The recent alliance between STMicroelectronics, Infineon and STATS ChipPAC to develop next-gen embedded wafer-level ball grid array (eWLB) technology left some in the industry questioning whether Freescale's redistributed chip packaging (RCP) technology, which is a similar family of technology, would be involved. Han Byung Joon, executive vice president and CTO of STATS ChipPAC, explained that the alliance is focused on developing more of a platform than intellectual property (IP) with eWLB, into which other technologies, such as RCP, can be easily adopted. For more details about the deal, see the alliance news item under Editor's Picks. Remember to look for more advanced packaging news and events on our Semiconductor Packaging Technology Channel:

Sally Cole Johnson, Contributing Editor
scolejohnson@mac.com

STMicro to Merge Ericsson Mobile Platforms Into JV
PR Newswire, 8/20/2008

STMicroelectronics and Ericsson announced an agreement to merge Ericsson Mobile Platforms and ST-NXP Wireless into a joint venture. The 50/50 joint venture will have the industry's strongest product offering in semiconductors and platforms for mobile applications, and will be an important supplier to Nokia, Samsung, Sony Ericsson, LG and Sharp. More

Cadence Withdraws Proposal to Acquire Mentor Graphics
Business Wire, 8/15/2008

Cadence Design Systems Inc. announced that it has withdrawn its proposal to acquire all of the outstanding shares of Mentor Graphics Corp. More

Dow Corning Introduces Thermal Interface Material
Staff — Semiconductor International, 8/20/2008

Dow Corning Corp. said a thermally conductive compound, developed for use in Intel's latest mobile processor, is now commercially available. The compound, applied between a chip and its heat sink to carry away heat, can also be used for automotive power devices, LEDs, FPDs and other heat-sensitive systems. More

Ultratech Management Sees Bright Outlook
James Detar — Investor's Business Daily, 8/14/2008

Sales growth at Ultratech is running ahead of a lot of its larger peers after it lost money from 2005 to 2007. More

Tessera Receives Patent Office Action in '627 Patent
Business Wire, 8/13/2008

Tessera Technologies Inc. announced that the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, on August 10, 2008, issued a second office action in the ongoing ex parte reexamination of Tessera's U.S. Patent No. 6,133,627 (the '627 patent). The patent relates to semiconductor packaging technologies used in a variety of applications. More

Sematech to Host 3-D Manufacturing Workshops
Business Wire, 8/18/2008

Sematech will host global experts representing a broad spectrum of the semiconductor industry at a workshop designed to explore manufacturing and reliability challenges for 3-D IC products. The forum, entitled "Manufacturing and Reliability Challenges for 3D ICs using TSVs," will be held in conjunction with the Advanced Metallization Conference, Sept. 25-26, at the Del Mar Fairgrounds in San Diego. More

South Korean Engineers Develop 3-D Manufacturing Process
Asia Pulse, 8/11/2008

South Korean engineers claim that they have developed the world's first 3-D IC technology, an advance that should lead to greatly expanded computer chip capabilities, the government said. More

Shin-Etsu Polymer Develops Lightweight Resin Frame for Thin Wafers
Kenji Tsuda, Asia Contributing Editor — Semiconductor International, 8/6/2008

As thinned wafers play a more prominent role in an industry moving toward 3-D chips, Shin-Etsu Polymer Co. Ltd. has developed a resin frame for handling wafers of <100 µm. The resin frame reduces weight and contamination compared with conventional stainless steel frames that are used to support the very thin wafers used for 3-D ICs, system-in-a-package (SiP) and thin packages <1 mm thick. More

Nextreme Raises $13M for High-Volume Manufacturing
Business Wire, 8/6/2008

Nextreme Thermal Solutions has secured $13M in Series B financing. The round was led by Chart Venture Partners and included previous investors Redshift Venture Partners, Harris & Harris Group Inc., In-Q-Tel and RTI International, as well as Japan-based ITOCHU Corp. and ITOCHU Technology Ventures Inc. More