
Unlike the PV industry that has seen wafer prices decline by as much as
70% in 2011, semiconductor silicon wafer revenue actually increased by
2%, while shipments decreased 3%. Though SEMI Silicon Manufacturers
Group (SMG) didn’t say why shipments were lower but revenue higher,
consolidation in the market coupled to the continued migration to 300mm
wafers at the expense of smaller sized substrates could be the key
underlying reason for the trends in 2011.
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An attempt to regain lost revenue has led to MEMC Electronic Materials’
decision to cut its global workforce by 20%, or over 1,300 employees.
The cuts, only 250 of which will be from its US workforce, will see the
company’s semiconductor segment reduced by 41% and its solar materials staff by approximately 47%. Among other activities, the company will
also idle its 6,000MT Merano, Italy polysilicon facility, which it says
it will close unless “dramatic feedstock, power and other cost
reductions are achieved” in the near future.
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Air Products has launched a research and development program into electronic materials in partnership with the Sustainable Energy Laboratory at the China University of Geosciences in Wuhan, China. The project's aim is to accelerate the product development of materials for the microelectronics industry.
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Worldwide silicon wafer shipments by ‘area’(million square inches)
increased 5% in the second quarter of 2011, compared with the previous
quarter, according to the SEMI Silicon Manufacturers Group (SMG) in its
quarterly analysis of the silicon wafer industry.
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ATMI has said that its 'iCleaner' product is the first chemistry in the
semiconductor industry to receive the US Environmental Protection
Agency’s (EPA) 'Design for the Environment' label. For this product,
ATMI partnered with a customer to deliver cleaning solutions used in the
semiconductor fabrication process. With the aid of ATMI's High
Productivity Development tools and the '12 Principles' approaches, the
team developed a novel, low odor, and environmentally benign formulation
that delivers a time- and cost-effective in-line cleaning method.
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Showa Denko has blamed a sharp rise in the prices it pays of raw
materials that go into its high-purity fluorine-based gases for the need
to raise its own prices for high-purity FC-116 (C2F6) and FC-14 (CF4)
gases, mainly used chamber cleaning applications in semiconductor
process tools. Showa Denko said prices would increase by 500 yen per
kilogram, with shipments on August 1, 2011 onwards.
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Matheson has become the Total Gas and Chemical Management (TGCM)
provider for SMIC’s foundry fab in Shanghai, China. Matheson will be
responsible for inventory, delivery and hook up of the facility’s
process gases and chemicals as well as overseeing the operation and
maintenance of the facility’s gas and chemical delivery systems.
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State-owned, Hua Li Microelectronics has selected Praxair China to
supply a range of gasses for its 300mm fab in Zhangjiang High-Tech Park,
Shanghai, China. Praxair is a leading gas supplier in the park. Praxair
will supply compressed dry air, ultra-high-purity oxygen, nitrogen,
argon, hydrogen and helium to the 300mm fab.
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Used as greenhouse gas replacement chemistry for semiconductor equipment
chamber cleaning and other applications, 3M’s ‘Novec’ product range is
continuing to meet customer demand after the company announced plans to
expand production. 3M has broken ground on an expansion at its Cordova,
Ill., manufacturing facility that is designed to stay ahead of market
demand.
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Fab materials specialist, Matheson has joined ISMI’s Environment, Safety
and Health (ESH) Technology Center at the College of Nanoscale Science
and Engineering’s (CNSE) Albany NanoTech Complex. The aim is to
collaborate on environmental and sustainable solutions in areas such as
energy and resource conservation, chemical management, and industry
response to climate change.
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