
Integrated Materials, Inc (IMI) known for its ‘SiFusion’ processes for
manufacturing polysilicon-based furnaceware has been acquired for an
undisclosed sum by Ferrotec. The SiFusion materials range is expected to
complement Ferrotec's existing line of advanced materials for
semiconductor manufacturing that include fabricated quartzware and
advanced ceramics.
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A five-year contract to service all Applied Materials chip production
equipment at NXP Semiconductor’s facility in Nijmegen, Holland has been
signed with the equipment company. Through its Applied Performance
Service program, over 70 Applied Materials systems at NXP’s 8-inch wafer
facility will be covered by the new contract. Applied will also hire
NXP engineers to become members of Applied’s on-site service team.
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Five finalists have been listed for this year's SEMICON West,
Sustainable Technologies Award, which includes Applied Materials,
Edwards, Pall, Tokyo Electron and Verigy. The annual award recognizes
equipment, materials or services that have been introduced to the
marketplace in the last three years that can contribute to sustainable
improvement of the environment.
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A just announced angstrom-level etch system, dubbed Applied Centura
‘AdvantEdge Mesa’ from Applied Materials has seen strong demand from
customers, according to the company. Applied said that more than 60
chambers have shipped to customers in the last three months – where they
are tool-of-record for 32nm IC fabrication and 22nm process
development.
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No surprises that Applied Materials continued to lead the semiconductor
equipment sales in 1Q10. The company’s IC manufacturing equipment and
related service revenues increased 43% in the first quarter, the highest
growth among major WFE suppliers. However, the market research firm
noted that Teradyne achieved the highest growth in 1Q among the top 10
suppliers, driven by strong demand of its SOC test systems. Overall the
semiconductor equipment market grew 43% in the first quarter, reaching
U$10.4B in sales, naturally a significant recovery from the 2009
recession.
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A long-running issue in photomask inspection and more so in relation to EUV technology is the lack of development or existence of the required tools, due to the limited expected market and ROI for the equipment vendor. However, SEMATECH and Carl Zeiss are to now design and develop the industry’s first-ever actinic aerial image metrology system ‘AIMS’ for defect review of EUV photomasks.
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Nova Measuring Instruments has said that it expects multiple
installations of its Nova T500 stand-alone optical CD metrology tool,
which are expected to total seven different customers by the end of the
third quarter of 2010. The company also noted that 5 of these are new
stand-alone metrology customers. The T500 is a high throughput high
accuracy stand-alone optical CD platform.
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Revenue at the major semiconductor foundries is set to boom for the next
four-years as consumer demand for electronics has returned with a
vengeance, according to revised forecasting from iSuppli Corp. Revenue
is now expected to top U$29.8 billion, up 42.3% from 2009’s US$22.1
billion. iSuppli previously predicted revenue would rise 39.5 percent
this year. By 2014, total pure-play foundry revenue will reach U$45.9
billion, managing a CAGR of 9.4% from US$26.8 billion in 2008, iSuppli
said.
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The fifth straight month of equipment bookings above US$1 billion has
been reported by SEMI. North America-based semiconductor equipment
suplliers posted US$1.48 billion in orders in May 2010 (three-month
average basis) and a book-to-bill ratio of 1.12. The bookings figure is
up 2.8 percent from the final April 2010 level of US$1.44 billion, and
is 415.3 percent above the US$287.8 million in orders posted in May
2009. Orders have increased now for 14 consecutive months.
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The ‘Bof W’ Award finalists, not as was orginally reported, which is an award system used by market research firm VLSI Research, have been revealed for this years SEMICON West. New products are measured by semiconductor manufacturing experts and industry trade journalist based on their financial impact on the industry, engineering or scientific achievement, and/or societal impact. The Best of West Award winner will be announced during a special ceremony on Wednesday, July 14, 2009 at 1:00pm (TechSITE North, North Hall, Moscone Center).
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