Microtechnology News articles from August 1999

Microtechnology News archives from August 1999

APPLICATIONS: Low Cost Piezoelectric Vibration Sensors.
August 1, 1999... Crossbow Technology (41 E, Daggett Dr., San Jose, CA 95134; Tel: 408/965-3300, Fax: 408/324-4840, Website: http://www.xbow.com) announced its HF series of low noise, wide bandwidth accelerometers for vibration and shock measurements. The HF...

Molecule-Size Computer Chips.
August 1, 1999... Researchers at Hewlett-Packard Co. (Palo Alto, CA) and the University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA) have devices a new way to make molecule size computer chips. It looks like a promising technology because current silicon chips are...

Improved Robotic Eye Tracking.
August 1, 1999... By coupling the latest computer vision and control techniques, engineers at Penn State University (University Park, PA) have developed a model robotic system with better ability to track moving targets in real world environments. Octavia I....

Ga-As-Based Sensors Detect Chemicals.
August 1, 1999... Minute acoustic wave chemical sensors are being developed at Sandia National Laboratories (Albuquerque, NM; Tel: 505/844-0948, Website: www.sandia.gov). Eventually, these sensors will play a role in a handheld chemical detection system,...

ADI Accelerometers for Ford Vehicles.
August 1, 1999... Ford Motor Co. (Dearborn, MI), says that the ADXL series of micromachined accelerometers made by Analog Devices, Inc. (ADI; Tel: 800/262-5643, Fax: 617/761-7607) will be used in airbag crash sensors in more than 15 Ford model year 2000 vehicle...

TI & Agfa-Gevaert to Develop DPL.
August 1, 1999... Digital light processing technology (DLP) has just about become synonymous with having permitted the development of projectors that put the highest quality images on screen. It is a highly successful MEMS-based technology that has made...

FABRICATION: Tiny Parts with Rapid Prototyping.
August 1, 1999... Stereolithography systems are used to build 3D representations of CAD images by scanning a laser beam across a vat of liquid polymer and solidifying it into the required shape. These systems, however, have limitations in the feature size they...

MEMS Benefits from Fiber Lasers.
August 1, 1999... Commercial high power fiber laser technology has been applied to welding, bending, aligning, stress-relieving and heat treating applications for the magnetic and optical storage, semiconductor, and electronic applications. Planned applications...

PROCESSING: Plasma Technology Developed for MEMS.
August 1, 1999... Beta Squared, Inc. (Allen, TX), a wholly owned subsidiary of Photronics, Inc., a leading global supplier of photomask manufacturing technology and services, designs, builds, and services of plasma etch and wafer dry cleaning systems. The...

ASM Acquires Microchemistry.
August 1, 1999... ASM International N.V. (Bilthoven, The Netherlands; Website: www.asm.com) signed a letter of intent to acquire all of the outstanding shares of Microchemistry, Ltd., a subsidiary of Fortum Corp. of Finland. The acquisition is subject to...

Etch System Reduces Contamination.
August 1, 1999... Lam Research Corp. (Fremont, CA; Website: www.lamrc.com) released its ceramic free high-density plasma (HDP) poly etch chamber that increases productivity and reduces contamination to enhance sub- 0.25 micron process yields. It was developed...

Europeans Developing 157 nm Lithography.
August 1, 1999... In addition to ASM lithography, the Dutch scanner supplier who has its own program for 157 nm lithography, there is a German consortium trying to achieve this technology led by Carl Zeiss GmbH in Oberkochen. The consortium is getting about 20%...

Polishing Recessed MEMS Devices.
August 1, 1999... A patent was issued to Sandia Corp. (Albuquerque, NM) on July 6,1999 for a CMP process of recessed microelectromechanical devices. The inventors of U.S. Patent 5,919,548 are Carole C. Barron, Dale L. Hetherington, and Stephen Montague. In the...

Aligning and Forming MEMS Contour Surfaces.
August 1, 1999... Another patent, issued in May, 1999 to the regents of the University of California in Oakland, is concerned with MEMS processing. U.S. Patent 5,905,007 details a method for aligning and forming MEMS contour surfaces. The inventors are...

SOFTWARE: Microcosm Gets CAD Part of MEMS Project.
August 1, 1999... Microcosm Technologies (Raleigh, NC; Website: www.memcad.com) says it will lead the CAD portion of a $14 million, three year optical MEMS project. Titled "Micro-Opto-Electro-Mechanical Systems Manufacturing," the project has been funded by...

MATERIALS: Silicon Carbide Has High Potential.
August 1, 1999... Silicon carbide (SiC) is well known as a high temperature semiconductor with outstanding mechanical and electrical properties and is currently being developed as a material for high-temperature, solid state transducers such as pressure sensors...

NEW PRODUCTS: Plasma System Does RIE.
August 1, 1999... Reactive ion etching (RIE) is an important process related to the fabrication of silicon micromachined products and MEMS devices. The BenchMark 800-II plasma processing systems from AXIC (Santa Clara, CA; Website: www.semiconductor.net/info)...

Etch and Deposition in Modular Cluster.
August 1, 1999... Trion Technology (Tempe, AZ) introduced the Oracle etch and deposition system with a modular cluster design. It consists of two components: the central vacuum transport (CVT) and rollaway process stations. The CVT consists of a cluster vacuum...

TEST AND MEASUREMENT: Accurate Dimensions with NanoProfilometer.
August 1, 1999... Surface/Interface, Inc. (Sunnyvale, CA; Judy Ackeret; Tel: 408/732- 7111) introduced its in-fab, nano-scale critical dimension (CD) metrology tool for both current and next generation integrated circuit device manufacturing, including the...

Compact Vacuum Gauge Controller.
August 1, 1999... The vacuum products group of MKS Instruments (Boulder, CO) released the new HPS PDR 9000, a vacuum gauge controller that will provide power and readout for convection and cold cathode transducers. The compact size and ease of installation...

Compact Spectrometer Engine Introduced.
August 1, 1999... Optical Coating Laboratory (Santa Rosa, CA; Website: www.ocli.com.) introduced the MicroSpex, its first line of miniature spectrometer engines. It is the first spectrometer of its kind that does not have a diffraction-grading element, and uses...

INDUSTRY NEWS: AST Acquires Plasma Science Business.
August 1, 1999... Advanced Surface Technology, Inc. (AST, Billerica, MA) announced an agreement to acquire Plasma Science line plasma products from BOC Coating Technology (BOCCT). In addition to its recently developed compact and customized plasma systems, AST...

Irvine Sensors Raises Over $5 Million.
August 1, 1999... Irvine Sensors Corp. (Costa Mesa, CA) says it has secured $5.6 million of equity financing in a private placement. The financing involved the sale of 4,000,000 shares of unregistered common stock to a limited number of accredited investors,...

Rockwell Science Gets New Leader.
August 1, 1999... Rockwell (Costa Mesa, CA) announced that Derek Cheung has been appointed VP of research and director of the Rockwell Science Center, the electronic controls and communications company's principle research center. In addition to performing...

Multi-Million Dollar Lithography Order.
August 1, 1999... Ultratech Stepper (San Jose, CA; Website: www.ultratech.com) announced a multi-million dollar order for several Ultratech Titan II systems from a leading European semiconductor manufacturer. The Titan II is a high-resolution tool designed for...

Optical Micro Gets $1.5 Million Financing.
August 1, 1999... Silicon Valley Bank, a wholly owned subsidiary of Santa Clara, California-based Silicon Valley Bancshares (Website: www.svb.com), has provided Optical Micro Machines, Inc. a $1,000,000 equipment lease facility and a $500,000 working capital...

PUBLICATIONS: MEMS Structures for Materials Research.
August 1, 1999... MEMS have been used for materials research and characterization for many years. These devices permit measurement of thin film and small- scale properties with remarkable sensitivity and accuracy. With the increasing development of these MEMS...

MEETINGS: MEMS Conference at AVS West Meeting.
August 1, 1999... The American Vacuum Society's (AVS) 46th International Symposium will be held October 25-29, 1999 at the Washington State Convention Center in Seattle. More than 1,200 papers in all areas of vacuum- related technology, including thin films,...

CALENDAR.
August 1, 1999... Sept. 8-10, 1999. 7th Int'l Conference on Advanced Thermal Processing of Semiconductors, Colorado Springs, CO. Contact: RTP99 Conference; Tel: 719/579-8050, Fax: 719/579-8082. Sept. 22-24, 1999. Int'l Symposium on Microelectronic...