Solid State Technology articles from March 2009

Solid State Technology archives from March 2009

Revisiting the path to burn-in.(SST ONLINE)(Antares Electronics Inc.)(Brief article)
March 1, 2009... IC manufacturers are relying more on the burn-in test process to identify and scrap defective devices before assembly. James Forster, CTO of Antares, takes a look at this semiconductor manufacturing step--and why chipmakers work to improve...

Change in ISMI membership model enables ESH efforts.(SST ONLINE)(environment safety and health)(International Semiconductor Manufacturing Technology)(Brief article)
March 1, 2009... SST's Debra Vogler talks with SEMATECH/ISMI execs about their launch of a new Environment, Safety & Health (ESH) Technology Center in Austin, TX--and why the industry's demand to apply green technology in semiconductor manufacturing overshadows...

Touting "carbon-free" transport for jobs, solar.(SST ONLINE)(Brief article)
March 1, 2009... US-China cooperation on a key issue--clean energy--was the focus of a recent forum at Applied Materials' R&D campus. The takeaway message, reports SST's Debra Vogler: solar can be a viable part of energy supplies once costs come down, but it...

The solar application wars: is there a clear winner?(Web Exclusives: ONLINE AT WWW.SOLID-STATE.COM)(Brief article)
March 1, 2009... A downturn provides a perfect foundation for innovation, and for most products the company that tells the best story typically wins. So it is likely in solar, where there's a skirmish among crystalline and thin-film camps, notes Navigant...

EDA emerging from worst year in recent history.(Web Exclusives: ONLINE AT WWW.SOLID-STATE.COM)(Gary Smith electronic design automation)(Brief article)
March 1, 2009... After its worst year in recent memory (due largely to one company's missteps), the EDA industry isn't yet on the cusp of an upturn. Laurie Balch from Gary Smith EDA explains what to expect in 2009-2011, and what areas of the industry will lead...

ISS '09 redux: semi boom vs. lengthy downturn; bright days ahead in energy.(Web Exclusives: ONLINE AT WWW.SOLID-STATE.COM)(Industry Strategy Symposium)(Brief article)
March 1, 2009... Who's upbeat about the semiconductor sector, and why? When will this downturn turn into sustainable growth? What will fix the memory sector? Who's economically guiltier than Bernie Madoff? What's the one beacon of light shining through the...

How green is your valley?(power consumption in semiconductor industry)(Editorial)
March 1, 2009... The global explosion in IT, combined with rapidly escalating energy costs, has chipmakers asking how much does it really cost to run today's computers/ servers, and what can be done to provide more energy-efficient solutions? Statistics...

SEMI: wafer shipments, sales slide in '08.(BUSINESS TRENDS)(Semiconductor Equipment and Materials International)(Brief article)
March 1, 2009... Worldwide silicon wafer area shipments and revenues fell in 2008 for the first time since 2001 as everything fell apart in the final months of the year, according to date from SEMI's Silicon Manufacturers Group (SMG). Area shipments had been on...

For the full year 2008, global chip sales were off by -2.8% to $248.6B, the first Y-Y drop since 2001, according to the SIA.(WORLDWIDE HIGHLIGHTS)(Semiconductor Industry Association)(Brief article)
March 1, 2009... For the full year 2008, global chip sales were off by -2.8% to $248.6B, the first Y-Y drop since 2001, according to the SIA. November results had tracked yearly growth to essentially flat vs. the SIA's original estimates of 2.2% growth, but...

Applied Materials, Oerlikon, and Ulvac all enjoyed record business in 2008 for PV cell manufacturing equipment sales, thanks to the "rise of the turnkey thin-film line" as the key trend for the year, according to VLSI Research.(WORLDWIDE HIGHLIGHTS)(Brief article)
March 1, 2009... Applied Materials, Oerlikon, and Ulvac all enjoyed record business in 2008 for PV cell manufacturing equipment sales, thanks to the "rise of the turnkey thin-film line" as the key trend for the year, according to VLSI Research. Bunched together...

Semiconductor Research Corp. and IMEC will jointly create "environmentally friendly.".(WORLDWIDE HIGHLIGHTS)
March 1, 2009... Semiconductor Research Corp. and IMEC will jointly create "environmentally friendly" processes and materials for advanced semiconductor manufacturing.

Global DRAM revenue is seen falling by a wider-than-expected 15% this year.(WORLDWIDE HIGHLIGHTS)(dynamic random access memory)(Brief article)
March 1, 2009... Global DRAM revenue is seen falling by a wider-than-expected 15% this year as memory chip makers were hit by heavy losses in the last quarter and cut supplies radically, research firm iSuppli said.

Intel.(USA)(Brief article)
March 1, 2009... Intel has off ered more specifics on its capex plans: ~$7B over two years to ramp 32nm manufacturing capabilities at its sites in Arizona, New Mexico, and Oregon.

The US Army has committed to sponsor an additional five years of research and development.(USA)
March 1, 2009... The US Army has committed to sponsor an additional five years of research and development at Arizona State U's Flexible Display Center.

Spansion.(USA)
March 1, 2009... Spansion president/CEO Bertrand Cambou has resigned, days after the company indicated it is open to a sale/merger.

Consolidation is in the air in Japan: Toshiba is delaying some fab construction, while paying SanDisk ~$900m to take over more of their flash JV.(Brief article)
March 1, 2009... Consolidation is in the air in Japan: Toshiba is delaying some fab construction, while paying SanDisk ~$900M to take over more of their flash JV; Toshiba and NEC reportedly are discussing merging their chip units; Renesas is shuttering older...

Suntech has acquired a $8.1m minority stake in Chinese polysilicon supplier.(ASIAFOCUS)
March 1, 2009... Suntech has acquired a $8.1M minority stake in Chinese polysilicon supplier partner Asia Silicon.

China's Hua Hong NEC and Grace Semiconductor Manufacturing Corp. are regrouping their top executive teams.(ASIAFOCUS)
March 1, 2009... China's Hua Hong NEC and Grace Semiconductor Manufacturing Corp. are regrouping their top executive teams ahead of a planned integration.

Sanyo.(Brief article)
March 1, 2009... Sanyo is planning a new [yen] 10B (US $110M) 200MW solar cell plant in Osaka in 2010, at the site of the company's existing Nishikinohama facility.

ProMOS.(ASIAFOCUS)(Brief article)
March 1, 2009... As a consortium of banks figures out details of lending new money (US ~$87M) to ProMOS, Taiwan's government is mulling plans for much broader restructuring and consolidation of its domestic DRAM industry.

NXP.(EUROFOCUS)
March 1, 2009... NXP has drawn down another $200M in revolving credit facility, less than three months after receiving a $400M infusion.

Suss Microtec.(EUROFOCUS)
March 1, 2009... New Suss Microtec CEO Frank Averdung has taken his position several months earlier than planned.

Qimonda.(EUROFOCUS)
March 1, 2009... Qimonda has filed for insolvency in Germany and in the US; without new investors it faces shutdown and liquidation.

The European Commission has approved [euro] 457m in funding for nanotech research work under the "Nano2012" program.(EUROFOCUS)(Brief article)
March 1, 2009... The European Commission has approved [euro] 457M in funding for nanotech research work under the "Nano2012" program, formed last year by STMicroelectronics, CEA-Leti, and IBM for work at Crolles and Grenoble.

ASMI.(EUROFOCUS)
March 1, 2009... ASMI and key shareholder Hermes have come to a mutual understanding: investors won't seek to oust CEO Chuck del Prado, while the company will redouble efforts to strengthen the board and fill vacancies.

A reliability engineer's dream comes along.
March 1, 2009... In a former life within the semiconductor standards and reliability engineering community, I advocated for the adoption of well-known reliability and maintainability engineering practices that have been used for decades in the aerospace and...

SVTC, Entrepix expand CMP work to 300mm.(chemical mechanical polishing )
March 1, 2009... SVTC Technologies (nee Cypress Semiconductor's Silicon Valley Technology Center, spun out to VC/private equity owners in March 2007) and CMP outsourcing firm Entrepix are expanding their existing partnership to 300mm wafer processing. Under the...

Ion implant: a new enabler for 32nm and 22nm devices.
March 1, 2009... In the beginning, ion implant was enabling. VLSI circuits could not have been fabricated were it not for the inherent precision of ion implant. Specifically, ion implant enabled accurate threshold adjust voltages on MOSFETs. This enabled...

Combinatorial PVD and ALD workflows for cost-effective R&D.(High-Productivity Combinatorial)
March 1, 2009... With materials innovation driving recent logic and memory scaling in the semiconductor industry, High-Productivity Combinatorial (HPC) technology can help find optimum solutions faster and cost-effectively. Specifically, the use of...

Meeting current and future wafering challenges.(WAFER THINNING)
March 1, 2009... Mono-crystalline materials--silicon, III-V compounds, carbides, quartz, ceramics, and other exotic crystals--are considerably hard (hardness of a few tens of GPa) with an elevated rigidity that renders their machining and slicing particularly...

3D integration with TSV: temporary bonding and debonding.(through-silicon via)
March 1, 2009... As the microelectronics industry promotes emerging and future applications, new and improved methods will be necessary to meet the associated manufacturing challenges. Emerging products and applications, such as heterogeneous integrated chips,...

Burn-in test socket challenges.(SOCKETS)
March 1, 2009... The life of a socket begins when designer models a finite element analysis for the force required to make stable electrical contact between the socket and the device under test (DUT). The designer considers pad pitch, pad composition, and I/O...

Kelvin measurement using spring probes for packaged IC testing.(Advanced Packaging: TEST)(integrated circuit)
March 1, 2009... Consumer electronics are driving half of today's semiconductor market; smaller mobile phones with more capabilities, MP3 players, camcorders and other gadgets command what can become insatiable demand for next-generation ICs. This means smaller...

Holistic efficiency optimization: how to help in a downturn.(INDUSTRY FORUM)
March 1, 2009... The industry is in another cyclical downturn. No one knows the depth or length of this cycle, but one thing is certain--manufacturing efficiency will be important. Since new fab spending is being cut back, getting the most out of existing fabs...

Chemical * gases * material: handling and control.(2009 RESOURCE GUIDE)
March 1, 2009... CHEMICALS Chemicals Acids/bases General Chemical West LLC Lab-Pro Inc Mallinckrodt Baker Inc Puritan Products Inc Adhesion promoting Gelest Inc General Chemical West LLC Antireflection Applied...

Fab * process technology and equipment.(2009 RESOURCE GUIDE)
March 1, 2009... FABRICATION/PROCESS TECHNOLOGY Chemical Mechanical Planarization Polishers Entrepix Inc MR Semicon Inc Peter Wolters of America Inc Post CMP cleaning Contrade Microstructure Technology GmbH Entrepix Inc ...

Test * metrology and back-end production.(2009 RESOURCE GUIDE)
March 1, 2009... TEST, METROLOGY AND INSPECTION Analyzers Capacitance voltage (C-V) Four Dimensions Inc Materials Development Corp Solid State Measurements Inc Carrier lifetime/mobility/concentration/conductivity type Four...

Industry services.(2009 RESOURCE GUIDE)
March 1, 2009... INDUSTRY SERVICES Analytical Services Chemical analysis Applied Chemical Laboratories Inc Bruker AXS The M&P Lab Northern Analytical Laboratory Inc Oneida Research Services Inc Tascon USA Inc XenICs ...

Trade names.(2009 RESOURCE GUIDE)
March 1, 2009... The Trade Names section is an alphabetical listing of products and services commonly known by a commercial name or name/model number combination, followed by a short description and the name of the service. Further information on the...

Vendor directory.(2009 RESOURCE GUIDE)(Directory)
March 1, 2009... The Vendor Directory is an alphabetical listing of companies. It provides complete and up-to-date information on each supplier, including address, telephone and fax numbers, and e-mail and web site addresses. Where requested, sales offices and...

The Vision Show.(Automated Imaging Association)(Brief article)
March 1, 2009... March 31-April 2, 2009 Phoenix Convention Center Phoenix, Arizona USA March 2009 On behalf of the Board of Directors and staff of the Automated Imaging Association (AIA), it's our pleasure to welcome you to The Vision Show...

General information.(THE Vision SHOW)(Automated Imaging Association)(Conference notes)
March 1, 2009... On-site registration available! Registration Show and conference registration takes place: Monday, March 30 7:30 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. Tuesday, March 31 7:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. Wednesday, April 1 7:00 a.m. to...

Exhibitors by booth number.(THE Vision SHOW)
March 1, 2009... Booth Company 101 Qioptiq Imaging Solutions 104 Lincoln Laser Company 105 Kowa Optimed, Inc. 108 Sprinter Marking 109 Automated Imaging Association (AIA) 110 Princeton Instruments 114 Active Silicon...

Tutorials and conference sessions.(THE Vision SHOW)
March 1, 2009... On-site registration available! Don't miss these valuable and affordable conference and tutorial sessions taught by today's industry leaders! Monday March 30, 2009 8:30 a.m. to Noon Tutorial 1: The Fundamentals of Machine Vision...

Exhibitors by product category.(THE Vision SHOW)
March 1, 2009... Cable/Cable Assemblies/Connectors 3M Electronic Solutions Division, Booth 525 Active Silicon Ltd., Booth 114 BitFlow, Inc., Booth 507 Components Express, Inc., Booth 417 Edmund Optics, Booth 509 Image Labs...

The Vision Show exhibitors.(THE Vision SHOW)
March 1, 2009... 3M Electronic Solutions Division (#) Booth 525 6801 River Place Boulevard A130-3N-52 Austin, Texas 78726 USA Phone: 800-328-1368 Web: www.3m.com/interconnects Email: interconnectsinquiry@mmm.com 3M will...