News

Monday 10th March 2003

Infineon Technologies is considering a move of its corporate headquarters out of Germany. While the German weekly magazine Stern says firm plans to move have already been made, Reuters reports a spokeswoman saying No decision has yet been taken. High taxes and legal restrictions in Germany are said to be among the reasons for the development. The company could move to Switzerland, Singapore or the USA.

Monday 10th March 2003

The World Semiconductor Trade Statistics organisation reported a 22 percent year on year increase in its January 2003 world sales figures. The January total was 12.2bn dollars consisting of 2.47bn dollars for Europe (+16.0 percent), 2.71bn dollars for Japan (+34.0 percent), 4.51bn dollars for Asia-Pacific (+32.6 percent) and 2.54bn dollars for the Americas (+2.8 percent).

Monday 10th March 2003

A new in situ etch and regrowth process for uncooled InP buried heterostructure lasers with claimed 50 percent lower rates of burn in degradation is to be introduced by Bookham Technology at the Optical Fiber Communication Conference and Exposition (OFC) this month (March 2003). The burn-in improvement promises increasing long-term reliability of devices, which also exhibit 20 percent lower threshold currents. The new process is also compatible with newer aluminium gallium indium arsenide (AlGaInAs) materials.

Monday 10th March 2003

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Monday 10th March 2003

US semiconductor equipment developer Silicon Genesis Corporation (SiGen) has successfully developed a new strained silicon method to create high carrier mobility layers. The process is applicable to the fabrication of strained-silicon bulk wafers and strained-silicon silicon-on-insulator (SOI) wafers.

Monday 10th March 2003

US semiconductor equipment developer Silicon Genesis Corporation (SiGen) has successfully developed a new strained silicon method to create high carrier mobility layers. The process is applicable to the fabrication of strained-silicon bulk wafers and strained-silicon silicon-on-insulator (SOI) wafers.

Friday 7th March 2003

Silicon-on-insulator (SOI) wafer manufacturer Soitec has acquired assets of the French epitaxial wafer supplier Picogiga. Soitec will support existing Picogiga customers and core business - growing epitaxial layers on compound-semiconductor substrates. The business mainly uses gallium arsenide (GaAs) substrates, with layers deposited via molecular beam epitaxy (MBE). Soitec plans to apply its Smart Cut technology to compound materials. Smart Cut uses wafer bonding with a hydrogen implant to cut off thin layers on a substrate.

Thursday 6th March 2003

Shipley Company, L.L.C., is a world leader in electronic materials and process technology development. As part of the $1 billion Rohm and Haas Company Electronic Materials Business Group (NYSE: ROH), Shipley delivers exceptionally innovative technologies across a broad range of applications. These platforms include advanced circuit board technology, semiconductor manufacturing and advanced packaging. Our products are integral elements in cell phones, smart cards, computers, flat panel displays, automotive electronics and equipment that power the internet, and much more. Additional information is available at www.shipley.com. Click here to access product guide downloads

Tuesday 4th March 2003

Optical switch array module maker OMM will cease operations as of Friday March 7, 2003. The company plans to release all of its 85 employees and assign the assets to the benefit of creditors.

Tuesday 4th March 2003

An Israeli organic semiconductor technology company, Nanolayers, has become the first firm to receive funding approval from Israels new Heznek programme, administered by the Office of the Chief Scientist.

Tuesday 4th March 2003

The World Semiconductor Trade Statistics organisation reported a 22% year-on-year increase in its January 2003 world sales figures. The January total was $12.2bn consisting of $2.47bn for Europe (+16.0%), $2.71bn for Japan (+34.0%), $4.51bn for Asia-Pacific (+32.6%) and $2.54bn for the Americas (+2.8%).

Monday 3rd March 2003

Shipley Company, L.L.C., is a world leader in electronic materials and process technology development. As part of the $1 billion Rohm and Haas Company Electronic Materials Business Group (NYSE: ROH), Shipley delivers exceptionally innovative technologies across a broad range of applications. These platforms include advanced circuit board technology, semiconductor manufacturing and advanced packaging. Our products are integral elements in cell phones, smart cards, computers, flat panel displays, automotive electronics and equipment that power the internet, and much more. Additional information is available at www.shipley.com.

Monday 3rd March 2003

International Conference on the Commercialization of Micro and Nanosystems (COMS), September 8-11, 2003, Amsterdam, The Netherlands.

Monday 3rd March 2003

Ashland Electronic Chemicals is to be the primary outsourcing manufacturer for ASMLs Thermal division under a multi-year contract. The agreement includes responsibility for sourcing and procurement of all materials, and assembly and testing of all toolsets. ASML Thermal offers large-batch and single-wafer thermal process furnaces and atmospheric pressure chemical vapour deposition (APCVD) systems.

Monday 3rd March 2003

The worldwide semiconductor market is forecast to grow 8.9% in 2003, with revenue totalling $167bn, up from $153.4bn in 2002, according to quarterly forecast estimates from Gartner Dataquest. The slowdown at the end of 2002 is continuing in Q1 2003.

Monday 3rd March 2003

University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC) researchers have developed a method for growing conducting polymers called Surface Polymerisation of Ion-Assisted Deposition or SPIAD (Journal of the American Chemical Society, online since February 6 and in print March 5, 2003).

Monday 3rd March 2003

Test system producer Agilent Technologies has opened two new facilities on the Malaysian island of Penang.

Monday 3rd March 2003

National Semiconductor is seeking to sell its Information Appliance unit, consisting primarily of the Geode family of products, as well as its cellular baseband business.

Saturday 1st March 2003

Agere Systems was claiming it has 21 "breakthrough" transistor products aimed at the wireless power amplifier market for 2-3G base station equipment.

Friday 28th February 2003

Work on a unified European Union patent continues, according to an interview with the Greek R&D general secretary Demetrios Deniozos. Germany has proposed an initial stage of mobile judges and the establishment of specialised patent courts in member states to be used in a transitional period to a centralised court based in Luxembourg.

Thursday 27th February 2003

French president Jacques Chirac inaugurated the Crolles2 Alliance of Philips, Motorola and STMicroelectronics. The joint R&D centre will pioneer CMOS technology from 90nm processes to 32nm over the next five years and also includes a 300mm wafer semiconductor manufacturing pilot line, which is now beginning operation. Taiwan foundry TSMC also has participation in the work in terms of process development and alignment.

Thursday 27th February 2003

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Thursday 27th February 2003

Electron microscope and ion-beam system producer FEI opened a new 8600m2 site in Brno, Czech Republic. This new facility replaces a previous building in Brno and features extensive space for expanded production, research and development capabilities, and enhanced field service and support. FEI currently has 164 employees in the city.

Wednesday 26th February 2003

Researchers from Munich-based universities and from German chemical company Covion have developed a class of electroluminescent (EL) polymers that can be patterned in a way similar to standard lithography photoresists (Nature, February 20, 2003).