Company News
-- Semiconductor International, 11/1/2000
Praxair Inc. (Danbury, Conn.) and Supercritical Systems Inc. (Fremont, Calif.) will jointly develop an environmentally friendly wafer cleaning technology for production of next-generation devices. The technology is being developed for photoresist removal using supercritical fluids and co-solvents. Under terms of the agreement, Praxair will develop a carbon dioxide supply system and exhaust management system for Supercritical Systems' process equipment.PPT Vision Inc. (Minneapolis) received an order for a PPT861 3-D inspection system from a leading supplier of microelectronics, semiconductors and communications products. The system is expected to ship in the first quarter of 2001.
August Technology received a $1M repeat order from a leading bump foundry for two NSX-95 bump inspection systems. The order will be installed at the customer's Taiwan facility.
March Instruments (Concord, Calif.) received a more than $1M order from a leading electronics manufacturer for its ITRAK plasma cleaning systems. The plasma system will be integrated into ASM's Idealine for wire bond and mold adhesion improvement. As part of the ASM Idealine process, the ITRAK system will treat more than 120 single strips per hour prior to the wire bonding and mold process.
STMicroelectronics (ST, Geneva) completed the acquisition of Waferscale Integration Inc. (WSI, Fremont, Calif.). In addition, ST obtained the product portfolio, intellectual property and technologies developed by WSI. WSI will function as a fully fledged operational business unit within ST Memory Products Group.
ASM America Inc. (Phoenix) received an order for multiple Epsilon 2500 epitaxial reactors from Mitsubishi Silicon America Corp. (MSA, Palo Alto, Calif.). Deliveries of the systems are scheduled in 2000 and 2001 to MSA's Salem, Ore., facility.
Schlumberger Test & Transactions (Agrate, Italy) opened a new Schlumberger Advanced Business Engineering Resources (SABER) Technology Center in Agrate. The center focuses on providing chip designers with local access to a team of specialists and equipment.
Aehr Test Systems (Fremont, Calif.) received a $2.3M order from Dallas Semiconductor Corp. (Dallas). The order includes MAX3 and ATX2 burn-in and test systems to be used for production and QA monitoring and burn-in of mixed-signal devices.
Tegal Corp. (Petaluma, Calif.) received an order for two 901G diode plasma etchers from M/A-COM Inc. (Lowell, Mass.). Installation of the tools is scheduled for later this quarter to M/A-COM's Roanoke, Va., facility.
Adept Technology Inc. (San Jose) opened two new sales and service centers in Charlotte, N.C., and Dallas. The offices support the company's fiber-optic, telecommunications and semiconductor business. The locations include application and consulting engineering, training, field service and sales.
SEMATECH International (Austin, Texas) selected Knights Technology (San Jose) to commercially develop an advanced software tool for locating the physical origins of faults in integrated random-logic circuits. The project is in collaboration with the Department of Computer Science at Texas A&M University (College Station, Texas), the Mixed Signal Products - Design and Test Technology division of Texas Instruments (Dallas), and the Yield Management Tools program of International SEMATECH. Under terms of the agreement, Knights Technology exclusively will market the tool.
Kinetico Inc. (Newbury, Ohio) received contracts for seven new wastewater treatment systems that will recycle several millions of gallons of water per year in semiconductor manufacturing.
