Microtechnology News articles from February 1999

Microtechnology News archives from February 1999

DEVELOPMENTS: Test Conference Includes MEMS.
February 1, 1999... MEMS investment continues to grow and has reached a critical point. An evaluation methodology will have to be developed that allows products to be tested during manufacturing while, at the same time, ensuring high quality and reliability. This...

ASME Forms MEMS Subdivision.
February 1, 1999... The American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME) formed a subdivision on MEMS during their recent meeting in Anaheim, California. ASME provided what they termed an "Inaugural Celebration" and the event was attended by more than 75 people....

DESIGN TOOLS: MEMS Kits Aid Designers.
February 1, 1999... If you are interested in designing your own MEMS product or making micromachined devices, there are MEMS engineering kits available for $50,000 made especially for designers. Two companies are offering these devices--Mentor Graphics of...

Collaboration on Software Tools.
February 1, 1999... Tanner EDA (Pasadena, CA; Website: www.tanner.com) the leader in PC-design software for MEMS, announced that it has formed a strategic partnership with ANSYS, Inc., a global provider of advanced computer-aided engineering (CAE) software...

APPLICATIONS: Caliper System Screens Drugs.
February 1, 1999... Caliper Technologies Corp. (Mountain View, CA; Tel: 650/623-0700, Fax: 650/623-0500) designs and manufactures LabChip devices and device-based systems that permit high-throughput experimentation and information access for faster drug discovery,...

Microvalve for Semiconductor Fabs.
February 1, 1999... Redwood Microsystems (Menlo Park. CA; Tel: 650/617-1200, Fax: 650/326-1899) introduced their MEMS-Flow line of fluid handling products for semiconductor applications. The company has improved the design of their patented Fluistor microvalve for...

MicroSensors Gets Order from EG&G.
February 1, 1999... MicroSensors, Inc. (Costa Mesa, CA) is focused on designing and producing micromachined sensors and sensor readout circuits for MEMS applications. The company also provides design services for MEMS devices, mixed-signal and analog circuits,...

Optical Switches Have Bright Future.
February 1, 1999... Optical MEMS research at institutions such as Bell Labs (Murray Hill, NJ) has focused on devices such as optical modulators, micromirrors, and arrays of tilting micromirrors. Researchers term the optical switch as one of the most powerful...

Pressure Sensor Ignores Temperature.
February 1, 1999... The Sensors Division at SSI Technologies, Inc. (Janesville, WI) has introduced a cost-competitive, standard sized micromachined absolute pressure sensor to supplement its range of customized automotive pressure sensors. A leading feature...

Manipulating Printer Toner Particles.
February 1, 1999... A recent patent awarded the Xerox Corp. (Stamford, CT) shows the versatility of MEMS technology. U.S. Patent 5,767,877 is titled "Toner Jet Printer," and the abstract explains the role played by MEMS devices. The inventors are Ping Mei, David...

Heads-Up Display Makes Waves.
February 1, 1999... Bright ambient light has been a continuing challenge when it comes to using heads-up or head-mounted displays for daylight operations, but during recent sea trials aboard a U.S. Navy fast patrol craft, Microvision's portable head-worn display...

Sensor Monitors Chemical Vapors.
February 1, 1999... A chemical vapor sensor manufactured by Berkeley MicroInstruments (1305 South 46th St., Richmond, CA; Tel: 510/231-5710, Fax: 510/231-5711) provides real time measurement of airborne chemical concentrations. Identified as the BMC200, this...

ENABLING TECHNOLOGY Plasma-Therm Licenses Cluster Tools.
February 1, 1999... Plasma-Therm, Inc. (PTI, St. Petersburg, FL) announced the licensing of cluster tool technology from Applied Materials, Inc. The technology covers a number of areas regarding the basic architecture associated with the operation of cluster tool...

Nanoscale Pen Draws Circuits.
February 1, 1999... Scientists at Northwestern University in Chicago have created what they claim is the world's smallest pen, designed to directly write microscopic electronic circuits. A demonstration of the technology involved inscribing fine lines on a gold...

Complex Chemistry in Plasma Reactor Defined.
February 1, 1999... Scientists at NIST (Gaithersburg, MD) have identified and measured the types of ions generated from gases used to process computer chips in the inductively coupled plasma reactor, a device that is rapidly becoming a favorite of the...

Eaton Sells Plasma Systems to TI.
February 1, 1999... Eaton's fusion systems division (Rockville, MD) says it received a system order from Texas Instruments (TI) for FusionGemini plasma ashers. The multi-million dollar order includes phased shipments of the Eaton equipment through 1999. The...

Alcatel Licenses Bosch Process.
February 1, 1999... Alcatel Vacuum Technology's thin film systems unit has announced a licensing agreement with Robert Bosch GmbH of Germany to use Bosch's deep etch silicon process on Alcate's commercial ICP deep etching systems. The process will be added to the...

MATERIALS: 'Silicon Balls' May Replace Chips.
February 1, 1999... At a meeting of chip equipment and materials industry representative in Pebble Beach, California, Dan Rose, president of Rose Associates (Los Altos, CA) and an expert in the semiconductor material industry, told the audience they could soon be...

TEST AND MEASUREMENT Nanometrics Opens Korean Facility.
February 1, 1999... Nanometrics, Inc. (310 De Guigne Dr., Sunnyvale, CA 94086; Website: www.nanometrics.com) says it will begin operating a new manufacturing and engineering facility in Korea. This will be the company's second manufacturing operation outside of...

More Sensitivity with Superconducting Sensor.
February 1, 1999... Engineers measure alternating current (AC) voltage or current by using devices known as "thermal transfer standards," where the temperature of a structure is elevated in a well defined and predictable fashion when electricity is applied. An...

Better Details with Low Backscattering.
February 1, 1999... Backscattered electron (BSE) imaging has been used by microscopists for a long time, but getting good images from submicron defects has resulted from recent developments in detector technology. The advantages of using BSE imaging derive the...

Surface Profilers Can Look at MEMS Features.
February 1, 1999... Veeco metrology group, the world leader in 3D surface metrology, announced an enhanced DEKTAK 3 Series surface profiler product line with expanded capabilities for measuring step heights, roughness, and planarity in a wide range of R&D...

PRODUCTION: Plasma-Therm Gets Big Order.
February 1, 1999... Plasma-Therm, Inc. (PTI, St. Petersburg, FL; Website: www. plasmatherm.com) announced the sale of multiple Versalock plasma processing systems to a leading manufacturer of disk drives for advanced GMR head and disk drive development pilot...

INDUSTRY NEWS: Plasma-Therm Logs Third Record Year.
February 1, 1999... Plasma-Therm, Inc. (St. Petersburg, Florida) reported record sales for the year ended November 30, 1998, the third year in a row, of $49,088,445, a 10% increase over 1997 net sales of $44,444,657. Net income exclusive of a one-time...

MEMSCAP Receives Venture Funding.
February 1, 1999... MEMSCAP, the French provider of merchant semiconductor IP products for MEMS design, has received FF12 million, or about $2.2 million, in funding from two investment firms, INNOVACOM and SPEF Groupe Banque Populaire. The funding represents the...

Cree Has Record 2Q Revenue.
February 1, 1999... Cree Research, Inc. (Durham, NC) is a leading developer and manufacturer of semiconductor materials and electronic devices made from silicon carbide. The company uses proprietary technology to make enabling compound semiconductors such as blue...

Microelectronics Program Started by NSF.
February 1, 1999... The National Science Foundation (Website: www.nsf.gov/egi-bin/getpub?nsf9931) has started a $10 million program, 'XYZ on a Chip,' to encourage researchers to explore nonelectronic applications for recent advances in microelectronics....

PUBLICATIONS: 41 Years of PVD Literature at Your Fingertips.
February 1, 1999... The Society of Vacuum Coaters has taken 41 years of literature on physical vapor deposition and put it into one CD-ROM freeing up 24 in. of bookshelf space. The Annual Technical Conference Proceedings CD-ROM is designed to help the user easily...

New Volume about Vacuum Microelectronics.
February 1, 1999... The field of vacuum microelectronics (VME) has undergone tremendous growth in recent years. VME devices benefit from collision-free motion of electrons in vacuum, allowing faster modulation and higher electron energies than is possible with...

CALENDAR.
February 1, 1999... March 1-4, 1999. Semiconductor Pure Water and Chemicals Conference. Balazs Analytical Laboratory, Santa Clara, CA. Contact: D. Belanger; Fax: 408/734-2276. March 8-10, 1999. MAM '99. (European Workshop--Materials for Advanced...