Microtechnology News articles from November 1999

Microtechnology News archives from November 1999

APPLICATIONS: World's Smallest Optical Filter.
November 1, 1999... The Microelectronics Group of Lucent Technologies (Allentown, PA) introduced the industry's smallest optical amplifier module for use in optical transmission systems. This year, Lucent will ship more than 16,000 optical amplifier modules to...

Micro-Channel Heat Sink.
November 1, 1999... As microelectronics pack more high-powered computer chips into ever shrinking spaces, cooling these devices becomes more difficult. Researchers at Ohio State University (Columbus, OH) have developed a heat sink, or cooling system, that is...

Silicon MicroRing Gyro Gets Patent.
November 1, 1999... MicroSensors Inc. (MSI, Costa Mesa, CA), a subsidiary of Irvine Sensors Corp., announced that U.S. Patent 5,955,668 has been issued covering both the basic design approach and specific design elements of MSI's proprietary Silicon MicroRing...

Tiny Satellites Will Put MEMS in Space.
November 1, 1999... A mission scheduled to be launched in late November from Vandenberg Air Force Base, California, will preview how tiny satellites would operate in constellations. The mission will usher in a spaceflight program to validate MEMS being developed...

Smart Sensor Network System.
November 1, 1999... A project team consisting of engineers from Boeing Co. and Endevco Corp., aided by research funding provided by DARPA, has developed a MEMS-based belt to measure pressure at multiple points on the skin of aircraft. The measurements, along with...

Voltage Controllable X-Ray Source.
November 1, 1999... Researchers in Sweden have demonstrated a micromachined structure that can be used as a voltage controllable x-ray source. The device is based on a bremsstrahlung radiation - x-rays produced when fast moving electrons rapidly decelerate on...

FABRICATION: Chip Stacking Gets Patent.
November 1, 1999... Irvine Sensors Corp. (Costa Mesa, CA) received U.S. Patent 5,953,588 for its Neo-Stack technology which permits different size and function microelectronics to be stacked and integrated in an extremely miniaturized unit. Key to the...

Standardized MEMS Bonding Materials.
November 1, 1999... Corning Inc., manufacturer of glass, and Electronic Visions Inc., a microsystems equipment maker, have agreed to collaborate in evaluating a number of material configurations and equipment designs for the electrostatic or anodic bonding of...

PROCESSING: Optical Micro-Patterning Technology.
November 1, 1999... Micronic (Taby, Sweden) and Fraunhofer in Germany are cooperatively developing a new optical micro-patterning method for semiconductor reticles and other advanced lithographic applications. The new technology will overcome the limitations...

More Uniform Oxide Films.
November 1, 1999... Structured Materials Industries Inc. (SMI, Piscataway, NJ), has developed a new metal organic chemical vapor deposition (MOCVD) system for high-quality, high-volume deposition of complex oxide films. The extremely uniform films produced are...

Advanced Mask Writer Installed.
November 1, 1999... Leica Microsystems Lithography GmbH installed a Leica ZBA31H+ electron beam mask writer at TMC's (Taiwan Mask Corp.) advanced mask making facility in Hsin-Chu during August 1999. The TMC mask shop is one of the most advanced merchant...

Batch Processing Plasma System.
November 1, 1999... AST Products Inc. (Billerica, MA) released the new generation PS-350, a popular plasma system for industrial batch processing. The PS-350 was originally introduced by Plasma Science Inc. and acquired by AST in the acquisition of the Plasma...

SOFTWARE: ANSYS Compatible with Windows 2000.
November 1, 1999... Demonstrating its leadership in providing reliable solutions for manufacturing design and analysis, ANSYS Inc. announced that its ANSYS and DesignSpace software families are compatible with the Microsoft Windows 2000 operating system....

Transducer for Hearing Aid.
November 1, 1999... Scientists from the University of Windsor (Ontario, Canada) use IntelliSuite software (IntelliSense Corp., Wilmington, MA) to design micro-acousto-magnetic transducers for hearing aid instrument applications. The hearing aid transducer...

MATERIALS: Physicists Create Thin Film Materials.
November 1, 1999... Polymer thin films are key ingredients in time-release pills, multicolor photographic printing, slow-release fertilizer, biomedical membranes, anti-reflective coatings, liquid crystal displays, and other useful products. As scientists work to...

TEST AND MEASUREMENT: Grating Could Improve Spectrometers.
November 1, 1999... InterScience Inc. (Troy, NY) researches and develops technologies for clients in government and industry. The company's scientists and engineers work in two basic core areas of expertise: electro-optical systems, and data acquisition and...

Transparent Film Measurement System.
November 1, 1999... Rudolph Technologies (Flanders, NJ) introduced its new S200 systems with MatrixMetrology for CMP and etch which provides an application- optimized set of metrology techniques. The systems combine small- spot ellipsometry, microspot...

Single Axis Force-Measuring Instrument.
November 1, 1999... Asylum Research (Santa Barbara, CA) announced a new Molecular Force Probe (MFP). It is the first commercially available, pico-Newtonian sensitive, single axis force-measuring instrument. The technology is based around a flexible cantilever...

INDUSTRY NEWS: MEMS and Fiber Optics Join Forces.
November 1, 1999... Standard MEMS (Burlington, MA) and Blue Road Research (Fairview, OR) announced they have agreed, in principal, to a business combination. The companies expect to sign a definitive agreement in December 1999. Nicholas E. Ortyl, Standard...

Feynman Awards Go to Nano Developers.
November 1, 1999... The 1999 Feynman Prizes in nanotechnology were awarded to researchers from IBM and Cal Tech. The award is distributed by the Foresight Institute. Phaedon Avouris, of the IBM T.J. Watson Research Center in Yorktown Heights, NY, was recognized...

CoreTek Gets Second Round Financing.
November 1, 1999... CoreTek (Wilmington, MA) announced the closing of a $20.5 million round of venture capital financing that will be used to continue product development and realize the mission to become a leader in providing innovative optical solutions for...

Harris Is Newest MCC Member.
November 1, 1999... Microelectronics and Computer Technology Corp. (MCC), an R&D consortium focused on advanced electronics and information technologies, announced that Harris Corp. has rejoined the organization. One of the original founding shareholders in MCC,...

Collaboration on SOI Wafer Bonding System.
November 1, 1999... Electronic Visions (Phoenix, AZ) and Silicon Genesis Corp. (SiGen) announced an agreement to collaborate on a next-generation production SOI (silicon-on-insulator) wafer bonding system. Based on the Electronic Visions EV850 automated SOI...

Support for MEMS-based Gas and Chemical Sensors.
November 1, 1999... Ion Optics (Waltham, MA) and NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL, Pasadena, CA) have won an Advanced Technology Program (ATP) award from NIST. This three-year project will develop an infrared gas "sensor-on-a-chip" which will integrate all...

CALENDAR.
November 1, 1999... February 7-11, 2000, International Conference on Microelectronics and Interfaces, Santa Clara Convention Ctr., Santa Clara, CA. Contact Della Miller, American Vacuum Society; Tel: 408/246-3600, Fax: 408/247-7700.