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STMicro to buy out NXP’s share in Wireless JV; merges with Ericsson
21 August 2008 | Fab Management
STMicroelectronics and NXP Semiconductors’ joint venture operation, ST-NXP Wireless, is set for a change. It is expected that STMicro will buy out the 20% stake held by NXP in the joint venture to enable it to merge the company with Ericsson Mobile Platforms in a new 50/50 fabless joint venture.
The new merger will see both STMicroelectronics and Ericsson contribute
their respective technologies to form a strong product offering for the
semiconductor and mobile platform industries.
Read more >>News
PDF Solutions buys Triant for $1.75 million
28 August 2008 | Wafer Processing
PDF Solutions is to acquire Triant Holdings for $1.75 million in cash, which includes existing customer contracts, technologies and employees. Applied Materials had acquired a 12.5 percent equity in Triant Technologies for an investment of $2.2 million in 1999. Triant is known for its fault detection software technology.
Read more >>Hynix to start NAND flash production at M11 fab in September
28 August 2008 | Cleanroom
Hynix Semiconductor has officially opened its latest 300mm fab, dubbed M11 in Cheongju, Korea. The new 200,000wspm plus facility is Hynix’s largest facility and will be dedicated to NAND flash production starting in September, 2008. Initially, M11 will be ramped to 40,000wspm using Hynix’s 40nm process technology, producing 16Gb and 32Gb flash memory devices.
Read more >>Tool Order: Aviza receives multiple etch systems orders from European customers
27 August 2008 |
Three leading semiconductor manufacturers in Europe have placed orders for Aviza Technology’s 200mm and 300mm Omega fxP etch systems as well as its deep silicon (DSi) etch modules. The systems will be sued for consumer, automotive and related end market applications, the company said. Aviza said that one of the tools is a follow-on order.
Read more >>Lam Research establishes global center for customer training in Taiwan
27 August 2008 | Wafer Processing
SEMICON Europa moves to Dresden in 2009
26 August 2008 |
July book-to-bill ratio climbs to 0.83
25 August 2008 | Fab Management
AMD parts with DTV line for $192.8 million
25 August 2008 | Fab Management
Blogs
Oberai discusses Magma’s move into solar PV yield management space
29 August 2008 | Chip Shots
The semiconductor industry has long had its eye on improving yields in the fabs, developing an ever-more sophisticated array of software and hardware tools to detect defects and faults, monitor and analyze process and design variations, zero in on the root causes, and crunch the giga-reams of resultant data to try and make sense of the perturbations of the production flows. As the solar photovoltaics manufacturing industry ramps up and seeks ways to improve its own best practices on the factory floor while reducing costs, the need for a comprehensive, PV-specific yield enhancement strategy has become more acute. One company familiar to the design and yield communities in the chipmaking realm, Magma Design Automation, announced earlier this week that it is developing a new solar-specific software system based on its proven YieldManager platform.
Read more >>SEMI fab outlook bounces like a dead cat
26 August 2008 | Editor's Blog
The latest sales pitch from SEMI to part with $4,000 greenbacks for their ‘World Fab Forecast’ market research data notes that we can all expect a ‘brighter’ 2009. Fab spending is set to recover by 20 percent over a 20 percent decline expected for 2008 compared to 2007.
Read more >>
Solar start-up Suniva sees plenty of efficiency, cost innovations left in crystalline silicon PV
21 August 2008 | Chip Shots
While First Solar keeps on trucking, others in CdTe thin-film PV pack keep on muddling
21 August 2008 | Chip Shots
Taking the silicon shipment area numbers, semiconductor sales figures to the woodshed
15 August 2008 | Chip Shots
Latest Jobs
Senior Analog/Mixed Mode Design Engineer, Freescale
15 August 2008 - Touluse
Application Engineer Low k1 Imaging, ASML
15 August 2008 - Veldhoven
Industrial Engineer, Applied Materials
15 August 2008 - Bangalore
Going Places
KLA-Tencor President to leave company
29 August 2008
John Kispert, President and Chief Operating Officer at KLA-Tencor Corporation has announced his intention to the leave the company at the end of 2008. Rick Wallace, KLA’s Chief Executive Officer will take over Kispert’s responsibilities, the company said.
Read more >>Voltaix’s Bruce Hazeltine moves to GT Solar as Director of Process Development
28 August 2008
GT Solar, Inc. has added the experience of a former Chief Engineer at Voltaix to its team. Bruce Hazeltine has joined the company in the role as the silicon group’s Director of Process Development, a role that will involve the development engineering initiatives aimed at the creation of more cost-effective Trichlorosilane and silane gas manufacturing facilities.
Read more >>Sunniva Collins honoured as ASM International Fellow
26 August 2008
ASM International has named Sunniva Collins, Ph.D., as a Fellow of the society. Ms. Collins, a senior research fellow at Swagelok Company, was selected for her contributions to the technical advances in stainless steels used in fluid systems applications, and will be formally inducted as an ASM Fellow on October 7th at the 2008 Materials Science & Technology Conference and Exposition Awards Dinner in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
Read more >>Product Briefings
New Product: Air Products offers on-site xenon recovery
14 August 2008 | Materials and Gases
Product Briefing Outline: Air Products and Chemicals
has introduced its new ‘XeCovery’ on-site xenon recovery service for
the semiconductor and MEMS industries. Xenon has a number of unique
properties that have attracted a variety of industries to use this
atom, including semiconductor manufacturing. With demand and prices on
the rise, there is a growing concern that cost will hamper its
applicability. Air Products uses its patented Vacuum Swing Adsorption
(VSA) technology as a means for recovering xenon from effluent gas
streams.
Read more >>New Product: Matheson’s ‘PICO-TRAP’ results in less than 20 ppb gas purity levels
28 July 2008 | Materials and Gases
Product Briefing Outline: Matheson Tri-Gas Electronics
has introduced its patented ‘PICO-TRAP’ Ultra-Purification System for
removing volatile metal impurities and moisture from critical process
gases used by semiconductor manufacturers. The PICO-TRAP System
combines the principles of chemisorption and physisorption to achieve
higher levels of process gas purity than by conventional purification
technologies, according to the company.
Read more >>New Product: Nikon Instruments’ new wafer loader handles down to 100 micrometers
21 July 2008 | Wafer Processing
Product Briefing Outline: Nikon Instruments has
introduced a new wafer loader NWL200 Series that is capable of loading
wafers as thin as 100 micrometers. Using a new chuck system to transfer
wafers, the NWL200 Series is claimed to achieve highly-reliable loading
suitable for inspection of next-generation semiconductors. Previous
systems could not be counted on to safely load wafers thinner than 300
micrometers, according to the company.
Read more >>Recruitment News
ON Semiconductor to establish new R&D centre in Limerick, Ireland
15 July 2008
ON Semiconductor has decided to establish an R&D centre in Limerick
in the mid-west of Ireland. The centre, which will be located in the
Raheen Business Park, will be supported by the Industrial Development
Agency (IDA) and is expected to create 49 high-tech engineering and
design engineering jobs for the area.
Read more >>
Losses at Micron force efficiency drive and workforce reduction
29 June 2008
Micron Technology executives spoke of a highly competitive environment,
especially in the DRAM and NAND flash markets, due to severe
over-capacity in recent quarters that will result in some
restructuring, efficiency drives and a workforce reduction.
Read more >>
Mattson to cut workforce by 5%
26 June 2008
Mattson Technology, Inc. has announced a 5% reduction in its workforce.
Citing the recent downturn in the semiconductor equipment sector as the
impetus behind the cuts, the 5% reduction will amount to approximately
25 positions being cut “in selected organizations,” according to the
company. It is expected that the reduction will be complete by the end
of the next fiscal quarter.
Read more >>
Special Features
300mm activity report: Special Memory Focus
01 March 2008
Mark Osborne, Editor-in-Chief, Semiconductor Fabtech
Read more >>
300mm activity report: January to April 2008
01 March 2008
Mark Osborne, Editor-in-Chief, Semiconductor Fabtech
Read more >>
300mm Prime and the road to 450mm: Part 1
01 December 2007
Mark Osborne, Editor-in-Cheif, Semiconductor Fabtech
Read more >>
