News

Wednesday 1st January 2003

AMI Semiconductor (AMIS) has bought Microsemi's Micro Power Products division. This medical mixed-signal ASIC group is the second acquisition to be completed by AMIS this year. The first buy was the mixed-signal business activities of Alcatel Microelectronics.

Wednesday 1st January 2003

German company Schott is restructuring Schott Optovance based in Massachusetts. The plan is to sell,

Wednesday 1st January 2003

Brooks-PRI Automation announced further

Wednesday 1st January 2003

Germany's Fraunhofer-Institut fur Angewandte Festkorperphysik IAF (Institute for Applied Solid State Physics) has ordered a GEN200 molecular beam epitaxy (MBE) system from Veeco-Applied Epi. The systems will be used for indium phosphide-based microelectronics in a programme sponsored by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research of the German government.

Wednesday 1st January 2003

OMM has been awarded four US patents for micro-electro-mechanical system (MEMS) photonic switching technology (Nos.6,445,841, 6,445,840, 6,449,406, 6,453,083). The patents cover micro-machined optical switching devices, matrix switches and collimator designs for two-dimensional (2-D) MEMS devices.

Wednesday 1st January 2003

IQE and Rockwell Automation have settled a legal dispute relating to MOCVD process patents held by Rockwell Automation. The patents were part of a licensing agreement between the companies during the period October 1991 to January 2000.

Wednesday 1st January 2003

Advanced Power Technology has filed a patent infringement counterclaim against IXYS. This alleges that IXYS infringes APT's patent entitled

Wednesday 1st January 2003

The European NanoBusiness Association (ENA) released its analysis of European Union spending on nanotechnology. The report shows available European Union funding to be up to EUR1.8bn.

Wednesday 1st January 2003

In-Stat/MDR reports that some 60 micro-electro-mechanical system (MEMS) fabs/foundries are operating with several hundred start-ups also coming into the industry (many of which have their own in-house prototyping and/or fabrication facilities). Countless universities and government labs worldwide research MEMS technology.

Wednesday 1st January 2003

World chip increases of 14% year-on-year in August 2002, is again fuelled by a 38.4% increase in Asia Pacific. Total sales in August 2002 are reported at $11.93bn, according to the World Semiconductor Trade Statistics (WSTS). Asia Pacific's share was $4.38bn. The US market declined 0.8% to $2.58bn. Europe and Japan showed modest increases of 4.9% and 7.1% to $2.21bn and $2.75bn, respectively.

Wednesday 1st January 2003

The Smart Card Alliance has issued a white paper -

Wednesday 1st January 2003

IMEC is setting up a 300mm silicon research platform initiative. The aim is to perform advanced process research at least two generations ahead of manufacturing. IMEC’s local Flemish government will provide funding of EUR37.18mn for the construction of the cleanroom. The goal of the research platform is to demonstrate novel device architectures and to perform research on process steps and modules. It will be built around the world’s most advanced lithography clusters such as 157nm and extreme ultraviolet (EUV). The new fab will be located next to current IMEC facilities. Strategic long-term partnerships with a core set of equipment suppliers and major IC manufacturers will be set up to carry the investments. This new lab will also allow the freeing up of space in the current 200mm cleanroom for research into a broad range of nanotechnology domains.

Wednesday 1st January 2003

Bookham Technology has agreed to acquire the Optical Transmitter and Receiver and Optical Amplifier businesses of Nortel Networks. As part of the combination, Nortel Networks has also agreed to enter into a $120mn supply agreement with Bookham.

Wednesday 1st January 2003

Motorola’s Semiconductor Products Sector (SPS) is to transfer its all-copper, 0.13µm HiPerMOS7 (HiP7) technology to Tower Semiconductor’s 200mm Fab 2 facility, under a transfer and licensing agreement. Motorola product prototyping by Tower customers could begin on HiP7-based technology as early as Q1 2003. Tower intends to use HiP7 as the 0.13µm technology platform for its analogue, digital and mixed-signal processes, as well as for its proprietary CMOS Image Sensor and microFLASH technologies. The transfer of HiP7-based technology to Fab 2 is due for completion in Q4 2003.

Wednesday 1st January 2003

Austriamicrosystems’ Full Service Foundry unit announced availability of its BiCMOS process, which is based on a 0.35µm CMOS mixed-signal base technology licensed from Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing (TSMC). The 3.3V RF process offers high-speed npn-transistors with an fmax of more than 35GHz, as well as CMOS transistors with the option of 5V I/Os.

Wednesday 1st January 2003

IMEC is setting up a 300mm silicon research platform initiative. The aim is to perform advanced process research at least two generations ahead of manufacturing. IMEC’s local Flemish government will provide funding of EUR37.18mn for the cleanroom construction.

Wednesday 1st January 2003

STMicroelectronics’ first 0.13µm Flash memories are being supplied in engineering sample quantities. Ramp to volume will begin in Q4, 2002. The devices were developed at ST’s Center of Excellence for Non Volatile Memories in Agrate, Italy.

Wednesday 1st January 2003

Wacker has decided on a new production location for 300mm silicon wafers - Freiberg, Germany. From August 2004, the initial capacity will be 60,000 wafers per month. This could ultimately increase to 150,000 per month.

Wednesday 1st January 2003

Philips Electronics is to dissolve its Components division. Telecom speaker activity will be combined with Mobile Display Systems (MDS) and moved to Philips Semiconductors, offering a single source for the telecom and PDA markets.

Wednesday 1st January 2003

Bookham Technology has agreed to acquire the Optical Transmitter and Receiver and Optical Amplifier businesses of Nortel Networks. As part of the combination, Nortel Networks has also agreed to enter into a $120mn supply agreement with Bookham. Approval of the deal by Bookham’s shareholders is need at an extraordinary general meeting to be held on November 5, 2002.

Wednesday 1st January 2003

An agreement has been made between Taiwan’s UMC foundry and IMEC’s Europractice IC Service.

Wednesday 1st January 2003

SEZ Group made Q3 net sales of CHF51.2mn, compared with CHF78.3mn in Q3 2001. The quarter also resulted in a net profit of CHF5.6mn.

Wednesday 1st January 2003

Cambridge Display Technology (CDT) and Luxell Technologies are in dispute over a license agreement. Luxell is seeking damages in excess of $25mn for breach of contract. CDT failed to make a scheduled payment, it is claimed.

Wednesday 1st January 2003

Agere Systems and Infineon Technologies have formed an alliance to jointly develop high-performance chips based on the 802.11 wireless networking standard.