One of the major users of SOI wafers has been Sony, who uses them for the Cell microprocessor. However, a story over at Semiconductor International highlights that Toshiba’s taking over production of the chip has led the company to consider moving the design to its bulk CMOS process instead. 

To say that 2007 has been a complete mess for AMD is an understatement. Though at a recent financial analyst meeting in early December, AMD executives painted the picture that the AMD glass was half-full rather than half-empty! However, no one bought it, even after numerous referrals back to the point of optimism from the executives in attendance. 

A third party press release from Magma Design Automation has a wonderful quote from Ward Vercruysse, CAD director, Computing Solutions Group at AMD, which is very amusing and a little surprising considering the Barcelona delays and errata problems now fully confirmed if not detailed. 

Not your average eBay item up for grabs, rather a piece of photovoltaic technology history. Nanosolar, roll-to-roll Copper Indium Gallium Diselenide (CIGS) PV solar start-up, has put one of its first three production line commercially-produced PV modules (Panel #2) up for sale on eBay with a $10,300 starting price! 

Having listened to the conference call covering last night’s announcement that Lam Research was acquiring SEZ, the main thrust for the move by Lam was to quickly put in place the infrastructure on a global scale to better serve its two new products that cover the plasma-based bevel-edge cleaning system called Coronus and its linear single wafer cleaning platform that has yet to be officially launched! 

Veteran industry journalist David Manners presents an interesting take on the MEDEA+ conference over in lovely Budapest this week in noting the words of wisdom from veteran market analyst Bill McClean from IC Insights. 

News via Japan’s Nikkei newspaper claims that Canon is preparing to ship its production-ready 193nm ArF immersion lithography tool by the end of this month, though the customer was not identified. I can add that last month we got some information that supports the Nikkei news. 

Applied Materials can't seem to leave the solar equipment business alone at the moment, as it continues its acquisition trail. The latest is Baccini S.p.A for a cool $330 million in greenbacks.

The news sent me scurrying to dig into the market occupied by Baccini, and I must admit that at first I couldn’t see why AMAT has spent that much on a small company. Later on in a conference call to discuss the acquisition, some interesting aspects of the deal emerged [read more].