Mass metrology equipment manufacturer Metryx has signed a sales, service and support contract with Taiwan-based Hermes-Epitek to promote Metryx’s equipment in Taiwan, China and Singapore. Metryx has already been selling systems into the Asia market. 

Varian Semiconductor Equipment Associates has reached a new company milestone with the shipment of its 500th VIISta single-wafer high-current implant system. The system was ordered by TSMC, the world’s largest pure-play foundry. 

Spansion and IBM have signed a cross-licensing agreement that includes both companies' leading-edge flash memory technology. Included in Spansion's patent portfolio are patents relating to its charge-trapping ‘MirrorBit’ technology. IBM is including its recently revealed ‘racetrack’ magnetic domain walls technology that could be developed into 3D memory devices. 

Nova Measuring Instruments has said it has reached a new company milestone with the the installation of its 100th NovaScan Optical Metrology system in South Korea. The company said it had now installed more than 650 NovaScan 300mm Optical CD and thin-film metrology systems worldwide. 

Independent semiconductor development foundry SVTC Technologies has announced big plans for developing a strong R&D presence in the rapidly expanding photovoltaics industry. Its aim is to compete with the Fraunhofer Institute in Germany and proprietary centers in Japan. In doing so, SVTC believes it can become the main center for PV technology development in North America. 

ASM International has said that it will not be a player in the rapid thermal processing (RTP) market from 2009 onwards. The equipment company hopes to transfer its ‘Levitor’ RTP tool and small customer installed base to a third party by the end of the year. 

Mattson’s ‘Suprema’ photoresist strip system has been selected by a major Korea-based NAND flash memory manufacturer. The tool is due to be shipped to the customer’s 300mm fab for use in FEOL manufacturing. 

Qimonda AG and Elpida Memory have signed a Memorandum of Understanding to develop DRAM cell sizes using both Qimonda’s Buried Wordline technology and Elpida’s advanced stack capacitor technology for the 40nm node and below. The compnaies are targeting 4F² cell concept by 2010 and aim to scale it to the 30nm generation.