Korean epiwafer company EPIPLUS has started high volume GaN-LED production using a 19x50mm close-coupled showerhead (CCS) MOCVD system from UK equipment supplier Thomas Swan Scientific Equipment. EPIPLUS was set up in May 2000 and is a lead company in an epiwafer technology development programme sponsored by the Korean Ministry of Commerce, Industry and Energy. The Korean company moved to new buildings in early 2001, and started commercial production of epiwafers in the second half of that year. EPIPLUS now manufactures a product range including 100mm and 150mm InGaP/GaAs and AlGaAs/GaAs HBT epiwafers and blue and green GaN-based LED epitaxial wafers.

Infineon Technologies will use PDF Solutions' "Design-Based Yield
Improvement" (DBYI) technology on CMOS and embedded Flash products at the
0.13micron technology node. The methodologies simulate interactions between
IC design and the manufacturing process.

Canon is to use Asyst Technologies' Japanese-designed and manufactured
UTX-F5500C single-arm wafer-transfer robot, with linear track, for
incorporation into 248-, 193-, and 157nm step-and-scan lithography systems.
Asyst reports that Canon has already ordered nearly two dozen of the robots,
which have begun shipping.

ASAT is to provide packaging and testing solutions for Honeywell's
RF/microwave product family, including radio transceivers, digital
attenuators and RF switches. ASAT will use its leadless plastic chip carrier
(LPCC) packages and test services, which have been certified to MSL-1 level,
eliminating the need for dry storage or baking of the package after exposure
to air.

EMCORE has been awarded a contract to design and develop a solar array to
power the European CRYOSAT satellite. The order comes from the company
ASTRIUM that is working on the project for the ESA (European Space Agency).
EMCORE recently bought the Applied Solar Division business of Tecstar, which
now forms part of EMCORE's PhotoVoltaics Division (Bulletins 419, February
11, 2002; 424, March 18,2002).
CRYOSAT satellite will monitor land and marine ice mass fluxes to improve
the understanding of climate change. According to the terms of the contract,
EMCORE will lead a team comprising itself and the European Aeronautic
Defense & Space Company (EADS), in which EADS will provide the mechanical
design while EMCORE undertakes the electrical design. The solar array will
be the primary power source for CRYOSAT.