Semiconductor Manufacturing

Elpida uses immersion litho for 50-nm process DDR3 SDRAM 11/26/2008

The 50-nm process DDR3 SDRAM was developed using 193-nm immersion lithography technology and copper interconnect technology and has a chip size of less than 40-mm-squared.

Applied works on flexible displays with Arizona State U 11/20/2008

Applied Materials has partnered with Arizona State University's Flexible Display Center on TFT-LCD R&D and commercialization acceleration efforts.

KLA-Tencor lays off 900 11/19/2008

Following on Applied Material's 12% workforce reduction, fellow capital equipment vendor KLA-Tencor announces plans to cut 15% of its workforce by the end of June.

Bookings and billings at levels comparable to 2003, SEMI reports 11/19/2008

SEMI's October book-to-bill ratio shows a month-on-month gain amid the industry downturn, but also shows continuing year-on-year declines. “Our industry will have to look to the early part of 2009 for clearer signals of market direction," Stanley T Myers, president and CEO of SEMI, says.

2009 equipment sales could hit lows not seen since 2003, Gartner warns 11/17/2008

Gartner estimates 2009 could see a capital spending decline of about 17% and capital equipment revenue decline of 18%.

IBM, ITRI explore solid state "racetrack memory" 9/17/2008

IBM Corp. said today that it has started joint development work with Taiwan-based Industrial Technology Research Institute (ITRI) to explore an approach to solid state memory called "racetrack memory," which was conceived by IBM Fellow Dr. Stuart Parkin at IBM's Almaden Research Center in San Jose, Calif.

AMD updates Stream software development kit 8/6/2008

To help increase the ease and efficiency of software development using its Stream processing approach, Sunnyvale, Calif-based microprocessor challenger Advanced Micro Devices Inc is announcing an extensive upgrade for future versions of its Stream software development kit, meant to reduce the time and effort needed to produce GPU accelerated applications that run on multiple platforms.

ASML boosts immersion litho performance 7/15/2008

Aimed at 38-nm memory and 32-nm logic semiconductor high-volume manufacturing, Veldhoven, the Netherlands-based lithography giant ASML Holding NV today rolled out its Twinscan XT:1950i lithography system that uses a 1.35 numerical aperture lens, which the company claims increases the performance of its immersion chip lithography systems by 25% by improving overlay, resolution and throughput.

Silicon Genesis’ “kerf-free” wafering technology reduces amount of polysilicon for PV apps 7/11/2008

Meant to substantially reduce the amount of polysilicon used within the ingot-to-wafer manufacturing steps and eliminate some of the costly consumables in today’s wafer manufacturing, San Jose-based semiconductor, display, optoelectronics, and solar engineered substrate process technology provider Silicon Genesis Corp has produced solar substrates for photovoltaic applications using its “kerf-free” wafering process technology called PolyMax.

Voices: Synopsys’ Aart de Geus on investing to win 6/12/2008

EDA leader discusses 'Frankenstein' flows, multicore trends, and the economy's impact on IC design.

Cadence's beat 12/18/2007

Electronic News/EDN recently sat down with Mike Fister, president and CEO of Cadence Design Systems Inc. and the former senior VP and general manager of Intel Corp.'s enterprise platforms group, to discuss the EDA industry, work across the capital-equipment value chain, and life after Intel. 

Inside Intel: Where next? 10/23/2007

In this second of two parts, Dadi Perlmutter, senior vice president and general manager of Intel’s Mobility Group, sounds off on the company’s plans to expand the Intel Architecture into new markets and the developments that will play a key role in making that happen.

Special Report: Inside Intel 10/16/2007

First of two parts: The world's biggest processor maker takes aim at data centers and consumer electronics with its new low-power chips and on-board graphics. Pat Gelsinger, senior vice president and general manager of Intel's Digital Enterprise Group, sat down with Electronic News to talk about the company's new target markets, integrated graphics and the next big thing.

AMD’s new vision 9/14/2007

Hector Ruiz, chairman and CEO of Advanced Micro Devices, discusses the company’s new quad-core Barcelona server chip, the future of AMD’s business and its forthcoming push into the consumer electronics world.

Tougher choices in capital equipment 8/17/2007

Executive Insight: Rick Hill, chairman and CEO of Novellus, talks about what’s changing in capital equipment, why there won’t be any new competitors and why it may cost more for companies to develop manufacturing processes.

Applied Materials tops VLSI Research's flat panel display ranking 5/11/2007

The semiconductor manufacturing equipment supplier has reached the number one spot for the first time in the market research firm's 2006 ranking of flat panel display equipment suppliers.

Electronic Business' Top 25 North American Electronic Component Distributors 4/19/2007

Who's up and who's down in the electronics distribution industry? Find out with Electronic Business' annual ranking of the Top 25 North American Electronic Component Distributors.

Semi indices remain flat, IPC reports 2/20/2007

The EMS industry continued to outpace its supply chain in growth, due to increasing outsourcing of manufacturing to EMS companies by OEMs. Learn more about trends in new orders for computer and electronic products from IPC's monthly report.

Semiconductor indices flat for 2006, IPC reports 1/16/2007

Consumer spending is a crucial barometer of economic health in the U.S. Consumer condfidence remained high and is reflected in the U.S. economy overall. Learn more about trends in new orders for computer and electronic products from IPC's monthly report.

Private equity chips away at semiconductor industry 12/1/2006

It's time for consolidation in the semiconductor industry. Whether chip company CEOs recognize it or not, they'd better move aggressively to eat, or they will be eaten. That's the message many analysts drew from two recent high-profile leveraged buyouts (LBOs) in the semiconductor industry. In August the majority of Philips Semiconductor (now NXP) was purchased for about $10 bill...