Micro Engineering & Nanotechnology News articles from May 2000

Micro Engineering & Nanotechnology News archives from May 2000

APPLICATIONS: Live Data Traffic Switched by MEMS.(optical switch subsystems)(Brief Article)
May 1, 2000... Optical Micro Machines, Inc. (OMM, 9645 Scranton Rd., San Diego, CA 92121; Tel: 858/320-7100, Fax: 858/457-0853, Website: www.omminc.com) says that their new line of optical switch subsystems have been routing live traffic for over one month...

Nanomachining Structures with High Aspect Ratios.
May 1, 2000... Researchers at Berkeley National Laboratory (1 Cyclotron Rd., Berkeley, CA 94720; Tel: 510/486-6467, Fax: 510/486-6457) have invented a nanomachining technique that will produce high aspect ratio, precision structures with feature sizes as...

Quantum Computer Advances at Los Alamos.(Alamo National Laboratory)(Brief Article)
May 1, 2000... Scientists at the Dept. of Energy's (DOE) Los Alamos National Laboratory (Los Alamos, NM; Tel: 505/665-2085) have made another experimental leap forward in the quest for a functional quantum computer capable of solving large mathematical...

Nanowires from Dot Seeds.(University of Texas researchers' innovations of polysilicon components)(Brief Article)
May 1, 2000... Researchers at the University of Texas (Austin, TX) have reduced the dimensions of polysilicon devices to 4 nanometers and extruded nanowires that are 25 times smaller than the vias on present-day silicon chips. Through heating and...

Silicon Micro Motors for Mass Storage.(collaboration of University of California, Irvine and Texas Instruments)(Brief Article)
May 1, 2000... The University of California, Irvine (UCI) has begun a collaborative research relationship with Texas Instruments (Dallas, TX) aimed at commercializing MEMS technology and processes for use in mass storage applications. The new program is the...

A Micromechanical Mass Balance.(David A. Altemir's patent)(Brief Article)
May 1, 2000... A patent has been issued for a method of manufacturing a micromechanical oscillating mass balance. The inventor is David A. Altemir of the Johnson Space Center (Houston, TX; Tel: 281/483-0474). The following abstract defines the scope of this...

MEMS-based DLP Shipments Are Up.(digital light processing sales statistics for Texas Instruments Inc)(Brief Article)
May 1, 2000... Texas Instruments (TI, PO Box 655474, Dallas, TX 75265; Tel: 972/995-2011, Fax: 972/995-4360) says that shipments of its digital light processing (DLP) subsystems in the first quarter were up over 250% on year-ago levels. The company also says...

Microphotonics Center Opened.(Brief Article)(Company Profile)
May 1, 2000... Standard MEMS (3 New England Executive Park, Burlington, MA 01803; Tel: 781/270- 0900, Fax: 781/270-5015) opened a 15,000 sq. ft. Microphotonics Technology Center (Southbridge, MA). The microphotonics group will focus on MOEMS (Micro-...

FABRICATION: Mask Technology Increases Yields.(EV Group, Inc. and Motorola Labs)(Brief Article)
May 1, 2000... EV Group, Inc. (3701 E. University, Phoenix, AZ 85043; Tel: 602/437-9492, Website: www.EVGroup.com) and Motorola Labs announced the availability of a proprietary mask coating technology developed by Motorola Labs for increasing contact...

Partnership to Develop Wafer Sealing Technology.(EV Group Inc. and Ferro Electronic Materials)(Brief Article)
May 1, 2000... EV Group, Inc. (formerly known as Electronic Visions), and Ferro Electronic Materials, have announced their collaboration on advanced low temperature wafer- level sealing technology using glass frit bonding for MEMS applications. (Frit is a...

Prober Identifies Faulty Devices.(Brief Article)
May 1, 2000... Electroglas, Inc. (6024 Silver Creek Valley Rd., San Jose, CA 95138; Tel: 408/528-3000), a leading supplier of process management tools for the semiconductor industry, introduced the 4090f film-frame wafer prober. This tool eases the...

CS2 & EV Group Combine Packages.(Brief Article)
May 1, 2000... EV Group (Schaerding, Austria) and Custom Silicon Configuration (Zaventem, Belgium) announced that CS2 will install EVG's EV640 advanced precision aligner to increase CS2's bumping and packaging capabilities and cut the development time...

PROCESSING: Low Cost SIMOX Wafers from Ibis.(Brief Article)
May 1, 2000... Ibis Technology (32 Cherry Hill Dr., Danvers, MA; Tel: 617/638-0022, Fax: 617/638-0033), a leading manufacturer of separation by implantation of oxygen/silicon-on-insulator (SIMOX-SOI) implantation equipment and wafers to semiconductor...

Wafer Thinning Method for MEMS.(Brief Article)
May 1, 2000... Materials & Technologies Corp. (M&T)Poughkeepsie, NY; Tel: 914/463-2799) developed a new wafer thinning method, which may be of interest to manufacturers of smart cards, digital cameras, and MEMS-related devices. The company participated in a...

Optical Lithography for Sub-0.1 Resolution.(Brief Article)
May 1, 2000... Mulith, Inc. (New Tripoli, PA) announced a revolutionary optical lithography tool for patterning semiconductor devices with feature sizes less than 0.1 micron resolution. This tool is significantly less expensive than existing steppers and...

MATERIALS: Longer Life for Silicon?(Brief Article)
May 1, 2000... Silicon chips may reach their performance limits several years later than previous predictions, according to researchers at Lucent Technology's Bell Labs (Mountain Ave., Murray Hill, NJ; Tel: 908/582-7474). A limiting factor in producing...

Optical Chirality in Gold Nanoclusters.(Brief Article)
May 1, 2000... Scientists at the Georgia Institute of Technology have presented the first experimental evidence that nanoclusters of metallic gold can display optical chiral properties. Chiralty refers to the ability of the clusters to exist in left- and...

Self Assembling Magnets Target Storage Applications.(Brief Article)
May 1, 2000... Researchers at IBM have combined nanotechnology with chemistry to create a new class of magnetic material that may lead to computer hard disks and other storage applications with capacities 100 times greater than is available today. The...

Nanostructured Coating OK for Navy Ships.(Brief Article)
May 1, 2000... A new coating developed under the Office of Naval Research Science and Technology Affordability Initiative and the DOD Dual Use S&T Program has been qualified for use on Navy ships. Using the new nanostructured coatings will allow the Navy to...

TEST AND MEASUREMENT: Temperature Control for Scanning Probe Scopes.(Brief Article)
May 1, 2000... ThermoMicroscopes (1171 Borregas Ave., Sunnyvale, CA 94089; Tel: 408/747-1600, Fax: 408/747-1601) released a new temperature control capability for its SPMs that lets investigators explore the effects of temperature on material properties...

INDUSTRY NEWS: Nortel Acquires Optical MEMS Manufacturer.(Brief Article)
May 1, 2000... Nortel Networks has announced an agreement to acquire CoreTek, a manufacturer of MEMS-based optical components, for up to US$1.43 billion in Nortel Networks common shares, a portion of which is contingent upon CoreTek achieving specified...

Standard Microsystems Cuts Interest in Standard MEMS.(Brief Article)
May 1, 2000... Standard Microsystems Corp. (SMSC, 80 Arkay Dr., Hauppauge, NY 11788; Tel: 516/434-4630, Website: www.smsc.com) says it has sold a portion of its holdings of Standard MEMS, Inc. (SMI's) common stock for $6.8 million in cash. SMSC's investment...

JDS Uniphase to Acquire Cronos.(Brief Article)
May 1, 2000... JDS Uniphase (570 West Hunt Club Rd., Nepean, Ontario; Tel: 613/727-1303, Fax: 613/727-8284) signed a definitive agreement to acquire Cronos Integrated Microsystems, Inc. (Research Triangle Park, NC) for $750 million payable in stock. Cronos...

Venture to Make Integrated Pickups.(Brief Article)
May 1, 2000... Rose Research (Dallas, TX) and MEMS Optical announced a joint venture known as Optimeon LLC, based in Dallas to design, make, and sell high speed optical pickups (OPU) for fast DVD and CD-ROM applications. Rose Research LLC is a privately held...

Exponent Reports 10% Rise in Revenue.(Brief Article)
May 1, 2000... Exponent, Inc. (Menlo Park, CA; Tel: 650/326-940, Website: www.exponent.com) reported record revenues, net income, and earnings per share for the first quarter ended March 31, 2000. Revenues were $26,126,000 compared with $23, 815,000 for the...

Cree Acquires Nitres, Inc.(Brief Article)
May 1, 2000... Cree Research, Inc. (Durham, NC) signed a definitive agreement to acquire privately held Nitres, Inc. (Westlake Village, Goleta, CA), a leader in R&D of nitride-based semiconductor devices. Under the terms of the agreement, Cree will acquire...

Microvision Gets $7.5 Million.(Brief Article)
May 1, 2000... Microvision, Inc. (19910 North Creek Pkwy., Bothell, WA 98011; Tel: 425/415- 6847, Website: www.mvis.com) says the company has received $7.5 million from Capital Venture International following the exercise of an option to acquire 418,848...

Lam Sets Records for Profits and Orders.(Brief Article)
May 1, 2000... Lam Research Corp. (Fremont, CA) announced fiscal results for the quarter ended March 26, 2000. Revenues were $326.3 million and net income, including the benefit of a restructuring charge reversal of $18.9 million, as $67.0 million, or $0.48...

PUBLICATIONS: New Edition of Book On Smart Sensors.(Brief Article)
May 1, 2000... Artech House (685 Canton St., Norwood, MA; Tel: 781/769-9750, Fax: 781/769-6334) announced the release of Understanding Smart Sensors, Second Edition by Randy Frank of ON Semiconductor. This is a complete, authoritative summary of the latest...

MEMS Material Science from MRS.(Brief Article)
May 1, 2000... Researchers from major academic, industrial and government centers come together in this newly published volume Materials Science of Microelectromechanical Systems Devices, to focus on the materials science of MEMS devices. Published by the...

CALENDAR.(Brief Article)
May 1, 2000... June 4-8, 2000. Solid State Sensor & Actuator Workshop, Hilton head, South Carolina. Contact Preferred Meeting Management, 23206th Ave., San Diego, CA; Tel: 619/232-9499, Fax: 619/232-0799. June 7-9, Hands On Overview of Nanofabrication...