Online information source for semiconductor professionals

According to The Korean Times, Samsung is to accelerate the migration of NAND flash devices to its 42nm node process in an effort to improve profitability as ASPs continue to decline rapidly due to the continuation of the oversupply situation, further compounded by weaker demand. The Korean Times quoted an unnamed Samsung spokesperson that said that it was currently ramping 42nm MLC flash devices to 10 percent of production capacity by the end of 2008 at one of its most advanced 300mm fabs in Giheung, Gyeonggi Province, Korea. Read more >>

In its continued efforts to become a major force in the materials metrology markets for both semiconductor and photovoltaics industries, Semilab Co. Ltd., has acquired French metrology equipment specialist SOPRA SA. The all cash transaction was closed on the 17th September, 2008. Details of the deal were not announced. Read more >>

Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corporation (SMIC) has had its S2/FAB 8 pass the BSI ISO27001 audit for information security management systems. This is the first of SMIC’s fabs to gain the certification. Read more >>

CIMAC has become the exclusive reseller of SECS/GEM equipment software from Korea-based firm IT Innovation in the U.S. The software is available for both 200mm and 300mm equipment, the company said. The IT Innovation partnership also includes equipment data acquisition and communications software products. Read more >>

Showa Denko K.K. (SDK) is to expand its presence in the growing fluorine market, specifically in the semiconductor and LCD manufacturing sectors with the purchase of F2 Chemicals Limited. The company is based in the UK and is a joint venture between Asahi Glass and Mitsubishi. Terms of the deal were not disclosed; however, F2 Chemicals had a capitalization value of £11 million pounds sterling and 33 employees. Read more >>

Hynix Semiconductor has sold a further share in its 300mm fab in Wuxi, China to Numonyx for approximately $100 million. Hynix’s stake in the fab will now fall to 72.3 percent, compared to 83.3 percent previously. The deal should be completed by year-end. Read more >>

On the back of a major settlement agreement with Intel, which will see the microprocessor giant make five annual future payments to Transmeta of $20 million per year and a cash payment of $91.5 million by September 30, 2008, Transmeta has hired Piper Jaffray & Co to find a buyer for the going concern. Read more >>

Renesas Technology has said that its aging 150mm fab in Landshut, Germany, used to fabricate microcontrollers for smart card applications, is to be sold to two of its managers and will be turned into an analog mixed signal foundry operation. Silicon Foundry Holding (SFH) will take over the fab and will be operated by former Renesas managers Michael Lehnert and Gerhard Spitzlsperger. The transaction is expected to be completed by the end of 2008. Read more >>

Novellus Systems, Inc. has announced that it has shipped its 300th SABRE Extreme electrochemical deposition system to a leading semiconductor manufacturer based in Korea. The tool, which will be used for copper layer deposition in flash and DRAM devices, was first launched 10 years ago. Read more >>

Oxford Instruments Plasma Technology Ltd (OIPT) has sold its Molecular Beam Epitaxy (MBE) product line to RIBER SA. Details of the sale were not disclosed however OIPT said that its MBE sales has averaged £1.2 million per annum in recent years. Read more >>