News

Wednesday 7th May 2003

The CellularRAM co-development team of Cypress Semiconductor, Infineon Technologies and Micron Technology announced availability of 32Mbit CellularRAM devices for wireless handsets. Samples are available in both asynchronous and burst modes.

Wednesday 7th May 2003

Strategic Marketing Associates (SMA) believes that some 36 new fab projects will likely get underway by Q2 2004. The projects include expansions, upgrades, additional fab lines and new construction.

Tuesday 6th May 2003

In-Stat/MDR expects an upturn in the semiconductor industry during H2 2003 resulting in 16.7% revenue growth to $164.2bn. Further growth is expected in 2004 and 2005 with 2006 beginning the next cyclical downturn.

Tuesday 6th May 2003

While International SEMATECH expects to be able to advance the maturity if low-k dielectrics in time for the industry’s modified schedule, the consortium’s interconnect director believes that new approaches will achieve even better results.

Tuesday 6th May 2003

Infineon Technologies plans to force the pace on its corporate restructuring for a "return to the profit zone and sustained success", according to Dr Ulrich Schumacher, Infineon’s president and CEO. The company has set up an "Impact(2)" as a follow-up to the Impact cost-cutting initiative launched in summer 2001, which led to savings amounting to EUR2.8bn. Impact(2) will optimise corporate processes and structures for further cost reductions of EUR500mn – with EUR50mn coming in the current fiscal year. The lion’s share will be financially effective on an earning before interest and tax (EBIT) basis in the next fiscal year. A major contribution will be made by relocation of individual business units as well as by outsourcing of various functions to external service providers.

Monday 28th April 2003

Sumitomo Electric Industries (SEI) announced the first mass-production of 50mm gallium nitride (GaN) substrates. Monthly production capacity has started at 200, and will increase to 500 by October 2003.

Monday 28th April 2003

Hynix Semiconductor and STMicroelectronics are to co-operate in the development and long-term supply of NAND flash memories. DRAM technology and low-cost production capability will come from Hynix. ST will supply broad system application capabilities and its customer base. Jointly developed products will be ready for mass production sometime in H2 2003 beginning with a 512Mbit device. The first products will be manufactured in Seoul, Korea, but the agreement includes provisions for mutual sourcing.

Monday 28th April 2003

Coherent Holding is making a tender offer to the shareholders of Lambda Physik for the 39.6% (5.25mn) of the outstanding shares that Coherent does not already own. Lambda Physik produces excimer lasers used in deep ultraviolet lithography (KrF, ArF, F2). Coherent is offering EUR9.25 cash for each ordinary share of Lambda representing a premium of 46% over the closing price of Lambda shares on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange on April 17, 2003, and a premium of 71% over the last 30-day average closing price.

Monday 28th April 2003

Sony is to invest a total of JPY200bn ($1.7bn) over the three years 2003-2005 to install a semiconductor fabrication line for a 65nm process on 300mm wafers. The line will be used to manufacture the new microprocessor code-named "Cell" aimed at broadband internet networking applications as well as other system LSIs, by Sony’s Computer Entertainment business (SCEI). Of the JPY200bn, JPY73bn will be invested in FY2003. Instalment of a new semiconductor fabrication line for building chips with 65nm process on 300mm wafers will be initiated in SCEI’s Fab2 in Isahaya City, Japan. Test production will begin using the new fabrication line, gradually moving on to mass production. This will include a 65nm embedded DRAM process. SCEI has worked with IBM and Toshiba since the spring of 2001 on the development of the new microprocessor and on advanced semiconductor process technologies. Research and development of digital signal processing technologies for broadband applications are also being conducted.

Thursday 24th April 2003

For reasons both economic and ergonomic, full interbay and intrabay automated materials handling systems (AMHS) are a requirement for 300mm wafer processing. However, initial “evolutionary” approaches to AMHS underestimated the increased complexity of 300mm material handling. Gerald L Goff and Ann Wilkey of Asyst Technologies explore the latest advances in AMHS that have emerged as a result of “lessons learned” during the initial ramp of the first 300mm IC production facilities

Thursday 17th April 2003

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Thursday 17th April 2003

Researchers from the University of California Berkeley and the Lawrence Berkeley US National Laboratory have produced single crystal gallium nitride nanotubes of inner diameters ranging from 30nm to 200mm (Nature, April 10, 2003).

Thursday 17th April 2003

TSMC announced new production data on its 0.13micron processes as well as a status report for 90nm. More than 230 product designs have been taped out to TSMCs 0.13micron processes and more than 100,000 0.1micron wafers shipped to date.

Thursday 17th April 2003

Intel has produced Flash memory products for cell phones with up to five ultra-thin stacked memory chips for lower power consumption and optimal space savings.

Thursday 17th April 2003

Semico Research believes that for many applications multi-chip system-in-packages (SiPs) will be preferred over system-on-chips (SoCs). The market researcher predicts that SiP contract packaging revenue will increase from $82.0mn in 2002 to $747.9bn in 2007, a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 55.6%

Thursday 17th April 2003

Tessera is claiming the world’s first chip-scale packaging technology for integrated radio frequency (RF) module production with its Pyxis platform. The technology builds upon Tessera’s microBGA package while integrating various other features such as flip-chip, integrated passives in silicon and on polyimide, as well as novel electromagnetic interference (EMI) shielding. Along with a new licence, Tessera is offering a full suite of RF services, design tools and libraries.

Thursday 17th April 2003

ASM International (ASMI) has reached a settlement agreement with Genus concerning patent litigation pending between them. Under the terms of the agreement, ASM has the right to immediately appeal the US District Court’s claim construction rulings on ASM’s US patents Nos.6,015,590 and 5,916,365 relating to atomic layer deposition (ALD).

Wednesday 9th April 2003

ASM Internationals European subsidiary has shipped its first A4ALD vertical furnace for its proprietary Atomic Layer CVD (ALCVD) to a customer. The batch system was installed and qualification of the first process was successfully completed.

Wednesday 9th April 2003

Theoretical calculations from Belgiums Universite de Liege suggest a lower limit to the useful thickness of ferroelectric layers (Nature, April 3, 2003). The researchers modelled a BaTiO3 thin film between two electrodes (SrRuO3). The electrodes in short circuit lost their ferroelectric properties below a critical thickness of six unit cells (24Angstroms). The scientists say that dipoles at the ferroelectric-metal interface create a depolarising electrostatic field.

Wednesday 9th April 2003

Most semiconductor back-end manufacturers are still using obsolete analog cameras in their vision systems. You can reach your "analog goes digital" goal with the newest line of area scan cameras, the A600f series, recently developed by Basler Vision Components (Basler-VC). These CMOS sensor based cameras have a full frame shutter and an IEEE 1394 interface. At full (657 x 491) resolution, the cameras can operate at up to 100 frames per second or even more when the Area of Interest (AOI) feature is used. When combined with the Basler BCAM 1394 Driver and a standard 1394 PC adapter board, A600f cameras offer a low cost, plug and play solution. The cameras also feature user definable I/O ports, which add increased flexibility in industrial applications. The slim, compact shape of the A600f cameras (29 mm x 44 mm x 65.7 mm) means that they will easily fit into the space occupied by many common analog cameras without major changes to the mechanical mounting system. For more information, please contact us at +49 4102 463-500, e-mail us at [email protected] or visit us on the web at http://www.basler-vc.com Further information: Basler Vision Technologies An der Strusbek 60 - 62 22926 Ahrensburg Germany Dorothea Brandes - Vision Components Tel. +49 4102 - 463 551 Fax: +49 4102 - 463 599 E-Mail: [email protected] Internet: www.basler-vc.com

Wednesday 9th April 2003

European companies SUSS MicroTec and DELTA (Danish Electronics, Light & Acoustics) have launched MEMUNITY, a knowledge forum on micro-electro-mechanical system (MEMS) testing. Forum activity will include news, technical papers and conference dates. Members will be able to submit devices that will then be evaluated for their test suitability without obligation. If suitable, and so desired, equipment will be configured according to their specific testing needs.

Wednesday 9th April 2003

Agere Systems claims to be the world’s first company to deliver a production-qualified, communications chip using low-k dielectric 0.13micron technology. The ultra-high performance, all-copper semiconductor technology has been used to produce a digital signal processor (DSP). Lucent Technologies is among the first companies to use the new chip for wireless base station production.

Wednesday 9th April 2003

Intel and Taiwan’s VIA Technologies have reached a settlement agreement in a series of pending patent lawsuits related to chipsets and microprocessors. The agreement encompasses 11 pending cases in five countries involving 27 patents. Under the settlement, both companies will dismiss all pending legal claims in all jurisdictions. The companies also entered into a ten-year patent cross license agreement covering each company’s products. As part of the agreement Intel granted VIA a licence to sell microprocessors that are compatible with the x86 instruction set but not pin compatible or bus compatible with Intel microprocessors.

Wednesday 9th April 2003

German company XTREME technologies has shipped its first prototype of an extreme ultraviolet (EUV) light source to UK microstepper manufacturer Exitech. The source will be used under a strategic research partnership for next-generation lithography. XTREME is a nanotechnology 50-50 joint venture between Lambda Physik and Jenoptik. The EUV source uses a pulsed electrical high power discharge and the pinch effect to generate a 200,000C hot plasma to emit the light.