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Analysis roundup: Stinky economy, souring forecasts
Nov 25 -- The extent of the financial crisis is still unknown, of course, and most agree that it will get worse before it gets better. We've been gathering reports from leading market forecasters and analysts and can share what they're telling us -- and it looks like some rough sailing ahead for semiconductors....
Haze and sun for mask symposium
Oct 13 -- Highlights from last week's SPIE/BACUS Symposium on Photomask Technology in Monterey CA, include discussion of damage to pellicles caused by aggressive 193nm radiation, what's behind a new "sun effect" linked to clearing off reticle haze, more calls to replace chrome with opaque MoSi, why mask industry sales are improperly skewed, and the difficulty of migrating to smaller dimensions....
Inside Rudolph's new inspection modules
Oct 03 -- Rudolph Technologies product manager Tuan Le tells SST about the improvements in its systems for detecting edge defects, necessitated by the switch to immersion lithography at 45nm....
Analyst: Intel, AMD both win in MPU sales
Jul 02 -- Unexpected strength in the PC market -- mostly from the notebook segment -- was good news for microprocessor (MPU) suppliers in 1Q08, with both AMD and Intel touting gains from different perspective, according to the latest data from iSuppli....
AMAT's compact cleaning cluster for masks
Apr 23 -- by Ed Korczynski, Senior Technical Editor, Solid State Technology
April 23, 2008 - Cleaning has always been essential for mask manufacturing, but today there is increasing concern to the point where fabs may soon clean masks in-house to prevent haze buildup. Meanwhile, EUV and NIL don't use pellicles, which almost certainly will mean cleaning masks in production. Seeking to address this need/opportunity is Applied Material, with its new Tetra Reticle Clean tool....
Foundries maintain normal operations after second quake
Oct 24 -- By Christine Lunday, SST Online editor Two of Taiwan's leading chipmakers say they experienced no damages from another earthquake and subsequent aftershocks that hit the island early Friday, though equipment at one fab was knocked offline for a couple of hours....
Japan chipmakers increase spending, new fab lines planned
Oct 24 -- With plans for new wafer processing lines in the works, several Japan-based chipmakers have increased capital spending plans for the year -- good news for toolmakers eagerly awaiting the return of capacity expansion buys....
SC300 produces promising 300mm litho results
Oct 23 -- Engineers from the Semiconductor300 (SC300) project in Dresden, Germany, say they have overcome significant hurdles related to overlay registration using a 300mm lithography tool set....
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