tiny bang theory. (Technology News).(silicon wafers can easily be made into tiny explosives)(Brief Article)
March 1, 2002... Chemists at the University of California, San Diego, have discovered that silicon wafers can easily be made into tiny explosives that may one day be used to chemically analyze samples in the field or serve as a power source for electronic...

HP, UCLA get patent for molecular chips. (Technology News).(Hewlett-Packard Co. and the University of California, Los Angeles)(Brief Article)
March 1, 2002... Hewlett-Packard Co. and the University of California, Los Angeles have received a US patent for technology that could make it possible to build complex logic chips at the molecular scale. The patent, issued to Philip J. Kuekes and R....

ST fab using superconducting technology to guard power. (Technology News).(ST Microelectronics is developing an industrial voltage regulator with American Superconductor)(Brief Article)
March 1, 2002... Based on superconducting technology, an innovative solution that ensures power quality and reliability is helping ST Microelectronics in Agrate, Italy, cope with increasing potential for voltage variances from its local power grid. Power...

For process development and yield NEC uses in-line tool monitoring (*). (Asia Focus).(Brief Article)
March 1, 2002... To monitor the performance of our production tools to improve yield, we've developed a method to measure the particles within the chamber. We've also worked out a way to check the etching process by in-line scanning of each wafer with an e-beam...

Battle heats up for growth market in implant. (Market Watch).(ion implantation market)
March 1, 2002... The ion implantation market appears set for powerful growth, projected to almost triple over the next five years from an estimated US$819 million in 2001 to US$2.433 billion by 2006, with a CAGR of some 24%, according to VLSI Research (Table...

New barrier layers can help Cu/low-k integration. (Copper/low-K Integration).
March 1, 2002... OVERVIEW The importance of copper and low-k thin film materials in next-generation interconnect structures is well established and the process of integrating these materials into manufacturing is progressing rapidly, particularly with...

Establishing the discipline of physics-based CMP modeling. (CMP).(chemical mechanical polishing)
March 1, 2002... OVERVIEW For the past decade, a physically based comprehensive process model for chemical mechanical polishing has eluded the semiconductor industry. However, a long-term collaborative effort has now resulted in a workable version of that...

The detrimental effect of moisture in SiGe epitaxy. (Contamination Control).
March 1, 2002... OVERVIEW [Si.sub.1-x][Ge.sub.x]-based devices are competing with III-V materials for high-speed applications. To meet these device specifications, higher germanium content, 50 to 100%, will be needed. This means growing crystals at lower...

Wafer surface analyzer. (Product News).(Brief Article)
March 1, 2002... The WM-7 is the first wafer surface analyzer equipped with a violet laser diode as a light source. Compared with conventional products equipped with an argon ion laser, the newly adopted laser diode (400nm wavelength) saves space and reduces...

Semiautomatic die bonder. (Product News).(Brief Article)
March 1, 2002... Model 410-XP precision bonder is a faster-operating, more precise design evolution of this company's [+ or -]5[micro]m Model 410; it achieves finished bond precision of [+ or -]1-2[micro]m. The XP features enhanced optics and mechanical...

Integrated, self-aligned contact etch. (Product News).(Brief Article)
March 1, 2002... Results of a customer evaluation have shown a productivity breakthrough for integrated (in situ) self-aligned contact (SAC) etch. Etch rates were achieved that were at least 30% higher than those of competing systems also tested, while the...

Computational fluid dynamics software. (Product News).(Brief Article)
March 1, 2002... Computational fluid dynamics (CFD) software allows users to simulate the effects of fluid flow, heat transfer, and chemical reactions as they apply to their equipment, so they can optimize at an early stage in the design process. This suite of...

Nanomanipulation and nanolithography system. (Product News).(Brief Article)
March 1, 2002... The NanoMan nanomanipulation and nanolithography system combines the field-proven stability and reliability of the Dimension Series platform SPM/AFMs, with the NanoScope IV SPM controller and new Dimension CL closed-loop scanner head. This...

Hydrogen monitoring system. (Product News).(Brief Article)
March 1, 2002... This continuous monitoring system detects and measures low levels of hydrogen in gaseous process streams. Designed to measure hydrogen concentrations of 500 ppm and below, the system responds in seconds to the presence of hydrogen. It is...

157nm lenses and windows. (Product News).(Brief Article)
March 1, 2002... This new series of Ca[F.sub.2] optics is designed for use in 157nm laser-based applications, such as microlithography and micromachining. The standard product line includes spherical lenses, cylindrical lenses, and flat windows. Both spherical...

Phosphor analyzer. (Product News).(Brief Article)
March 1, 2002... The PDP Analyzer delivers vacuum UV excitation wavelengths at 146nm, 173nm, and others. The wavelengths are focused to sample phosphors, and the samples may be exchanged while maintaining the vacuum required for high-energy excitation. Phosphor...

Motorized wafer shuttle stage. (Product News).(Brief Article)
March 1, 2002... This motorized silicon wafer shuttle stage is designed to be used with Nikon and Olympus wafer-loader systems for 3, 4, 6 and 8-in. wafers. In operation, the shuttle system automatically moves to the correct load position and activates the...

Sample preparation system. (Product News).(Brief Article)
March 1, 2002... The FlashScan sample preparation system for ICP-MS and TXRF analysis offers silicon wafer surface contamination detection to 2 ppb. The combination wafer scanner and proprietary HF "Flash" Si[O.sub.2] decomposition chamber prepare a sample for...

SiC heaters. (Product News).(Brief Article)
March 1, 2002... These silicon carbide (SiC) heaters are designed for use in process chambers where rapid heating to high temperature -- with low contamination -- is necessary. Fabricated from high-purity chemical vapor deposition SiC, the heaters have very...

High-flow valve for 300mm and LCD. (Product News).(Brief Article)
March 1, 2002... The injection-molded Furon InLine-1000 valve is designed for use in high-purity/corrosive chemical applications such as semiconductor valve boxes, chemical delivery, and chemical processing. The 2-way valve provides a true 1-in, orifice and an...

Substrate management system. (Product News).(Brief Article)
March 1, 2002... The Asyst SMS, a high-productivity wafer sorter used by chipmakers to manipulate and identify wafers, is a fully automated platform designed to ensure that wafers remain in a sub-Glass 1 environment during all fab process steps. By implementing...

X-ray test and inspection. (Product News).(Brief Article)
March 1, 2002... The field-proven microfocus x-ray .2 series has been redesigned with improved x-ray tube and imaging chain technology -- changes that increase the system's imaging capabilities and versatility. Standard features still include a simple and...

High-accuracy proportioning control valves. (Product News).(Brief Article)
March 1, 2002... Combining a precision stepper motor with a patented slotted metering valve, Auto Valve proportioning control valves have the ability to meter media in very precise increments on a repeatable basis. Linear flow characteristics make them suitable...

Compound and silicon semiconductors: A technology duet. (Industry Insights).
March 1, 2002... While silicon CMOS devices are by far predominant in today's electronic systems, special needs, especially for applications in the rf and optical sectors, are spurring the growth of compound semiconductors and silicon germanium technology. We...