Solid State Technology articles from May 2008

Solid State Technology archives from May 2008

Everything litho at SPIE.(Web Exclusives)
May 1, 2008... Solid State Technology and Micro-lithography World editors and contributors thoroughly covered this year's SPIE Advanced Lithography conference (Feb. 24-28), far more than could be printed in this issue--so we put it all online! Read M. David...

Etching new IC materials at 32 and 22nm.(Web Exclusives)
May 1, 2008... Silicon Valley was once the center of the silicon-based IC manufacturing world, and although IC fabs are now located globally, the Valley still has momentum as the center of IC R&D. SST senior technical editor Ed Korczynski reports from a...

Updates on SOI, 313, EUV.(Web Exclusives)
May 1, 2008... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] SST editorial director Bob Haavind reports from a SEMI sponsored breakfast near Boston, where an insightful update on three key semiconductor technologies sparked a lively Q&A. IBM's Gordon Starkey explained how...

Lithography's future: tougher than ever.(Editorial)
May 1, 2008... The industry struggle from node to node along the semi-log Moore's Law track gets ever tougher. The road ahead in lithography is as fuzzy as it's ever been, as the recent SPIE Advanced Lithography Conference in San Jose, CA, demonstrated. Will...

An honor to be onboard.(WORLD NEWS)
May 1, 2008... Greetings, readers! This is a quick note to let you know I am honored to be joining Solid State Technology as editor-in-chief. After almost 26 years with competitor Semiconductor International, I have switched hats and will now be leading the...

Revised-forecast season starts early this year.(BUSINESS TRENDS)
May 1, 2008... Worries about a looming US economic recession and unexpected softness in the memory sector (particularly NAND) are already causing semiconductor watchers to rethink their expectations for the IC industry in 2008, although there's still debate...

Worldwide sales of semiconductor manufacturing equipment increased about 5.7% in 2007, almost entirely due to a spending splurge by Taiwan firms and to a lesser extent Korea, and underpinned by extensive memory investments and the continued ramp of 300mm wafer manufacturing, according to the latest data from SEMI.(WORLDWIDE HIGHLIGHTS)(Brief article)
May 1, 2008... Worldwide sales of semiconductor manufacturing equipment increased about 5.7% in 2007, almost entirely due to a spending splurge by Taiwan firms and to a lesser extent Korea, and underpinned by extensive memory investments and the continued...

Despite several rebuffs, Sumitomo Heavy Industries says it is still interested in acquiring Axcelis Technologies, its partner in a Japanese JV (Sumitomo Eaton Nova), following weeks of unusually public disclosures on both sides.(WORLDWIDE HIGHLIGHTS)(Brief article)
May 1, 2008... Despite several rebuffs, Sumitomo Heavy Industries says it is still interested in acquiring Axcelis Technologies, its partner in a Japanese JV (Sumitomo Eaton Nova), following weeks of unusually public disclosures on both sides. TPG (nee Texas...

German firms Q-Cells and Singulus Technologies say they are co-developing a fully automatic tool to apply antireflection coatings onto solar cells.(WORLDWIDE HIGHLIGHTS)(Brief article)
May 1, 2008... German firms Q-Cells and Singulus Technologies say they are co-developing a fully automatic tool to apply antireflection coatings onto solar cells, utilizing Q-Cells solar cell manufacturing know-how with Singulus' coating technology.

The fabless sector accounted for 20% of worldwide semiconductor revenues in 2007.(WORLDWIDE HIGHLIGHTS)
May 1, 2008... The fabless sector accounted for 20% of worldwide semiconductor revenues in 2007, according to the Global Semiconductor Association.

FEI has established an equity position in Imago Scientific Instruments--with an option to purchase the whole company in the future.(USA)(Brief article)
May 1, 2008... FEI has established an equity position in Imago Scientific Instruments--with an option to purchase the whole company in the future--and will distribute/sell Imago's LEAP atom probe product line, which FEI says are "complementary" to its own...

Aviza Technology.(USA)(Brief article)
May 1, 2008... Aviza Technology is restructuring its operations to refocus on "core strengths" in sub-45nm ALD, and etch and PVD for 3D-ICs. Cast aside will be the firm's large batch thermal systems for trench capacitor technology for DRAMs.

ATMI and Ovonyx have agreed to develop chemical vapor deposition (CVD) precursor materials and processes for use in high-volume manufacturing of phase change memory products based on Ovonyx's technology.(USA)(Brief article)
May 1, 2008... ATMI and Ovonyx have agreed to develop chemical vapor deposition (CVD) precursor materials and processes for use in highvolume manufacturing of phase change memory products based on Ovonyx's technology. The agreement also provides certain...

US Department of Energy.(USA)(United States. Department of Energy. National Renewable Energy Laboratory)(Brief article)
May 1, 2008... The US Department of Energy's National Renewable Energy Laboratory says it has developed a copper indium gallium diselenide (CIGS) thin-film solar cell with a record 19.9% efficiency, close to the level of multicrystalline silicon-based solar...

Local reports indicate Intel has gained approval from the US government to transfer 65nm silicon process technology to its Dalian, China, chip foundry, slated to start operation in 2010.(ASIAFOCUS)
May 1, 2008... Local reports indicate Intel has gained approval from the US government to transfer 65nm silicon process technology to its Dalian, China, chip foundry, slated to start operation in 2010. And anticipation over the new fab has spurred interest...

Hynix Semiconductor.(ASIAFOCUS)(Fidelix)(Brief article)
May 1, 2008... Hynix Semiconductor appears ready to shave more than a quarter off its planned 2008 spending (down to a total of ~$3.67 billion), with early-year 300mm investments spared but late-year investments now in jeopardy, according to local reports....

Rohm and Haas is selling its 40% equityinterest in UP Chemical Co.(ASIAFOCUS)(Brief article)
May 1, 2008... Rohm and Haas is selling its 40% equityinterest in UP Chemical Co., a specialist in DRAM and high-k gate dielectric precursor technology, turning an initial $3.5 million investment into a $112 million return after 10 years.

Hitachi, now Elpida Memory's largest stakeholder.(ASIAFOCUS)(Brief article)
May 1, 2008... Hitachi, now Elpida Memory's largest stakeholder, has contributed all of its 9.87% stake to a new [yen] 42.24 billion (~US$420.8 million) retirement benefit trust, booking a [yen] 21.04 billion ($209.9 million) gain and paving the way for a...

Ushio.(ASIAFOCUS)(Brief article)
May 1, 2008... Ushio says it has developed technology for a multifilament halogen lamp heater for use in fabricating films for semiconductors and solar cells, notes the Nikkei Business Daily. The halogen lamp has three filaments instead of one; each can be...

Sumco.(ASIAFOCUS)(Brief article)
May 1, 2008... Global No.2 silicon wafer producer Sumco aims to expand production of solar cell wafers by about 5% to 110MW in the current year, without new capital spending, according to the Nikkei BusinessDaily. That'll be achieved by ramping to mass...

Renesas Technology.(ASIAFOCUS)(Brief article)
May 1, 2008... Renesas Technology says it will invest about [yen] 4 billion (~US$40million) to expand capacity for microcontroller production with a new building at its backend process plant in Beijing, China, in a bid to boost the company's global MCU...

King Yuan Electronics Co.(ASIAFOCUS)(Brief article)
May 1, 2008... Chip test firm King Yuan Electronics Co. (KYEC) is spinning off its memory testing business, which represented about 30% of the company's ~$452 million in 2007 sales, to narrow the parent company's focus on logic chip testing operations,...

Silterra says it has secured a foundry deal to make 0.18[micro]m RF CMOS products for Taiwanese RF IC designer AMIC Communication.(ASIAFOCUS)(Brief article)
May 1, 2008... Silterra says it has secured a foundry deal to make 0.18[micro]m RF CMOS products for Taiwanese RF IC designer AMIC Communication. The foundry also said its 0.131 [micro]m RF CMOS technology is now in pilot production, and has released a 0.18...

Powerchip Semiconductor has completed installation of a multimillion-dollar AMHS system.(ASIAFOCUS)
May 1, 2008... Powerchip Semiconductor has completed installation of a multimillion-dollar AMHS system from Aquest Systems at its twin 300mm fabs P1 and P2.

Matsushita.(ASIAFOCUS)(Brief article)
May 1, 2008... A joint effort involving Matsushita and several universities, including Tohoku U., the Tokyo Institute of Technology, Osaka U., and others, claims to have developed a chipmaking technology that uses a type of protein to make high-performance...

Oxford Instruments says it has acquired US-based Technologies and Devices International.(EUROFOCUS)(Brief article)
May 1, 2008... Oxford Instruments says it has acquired US-based Technologies and Devices International, a developer of hydride vapor phase epitaxy (HVPE) technology and processes, in a bid to expand its offerings for makers of high-brightness LEDs.

Arise Technologies.(EUROFOCUS)(Brief article)
May 1, 2008... Arise Technologies says it is increasing photovoltaic (PV) cell production targets at its facility in Bischofswerda, Germany, by 56% to 560MW by 2010. The company is also expanding a silicon pilot plant in Canada and is seeking to build another...

Correction.(EUROFOCUS)(Correction notice)
May 1, 2008... In the April 2008 issue (see World News, p. 14), we incorrectly noted that National Semiconductor is "shuttering its 150mm/200mm site in Arlington, TX," as well as its 150mm fab in Greenock, Scotland. In fact only some toolsets are being closed...

Etching new IC materials at 32nm and 22nm.(TECHNOLOGY NEWS)
May 1, 2008... Silicon Valley was once the center of the silicon-based IC manufacturing world, and although IC fabs are now located globally, the valley maintains momentum as the center of IC R&D. The Northern California Chapter of the American Vacuum Society...

Double development offers simpler double patterning.(TECHNOLOGY NEWS)
May 1, 2008... It's convenient to visualize the image created bya photomask as abinary array of bright and dark regions. Yet in the era of subwavelength lithography, scattering around mask features actually creates a grayscale image. Intensity at the center...

Freeze frame: JSR closes in on double patterning at 22nm.(TECHNOLOGY NEWS)
May 1, 2008... During the recent SPIE Advanced Lithography Conference, JSR Microelectronics reported on its development of a "freezing material" for use in double exposure/ double etch or double-exposure/single etch processes, achieving 32nm line and space...

Turning an immersion litho 'defect' into a double-patterning 'feature'.(TECHNOLOGY NEWS)
May 1, 2008... Immersion lithography introduced a new polarization problem because of contrast differences for the TE and TM modes of the exposure light. But a paper presented by Bruce Smith et al., of the Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT) at the recent...

Submicron micromachining technology for liquid phase chromatography separation.(MEMS)
May 1, 2008... EXECUTIVE OVERVIEW Liquid phase chromatography is undoubtedly the most powerful technique to separate and identify molecules present in a given sample mixture. Chromatography is, however, also the separation process that is by far the most...

Despite engineering and cost challenges, 32nm node: IC manufacturing within reach.(MATERIALS)
May 1, 2008... EXECUTIVE OVERVIEW There are no insurmountable obstacles foreseen for scaling high-volume manufacturing to the 32nm node for logic in 2009. Though this transition will primarily be an extension of 45nm technology, significant challenges...

Fully gate-all-around silicon nanowire: CMOS devices.(NANOTECHNOLOGY)
May 1, 2008... EXECUTIVE OVERVIEW Although CVD-grown nanowires are good for demonstration purposes, getting them into manufacturing calls for the utilization of CMOS fabrication methods. We present fully CMOS-compatible nanowire technology with...

System-in-package integration of passives using: 3D through-silicon vias.(INTERCONNECT)
May 1, 2008... EXECUTIVE OVERVIEW Future generations of cellular RF transceivers require higher degrees of integration, preferably using the third dimension. System-in-Package (SiP) applications have been shown for integrated 3D "trench" capacitors in...

Precision dispensing pump for UV-sensitive fluids.(PRODUCT NEWS)
May 1, 2008... The VMP electronic variable displacement metering pump dispenses UV-sensitive fluids such as UV-curable adhesives, UV coatings, and photolithography chemicals. The VMP variable displacement dispenser uses this company's CeramPump Valveless...

Thin-film photovoltaic laser scribing systems.(PRODUCT NEWS)
May 1, 2008... These PV series photovoltaic laser scribing systems are built on the ChromaDice DPSS laser platform and are designed for the isolation and series interconnection of thin film solar cells. This company employs high peak power, short pulsed diode...

Vacuum pump inlet trap.(PRODUCT NEWS)
May 1, 2008... The Multi-Trap 16-in. vacuum inlet trap protects vacuum pumps used in highly corrosive deposition processes that generate large amounts of condensable by-products. The trap features a knock-down stage, two stages of user-selectable filter...

Longer-travel nanopositioning stages.(PRODUCT NEWS)
May 1, 2008... The PIHera family of flexure-guided piezo nanopositioning stages offers travel ranges to 1.8mm. These precision closed-loop flexureguided stages can be used for scanning probe applications (surface metrology) and static positioning. Due to the...

Ergonomic vibration isolation workstation.(PRODUCT NEWS)
May 1, 2008... The new ergonomic MK26 workstation achieves low net vertical stiffness without affecting its capability to support static loads, thanks to its Minus K stiff spring and negative-stiffness mechanism. Horizontal isolation is provided by beam...

Coating and dispensing system for RTV materials.(PRODUCT NEWS)
May 1, 2008... The Precisioncoat RTV System, designed to apply Room Temperature Vulcanization (RTV) materials, is controlled by proprietary SCS software on a Windows XP operating system and is fully programmable. RTV silicone adhesives and sealants offer...

Upgrades for XLA products.(PRODUCT NEWS)
May 1, 2008... High-performance (HP) upgrades for this company's XLA 105, XLA 300, and XLA 400 products are now available. The HP upgrade to the XLA 105 can be used on critical- to mid-critical dry ArF layers, and offers users E95 reporting to support better...

Toolset for mask aligners.(PRODUCT NEWS)
May 1, 2008... This advanced nanotechnology tool set for this company's mask aligners is a nano-imprint lithography (NIL) tool that enables this company's aligners to print resist thicknesses from

UV laser for high-speed die singulation.(PRODUCT NEWS)
May 1, 2008... The AV IA 355-23-250, with the highest pulse repetition rate of any Q -switched ultraviolet laser, is designed for high-speed integrated circuit die singulation with high yields. The laser can deliver more than 8 watts of 355nm output at...

1% RH dry cabinets.(PRODUCT NEWS)
May 1, 2008... The XSD Series is designed to help meet the challenges associated with IPC J-STS-033 for handling of moisture sensitive devices. It offers precision measurement, 24x7 data logging, and ergonomic touch-screen operator interface. The SDR Series...

P30 production probe card.(PRODUCT NEWS)
May 1, 2008... The 20GHz P30 Pyramid Probe card is designed for high-volume wafer testing of RF filters and switches. Using unique membrane probe technology, Pyramid Probe cards offer multi-site support, high accuracy, low scrub, and low materials...

Star-RCXT extraction.(PRODUCT NEWS)
May 1, 2008... The Star-RCXT parasitic extraction product offers a near 2x performance boost over the previous release with dual-core support. The unit works with popular commercial grid computing management software, maximizing efficiency across multi-core...

HiPace turbopumps.(PRODUCT NEWS)
May 1, 2008... The HiPace line of compact and powerful turbopumps is available in pumping speeds that range from 10-700 liters/second. The pump features a new rotor design that reduces run-up time and provides high gas through put and exceptional compression...

Expanded line of sputtering targets.(Wafer Processing)
May 1, 2008... These sputtering targets are available in 62 different metals and alloys, as well as compounds such as borides, carbides, fluorides, nitrides, oxides, selenides, silicides, sulphides, and tellurides. In addition, the surfaces of flat sheets up...

Hydrogen peroxide sensor.(Wafer Processing)
May 1, 2008... The newd FFOZ-Pdis solved full flow hydrogen peroxide sensor is designed to monitor and control the concentrations of the critical peroxide in an SPM bath, also known as a Piranha bath, in semiconductor manufacturing cleaning processes. Compact...

Two keys that unlock 45nm OPC.(INDUSTRY FORUM)(optical proximity effects)
May 1, 2008... Stepping into the sub-180nm world creates a new reality far different from what we have known and relied on in the past. The virtual halt of the steady progression of scanner resolution improvements to achieve shrinking geometries has created...