Company News
Staff -- Semiconductor International, 6/1/2003
- Lambda Physik (Fort Lauderdale, Fla.) has shipped the first of several NovaLine F2020 lasers to a high-profile independent R&D chip consortium in Europe. The laser will be used to illuminate a full-field 157 nm lithography tool. Additional deliveries are expected later this year.
- JMAR Technologies Inc.'s Systems Division (Burlington, Vt.) has been awarded an additional $3.4M in funding from the U.S. government's Naval Air Warfare Center (Patuxent River, Md.) to procure sub-100 nm masks for JMAR's collimated plasma laser (CPL) system. The award extends by one year the mask production program initiated in May 2002.
- ASML (Veldhoven, Netherlands) announced the sale of a lithography system in Japan to Fuji Film Arch (FFA), a photochemical supplier. The ASML PAS 5500/1100, which has an NA of 0.75 and can print images of 100 nm and below, will be used to support R&D efforts in FFA's Shizuoka facility.
- Mattson Technology Inc. (Fremont, Calif.) is moving its corporate headquarters in Fremont, blocks away from its existing Fremont facilities. The 100,000 ft² headquarters allows the company to consolidate advanced development laboratory, IT and telecommunications infrastructure and upgraded manufacturing and customer training facilities into a single location. The facilities will be consolidated into the new location in stages — scheduled to be completed by the fourth quarter of this year. In addition, the company received follow-on orders from a major European-based semiconductor manufacturer for multiple 300 mm RTP and strip processing equipment.
- Ebara Technologies Inc. (Sacramento, Calif.) joined the SiLKnet Alliance to develop CMP processes with SiLK low-k dielectric films on its FREX CMP tool platforms. It is the 25th company to join the alliance, and the first CMP tool vendor to become involved in the group.
- Isonics Corp. (Golden, Colo.) produced thin-film SOI wafers using an internally developed process. The thin-film process, Sigma-1, is built on the company's thick-film process and uses many of the same tools and equipment it already owns, reducing further capital investment.
- TRONIC'S Microsystems (Grenoble, France) unveiled its new MEMS production facility in Crolles, France. The company is inserting a new cleanroom in an existing facility, expected to be completed by July, with full volume production by year end.
- Bookham Technology has plans to close its InP wafer fab in Ottawa, Canada, by the end of the year and transfer business to its site at Caswell, Wales. Of the 200 staff members at the site, 70 would remain to carry out R&D work.
- Brooks Automation Inc. (Chelmsford, Mass.) received an order for its factory automation software products from Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd. for its 300 mm fab in Hwasung, South Korea. This new factory will use Brooks' MES, real-time dispatching and reporting, material control system (MCS) and equipment connectivity software as the core of its factory automation system.
- Mitutoyo America Corp. (Aurora, Ill.) created an Integrated Measuring Solutions Group. Headed by Product Manager Dennis Traynor, the group offers manufacturers the necessary blend of metrology and manufacturing technology to meet their needs.
- Electronics Co. Ltd. (Austin, Texas) plans to expand its Austin facility through a three-year investment in cutting-edge equipment and facility upgrades. The expansion will enable Samsung to produce state-of-the-art nanotechnology semiconductors, including 1 Gb memory chips.
- Xsil (Dublin, Ireland) has expanded into the Asia-Pacific region with a Hsinchu, Taiwan, office. It officially opened in April and now provides direct access to its customers within Taiwan as well as the rest of Southeast Asia.
- Analog Devices Inc. (Norwood, Mass.) shipped its 100 millionth MEMS-based acceleration sensor. The company used multiple Ultratech Stepper Inc. (San Jose) lithography steppers as a key component of its iMEMS (integrated MEMS) manufacturing process.
- Applied Materials Inc. (Santa Clara, Calif.) acquired Boxer Cross, buying up all of its outstanding stock for an undisclosed amount of cash. The company's products include the BX-10 source/drain and ultrashallow junction measurement system, and the BX-30 advanced interconnect measurement system. In addition, Applied shipped its 100th Producer 300 mm CVD system to Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Corp. (TSMC). TSMC purchased the Producer system to deposit damascene nitride film for dielectric barrier and etch stop applications in copper interconnects.
- International SEMATECH (Austin, Texas) announced that porous low-k materials with a dielectric constant of ~2.2 will be ready for early device integration efforts by the end of this year — in time to meet the industry's modified schedule.
- Sony Corp. (Tokyo) and Sony Computer Entertainment Inc. (SCEI, Tokyo) announced plans to invest ¥200B ($1.67B) over three years to install a 65 nm process line using 300 mm wafers. The investment will be spread across the three fiscal years 2003, 2004 and 2005, with ¥73B ($605.7M) being invested in fiscal 2003. The new 65 nm line will be installed in SCEI's Fab2 facility in Isahaya City, Japan.
- Toshiba Corp. (Kyushu, Japan) announced plans for an advanced 65 nm wafer fab and cleanroom capable of producing 12,500 300 mm wafers/mo. — transitioning to 4 nm in the future — at its Oita operations plant in Kyushu, Japan. The fab is part of a partnership with Sony Computer Entertainment Inc. (SCEI, Tokyo). This venture is one of two 300 mm lines Toshiba has planned, with a total cost of ~¥350B ($2.9B).
- GE Betz (Trevose, Pa.) is implementing selective price increases for all customers in North America of ~6% for most of its products used in treating water, wastewater and process systems. The increases are in response to rising costs in many critical business areas.
- SC Fluids Inc. (Nashua, N.H.) selected Engineered Pressure Systems Inc. (EPSI, Haverhill, Mass.) to engineer a high-pressure vessel chamber for supercritical CO2 cleaning of semiconductor wafers, at SC Fluids' Nashua facility. The chamber will be integrated as part of SC Fluids' Arroyo wafer cleaning system.
- Kyocera America Inc. (Beaverton, Ore.) plans to move its Beaverton low-temperature co-fired ceramic (LTCC) manufacturing operations into its 288,000 ft2 main manufacturing facility in San Diego. The move is expected to be complete by Aug. 31, when the lease for the current facility in Beaverton expires.
- Newport Corp. (Irvine, Calif.) opened its newly enhanced Systems Test & Metrology Lab at the company’s global R&D headquarters in Irvine. The lab’s enhancements include state-of-the-art environmental controls assuring stability of environmental conditions, as well as investment in new and advanced test equipment technology. The facility is constructed to meet the requirements of cleanroom operations needed for metrology of nanometer-class precision measurements.
- Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corp. (SMIC, Shanghai, China) and Accent S.r.l. (Milan, Italy) formed an IC services partnership in which both companies will offer their IC manufacturing and design solutions in Europe. They plan to allow electronic product manufacturers to shorten their time to market with end-to-end solutions. That includes services such as IC design, mask manufacturing, wafer fabrication and testing.
- Semiconductor Circuits Inc. (Windham, N.H.) upgraded its ISO 9001 quality management system. Its registrar, Underwriters Laboratories, issued a certificate of registration to ISO 9001:2000. The company had previously been registered to the earlier version of the standard for more than seven years.
