Company News
-- Semiconductor International, 7/1/2000
National Semiconductor Corp. (Santa Clara, Calif.) and Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd. (Korea) are jointly developing thinner and lighter flat-panel displays targeted for notebook PCs, information appliances and other mobile products. The development is an outgrowth of a technology licensing agreement signed last summer that gave Samsung the use of National's advanced digital interface technology.Innovent Systems Inc. (El Segundo, Calif.) and Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. Ltd. (Hsin Chu, Taiwan) collaborated to produce a fully integrated single-chip Bluetooth transceiver using an all-CMOS process. The chip conforms to Bluetooth 1.0 specifications. It is manufactured in TSMC's 0.35 µm standard digital process.
Applied Materials Inc. (Santa Clara, Calif.) delivered a third xR200S ion implant system to SOITEC's manufacturing facility in Bernin, France, to increase production levels of SOI wafers.
The SEZ Group (Villach, Austria) opened a regional office in Singapore, SEZ Singapore Pte. Ltd., to support the company's growing client base and the region's economy. The office, with seven employees, is responsible for local sales and field support.
Universal Instruments Corp. (Binghamton, N.Y.) obtained QS-9000/tooling and equipment certification for its eight Binghamton-based facilities for design and manufacture of assembly equipment in electronics production. Det Norske Veritas, a third party registrar, assessed the quality system.
Lucent Technologies Microelectronics Group (Allentown, Pa.) is expanding its manufacturing capacity in southern California. This $40M expansion, planned by the acquired Ortel Corp. (Alhambra, Calif.), is expected to increase product output by at least 16X and create ~450 manufacturing jobs in the San Gabriel Valley.
Unitive Advanced Semiconductor Packaging (Research Triangle Park, N.C.) opened a western U.S. sales office in San Diego). Frank Gaughan, western region sales manager, heads the office.
PDF Solutions Inc. (San Jose, Calif.) has completed its acquisition of AISS GmbH. This integrates PDF's characterization vehicles and analysis software with mask and lithography technology.
Chartered Semiconductor Manufacturing (Singapore) adopted Silicon Metrics Corp.'s (Austin, Texas) SiliconSmart CR characterization and quality tool. It is used in Chartered's library qualification process to determine the accuracy, efficiency and quality to third-party libraries prior to their use by foundry customers.
Carl Ziess (Munich, Germany) was chosen to deliver advanced optics to International SEMATECH and Extreme Ultraviolet Limited Liability Co. (EUC LLC) to support future-generation lithography research. The optics will be used to create a small-field, two-mirror, high-NA camera at the EUV Virtual National Laboratory.
Rohm and Haas Co. (Marlborough, Mass.) signed a definitive agreement to acquire the photoresist business of Mitsubishi Chemical Corp. Upon completion of the transaction, the business will become a part of Shipley Microelectronics, a division of Rohm and Haas' electronic materials business group.
Novellus Systems Inc. (San Jose, Calif.) received an order from 1st Silicon (Malaysia) Sdn. Bhd. For multiple SPEED high-density plasma CVD tools. In response to this order, Novellus has opened a service center in Sama Jaya Free Industrial Zone in Sarawak, Malaysia.
BOC Edwards (Wilmington, Mass.) and Millipore Corp. (Bedford, Mass.) formed an alliance to develop and market an integrated bath regeneration system for copper electrochemical deposition applications. Using organic byproduct removal and chemistry purification technologies developed by Millipore, BOC will design and manufacture the CuBIS system.
Adept Technology Inc. (San Jose, Calif.) completed the acquisition of Pensar Tucson Inc. (Tucson, Ariz.). The acquisition is expected to expand Adept's high-precision and fiberoptic assembly offerings.
TTI Silicon (Sunnyvale, Calif.) was awarded ISO 9002 quality certification from Underwriters Laboratory. The company completed a year-long certification process for its quality systems for its manufacturing site in Vancouver, Wash., and its sales and distribution offices in Sunnyvale.
Nova Measuring Instruments Ltd. (Rehovoth, Israel) shipped its 500th integrated monitoring NovaScan system. The system was introduced in 1995 and has been integrated on 15 models of polishers and with all major CMP equipment manufacturers.
Leybold Inficon (E. Syracuse, N.Y.) has changed its name to INFICON. The new company, headquartered in Syracuse, is created from the merging of Balzers Instruments (Liechtenstein), Leybold (Germany) and Leybold Inficon.
Tescom Corp. (Elk River, Minn.) fully purchased Drager Tescom GmbH (Selmsdorf, Germany), the joint venture of Tescom with Dragerwerk AG. Re-named Tescom Europe, the 85-employee operation is housed in a new 34,500 ft2 facility in Selmsdorf.
Amkor Technology Inc. (Chandler, Ariz.) plans to expand its production and test facilities in the Republic of Korea and the Philippines. The projects will add more than 800,000 ft2 of facility space by mid-2001. The company's offshore facilities occupy ~3.6M ft2, split between 2.6M ft2 in Korea and 1M ft2 in the Philippines.
KDF Electronic and Vacuum Services Inc. (Rockleigh, N.J.) has relocated its corporate headquarters and manufacturing facility to Rockleigh. The new facility is 34,000 ft2 and allows for expanded R&D manufacturing capacity.
Boxer Cross Inc. (Menlo Park, Calif.) installed its BX-10 source/drain and ultrashallow junction measurement system at International SEMATECH. The system will be used to measure ultrashallow junctions of 180 nm and smaller devices.
Nikon Inc., Microelectronics Systems Department, (Melville, N.Y.) received a multimillion-dollar order for comprehensive semiconductor inspection workstations from one of the largest chip manufacturers. The sale includes 300 mm IC manufacturing inspection workstations and Optistation-7 wafer inspection systems. They will be used in a 300 mm IC wafer fabrication facility in the U.S. and delivered over a six-month period.
IBM (East Fishkill, N.Y.) and Vitesse Semiconductor Corp. (Camarillo, Calif.) have accelerated their agreement for the development of Vitesse's high-performance ICs for optical network equipment using IBM's SiGe technology. Vitesse gains early access to IBM's technology, and IBM will work with Vitesse to optimize its SiGe technology for high-end optical communications equipment applications.
Ultratech Stepper Inc. (San Jose, Calif.) shipped its first 157 nm microstepper to a Japanese semiconductor consortium. The system is used as an R&D tool for resist and materials characterization.
Dynaloy Inc. (Indianapolis) received certification of ISO 9001:1994 compliance. Dynaloy received certification from Perry Johnson Registrars for "Manufacture and Distribution of Industrial Organic Chemicals."
Electroglas Inc. (San Jose, Calif.) received an order from Filtronic Solid State for its 4090f and 4090u probers for fragile and very thin wafers. The probers handle GaAs and ultrathin wafers of devices used in cellular telephones and other microwave applications.
Sapphire Software (Fremont, Calif.) received an order from an East Coast U.S. semiconductor manufacturer for its off-line recipe editing software suite, Visual Recipe Tool (VRE) and DREAM Server. This tool will allow process engineers and operators to view and edit recipes remotely in a fab.
THK Manufacturing of America Inc. (Schaumburg, Ill.) broke ground in Hebron, Ohio, to begin a 280,000 ft2 addition to its existing 90,000 ft2 facility, which manufactures linear motion guides and link balls.
August Technology (Bloomington, Minn.) opened a local applications center in Japan. The office provides support and service to the region.
TriQuint Semiconductor Inc. (Hillsboro, Ore.) entered into a non-binding memorandum of understanding with Micron Technology Inc., under which TriQuint will purchase Micron's Richardson, Texas, wafer fabrication facility. The purchase is subject to the negotiation and execution of a definitive purchase agreement.
Adept Technology Inc. (San Jose, Calif.) completed the acquisition of NanoMotion Inc. (Santa Barbara, Calif.). The acquisition is expected to expand Adept's fiberoptic and high-precision assembly products.
Omron Electronics Inc. (Schaumburg, Ill.) donated $9,000 worth of industrial control hardware and software to Purdue University's School of Chemical Engineering. The products add to the process control portion of the pilot plant aspect of students' senior projects.
Numerical Technologies Inc. (San Jose, Calif.) has signed a multiyear, multimillion-dollar technology licensing agreement with Motorola Semiconductor Products Sector. Under terms of the agreement, Motorola will license Numerical's iN-Phase software and phase-shifting technology for commercial production of high-end, high-performance ICs.
