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Eyelit, Inc. has announced the selection of its Enterprise Manufacturing and Quality Suite by SiCrystal AG, the manufacturer of silicon carbide SiC wafers. The MES suite is claimed to improve product visibility and support increasing production volumes. Product support and implementation of the suite will be managed by Systema GmbH. Read more >>

Rudolph Technologies, Inc. has announced two key highlights for the company. It has shipped its new Explorer Inspection Cluster to an unnamed chip manufacturer in Japan and installed its NSX 115 Macro Inspection System at an unnamed European fab. The Explorer Inspection Cluster provides an edge and backside inspection system with low cost-of-ownership to the IC industry, while the NSX is used for high-volume inspection and metrology of next-generation production processes. Read more >>

Edwards and Tokyo Electron Limited (TEL) are to jointly develop a perfluorocarbon (PFC) gas abatement system dielectric film etching processes that will also be able to abate carbon monoxide. The ‘PA-01E’ abatement tool will also be developed with input from Adtec Plasma Technology Co., Ltd., of Japan. Read more >>

UMC has said that it has produced working 45nm SRAM test chips using its high-k/metal-gate (HKMG) process technology. According to UMC, this is a major step in validating the technology for inclusion at the 32/28nm nodes. Read more >>

IM Flash Technologies (IMFT) has claimed the technology leadership for NAND flash production with the news that its 300mm fab in Lehi, Utah has entered production of its 34nm process technology. The monolithic 32Gb NAND device is said to fit into a standard 48-lead thin small-outline package (TSOP), with the die only 172mm² in size. Read more >>

In order to reduce its revenue breakeven level, as well as manage cash and working capital and decrease expense by $10 to $12 million on an annual basis, Intevac, Inc. announced its plans to reduce the company’s worldwide workforce by 15%. The reduction is expected to be completed in the fourth quarter, which ends on 31 December 2008. Read more >>

TSMC has said that the initial production ramp of AMD GPU’s using its 40nm node general purpose process technology has started. The main production ramp is expected in 2009, including other devices and customers, the foundry said. TSMC said that both its 40nm General Purpose (G) and Low Power (LP) process technology versions had begun ramping. Read more >>

ASM International has said that Applied Materials and Francisco Partners had decided to end negotiations to purchase a key part of ASM’s ‘front-end’ wafer processing division. Discussions had progressed until now to include an offer from Applied to purchase the ALD and CVD activities for between $400 and $500 million while a revised offer meant that Francisco Partners was offering between $225 million and $300 million for the remaining units that include epitaxy and vertical furnaces. Read more >>

Jazz Semiconductor, Inc. has licensed its high-precision RF models and design kits for RF and high digital content System-on-Chip (SoC) products, with Fujitsu Microelectronics Limited. The arrangement creates a time-to-market advantage for RF CMOS customers who need 90nm and 65nm technology, while also providing ongoing royalties to Jazz. Read more >>

Panasonic is extending its four-year collaboration with IMEC to cover a broader range of advanced technology that includes networks, wireless, and biomedical fields. The research partners are to establish the Panasonic IMEC Center, with research carried out at Leuven, Belgium and IMEC’s research unit at Holst Centre in Eindhoven, the Netherlands. Read more >>