On the Road to 3-D
Ruth DeJule, Contributing Editor — Semiconductor International, 11/1/2007

In the early 2000s, the 42 in. plasma TV was new on the market with a price tag exceeding $10K. In 2007, LCD overtook plasma and 3-D TV went into homes. The new kid on the block, 3-D display technology, "is making a strong impact in theaters and is ready for high-definition 3-D in the home," said Mark Hartney, CTO of the U.S. Display Consortium. More

Applied Materials Sees Rising Orders for Displays, Solar
David Lammers, News Editor — Semiconductor International, 2/13/2008

Maintaining confidence despite market headwinds, Applied Materials' executives presented first quarter financial results that were buoyed by sharply higher sales into the flat panel display (FPD) industry, but dragged down by cutbacks by DRAM manufacturers. More

Changhong Electric Invests in OLED Plant
Yao Gang, Editor-in-Chief, SI China — Semiconductor International, 1/25/2008

Changhong Electric Co. Ltd. (Guangdong, China) recently announced that it plans to set foot in the organic light-emitting diode (OLED) industry by setting up Sichuan Hongshi Display Technology Co. Ltd. Changhong Electric is a consumer electronics manufacturer with 2005 sales of $2.2B. More

Philips Officially Opens Singapore LED Fab
Staff — Semiconductor International, 11/29/2007

Philips Lighting (Eindhoven, Netherlands) announced the official opening of its Singapore facility for production of its Luxeon high-power light-emitting diodes (LEDs). Volume production began early this year at the Singapore fab with a workforce of 150, which Philips said will expand to 900 employees at full capacity. More

Georgia Tech Team Creates Fullerene FETs at Room Temperature
Staff — Semiconductor International, 11/26/2007

Researchers at the Georgia Institute of Technology (Atlanta) have fabricated high-performance field-effect transistors (FETs) with thin films of Carbon 60 (C60), or fullerene. Using room-temperature processing, the Georgia Tech team said that the devices have an electron mobility of 2.7-5 cm²/V/sec, fast enough for use in RFID tags, flexible displays and other products that use flexible substrates. More

Samsung to Expand Large LCD Production
Staff — Semiconductor International, 11/26/2007

Samsung Electronics Corp. (Seoul, South Korea) said it will invest ~$2.2B (2.06 trillion won) to expand large-size LCD production at an existing facility, called LCD Line 8-1. More

Applied's Solar Strategy Goes Very Large
David Lammers, News Editor — Semiconductor International, 11/20/2007

Applied Materials Inc.'s decision to buy Baccini SpA (Treviso, Italy) for $330M expands the company's capabilities in the crystalline silicon (c-Si) portion of the photovoltaic (PV) industry. While the c-Si market is growing as more businesses and homeowners seek to connect rooftop solar panels to the electrical power grid, Applied CEO Michael Splinter has his sights set on the larger prize: thin-film PV modules. More

Nanosys, Sharp Expand Agreement for Nanotech-Enabled Products
Market Wire, 2/19/2008

Nanosys Inc. announced the expansion and extension of its collaborative agreement with Sharp Corp. (Osaka, Japan) for the development of nanostructured device technologies for use in large-area electronics products incorporating Nanosys' proprietary nanotechnology. Under the terms of this agreement, Sharp will support increased development efforts at both Nanosys and Sharp. More

OSRAM Opto Demonstrates LED Backlighting Solutions
Business Wire, 2/11/2008

OSRAM Opto Semiconductors hosted many new LED illumination solutions at the 2008 Strategies In Light conference and exhibition, held Feb. 11-13 at the Santa Clara Convention Center. On display were numerous working demos of the new Diamond DRAGON LED and the Advanced Power TopLED technologies with market-ready reference design drive circuitry from Linear Technology, National Semiconductor Corp. and mSilica Inc. More

Corning Adds LCD Glass Capacity in Taiwan
Business Wire, 2/6/2008

Corning Inc. announced that its board of directors has approved a capital expenditure plan of $453M to further expand its LCD glass substrate manufacturing facility in Taichung, Taiwan. This will be the fourth phase of expansion for the Taichung facility, which opened in 2006. More

Saint-Gobain Recherche, Novaled Advance Glass Substrates for OLEDs
Business Wire, 1/10/2008

Saint-Gobain Recherche and Novaled have demonstrated the feasibility of large-area OLEDS based on a new high-performance metallic anode. The goal of a two-year research cooperation program between both partners has been to develop basic technologies for high-performance white OLEDs. Researchers at Saint-Gobain Recherche have created a highly conductive transparent electrode, Silverduct, bringing up to 10x better surface conductivity than traditional indium tin oxide. The Novaled PIN OLED technology allowed for high-efficiency OLEDs manufactured on large-area surfaces up to 100 cm². More