Float Zone
Float-zone wafers are used in applications where the absence of oxygen impurities is necessary for good device performance, as is the case with high-efficiency solar cells or RF/wireless communications chips. In this blog “zone,” a variety of concepts will be floated for consideration to our readers in the blogosphere, inviting a discussion on any number of business and technology topics in device manufacturing.
Dow/Rohm & Haas Come to Peaceful Settlement
Over sixty lawyers gathered in a packed courtroom in Delaware this morning to watch a drama that ended up taking place behind closed doors. Dow Chemical and Rohm & Haas successfully reached an agreement out-of-court today regarding the $15 B acquisition of Rohm & Haas by Dow that was initiated back in July of last year when economic conditions were much rosier than they are today. This blo ...... Read More
Comments (2)U.S. Gets Innovation Wake-Up Call
Just following President Obama’s announcement that “we will rebuild, we will recover, and the United States of America will emerge stronger than before,” yet another study affirms that the U.S. is losing its competitive edge in science and technology. The Information Technology and Innovation Foundation, a Washington D.C.-based think tank, ranked 40 countries and regions on in ...... Read More
Comments (4)With Rohm & Haas, Can Dow Do the Right Thing?
There are two sides to every story. But no matter how you look at the Dow Chemical/Rohm & Haas deal, things don’t look good for Dow CEO Andrew Liveris. Dow Chemical Co. (Midland, Mich.), which is being sued by Rohm & Haas Co. to complete a $15.4 billion merger that would create the world’s largest specialty-chemicals maker and was supposed to close on January 27th, said forci ...... Read More
Comments (0)Halla’s Perfect Storm of Technology Neglect
Back in 2005, I sat in on a great keynote speech by Brian Halla, CEO and President of National Semiconductor, who talked about the lack of U.S. competitiveness in science and technology. Halla tells the story of the rallying cry among Americans that followed Russia’s launch of Sputnick satellite in 1957, and the U.S. response with the subsequent voyage to and landing of a man on the m ...... Read More
Comments (14)What's With the Name?
Welcome to the debut of my very own blog, the Float Zone. Float zone wafers first came about in the 1960’s as a manufacturing method for fabricating very pure silicon. In the process, a polysilicon rod with a seed crystal at the bottom is held in vertical position. A small zone is kept molten by and is moved upward so the floating zone traverses the length of the rod. Impurities coalesce in ...... Read More
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