Company News
Staff -- Semiconductor International, 11/1/2002
- Carl Zeiss SMT AG (Oberkochen, Germany) recently ceremoniously handed over to ASML (Veldhoven, Netherlands) the first lithography lens manufactured at Zeiss' new plant. The lens is a Starlith 1100 lens for 193 nm lithography.
-
JMAR Technologies Inc. (San Diego) has announced that Ronald A. Walrod will be its new president and CEO. Walrod, who has more than 30 years of experience developing and commercializing advanced technologies, replaces Joseph G. Martinez, who has been interim CEO since the retirement of co-founder John S. Martinez in August.
In separate news, JMAR has received an additional $7.7M in funding from DARPA for its collimated plasma lithography (CPL) technology. -
Micronic Laser Systems AB (Täby, Sweden) received its first order for the next generation of PDP (Plasma Display Panel) systems from an Asian customer. Designed to meet requirements for very large photomasks, the system will be delivered in 4Q03.
Micronic also announced the sale of an Omega6600 laser pattern generator to a customer in Asia. - IBM (Yorktown Heights, N.Y.) announced a new technology and tool for repairing nanoscale defects in lithography masks. It is designed to help increase the yield of functioning ICs, and cut their time-to-market and cost of production. The company will offer licenses of the tool to mask manufacturers.
- Lambda Physik AG (Göttingen, Germany) has received funding from the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) to develop 157 nm laser technology. Up to 38% of the R&D expenses required for this project — done with other industry partners as part of MEDEA+ — will be funded by the BMBF.
- Intelligent Micro Patterning LLC (St. Petersburg, Fla.) has sold its maskless lithography system, the SF-100, to the University of South Florida's MEMS and Nanotechnology center.
- SCP Global Technologies (Boise, Idaho) was one of four recipients of the 2002 EnviroGuard Pollution Prevention Award. The award, established in 1998, goes to Boise businesses demonstrating notable pollution prevention efforts. As part of its effort, SCP implemented a water reclaim program in February 2002 that greatly reduced water consumption in its R&D facility. Effluent produced by the facility is routed through an RO filtering system, cleaned and reused. The process reduced water consumption by 58%, and is targeted to save 7.6 million gal of water annually. It will save the company ~$2000/month in water costs.
- DuPont Fluoroproducts (Wilmington, Del.) signed a letter of intent with China Nuclear Honghua Specialty Gases Co. (Chengdu, China) to form a joint venture to make NF3. Under the preliminary agreement, the parties would form a DuPont majority-owned venture that would produce NF3 in China and globally market the product under the DuPont Zyron brand. The facility would manufacture high-quality NF3 by mid-2005.
- Fairchild Semiconductor (South Portland, Maine) achieved ISO 14001 certification at its Mountaintop, Pa., facility. With this certification, Fairchild now meets ISO's rigorous environmental management standards at all six of its major manufacturing facilities around the world. The other manufacturing facilities are in South Portland; West Jordan, Utah; Cebu, Philippines; Penang, Malaysia; and Bucheon, South Korea.
