Microtechnology News articles from June 1998

Microtechnology News archives from June 1998

DEVELOPMENTS: Nose on a Chip Detects Chemicals.
June 1, 1998... At the Department of Energy's (DOE) Oak Ridge National Lab (ORNL) in Tennessee, the fabrication of microsensors that can detect mercury, natural gas, carbon monoxide, and other chemicals are close to completion. This "nose on a chip" could be...

Then There's the Smart Tongue.
June 1, 1998... A husband-wife engineering team at Penn State University have invented a small electromechanical machine called the "smart tongue." Vijay K. and Vasundara V. Varadan showed their designs at a conference in San Diego, California. One of...

Microsystems for Deep Space Project.
June 1, 1998... An engineering professor at the University of Massachusetts (Amherst, MA) is helping to design new, unmanned space vehicles that are scheduled for launch in 2001, as part of NASA's planned exploration of the solar system. Israel Koren was...

Looking at Lasers for Embedding Sensors.
June 1, 1998... Optomec Design Company (Albuquerque, NM) is looking for commercial partners to further develop a technique that could embed sensors into components for spacecraft, automobiles, and building structures. The company is in the early stages of a...

Growing Interest in Microarrays.
June 1, 1998... A joint venture between Molecular Dynamics (880 E. Arques Ave., Sunnyvale, CA 94086; Tel: 408/737-3000) and Amersham Pharmacia Biotech (800 Centennial Ave., Piscataway, NJ 08855-1327; Tel: 908/457-8000, Fax: 908/457-0557) has received the...

Two Combine PCR with "GeneChips".
June 1, 1998... Roche Molecular Systems (RMS, 1447 York Ct., Burlington, NC 27215; Tel: 919/229-1127; Fax: 919/222-1755. Also, Palo Alto, CA; 908-253-7660) is marrying its PCR gene amplification technology (acquired from Cetus) with the "GeneChip"...

APPLICATIONS: Tiny "Trampolines" Study New Materials.
June 1, 1998... Researchers at Lucent Technologies (Murray Hill, NJ) have built microscopic "trampolines" to help measure a material's magnetic properties when placed in a strong magnetic field. This novel technique provides researchers with a powerful method...

Cantilever May Best Microbolometer.
June 1, 1998... Researchers at Oak Ridge National Lab (ORNL) have developed a microcantilever, made with a proprietary microfabrication technique, that bends when it absorbs thermal radiation. The cantilevers are made out of semiconductor materials such as...

Light Emitting Patterns in Silicon.
June 1, 1998... Silicon develops a porous structure that allows it to glow at visible wavelengths if etched under the right conditions. Researchers (David J. Lockwood and Lynden E. Erikson of the National Research Council in Ottawa Canada, and Patrick...

MEMS Based Actuator Array.
June 1, 1998... MEMS Optical (MOI, Huntsville, AL), using silicon-based micromachining, is developing next generation actuators and adaptive optics (AO) systems for many military and commercial applications. Under a Ballistic Missile Defense Organization...

FABRICATION: Making Nanowires Grows Easier.
June 1, 1998... Researchers at the National Institute of Standards and Technology made strides in the quest for smaller structures for microelectronic and data storage that are pushing the limits of current manufacturing techniques. They demonstrated a...

Plasma Etching of SiC for Microfabrication.
June 1, 1998... Magnetron plasma etching has been found to be a promising technique for the micromachining of single crystal silicon carbide to fabricate microscopic structures comprising integrated mechanical, electronic, and/or optical devices. Silicon...

MEMS Makes Laser Scanners.
June 1, 1998... The University of Southern California's Sensor and Actuator Center, located in Berkeley, California, is developing a low cost, mass production laser scanning system based on MEMS technology. A complex fabrication strategy defines the...

ENABLING TECHNOLOGIES Longer Life for Coated Tools.
June 1, 1998... Crystallume (Santa Clara, CA) a division of Advanced Refractory Technologies (ART) recently completed a successful Advanced Technology Program for the development of diamond coated tungsten carbide rotating tools, funded by NIST. The results...

Metallizing Flexible Substrates.
June 1, 1998... MicroCoating Technologies (MCT; Atlanta, GA) is metallizing flexible substrates with its new open atmosphere thin film process. As a result, MCT can deposit metals on low temperature plastics for low cost solutions in the electronics industry....

MATERIALS: Micro "Bubbles" for Future Electronics.
June 1, 1998... The electronic industry's push to make integrated circuits smaller has led to a cornucopia of devices introduced over the past few years. What is needed, according to researchers at Texas Instruments (TI) is a better integrated circuit wire...

Detector Checks Refrozen Food.
June 1, 1998... If frozen food thawed on a truck during a long trip, then it was refrozen and purchased by you, how would you know? To solve the problem, an inexpensive thaw indicator can be placed in a package; when it changes color, the consumer is alerted....

TEST AND MEASUREMENT IR Detector Works at Room Temp.
June 1, 1998... Research Corporation Technologies (Tucson, AZ) has granted an exclusive license to Midwest Superconductivity Inc. (MSI) for a new semiconductor infrared detector that provides an unprecedented combination of high sensitivity, uncooled room...

Measuring Silicide Thickness.
June 1, 1998... Rudolph Technologies (Flanders, NJ) has a new application, MetaPulse, to determine bulk resistivity of silicides. PULSE Technology provides a direct thickness measure to accurately compute bulk resistivity. Using light-induced ultrasound, it...

Characterization of Oxide Films.
June 1, 1998... Rudolph Technologies also announced its development of a new method for accurately determining the thickness of an oxide film layer, regardless of the presence of a capping film such as amorphous silicon or silicon nitride. Multi-Domian...

Workstation for Defect Characterization.
June 1, 1998... FEI Company (Hillsboro, OR) introduced a new DualBeam XL860 FIB/SEM Workstation, a cleanroom-compatible member of the company's XL800 family of advanced defect review, analysis, and characterization tools. It features robotic sample handling...

Profiler Inspects Advanced Packaging.
June 1, 1998... Veeco Process Metrology (2650 East Elvira Rd., Tucson, AZ; Tel: 520/741-1044) introduced the WYKO SP3000 Surface Profiler for advanced packaging inspection. This new automated optical profiler expedites process control of large format samples...

Plasma-Therm Sells Systems.
June 1, 1998... Plasma-Therm Inc. (St. Petersburg, FL) has announced the sale of multiple Versalock plasma processing systems to Kionix Inc., a leading manufacturer of MicroElectro-Mechanical (MEMS) devices. The systems incorporate a number of Plasma-Therm's...

Honeywell, ART Team for Contract.
June 1, 1998... Honeywell technology Center (HTC) has received funding from DARPA for a three-year program entitled Mesoscopic Pumps Based on Bidirectional Electrostatically Activated Diaphragm (BEAD) Arrays. The contract is valued at over $2 million with a...

Eaton and TI in Joint Project.
June 1, 1998... Eaton Semiconductor Equipment Operations (SEO) has announced a joint development project with the Development and Productization (DPI) facility of Texas Instruments(TI). From this program, both companies will acquire enhanced knowledge of the...

Standard Microsystems Gets $3.6 Million Order.
June 1, 1998... Standard Microsystems Corp. (SMSC, Hauppauge, NY) a leading semiconductor IC supplier, said it had received a $3.6 million order for its IC from one of the world's largest PC manufacturers. SMSC has received orders from almost all the leading...

Bright Future for Auto Microsystems.
June 1, 1998... About 250 attendees gathered in Berlin, Germany for Advanced Microsystems for Automotive Applications (AMAA) agreed that automotive systems have been, and will continue to be, one of the larger beneficiaries of microsystems technology. The...

NIST Proposes Sensor Interface Module.
June 1, 1998... NIST and several other organizations are collaborating to develop inspection technologies that are 10-20 times faster than currently available. The partners are proposing a standard to integrate probes with machine controllers. NIST's...

Veeco and Digital Instruments to Merge.
June 1, 1998... Veeco Instruments (Tucson, AZ) has signed a definitive merger agreement with scanning probe and atomic force microscope producer, Digital Instruments (Santa Barbara, CA). The agreement reportedly follows an agreement in principle signed...

Irvine Sensors Has New Sales Manager.
June 1, 1998... Irvine Sensors Corporation (Costa Mesa, CA, Lynn O'Mara; Tel: 714/444- 8718) announced the appointment of Larry Bradfield to the newly created position of National Sales Manager. He is responsible for the sale of the high density electronics...

CALENDAR.
June 1, 1998... July 13-17, 1998, Semicon West 98, San Francisco, CA. Contact: SEMI; Tel: 415/940-7998, Fax: 415/940-7913. September 13-18, 1998, Diamond 1998, Creta Maris Hotel, Crete, Greece. Tel: 44 (0) 1865 373625, Fax: 44 (0) 1865 375855. ...