Company News
Staff -- Semiconductor International, 4/1/2002
- International SEMATECH (ISMT, Austin, Texas) has ordered an MS-13 EUV microstepper from Exitech Ltd. (Oxford, UK), to be installed at ISMT's Resist Test Center. This microexposure tool will help speed the development of resists for post-optical lithography. The stepper, which will be installed at ISMT during the fourth quarter of 2003, will incorporate a dense plasma focus discharge source developed by Cymer Inc. (San Diego), as well as a 0.3-NA imaging lens designed and built by an EUV LLC team from Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (Livermore, Calif.), Sandia National Laboratory (Livermore/Albuquerque, N.M.) and Carl Zeiss Semiconductor Manufacturing Technologies AG (Oberkochen, Germany). The tool is targeted to resolve minimum feature sizes of 35 nm and below.
- International SEMATECH (Austin, Texas) purchased additional Aeronex Inc. (San Diego) GateKeeper inert gas purifiers. The purifiers will be used on the Exitech microstepper, SEMATECH's primary test bench for 157 nm photoresist development.
- Ashland Specialty Chemical Co. (Dublin, Ohio) was awarded QS 9000 certification at its worldwide manufacturing plants that produce wet process chemicals and photoresist strippers. In addition, the company's chemical management services operations at Motorola's MOS 9 facility in Scotland received QS 9000 certification.
- The SEZ Group (Phoenix) is now a member of the SiLKnet Alliance data network. Its spin-processing technology will be used to help streamline fab processes and develop new, compatible products for SiLK dielectric resins. Formed last July, the SiLKnet Alliance's aim is to develop compatible, production-ready processes for SiLK semiconductor dielectric resins, the leading low-k dielectric materials for the 130 nm technology node and beyond. SEZ will make tools available within the SEZ Demo Lab to SiLKnet Alliance members for testing polymer and etch residue removal chemistries on SEZ's single-wafer platform.
- Particle Measuring Systems Inc. (Boulder, Colo.) is celebrating its 30th anniversary. It was founded in 1972 by Robert Knollenberg, who pioneered the development of laser-based particle counters. Started in a converted laundry room, the company now operates a 55,000 ft2, state-of-the-art facility.
- Air Products and Chemicals Inc. (Allentown, Pa.) signed a 10-year supply agreement with Nippon Helium Inc. to serve the product requirements of customers in the magnetic resonance imaging, semiconductor, fiber optics, welding, analytical and other markets within Japan. The agreement-valued at >$150M for Air Products over the supply term-ensures that Nippon Helium will have sufficient product capacity to meet growing customer needs.
- Daw Technologies Inc. (Salt Lake City) established a subsidiary, Daw Mexico S. de R.L. de C.V. (Guadalajara), and appointed Jose de Jesus Cazares to manage the unit. By establishing a presence in Mexico, the company will have a direct link to Central and South America.
- Mattson Technology Inc. (Fremont, Calif.) and Metron Technology N.V. (Burlingame, Calif.) signed an agreement by which Mattson will sell the AG Associates rapid thermal processing (RTP) product line to Metron. The RTP line was originally obtained through Mattson's acquisition of STEAG Electronic Systems AG, semiconductor division, last year. The terms of the agreement were not disclosed.
- Akrion (Allentown, Pa.) received two new purchase orders. One was for its advanced GAMA BEOL tool with a value of >$2.8M, and the other was for several semi-automated wet stations from a large manufacturer of analog ICs. The value of the second order was in excess of $2M.
- Exsil Inc. (Prescott, Ariz.) acquired the business and assets of American Silicon Products (ASP, Providence, R.I.). American Silicon Products, a subsidiary of SEMX Corp., specializes in providing wafer polishing, refurbishing and reclaiming services to the North American electronics industry.
- Busch Semiconductor Vacuum Group completed construction of its global semiconductor headquarters in Morgan Hill, Calif. The 50,000 ft2 facility was completed at the end of 2001 and became fully operational in February.
- Evans Analytical Group (EAG, Sunnyvale, Calif.) will open a new laboratory in Boston by July, called Evans Northeast. The lab will initially be equipped with a PHI quadrupole secondary mass spectrometer, a CAMECA magnetic sector SIMS, and a Technos 300 mm wafer-capable TXRF system, with plans to add equipment as the lab expands.
- ASM Europe B.V. (Bilthoven, Netherlands) opened a new assembly and test facility in Almere. The facility has ~1700 m2 Class 10,000 cleanroom space for assembly and test and a dedicated 350 m2 Class 1000 area for shipment preparation and shipping.
- SAES Getters Technical Service (Shanghai) Co. Ltd. opened its new plant in the Zhang Jiang Hi-Tech Park. It now includes the manufacturing of ultrahigh-purity products as well as performing quality assurance, quality control and analytical services for the region's semiconductor industry.
- Credence Systems Corp. (Fremont, Calif.) received an order for its Quartet series from Cirrus Logic Inc. It will be used to test complex SoC designs. The company also received an order from Matrix Semiconductor for multiple Personal Kalos systems. The systems will be used to meet their desktop engineering requirements.
- SUSS MicroTec Test Systems GmbH (Munich, Germany) signed a cooperation agreement with Fraunhofer Institute for Reliability and Microintegration (Munich). They will work together to define and evaluate new technologies for failure analysis and wafer testing.
- IC Services (Roseville, Minn.) opened a new wafer- and die-level processing service center in Tempe, Ariz. The facility has full processing capabilities and can accommodate wafers up to 200 mm for high-volume runs and engineering prototypes.
- ECI Technology (East Rutherford, N.J.) established a West Coast division. The division is responsible for developing and supporting its customers for its chemical monitoring systems for the western region.
- Brooks Automation Inc. (Chelmsford, Mass.) completed the acquisition of Intelligent Automation Systems (Cambridge, Mass.). The purchase method of accounting will be used to account for the ~$17.9M transaction, payable in a combination of stock and cash.
