High Tech Ceramics News articles from March 2003

High Tech Ceramics News archives from March 2003

INDUSTRY ANALYSIS: Rare Earth Market To Reach $2 Billion.
March 1, 2003... Rare earths offer unique physical and chemical properties that allow the synthesis or fabrication of materials and products that would not otherwise be possible. Because of this, rare earths are used in a variety of applications. A small yet...

PROCESSING AND TECHNOLOGIES EPSI to Highlight Cold Isostatic.
March 1, 2003... Engineered Pressure Systems, Inc. (EPSI), a producer of custom- engineered high-pressure solutions, will highlight its Cold Isostatic Press Production Unit (CIP) at Acer's 2003 Annual Meeting on April 27-30, 2003, at the Opryland Hotel in...

Ballistic Mystery in Ceramic Armor Solved.
March 1, 2003... Ballistics experts in recent years have puzzled over a troubling loss of impact resistance in an extremely hard and lightweight boron carbide, sometimes used in protective armor. The material does an excellent job of blocking low-energy...

SAPI Armor Contract Goes to Ceradyne.
March 1, 2003... Ceradyne, Inc. has been awarded a $3.7 million Small Arms Protective Insert (SAPI) contract by the Defense Supply Center Philadelphia for the U.S. Army. This new order is on an expedited basis and is scheduled to be completed in early April...

Permlight, CPS Team On LED Lighting.
March 1, 2003... Permlight Products, Inc. and Ceramics Process Systems Corp. (CPS; OTCBB: CPSX) have formed an exclusive strategic relationship to develop semiconductor-based lighting systems with advanced composite metal matrix material heatsinks, expanding...

Coated Carbide Grades Introduced.
March 1, 2003... Kennametal has introduced two coated carbide grades that offer improvements in cutting speed with no reduction in tool life while turning gray cast and ductile irons. Grade KC9325 is designed for high-speed use on gray cast and nodular irons...

METROLOGY AND ANALYSIS Real-Time Pressure Mapping.
March 1, 2003... Sensor Products, Inc. recently introduced Tactilus, a new electronic tactile force and pressure-indicating sensor. Tactilus allows engineers to monitor precisely how force is disbursed between any two contacting or mating surfaces in real time....

POWDERS AND NANO CERAMICS TiO2 Process Wins Third Patent.
March 1, 2003... Altair Nanotechnologies, Inc. (Nasdaq: ALTI) has announced that it was awarded its third patent "Processing Aqueous Titanium Solutions to Titanium Dioxide Pigment" by the U.S. Patent Office. The new patent describes the fundamental...

Nanotechnology R&D Bill Introduced.
March 1, 2003... A Nanotechnology R&D Bill has been introduced in the U.S. Congress with the full support of the NanoBusiness Alliance, an industry organization of nano businesses. The Legislation to provide $2.1 billion over 3 years for nanotechnology research...

Korea Center Links Universities, Businesses.
March 1, 2003... The Korean Ministry of Commerce, Industry, and Energy (MOCIE) said that a new Nanotechnology Center would integrate the growing number of small-sized nanotechnology complexes and infrastructure development projects that are now pursued...

COATINGS: Hot Filament Makes Ultrahard Film.
March 1, 2003... Development of novel ultrahard materials is of great interest to the material science community. In particular, carbon nitride films have attracted a lot of interest due to its extreme properties. The hardness of pure b-C3N4 has been predicted...

MTU, Sulzer Metco Sign Agreement.
March 1, 2003... MTU Aero Engines GmbH, a DaimlerChrysler subsidiary, and Eldim B.V., a Sulzer Metco company, inked a strategic GP7000 partnership agreement, according to which Eldim takes a roughly 1% stake of the GP7000 engine in MTU's workshare. MTU's role...

FIBERS AND COMPOSITES Zircar Introduces New Products.
March 1, 2003... Zircar Refractory Composites has introduced Refractory Sheet Cylinder Type RS-101. It is a ceramic fiber reinforced structural alumina product with useful properties of 2,300F (1,260C). Zircar claims that the composite retains strength and...

DIAMOND PRODUCTS: Cathode Arc Deposits Amorphous Diamond.
March 1, 2003... Amorphous diamond is diamond-like carbon (DLC) made of pure carbon. It can be conveniently deposited by cathodic arc that delivers a flux of ionized carbon atoms. The carbon ions are driven by an electrical field to impinge upon a substrate. At...

CATALYSTS AND CATALYST SUPPORTS LTOC to Go Under the Hood.
March 1, 2003... NASA's laser technology may soon be under your car hood. NASA's Langley Research Center in Hampton, Virginia, designed a system for satellites to measure the chemical makeup of Earth's atmosphere. Part of that design, for Low-Temperature...

FUEL CELLS: Combo Method Synthesizes Ccatalysts.
March 1, 2003... Superior MicroPowders, LLC (SMP) announced that it has completed the design, fabrication, and testing of its combinatorial synthesis tool for the development fuel cell electrocatalysts. Superior MicroPowders, an advanced materials developer and...

ELECTRONIC CERAMICS Intel Convert Arizona Factory.
March 1, 2003... Intel Corp. (Santa Clara, CA) plans to convert Fab 12, a 200-mm wafer fabrication facility in Chandler, Arizona, to a 300-mm wafer fab. The conversion project, estimated to cost $2 billion, will begin in 1H04 with production scheduled to begin...

Cree Releases 1,200-V Schottky Rectifier.
March 1, 2003... Cree, Inc. (Nasdaq: CREE) has announced the broadening of its silicon carbide (SiC) Schottky rectifier product family to include 1,200-V devices. The 1,200-V products consist of a 5A Schottky diode in a TO-220 package and a 10A Schottky diode...

Cookson Announces Price Increase.
March 1, 2003... Effective March 3, 2003, Cookson Electronics Assembly Materials has increased prices for its products by an average of 3%. Company officials said the first price increase in more than 2 years is a result of cost increases absorbed on a number...

ST, Philips, Motorola Open Process Center.
March 1, 2003... Jacques Chirac, president of the French Republic, has inaugurated the Crolles2 Alliance facility in Crolles, near Grenoble, France. The R&D center, owned by STMicroelectronics (ST), Motorola, and Philips, will pioneer CMOS technology from 90-nm...

TDK Ferrite Material Has High Inductance.
March 1, 2003... TDK Ferrite is supplying a new ferrite material with high inductance. The DN45 ferrite material from TDK Corp. is designed for use in pulse transformers for 100Base-T systems and boasts a high inductance feature over a wide temperature range....

Samsung to Invest in Memory Producition.
March 1, 2003... Samsung Electronics Co. will invest 305 billion won (U.S. $295.54 million) in memory-chip producing facilities during the first half of this year to meet increasing demand, the company said. The memory chipmaker said it will pour 200.2 billion...

SUPERCONDUCTORS AMSC Receives NIH Grant:.
March 1, 2003... American Superconductor Corp. (Nasdaq: AMSC), a leading global supplier of superconductor products and power electronic converters to the electric power industry, has announced it has been awarded a 2-year, $750,000 grant by the National...

Bush Seeks More HTS Funding.
March 1, 2003... President Bush released his administration's proposed $2.2 trillion federal budget for fiscal year (FY) 2004 on February 3, 2003. As the White House notes, "The budget meets the challenges posed by three national priorities: winning the war...

INDUSTRY NEWS: Vishay Acquires BCcomponents.
March 1, 2003... Vishay Intertechnology, Inc., a manufacturer of discrete semiconductors and passive electronic components, has acquired BCcomponents Holdings BV. BCcomponents is a manufacturer of passive components with operations in Europe, India, and the Far...

Ceradyne Reports Sales Gain.
March 1, 2003... Ceradyne, Inc. (Nasdaq: CRDN) has reported results for the fourth quarter and 12 months ended December 31, 2002. Fourth quarter sales increased 45% to a record $17.6 million compared with $12.1 million in the prior-year quarter. Net income for...

Ferro Reports Higher Revenue and Earnings.
March 1, 2003... Ferro Corp. (NYSE: FOE) revenue from continuing operations for fourth-quarter 2002 increased 4.6% to $366.2 million. Revenue for the full-year 2002 increased 22.6% to $1.53 billion, due largely to increased volume related to the September 2001...

ISCO 2002 Revenue Goes Higher.
March 1, 2003... ISCO International, Inc. (Amex: ISCO), a leading global supplier of interference-control solutions for the wireless telecommunications industry, has reported results for the year ended 2002 and comments regarding the first quarter of 2003. ISCO...

CALENDAR.
March 1, 2003... April 7-9, 2003. Ceramic Interconnect Conference, The Westin Hotel, Denver, CO. Sponsored by International Microelectronics and Packaging Society (IMAPS) and the American Ceramic Society. Contact: IMAPS Registration, 611 2nd St., NE,...