Wuhan Xinxin Semiconductor Manufacturing Corporation has purchased Novellus Systems’ VECTOR Express CVD platform for its 300mm fab that will be managed and operated by SMIC. The shipment also meets a new milestone for Novellus in its being the company’s 100th tool delivered to China. 

Axcelis Technologies’ Board of Directors has rejected the $6.00 per share offer for the company by Sumitomo Heavy Industries. Axcelis cited the continued under-valuation such an offer makes when considering Axcelis’s business potential with its suite of Optima implant tools and the value in SEN, the joint venture implant business between Axcelis and SHI, the Axcelis board said in a statement. 

Elpida Memory will open up its 300mm fab capacity at its Hiroshima-based fab for foundry work in a deal with UMC. The second largest foundry will provide IP support as well as advanced logic processes to Elpida, specifically targeting potential Japanese companies wishing to use foundry services on 300mm wafers at a fab in Japan. 

Entrepix, Inc. has quadrupled its cleanroom space at its Tempe, Arizona facility with the addition of a 5,000 square foot facility to contain the company’s extended equipment and services. Increased demand for CMP-related services has meant that the company’s current facility size was unsuitable and merited an expansion. 

Novellus Systems has reached the 100th shipped 300mm tool to Southeast Asia with the successful qualification of a ‘VECTOR Express’ plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition (PECVD) system at TECH Semiconductor’s 300mm DRAM fab in Singapore, the company said. 

Sumitomo Heavy Industries’ unsuccessful bid for Axcelis valued the company at approximately $544 million, or $5.20 per share in early February. A revised proposal has been released, which sees the offer increase to $6.00 per cash share, or approximately $630 million. 

IBM and Hitachi are to begin a two-year joint semiconductor metrology research program in the development of next-generation 32- and 22-nanometer devices, which will be the first time the two companies have directly collaborated together. 

Israel Growth Partners Acquisition Corporation (GPAC), an Israeli blank check company, is to take control of Israel-based metrology firm Negevtech.  Following the transaction, Negevtech will have access to approximately $55 million currently held in IGPAC's trust account.  Approximately $11 million will be used for working capital and to repay some of Negevtech’s indebtedness. IGPAC CEO is Carmel Vernia, former Chairman and CEO of Tower Semiconductor. 

A memory manufacturer based in Asia has selected Rudoph Technologies’ MetaPULSE-III opaque film metrology system for all aspects of copper metrology requirements at a fab transitioning from aluminum to copper interconnects. A system has been already been shipped to the customer, Rudolph said.