Online information source for semiconductor professionals

A third-consecutive month of growth in semiconductor sales has the SIA cautiously optimistic about an industry recovery, though shied away from calling the next upturn. Worldwide sales of semiconductors in May rose to US$16.5 billion, an increase of 5.4% from April’s figure of US$15.6 billion. Read more >>

Dai Nippon Printing (DNP), producer of semiconductor photomasks, and Molecular Imprints, producer of nanopatterning systems and solutions, are collaborating to speed production of nanoimprint lithography for high-volume semiconductor device manufacturing. DNP is the official provider of funds and support for Molecular Imprints to develop a new mask replication platform aimed at lowering the cost of imprint masks. Read more >>

SUSS MicroTec, supplier of process and test solutions for microstructuring applications in semiconductor markets, is changing the structure of its sales in Asia and basing the new office in Singapore. ZMC Technologies will act as general sales representative for interests in Malaysia, Singapore and the Philippines. This adds to SUSS MicroTec’s presence in Seoul, Shanghai, Yokohama, and Hsinchu. Read more >>

Product Briefing Outline: KLA-Tencor has announced XP, a new upgrade package for 28xx broadband brightfield inspection systems. The XP package is the first commercially available product to give an inspection system access to standard IC design layout files. With access to this information, the inspection system can use knowledge of the defect’s location within the circuit to better estimate its probability of affecting device yield. In addition, XP can use the results of the design-aware wafer inspection to identify features on the mask that may be particularly sensitive to process variations during printing. These and other features of the XP upgrade package are designed to improve the sensitivity and productivity of existing 28xx inspectors and raise the information content of defect results, helping to accelerate identification and resolution of defect issues. Read more >>

Product Briefing Outline: Nova Measuring Instruments has launched ‘MatMaker,’ a Product-Driven Materials Characterization package, which is based on software algorithms and tools refined by Nova’s applications developers over the past 10 years. The company claims the new software changes the way spectral Optical CD is deployed in fabs, significantly reducing application development time and cost while at the same time increasing the measurement accuracy. Read more >>

Product Briefing Outline: Sokudo Co., Ltd. has recently launched the SOKUDO DUO platform, a new concept in photoresist coat/develop track systems that provides customers with the ultra-high productivity needed to optimize leading-edge lithography processing. Incorporating an innovative dual track design, the system simultaneously processes wafers in two lines, claimed to boost throughput to 250-300 wafers per hour (wph), depending on system configuration, while also improving uptime and substantially reducing system footprint. Read more >>

Mark Osborne, Editor-in-Chief, Semiconductor Fabtech Read more >>

Mark Osborne, Editor-in-Chief, Semiconductor Fabtech Read more >>

Mark Osborne, Editor-in-Cheif, Semiconductor Fabtech Read more >>