Microtechnology News articles from May 1999

Microtechnology News archives from May 1999

APPLICATIONS: Intelligent Tires for Joint Strike Fighter.
May 1, 1999... The efforts of the Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co. and Lockheed Martin Tactical Aircraft Systems have made U.S. and British military aircraft a little smarter. Goodyear is producing and supplying prototype "intelligent tires" for Lockheed Martin's...

Molecular Devices May Boost Computer Speed.
May 1, 1999... Future generations of faster, smaller computers and information processing systems may result from tiny molecular devices being developed by North Carolina State University (NCSU, Raleigh, NC) chemists. These devices, including a 5- molecule...

MEMS Helps in Optical Network Breakthrough.
May 1, 1999... Texas Instruments, Inc. (TI, Attleboro, MA) and Astarte Fiber Networks (Boulder, CO) announced a major product development milestone in the field of optical cross connect (OXC) technology. Utilizing newly developed optical technology, the two...

First Spherical Semiconductor.
May 1, 1999... BALL Semiconductor, Inc. (Allen, TX) built the world's first spherical semiconductor, culminating 18 months of intense R&D. Using a combination of proprietary and traditional processes, BALL developed five-micron NMOS inverter circuits on a one...

Grant for Wearable Biomedical Sensor.
May 1, 1999... Irvine Sensors Corp. (Costa Mesa, CA) received a $750,000 grant from the U.S. National Institutes of Health's (NIH) National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS). Using Irvine Sensor's proprietary technology for thinning...

Robotic Vision on a Chip.
May 1, 1999... An electrical engineer at Johns Hopkins University (Baltimore, MD) has developed a new robotic vision system on a microchip that allows a toy car to follow a line around a test track, avoiding obstacles along the way. In the near future, the...

Sensor Makes Wind Tunnel in the Sky.
May 1, 1999... NASA's Ames Research Center recently launched a new hypersonic flight test system capable of performing 11 or more independent, high-velocity flight experiments. The 300 lb. scientific payload was designed to eject multiple, inexpensive...

Just Like a Dick Tracy Watch.
May 1, 1999... The Dick Tracy watch that goes back to the comic strip of the forties contained many of the features that individuals would like to see in portable wireless devices--voice recognition, video capability, seamless operation and an attractive...

FABRICATION: CoreTek Gets Funding to Make Photonic Tuner.
May 1, 1999... CoreTek, Inc. (Burlington, MA) announced that it has received a venture investment to manufacture the next generation of tunable photonic devices for the fiberoptic communications industry. Photonic tuners, based on patented MEM- TUNE variable...

Making MEMS Devices Like a Printing Press.
May 1, 1999... A University of Southern California engineer, Adam Cohen, is developing a process to mass produce tiny MEMS devices with complex features smaller than a human hair. "Our process--called EFAB, for electrochemical fabrication--produces complex,...

Foundry Services for Packaging and Assembly.
May 1, 1999... Advanced Custom Sensors, Inc. (Irvine, CA), operates a dedicated prototype lab to handle MEMS prototype and small volume production. The back-end foundry service is intended to solve the problems of packaging design, assembly and testing needs,...

NEW PRODUCTS: Next Generation of Design Tools.
May 1, 1999... IntelliSense Corp. (Wilmington, MA) announced a new version of its IntelliCAD MEMS design software. Called IntelliSuite, it becomes the only fully functional stand-alone MEMS device software available on both Windows NT and Unix platforms. In...

Digital Sensor Measures Tilt.
May 1, 1999... Crossbow Technology (San Jose, CA) released its CXTILT02EC, a dual axis, digital inclinometer. The device is intended for high performance military and heavy industrial applications such as leveling of construction equipment and machine tools,...

PROCESSING: Exposure Method Pushes Optical.
May 1, 1999... Canon, Inc. presented the details of its new IDEAL--the acronym for innovate double exposure by advanced lithography--multilevel optical imaging technology to the technical elite of semiconductor chip makers attending the SPIE Microlithography...

Tiny Rubber Stamps Lithography Alternative.
May 1, 1999... Researchers at Lucent Technologies' Bell Labs have developed new techniques for stamping sub-micron features on glass, plastics, metals and other materials. Potential applications include optical communications devices and plastic transistors...

MATERIALS: Alloy May Handle Hot, High Powered MEMS.
May 1, 1999... Silicon carbide, referred to as sandpaper's cousin, may set the stage for a rugged and powerful new breed of semiconducting devices, according to a University of Delaware researcher. If early UD studies hold true, a new alloy of silicon carbide...

Defects in Thin Layers May Shrink Transistors.
May 1, 1999... By using a novel approach to grow the ultra-thin insulating layers used in transistors, physicists at Lucent Technologies (Murray Hill, NJ) have uncovered the nature of the defects that "eat away" at those layers. The discovery could lead to...

TEST AND MEASUREMENT Atomic Force Profiler Is Faster.
May 1, 1999... The Veeco Metrology Group, the world leader in 3D surface metrology, has introduced the new Series Vx atomic force profiler. It can deliver long scan capabilities of up to 100 mm with true AFM resolution and 262,000 data points per line scan....

Pattern Recognition Speeds CMP, Etch.
May 1, 1999... Rudolph Technologies (Flanders, NJ) introduced Zheng pattern recognition software for its SpectraLaser, MetaPULSE, and FOCUS FE VII tools. The new software cuts the time it takes to recognize alignment patterns, while providing significantly...

INDUSTRY NEWS: Partnership to Integrate MEMS Environment.
May 1, 1999... ANSYS, Inc. (Southpointe, PA) the leader in design analysis solutions, announced a partnership with MEMSCAP S.A. and Mentor Graphics Corp. to create a complete and easy-to-use engineering environment for MEMS design. The integrated packages...

SMSC Intends to Create MEMS Business.
May 1, 1999... Standard Microsystems Corp. (Hauppauge, NY) signed a letter of intent with Inertia Optical Technology Applications, Inc. (IOTA, Newark, NJ) to combine SMSC's foundry business unit with the operations of privately held IOTA into a new company,...

Plasma-Therm Sets Up MEMS Business Unit.
May 1, 1999... Plasma-Therm (St. Petersburg, FL) announced, as part of the company's continued reorganization, that the use of the market-specific business units has started. While still in the early stages, each business unit has been put in place and key...

Irvine Appoints Advisory Board.
May 1, 1999... Irvine Sensors Corp. (Costa Mesa, CA) formed a scientific advisory board, a seven member panel that will conduct periodic reviews of Irvine Sensor's diverse technology base to advise the company's management and board in the use of its business...