I hope you can join me at this year's Surface Preparation and Cleaning Conference, to be held March 31-April 2 in Austin, Texas. The welcoming reception on the 31st will feature the official release of the second edition of the Handbook of Silicon Wafer Cleaning Technology, edited by Werner Kern and Karen Reinhardt. I'm told chapter authors will be on-hand to sign copies! Remember that you can always find other useful information at our Clean Processing Technology Channel:
www.semiconductor.net/clean

Peter Singer, Editor-in-Chief
sieditor@aol.com

Lam Tender Offer for SEZ Achieves Early Goal
Business Wire, 2/11/2008

Lam Research announced, based on preliminary results, that its cash tender offer for all publicly held registered shares of SEZ Group at Swiss Francs (CHF) 38.00 per SEZ registered share has successfully met the condition that more than 66 2/3% of SEZ shares be tendered. More

Akrion Expands to Solar Market
PR Newswire, 1/16/2008

Akrion Inc. (Allentown, Pa.), a supplier of semiconductor surface preparation equipment, announced that its GAMA system has been qualified for an advanced solar cleaning application. The company also received a purchase order for a single-wafer Velocity system from a manufacturer of logic devices in Asia. More
Read about the purchase order

Single-Digit EUV Mask Blank Defect Goal Achieved
Business Wire, 2/11/2008

Technologists at Sematech have successfully demonstrated world-class results in low defect density for mask blanks used in extreme ultraviolet lithography (EUVL) — pushing the technology another significant step toward readiness for advanced manufacturing. More

Mobile Filtration Facility Patented
US Fed News, 2/20/2008

Hyclone Laboratories Inc. (Logan, Utah) was awarded a U.S. patent for a mobile filtration facility. The facility includes a sterile cleanroom, a filtration room, and at least one change room. More

SEMI Publishes Eight New Technical Standards
PR Newswire, 2/12/2008

SEMI has published eight new technical standards applicable to the semiconductor, flat panel display (FPD) and MEMS manufacturing industries. The standards released include a test method for determining the leak integrity of gas delivery systems, a guide for design and materials for interfacing MEMS microfluidic systems, and environmental, health and safety (EHS) guidelines for FPD manufacturing. More

Elliot Scoops Up Stake in SEZ
Alternative Investment News, 1/25/2008

Elliott Management has purchased a 6.23% stake in Austria's SEZ, the target of a 641 million Swiss franc takeover bid by chip equipment maker Lam Research Corp, Reuters reports. Elliot is now the largest shareholder of SEZ. More

Ultra Clean Reports Q4 Results
PR Newswire, 2/19/2008

Ultra Clean Holdings (Menlo Park, Calif.), a developer and supplier of subsystems, reported its financial results for the fourth quarter ended Dec. 28, 2007. Revenues for the fourth quarter of 2007 were $92.8M, compared with revenues of $95.5M in the third quarter of 2007. More

Dongbu HiTek Advances Wafer Quality Management
Wireless News, 1/28/2008

Dongbu HiTek said it has achieved the semiconductor industry's first successful integration of key quality management tools to improve and expedite wafer quality management. By integrating yield management system and fault detection and classification (FDC) tools, the Korean company has developed DETDAS (Dongbu Early Trouble Detection and Analysis System), which reduces fault detection and analysis from 2 to 3 days to less than one hour while sharply increasing wafer yields and process stability. More

Webcast: Highlights of the 2007 ITRS
Moderated by Laura Peters, Lead Technical Editor — Semiconductor International, 1/22/2008

Originally broadcast in January and now available to view on demand, this hour-long webcast is moderated by Laura Peters, with a panel discussion on the various ramifications of the latest updates to the International Technology Roadmap for Semiconductors (ITRS). Alan Allan, an Intel external programs staff engineer and member of the ITRS International Roadmap Committee (IRC), leads the explanation of the changes, with eight leaders of the technical working groups (TWGs) joining the discussion. View