Most Viewed Stories for Week of May 25, 2009
David Lammers, News Editor -- Semiconductor International, 5/29/2009
|
A story about Sanyo’s more-efficient c-Si solar cell engaged the most readers this week. Nikon said it is reorganizing its lithography operation, cutting ~1000 jobs. Packaging is evolving toward 3-D, the latest transition perhaps spurred by bad times. VLSI Research reported the winners of its customer satisfaction survey, with Varian and Novellus on top. A debate whether the upturn really is happening, as Intel’s Paul Otellini contends, rounded out our Top 5.
-
Sanyo Pushes c-Si Solar Cell to 23% Conversion Efficiency
Aaron Hand, Executive Editor, Electronic Media — Semiconductor International, 5/22/2009
Sanyo Electric Co. Ltd. has broken its own record for the highest energy conversion efficiency for a crystalline silicon (c-Si) solar cell in a practical size, beating its previous efficiency by almost a full percentage point. The company made a hybrid cell composed of a single thin c-Si wafer sandwiched by ultrathin amorphous silicon (a-Si) layers.
-
Nikon to Reduce Lithography Workforce by 1000
Staff — Semiconductor International, 5/27/2009
Facing “further severe business conditions,” Nikon Corp. said it will reorganize its lithography operations, cutting 800 production workers in Japan and 200 marketing and support staff worldwide. By October, Nikon plans to combine four production subsidiaries into two, focused on IC and display equipment.
-
Downturn to Spur Shift to 3-D Packaging
Sally Cole Johnson, Contributing Editor — Semiconductor International, 5/27/2009
During every one of the major downturns, the semiconductor packaging industry has moved from one generation of technology to the next, according to Jim Walker, vice president of semiconductor manufacturing research at Gartner Inc. “This time we’re transitioning from 2-D to 3-D,” Walker said. “We’re stacking packages, wafers, die, and even seeing through-silicon vias (TSVs) start to take off as well.”
-
VLSI Customer Survey Ranks Top Suppliers
Staff — Semiconductor International, 5/21/2009
VLSI Research Inc. ranked Varian and Novellus as the top large equipment suppliers, based on VLSI’s 2009 survey of customers in the chipmaking industry. Disco, Keithley Instruments, Nissin Electric and Verigy were among the suppliers honored for excellence in the equipment categories tracked by the market research firm.
-
Silicon Valley Debate: Is a Recovery Underway?
Therese Poletti — MarketWatch, 5/21/2009
Investors have heard some seriously mixed messages from some of tech’s top leaders over whether the recession’s worst has passed for the industry. It all started when Paul Otellini, chief executive of Intel Corp., told investors that he believed the PC industry had hit a bottom.
