Online information source for semiconductor professionals

A major NAND flash memory manufacturer has placed a development tool order with Mattson Technology for its Suprema platform photoresist strip system. The tool is expected to be used in the development of 2X NAND flash devices. The IC manufacturer is a current customer of Mattson. Read more >>

Qimonda AG has said that it is now in volume production of its 65nm Buried Wordline technology at its 300mm fab in Dresden, Germany. First revenue from its 65nm 1Gbit DDR2 devices were received in October, the company said. Qimonda is currently producing several hundred 300mm wafers per month of the new technology. Read more >>

Inotera Memories is to adopt Magma Design Automation’s Bitmapping Analysis tool across its two 300mm DRAM fabs after several years of yield management collaboration between the two companies. YieldManager enables fab yield, defect, test and product engineers to collect, correlate, analyze and share inline metrology, test and fab data. Read more >>

Tokyo Electron Limited (TEL) has supplied a 300 mm ‘Telius’ SP UD system for through-silicon-via (TSV) etch applications to SEMATECH's 3D R&D center at CNSE's Albany NanoTech Complex in Albany, NY. The Telius SP UD system has the versatility to investigate various chemistries to etch vias ranging from sub 1 micron to tens of microns wide.  Read more >>

The Dubai Government is following in the footsteps of the Abu Dhabi Government with the formation of a photovoltaics manufacturing company that will use Applied Materials ‘SunFab’ solar thin film technology. Solar Technologies FZE has been established in the Dubai Technopark, which will invest initially in two ‘SunFab’ lines with a capacity of 130MW with production slated to begin at the end of 2010. The new company plans to expand production to 1GW by 2015 with manufacturing plants in China, Mexico and Bulgaria. Total investment is estimated at over $1 billion. Read more >>

UMC is planning to offer both a high-k/metal gate (HKMG) stack and a conventional, gate/silicon-oxy-nitride gate oxide technology for 28nm node devices. UMC claims that it has manufactured the foundry industry’s first fully functional 28nm SRAM chips using immersion double patterning lithography with a conventional gate and strained silicon technology, which will form the basis of its low-power process. The high-performance process will employ HKMG, the foundry said. Read more >>

Having received the required U.S. Government export license, Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corporation (SMIC), will now start development of its 32nm process technology in January 2009. The license applies to all of SMIC’s fabs capable of this technology migration.

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Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corporation (SMIC) has started pilot production of a 110nm CMOS image sensor (CIS) process technology that can be manufactured on 200mm and 300mm wafers, the company said. SMIC is offering the technology with both aluminum and copper backend metallization. Read more >>

Advanced Micro-Fabrication Equipment Inc. (AMEC) has secured $58 million in Series C funding from a group of investors that include Walden International, Lightspeed Venture Partners, Goldman Sachs, Redpoint Ventures, Global Catalyst Partners, Interwest Partners, Bay Partners, QUALCOMM Ventures and KT Venture Group. The Asia based semiconductor equipment supplier is using the funds to focus on the development of its etch processing tools, the company said. Read more >>

Private investment firm, Bayside Capital has purchased substantially all the assets of Akrion, Inc., for an undisclosed sum; Akrion had attempted an IPO in the past. Bayside Capital said it was investing capital into Akrion to target further growth in the semiconductor and solar cleaning equipment markets with new product introductions and increased R&D. Read more >>