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SEAL project has successful first year
The
Semiconductor Equipment Assessment Leveraging Innovation (SEAL) project has had
a successful first year of operation, reports Fries Research & Technology
(FRT). FRT, along with Siltronic AG and the Fraunhofer-Institut für
Integrierte Systeme und Bauelementetechnologie, were praised in a 12-month
report carried out by the EU and the review panel.
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X-FAB and Micronas to form partnership
X-FAB
Silicon Foundries Group is to form a strategic partnership with sensor and IC
systems-provider Micronas.
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Air Products launches joint R&D project with China University of Geosciences
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.
STX and Aabar to bid for Hynix stake
South Korean conglomerate STX Group and Abu Dhabi state-owned fund Aabar Investments are to put in a joint bid for a 15% stake in Hynix Semiconductor, an anonymous source yesterday told Reuters.
Freescale’s East Kilbride fab sold to property developer
ATREG and Colliers International have secured the sale of Freescale
Semiconductor’s East Kilbride, Scotland facility to Clowes Developments
(Scotland) Limited, a property developer. However, Freescale is said to
be leasing back 70,000 sq. ft. of campus offices from Clowes for
research and development, applications engineering, systems
architecture, and product engineering purposes. This agreement maintains
Freescale’s presence at the location.
Read more >>Tool Order: TSMC purchases more equipment from Applied Materials
Although the bigger value orders seen placed by TSMC in the earlier part
of the year have vanished again, Applied Materials is continuing to
pick-up regular small to mid-sized equipment orders from the leading
foundry.
Read more >>Tool Order: TSMC purchases equipment from Novellus Systems
Top foundry, TSMC has placed accumulated purchase orders since mid-April worth approximately US$18.6 million with Novellus Systems. Popular with other Taiwan-based IC manufacturers such as TSMC rival, UMC and memory manufacturer, Inotera, officially released purchase orders from TSMC to Novellus have been limited in 2011. Normal trade terms have been applied to the purchases, which include 90% of total payment within 30 days after shipment and the remaining 10% within 30 days after acceptance. Read more >>
Tool order: Samsung selects Nanometrics ‘UniFire’ metrology tool for advanced wafer scale packag
Samsung Electronics has adopted Nanometrics ‘UniFire’ metrology tool for
advanced wafer scale packaging after successfully completing
evaluations for development of through-silicon via (TSV) technology.
Nanometrics’ said that its UniFire system has now been adopted by five
of the top seven semiconductor manufacturers worldwide for wafer scale
packaging for advanced TSV and micro bump process control.
Read more >>Silicon wafer shipments inch higher in 2Q despite production disruptions in Japan
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.
Read more >>Tosoh starts thin film sputtering target manufacturing in China
Tosoh SMD has supplied the China market for over 20-years, but the firm
has only now established a thin film sputtering target manufacturing
subsidiary in Shanghai, China. Citing the need to better serve its
semiconductor, flat-panel display, solar, and large area coating
customers in China, Tosoh expects the facility will enable its to grow
its business in the region.
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