Microtechnology News articles from September 1998

Microtechnology News archives from September 1998

DEVELOPMENTS Sandia Creates Photonic Lattice.
September 1, 1998... By interlocking tiny slivers of silicon into a lattice that, under a microscope, appears to be formed by toy Lincoln logs, scientists at the Department of Energy's Sandia National Laboratories believe they have solved a major technical problem:...

$2 Million Grant for Lab-on-a-Chip.
September 1, 1998... Caliper Technologies Corp. (Palo Alto, CA), Microcosm Technologies (Raleigh, NC), and the University of Washington (Seattle) have been awarded a $2 million DARPA grant for the development of computer aided design (CAD) tools for the rapid...

Integrated Analysis Makes Strides.
September 1, 1998... For some time, researchers and product developers have been saying that chemical reactions that now take place in human-size labs may move to a chip environment. Research into this important aspect of technology was evident was published in the...

Carbon Nanotubes that Luminesce.
September 1, 1998... Researchers at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (EPFL) in Lausanne, Switzerland, discovered that sending a current through nanotubes causes them to luminesce in addition to giving off electrons. Even a single nanotube generates a faint...

APPLICATIONS: A New Way to Clock Time.
September 1, 1998... Researchers at Sandia National Laboratories have built a MEMS prototype that functions as a clock. Jim Smith, manager of the Intelligent Micromachine Department, together with Trey Roessig, Al Pisano, and Roger Howe, have constructed these...

Mini-Microscopes Don't Need Pumps.
September 1, 1998... Thomas George's proposed electron microscope (Caltech for NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory; Tel: 818/354-2577) would function without the need for external vacuum pumps and thus have a significant reduction in size, mass, and power consumption,...

Eyeglass Display for the Military.
September 1, 1998... The MicroOptical Corporation (Boston, MA) has developed an eyeglass display based on CyberDisplay technology developed by Kopin Corp. (Taunton, MA). AMLCD displays, embedded in the lenses, project images on the lenses that the wearer can view....

Initiative Unveiled by Motorola.
September 1, 1998... Motorola (Austin, TX) introduced its Advanced Systems Technology (AST) Laboratory as the driving force behind a comprehensive strategy to make true systems-on-a-chip design possible by next year and build a complete system-level design program...

FABRICATION: Design Tools for Biochips.
September 1, 1998... Microcosm Technologies (Raleigh, NC) announced a new product and technology roadmap that meets the needs of the micro-Total Analysis System (m-TAS) or "biochip" industry. Leveraging the strengths of Microcosm's existing MEMCAD design...

Dosage Timing Device Wins Patent.
September 1, 1998... A medication dosage timing apparatus which measures and displays time in response to the opening and closing of a medication bottle or container received U.S. Patent 5,751,661. The inventor was Stephen M. Walters, and the Assignee is...

MATERIALS: Insulator Tested in Extremely Small Scale.
September 1, 1998... Scientists analyzing polymers as possible insulators for advanced microchips were surprised to learn that ultra-thin layers of materials behave very differently than larger pieces. That finding may be particularly relevant because developing...

NEW PRODUCTS: Proportional Valve Has High Flow Rates.
September 1, 1998... Microflow Inc. (Dublin, CA) has developed a shape memory alloy actuated silicon microvalve which is designed to provide proportional flow or pressure control of gases. An extraordinarily simple valve actuator design provides rapid response and...

High Speed Solid State True Vertical Gyro.
September 1, 1998... Crossbow Technology Inc. (San Jose, CA) introduced the DMU-VGX, the industry's first high speed solid state true vertical gyro with the speed and accuracy necessary to accurately measure roll and pitch in dynamic environments such as camera and...

TEST AND MEASUREMENT Automated TEM Sample Preparation.
September 1, 1998... FEI Company (Hillsboro, OR) has developed a new technology and control software for automated transmission electron microscope (TEM) sample preparation using a focused ion beam (FIB). The new automation methods make it possible to prepare...

Measuring Metal Films Close to the Wafer Edge.
September 1, 1998... Rudolph Technologies Inc. (RTI, Flanders, NJ) has developed a new method for characterizing metal films close to the wafer edge. This edge profile measurement capability is especially important in copper processes, where the edge profile of...

Stable Capacitance Manometers Offered.
September 1, 1998... MKS Instruments Inc. (Andover, MA) announced the new Type 627B Baratron ultra-stable temperature-regulated capacitance manometer. Based on the industry standard Type 627A Baratron, the 627B is temperature controlled at 450(C to provide accuracy...

INDUSTRY NEWS: Plasma-Therm Makes European Sale.
September 1, 1998... Plasma-Therm Inc. (St. Petersburg, FL) sold a Shuttlelock 770 plasma processing system to Uppsala University in Sweden for use in the development of advanced MEMS devices. The system incorporates Plasma-Therm's Inductively Coupled Plasma (ICP)...

Vaian Buys Ion Implant Line.
September 1, 1998... Varian Associates (Palo Alto, CA) said it had completed its acquisition of selected assets related to Genus Inc.'s (Sunnyvale, CA) high energy (MeV) ion implantation equipment product line. The purchase is valued at approximately $25 million,...

EIA Creates MEMS Committee.
September 1, 1998... A new engineering committee that will focus on MEMS was created by the Electronic Industries Associations' Joint Electronic Device Engineering Council (JEDEC) Solid State Technology Division. The committee, known as JC-17, will look at the need...

Irvine Sensors Reports Profitable 3rd.
September 1, 1998... Irvine Sensors (Costa Mesa, CA) reported operating results for the company's third fiscal quarter ended June 28, 1998. Revenues were $2,401,500 down from $3,724,600 in last year's third quarter reflecting the continuing effect of the late 1997...

Microvision Reports Record Revenue.
September 1, 1998... Microvision Inc. (Seattle, WA) reported results for the second quarter and six months ended June 30, 1998. Revenue for the second quarter of 1998 increased to $2.1 million, up from $102,200 for the same quarter in 1997. For the quarter, the...

PUBLICATIONS: Continuing Sage of Ferroelectric Films.
September 1, 1998... The newest volume in a continuing series from the Materials Research Society (MRS) Ferroelectric Thin Films VI, documents symposium reports from the 197 MRS Fall Meeting in Boston, MA and contains 81 papers, 529 pages. A wide range of...

Diamond Film Seeks Applications.
September 1, 1998... The interest in diamond applications is due to the material's unique combination of superior properties: high stiffness, high carrier mobility, excellent hardness, high thermal conductivity, and chemical inertness. Now published, Diamond...

MEETINGS: AVS Symposium Adds MEMS.
September 1, 1998... The American Vacuum Society (AVS) 45th International Symposium, to be held November 2-6, 1998 in Baltimore, MD, will feature four topical conferences on Micro-Electro-Mechanical Systems, Organic Electronic Materials, Partial Pressure...

CALENDAR.
September 1, 1998... Sept. 20-22, 1998. Micromachining and Microfabrication 1998, Santa Clara Marriott, Santa Clara, CA. Contact: Website: www,spie.org/info/mf. Oct. 24-29, 1998. IPC/SMTA Electronics Assembly Expo, Rhode Island Convention Center, Providence,...