Microtechnology News articles from September 1999

Microtechnology News archives from September 1999

APPLICATIONS: Device in Another Movie "First".
September 1, 1999... Texas Instruments (Dallas, TX) said that its highly acclaimed DLP Cinema technology was used by Walt Disney Pictures to feature an all-digital presentation of its animated adventure Tarzan. The presentations were feature in three locations in...

High Throughput Screening Deal.
September 1, 1999... PE Biosystems (Norwalk, CT) and ACLARA BioSciences (Hayward, CA) signed a collaboration agreement with The R.W. Johnson Pharmaceutical Research Institute (PRI), a subsidiary of Johnson & Johnson, to develop an ultrahigh-throughput screening...

Cooled Atoms to Replace Transistors?
September 1, 1999... When the conventional method of transistor-based binary computing reaches its limit, super-cooled neutral atoms could be used in a "quantum mechanical computer" according to Poul Jessen, assistant professor of optical sciences at the...

Tiny Pump for High Vacuum.
September 1, 1999... At NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (Pasadena, CA) a proposed miniature turbomolecular pump would be a prototype of high vacuum sources for a forthcoming generation of miniature, portable mass spectrometers and other scientific instruments....

High-Performance Gyroscope-on-a-Chip.
September 1, 1999... Hughes Space and Communications Company (HSC, El Segundo, CA) licensed a high-performance, all silicon microgyroscope designed for use in space from NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL). Marking a qualitative step forward in gyroscope...

MicroSensors Sample Control Readout.
September 1, 1999... MicroSensors Inc. (MSI, Costa Mesa, CA), a consolidated and privately financed subsidiary of Irvine Sensors Corp., said it is shipping first-generation engineering samples of its Universal Capacitive Readout (UCR) integrated circuit. The UCR...

Eli Lilly Is Third Caliper TAP Customer.
September 1, 1999... Caliper Technologies Corp. (Mountain View, CA) announced that Eli Lilly & Company has subscribed to Caliper's high-throughput screening Technology Access Program (TAP). Participation in this program provides Lilly with immediate access to...

Combining Optics and MEMS.
September 1, 1999... A new remote sensor no larger than a dime is being developed at Sandia National Laboratories that has the potential to allow users to rapidly detect dangerous gases from as far away as two miles. Called Polychromator, the device will use a...

FABRICATION: Design Planning and Chip Assembly.
September 1, 1999... Tanner EDA introduced a new design planner and chip assembly tool for mixed signal and analog designs. L-Edit/BPR (Block Place and Route) is a component of Tanner EDA's physical layout and verification package called L-Edit Pro. The new...

Wafer Bonding Critical to Fabrication.
September 1, 1999... According to several large manufacturers and materials researchers, wafer-level bonding of a silicon wafer to another silicon substrate, or to a glass wafer, is required for the successful manufacture of MEMS devices. Bonding is a packaging...

Hybrid Rockets by X-ray Lithography.
September 1, 1999... Small hybrid rocket engines of a proposed type would burn specially shaped hollow cylinders of solid fuel containing slanted oxygen- injection channels. These engines would exploit a vortex flow phenomenon associated with the radial inflow of...

Electrochemical Process Could Cut Costs.
September 1, 1999... A new system, which uses a technology called electrochemical fabrication (EFAB), has been developed by researchers at the Information Sciences Institute at the University of Southern California (USC). It fits onto a desktop and has the...

Optical System Research for the Future.
September 1, 1999... Advanced Custom Sensors Inc. (ACSI) recently joined a research team led by the Integrated Nanosystems Research Facility at the University of California at Irvine that focuses on micro- electromechanical-optical system (MEMOS) manufacturing...

PROCESSING: Large Area Masks for EUV Lithography.
September 1, 1999... Motorola (Austin, TX) said it has developed new technologies for fabricating IC masks for both electron projection and extreme ultraviolet type lithography that can be used to manufacture devices with feature sizes below 100 nm. Mask...

PVD Gets Down to 100-nm Level.
September 1, 1999... ULVAC (Methuen, MA) announced a new PVD technology applicable to the 100-nm technology node. The company has completed the development of the Multi Cathode Sputtering (MCS) technology which was developed in partnership with a large Japanese...

MATERIALS: Ultrabright Laser Diodes Research.
September 1, 1999... Spire Corp. (Bedford, MA) received a two-year SBIR Phase II contract award from NASA/Langley Research Center for continued development of aluminum-free, active region, ultrabright laser diodes for LIDAR wind measurement. High brightness, high...

TEST AND MEASUREMENT ISO Universal Catalog from MKS.
September 1, 1999... The Vacuum Products Group of MKS Instruments (Boulder, CO) has recently published a revised and expanded version of the HPS Series 76 Catalog of ISO-Universal Components. The 40-page catalog includes an expanded introduction, installation...

MEMS Vibrations Analyzed.
September 1, 1999... Optonor (Trondheim, Norway) introduced a product called MicroMap 5000, a microscopic interference instrument that analyzes MEMS and surfaces with a resolution of better than 1 nm. The object is illuminated by a laser beam through the...

Imaging Modes Integrated.
September 1, 1999... ThermoMicroscopes (Sunnyvale, CA) introduced the new AutoProbe CP Research, the latest member of this well-known family of research grade scanning probe microscopes. This new device integrates more imaging modes in a single instrument than any...

Probe to Probe Matching.
September 1, 1999... Optical Associates (OAI, Milpitas, CA) introduced a new 248-nm Excimer Laser exposure Analyzer - the Model 375. This model is specifically designed with a special probe for ASML Laser Steppers and is precise, accurate, and traceable to NIST...

INDUSTRY NEWS: MEMS Technology Workshop Slated.
September 1, 1999... IntelliSense Corp. (Wilmington, MA) is planning a four-day intensive course focused on practical training in MEMS. The objective of the program is to understand the MEMS market and its influence on numerous products and industries through...

Lam's Earnings Exceed Estimates.
September 1, 1999... Lam Research Corp. (Fremont, CA) reported fourth quarter net income of $11.3 million ($.28 per diluted share), versus a loss of $65.9 million ($1.72 per share) a year ago. According to First Call, which tracks analysts' estimates, the...

Microvision Wins New Patents.
September 1, 1999... Microvision Inc. (Bothell, WA), continuing to advance their proprietary technology position, announced that it has been awarded two new U.S. patents, four additional patent applications have been allowed, and the company has filed nine new...

2Q Lags for Microvision.
September 1, 1999... For the second quarter, the company reported revenue of $1.4 million versus $2.1 million for the same quarter in 1998. For the quarter, the company reported a net loss of $5.3 million ($0.74 per share), compared with a net loss of $2.1 million...

CCoreTek Open New Facility.
September 1, 1999... CoreTek (Wilmington, MA) said it opened a new 33,000-ft2 state-of- the-art facility in Wilmington for the production of tunable components used in optical networks. This is a complete full process facility that includes production grade...

Key Patent for Aclara BioSciences.
September 1, 1999... Aclara BioSciences (Mountain View, CA) acquired key microfluidics intellectual property from Novartis, including a seminal patent covering 2D electrophoresis on microfluidic chips. The intellectual property acquired by Aclara emerged from...

FSI International.
September 1, 1999... FSI International (Minneapolis, MN) took its first step into the deposition market with a new spin-on dielectric deposition system called Calypso which is based on its established Polaris Lithography processing cluster platform. The company...

Yield Dynamics.
September 1, 1999... Yield Dynamics (Santa Clara, CA), a yield management and process control software company, acquired lithography process control company TEA Systems Corp. As part of the agreement, TEA President Terrence Zavecz has joined Yield Dynamics as VP...

Cymer Inc.
September 1, 1999... Cymer Inc. (San Diego, CA) a supplier of excimer lasers, has relocated its Taiwanese field office, Cymer Southeast Asia Ltd., to new quarters in Hsin-Chu in Taiwan. The facility, 150% larger than the old one, will service an estimated 100...

IntelliSense Corp.
September 1, 1999... IntelliSense Corp. (Wilmington, MA) has been selected as one of the 50 fastest growing technology companies in New England. IntelliSense is the first MEMS company to make the Fast 50 List. The company considers its nomination a significant...

CALENDAR.
September 1, 1999... October 25-29, 1999, AVS Int'l Symposium, Washington State Convention and Trade Center, Seattle, WA. Contact: Della Miller; Tel: 408/247- 3600, Fax: 408/246-7700. November 1-4, 1999, MEMS Technology Workshop, IntelliSense Corp.,...