|
Feb 27, 2008 at 07:30 AM |
|
Mike Lercel, director of Sematech's lithography efforts, couldn't tell me about the news of the consortium's purchase of Molecular Imprints' new, improved Imprio 300 step-und-flash imprint litho system and planned delivery to Albany this summer when I spoke with him Monday---but he would have liked to.Write Comment (5 comments) |
|
|
Feb 26, 2008 at 08:15 AM |
Among the faithful congregating at the annual SPIE Advanced Lithography event in San Jose this week, one gentleman's out-of-control throwback hair style is momentarily en vogue, an eerie follicular facsimile of the big bad 'do sported by Javier Bardem in his Oscar-winning supporting actor role as stone-cold killer Anton Chigurh in "No Country for Old Men." But the Coen brothers would be hard pressed to script anything as dramatically and technically challenging as making EUV lithography a production-worthy technology in the next few years.
Yet plenary presentations by two EUVL proponents, Micron president/COO Mark Durcan and ASML's exec VP Martin van den Brink, both provided reasons for a few photons of optimism for supporters of the next-gen litho tech currently championed by many in the industry.
Durcan said that despite the hard challenges of EUVL, he is "a big believer" in the technology, although "we're not gonna hit 2009, I don't think.Write Comment (3 comments) |
|
|
Feb 25, 2008 at 08:10 AM |
|
For every near- and long-term performance enhancement and cost-effective chip manufacturing "grand challenge" laid out in the new ITRS's executive summary, there is a stated or inferred need for improved metrology, inspection, and process characterization, control, and analysis equipment and practices. Write Comment (0 comments) |
|
|
Feb 21, 2008 at 05:59 PM |
|
Few places cry out more for the widepsread implementation of solar energy solutions than the desert state of Arizona.Write Comment (3 comments) |
|
|
Feb 19, 2008 at 03:05 PM |
|
Anyone following the industry debate about whether and when the semiconductor manufacturing community should move to the next larger wafer size knows that economics, not technology, will be the driving force behind the ultimate decision.Write Comment (1 comments) |
|
|
Feb 15, 2008 at 08:23 AM |
It's the end of week and time to follow up on a couple of recent stories, including First Solar's latest results and cautionary tales about the Chinese semiconductor industry.
It must be nice when your company beats investment community expectations and your stock value goes up 30% in one day as a result.Write Comment (1 comments) |
|
|
Feb 14, 2008 at 12:33 PM |
|
When I arrived at Entrepix in Tempe in late January, there was a slight delay before starting my meeting with Tim Tobin and some of his management team.Write Comment (0 comments) |
|
|
Feb 13, 2008 at 12:10 PM |
If you've looked at Applied Materials' 1QFY08 results announced yesterday, your eyes are not deceiving you: the equipment company booked more new orders from its global services, display, and energy and environment solutions units combined than from its silicon segment---$1.385 billion for the threesome compared with $1.075 billion for the core semi equipment business.
AMAT's Mike "Big Kahuna" Splinter did not exaggerate during the company's conference call when he cited "extraordinary demand" in the display and solar sectors, with the company raking in a ridiculous $555 million in bookings for the flat-panel/LCD side and an impressive $260 million for the energy/enviro portion (mostly from solar).Write Comment (0 comments) |
|
|
Feb 11, 2008 at 01:19 PM |
|
Anyone familiar with Chip Shots knows my proclivity for periodic ranting against the use of the English measurement system for measuring wafer sizes.Write Comment (0 comments) |
|
|
Feb 07, 2008 at 10:15 AM |
|
Although semiconductor manufacturers constitute the first target market segment for Tailwinds, head honcho Dennis Riccio also has the photovoltaic, flat panel, and medical equipment markets in mind as sectors that will benefit from the company's souped-up, networked, e-commerce-enabled value/supply chain solution strategy.Write Comment (1 comments) |
|
|
Feb 06, 2008 at 01:22 PM |
What do chipmakers, semiconductor equipment companies, solar manufacturers, display producers, and medical equipment companies have in common? A fragmented supply chain, often regional with inconsistent global reach and spotty quality, which offers far less value and efficiency to either end of the user-vendor spectrum than it might.
Imagine a sophisticated, Web-enabled one-stop shop, a neutral facilitator not tied to any single OEM or materials house, which could provide an integrated global network of outsource solutions for used/refurbished/surplus equipment and subsystems, cleanroom and materials consumables, spare parts, inventory oversight, preventive maintenance, parts cleaning, life-cycle management, even fab decommissioning/recommissioning, all under a single virtual (and in some cases physical) roof.
That's the intriguing vision of Tailwinds, a new company offering what may be the next big link currently missing in the value chain.
I spoke with company founder/chairman/CEO/president/head cheerleader Dennis Riccio last week about his latest venture in advance of Tailwinds' coming-out party.Write Comment (0 comments) |
|
|
Feb 05, 2008 at 08:00 AM |
|
Even without Intel's bleeding-edge Fab 32 in Chandler making the world safe for hafnium and sub-45-nm chip processing, the greater Phoenix metro area would still be a hotbed of high tech, with the semiconductor and related micro-/nanoelectronics sectors leading the way and the photovoltaics industry catching up fast.Write Comment (0 comments) |
|
|
Feb 04, 2008 at 11:57 AM |
How do flexible electronics, American football, financial and market results, politics, and photovoltaics go together? They don't, except as fodder for some Monday morning perspectives on Chip Shots.
Watching the New York Giants upset the mighty New England Patriots in the Super Bowl got me thinking about one flexible display application that hasn't received much attention.Write Comment (0 comments) |
|
|
|
