SUSS MicroOptics is a leading company for high-quality refractive and diffractive micro-optics. The know-how comprises profound experience in optical design, micro-fabrication and metrology. The company provides the highest quality components through leading-edge manufacturing techniques, based on 200mm wafer technology in quartz and silicon, and its innovative advances in technology.

Also read: SUSS buys Tamarack for lithography, laser structuring lines

?By acquiring 100 percent of SUSS MicroOptics, we have undertaken another step towards streamlining our organizational structure and have tied the company, which masters key technologies for us, close to the SUSS MicroTec group,? said Frank P. Averdung, president and CEO of SÜSS MicroTec AG.

SUSS MicroTec, listed on TecDAX of Deutsche Boerse AG, is a leading supplier of equipment and process solutions for microstructuring in the semiconductor industry and related markets. For more information, please visit http://www.suss.com

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Ultra-fast GDDR5-SDRAM chips used for graphics need functions such as clock training and cyclic redundancy check (CRC) to ensure their reliability and high-speed performance. DDR4-SDRAM for servers and clients will soon achieve twice the bandwidth of mainstream DDR3-SDRAM and functionality equal to GDDR5. In the mobile and graphics segments, bus widths of x32 and x64 are now mainstream; wide I/O DRAMs with a 256-bit wide interface will soon be standardized.

The T5511?s 8Gbps test speed (4GHz) and ±40ps timing accuracy enable GDDR5-SDRAM device test. Since all the system?s test pins support 8Gbps, no reduction in parallelism occurs when operating at high speed. Parallel test capacity is 256 (x8 I/O). Clock training functionality is built into T5511?s hardware for testing new DDR4-SDRAM and GDDR5-SDRAM devices, keeping throughput higher than software-based clock training designs, Advantest reports. The T5511 also features a hardware CRC code generator function for these components, generating CRC codes automatically.

The T5511 runs Advantest?s ?Future Suite? tester operating system, including the entire library of program data created for T55xx series test systems.

System configurations range from 384 pins for R&D use through 6,144 pins for volume production. Users can configure a test tool to move from lab to fab as needed.

Advantest (NYSE:ATE) manufactures electronic measuring instruments, automatic test equipment, and electron beam lithography systems. Learn more at www.advantest.co.jp.

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The 32,000sq.ft. center will host nanofabrication, electron microscopy, scanning probe microscopy and other synthesis and characterization units. It is funded in part by a grant from the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST). SEMI-GAS? high purity products and Applied Energy Systems? field services will be used throughout the new labs and cleanrooms at the facility.

They will install numerous fully automatic Centurion gas cabinets, automatic switchover gas panels, wall-mount systems and manual manifolds, as well as an exhaust scrubber and hazardous gas detection system. Applied Energy Systems will support all of the SEMI-GAS equipment with an extensive installation and gas piping project, which includes installing high-purity single-wall and coaxial gas lines from the source systems to their designated points-of-use: a reactive ion etch and krypton fluoride laser, among other tools.

With the equipment installed, certified technicians from Applied Energy Systems? will perform quality and safety checks, including analytical testing and line labeling. The final phase, in conjunction with University of Nebraska - Lincoln, will include system validation, equipment commissioning, and personnel training.

In late 2011, Applied Energy broke ground on its new SEMAT Center, a 2-story, 16000sq.ft. facility for SEMI-GAS Systems.

Semi-Gas Systems provides High Purity Gas Distribution Systems. Learn more at http://semi-gas.com/.

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Semiconductor foundry GLOBALFOUNDRIES will help host the presidential visit, which had to move from GLOBALFOUNDRIES? new Fab 8 to the college for logistical reasons. CNSE is a global education, research, development and technology deployment resource dedicated to preparing the next generation of scientists and researchers in nanotechnology. It hosts myriad private-public partnerships with academia and research organizations partnering with global semiconductor equipment and materials suppliers, as well as chip makers. Also read: A day at Albany CNSE: Leading-edge techs, innovation vs. efficiency

GLOBALFOUNDRIES CEO Ajit Manocha will speak during the event as well. Since breaking ground on Fab 8 in 2009, GLOBALFOUNDRIES has created more than 1,300 new direct jobs with the project, drawn from local talent in the region and national and international sources. In addition, the project has created an additional 4,300 construction related jobs and established the largest private Project Labor Agreement in history, generating hundreds of millions of dollars of economic development throughout upstate New York. Fab 8 began production in January 2012, and should ramp to volume production this year.

In January, President Obama visited Intel?s Ocotillo semiconductor manufacturing location in Chandler, AZ, touring Fab 42, which is under construction. The visit carried a similar theme as today?s -- advanced manufacturing jobs in America, and improving education to develop future technological leaders from America. Obama is emphasizing the connection between education, innovation, and manufacturing in supporting investment and bringing jobs back to the US, which the administration touts as "insourcing."

"The true engine of job creation in this country is the private sector. There are steps we can take as a nation to make it easier for companies to grow and to hire -- to create platforms of success," said Obama at CNSE (via @Obama2012 on twitter). He listed ways to accelerate the US economy, including tax breaks for clean-energy companies and small business owners, support for veterans in the job market, and encouraging US-based manufacturing and exports. "American manufacturers are creating new jobs for the first time since the 1990s," he said, and asserted that half of America's largest companies are considering moving manufacturing operations from China to the US. "Even when we can't make things cheaper than other countries, we can always make them better."

From the White House: "The President?s visit to the College of Nanoscale Science and Engineering at SUNY-Albany demonstrates the important role that partnerships between universities and companies can play in accelerating education, innovation and U.S. manufacturing investment."

The President has proposed a $1 billion investment for a "National Network for Manufacturing Innovation consisting of up to fifteen institutes, each serving as a hub that will help to make US manufacturing facilities and enterprises more competitive and encourage investment in the United States." The White House says that these "hubs," like CNSE, will bring large companies, small and medium enterprises, research organizations and universities, federal agencies, and states together to advance key manufacturing technologies with broad applications. In March, the Administration announced that it "will invest $45 million in existing resources to launch a single pilot institute through a competitive award to be announced later this year."

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The multiple systems will be installed for various production applications in semiconductor fab and packaging, as early as Q2 2012.

The order ?strengthens Camtek?s partnership with the world-leading IDM,? commented Roy Porat, Camtek CEO.

Camtek?s semiconductor AOI tools fall under the Falcon and Gannet lines. Falcon tools can be used post-wafer-dice, post-bump, and around electrical test, among other production steps. Gannet is a submicron macro metrology and inspection tool that inspects all wafers in all lots, at high throughput. Camtek also makes a range of inspection tools for IC substrates and printed circuit boards (PCBs). Learn more at www.camtek.co.il.

3S addresses deposition; front side/back side clean, wet etch, and strip; lithography with dual side alignment capability; etching, implant, epitaxy, diffusion; chemical mechanical polishing (CMP), bonding, grinding, dicing; and advanced in-line metrology.

LETI-3S will operate on the Minatec Campus in Grenoble on 24/7 200mm and 300mm wafer platforms in its 8,000-m² state-of-the-art clean rooms. Smaller wafer sizes will also be available thanks to an innovative holder technology. LETI-3S can provide substrates or work on customer wafers, pre-processed or not, under stringent contamination protocols.

LETI-3S ensures a full traceability from process flow conception to product delivery. SPC, FMEA, audits or conformance certificates to specifications are available according to the type of inquiry.

Laurent Malier, CEO of CEA-Leti, said LETI-3S offers ?simple access to [CEA-Leti?s] resources.? He expects the program will significantly enlarge Leti?s panel of industrial partners in different sectors. CEA-Leti currently hosts 200 assignees from partner companies.

CEA is a French research and technology organization, with activities in four main areas: energy, information technologies, healthcare technologies and defence and security. Within CEA, the Laboratory for Electronics & Information Technology (CEA-Leti) works with companies in order to increase their competitiveness through technological innovation and transfers. CEA-Leti is focused on micro and nanotechnologies and their applications, from wireless devices and systems, to biology and healthcare or photonics. Nanoelectronics and microsystems (MEMS) are at the core of its activities. Visit www.leti.fr.

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This is the second year that Solid State Technology has co-hosted the awards program. Check out last year's winner: SigmaTech's UltraMap-TSV system.

All SEMICON West exhibitors are eligible to participate. Consideration for the Best of West awards will be limited to all products, services and technologies publicly introduced from August 1, 2011 to SEMICON West 2012. Entries are limited to two per exhibitor, and the submitting company cannot be representative firms or other third-parties.

Winners will be selected by an independent panel of highly qualified judges from academia and the industry. Entries are judged on their financial impact on the industry, engineering or scientific achievement, or societal impact and benefits. SEMI reserves the right to make all final decisions on eligibility.

Deadline for submissions is extended to May 21, 2012! Submit a Best of West entry.

To enter the Best of West competition, submit company name and contact information, a maximum 750-word description of the new product /technology, and a maximum 300-word summary of why it?s important, in Microsoft Word. Supporting charts, graphs and illustrations must be submitted as part of the Microsoft Word document. Entries that are not submitted in Microsoft Word or otherwise do not follow instructions will be rejected.

Finalists will receive recognition for their achievement through press releases, on the SEMICON West website, through online exhibitor directories, and special booth displays.

Winners will be announced during SEMICON West and will be selected from the pool of finalists. Judges may visit exhibitors during SEMICON West to obtain further information on the submission.

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The forum was held in one of the auditoriums at the CNSE Albany Nanotech campus, which has rapidly become the focal point of semiconductor R&D in North America.

Liehr led things off with what was really the first public glimpse into the new G450C. He said their goal was to install about 100 450mm tools in a large cleanroom at CNSE (in the $365 million NanoFab Xtension building under construction). These would represent 50 different tool types, with two competing suppliers of each type of tool. Request for quotes (RFQs) have already been sent out, and he expects tools to start arriving in the second half of 2013, with the remainder of the tools coming in over the subsequent one and a half years. The pilot line, if you want to call it that, would then be operational around the end of 2014 or the beginning of 2015.

The G450C was part of a huge investment of $4.4 billion was announced last year, with $400 million coming from New York State, for R&D in Albany and other NY sites (2500 new high tech jobs!).

Despite this noteworthy progress, many challenges remain before 450mm can become a reality. "It's a real challenge for us," Kellerman of MEMC said. "We're basically going to be losing money until this reaches maturity. It's an ugly scenario." He said he saw no significant technical hurdles, noting that mechanical wafes are readily available and test wafers are being made available. However, he said, many issues were unclear: the timing, the transistor architecture, the starting material and the tool availability, to name a few. G450C is off to a great start, but it is still early.

Solid State Technology, Volume 55, Issue 4, May 2012

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This month, I'd like to put on my Associate Publisher hat and tell you about some of the changes Solid State Technology has recently made, and what we can do for you.

For starters, you may have noticed a change to our logo on the front of the magazine and on our website, with a bit more empahsis on the "Solid State" part of it. We did this in part to call attention to our roots, going back 54 years to 1958. The magazine actually started out as "Semiconductor Products" and then became "Semcionductor Products and Solid State Technology" in 1962, and then "Solid State Technology" in 1968. It was cool then, and it's still cool today!

Another reason for the change is that we have broadened our focus beyond mainstream semiconductor manufacturing to include more on advanced packaging, MEMS, LEDs, displays and other types of electronics such as biomedical devices, sensors and power electronics. Each of these has evolved to the point where new and unique process technologies and materials are required, and our goal is to keep you informed of the latest advances.

Most of you are reading this magazine in a digital format, perhaps on a mobile device. In October of last year, we launched a new design tailored for easy readability in the digital format.

We also made substantial improvements to our website, www.solid-state.com, to provide easier navigation, better search, faster load times, better SEO and greater ease-of-use with mobile devices. Five channels (each with topic centers) focus on Semiconductors, Packaging, MEMS, LEDs and Displays.

We have a strong line-up of Solid State Technology newsletters now including: WaferNEWS, LED Manufacturing News, Displays Digest, Advanced Packaging News, MEMS Direct and, every weekday, The Daily Pulse (sign up on the web).

Each month, we deliver this magazine to 40,000 people around the world. If you include SST China and SST Taiwan, each of which includes translated and original content, that number is well over 57,000 (57,301 to be exact).

What's important to note here is that the people reached by the magazine is a very different audience than that of our website (about 100,000 unique visitors/month) and newsletter subscribers (45,000). This gives us a total worldwide reach of 233,286 people.

In addition to the magazine and the website, we produce The ConFab, an exclusive invitation-only event coming up next month in Las Vegas (I'm the conference chair), webcasts, technology guides, videos, and an online Buyer's Guide. On our website, you'll also find white papers, podcasts, blogs and a bunch of other stuff (whew, if you're tired of reading this, think about me!).

Industry Forum columns conclude with a call to action, so here it is: Think about how you might contribute material. We're always looking for good feature content ? you'll find our "roadmap" in our editorial calendar ? as well as business and technology news, blogs, columns, book reviews, conference reports, case studies, how-to articles, new products.. you name it. We're happy to work with you to see what makes the most sense.

Any questions? Contact me for editorial matters, at peters@pennwell.com, and, for advertising and sponsorships, contact Kerry Hoffman at kerryh@pennwell.com.

Solid State Technology, Volume 55, Issue 4, May 2012

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The remaining 2 EMI members are expected to place orders in accordance with their agreed-upon slot assignments, noted Dr. Oliver Kienzle, managing director of Carl Zeiss SMS.

Carl Zeiss SMS developed the AIMS EUV tool in cooperation with the scanner optics department of Carl Zeiss SMT, Lithography Optics (LIT), and external partners.

Kienzle notes that the metrology tool wins ?confirm the relevance of EUV technology for the industry.? Metrology tools for EUVL are an industry need that could benefit from governments' support, asserted Dan Armbrust, president & CEO of SEMATECH, at the SEMI Industry Strategy Symposium (ISS) 2011.

The AIMS EUV platform enables development and manufacturing of defect-free EUVL masks supporting the 22nm half-pitch (hp) technology node, with extendibility to 16nm hp. A first production-ready platform is scheduled for delivery in Q3 2014.

SEMATECH?s EMI project, begun in 2010, tackles the infrastructure gap for EUV mask manufacturing, by funding development of critical metrology tools. EMI is administered by SEMATECH?s Lithography Program, based at the College of Nanoscale Science and Engineering (CNSE) of the University at Albany. At SEMICON West 2011, Stefan Wurm, SEMATECH, discussed EUV lithography's infrastructure, saying the SEMATECH EMI initiative was successful in developing commercial tools through a joint development agreement with Carl Zeiss, and commercial actinic blank inspection that meets memory manufacturer needs through EIDEC. SEMATECH is now working to extend inspection to meet all industry needs (memory, logic, and foundry).

Recent news from the SEMATECH Lithography program: SEMATECH adds Inpria resists to EUV lithography work

EMI?s first major project involved SEMATECH and Carl Zeiss collaborating on the development and manufacturing of the first actinic aerial image metrology EUV system targeted for EUVL volume production.

Learn more at http://www.zeiss.de.

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The cluster tool monitors the wafer?s front and back side, and edge for defects. In parallel it measures wafer edge profile, edge bead concentricity, and macro overlay error. Data collection is governed by DirectedSampling, which uses results from one measurement to trigger other types of measurements as needed.

Advanced memory and logic devices require monitoring of increasing numbers of process parameters, said Oreste Donzella, GM of the SWIFT division at KLA-Tencor. By considering all wafer surfaces in parallel, measurements are made more efficiently. Several defect, inspection, metrology and review technologies are implemented in concert.

Also read: KLA-Tencor uncrates metrology line-up for leading-edge semiconductor wafers

The tool detects and bins macro defect types on the front side of the wafer, from particles to defocus defects spanning several die, to full-wafer defects such as missing resist. It catches low percentages of non-critical defects. A reticle ID check verifies that the correct reticle was used for printing. Macro overlay error monitoring checks layer-to-layer pattern registration. Back-side inspection finds particles and scratches, while edge defects are detected and binned. Edge Bead Removal (EBR) metrology monitors film concentricity and edge integrity to prevent possible delamination defects. Edge profile measurements are automated and calibrated to identify excursions that can result in water bead leakage or film delamination during immersion lithography. Automated high-resolution optical defect review and automated classification of front-side, back-side and edge defects, aid in defect source identification.

The CIRCL suite uses a new generation of KLA-Tencor?s LDS front side macro defect inspection module; a new, modular edge inspection, profile and metrology module based on KLA-Tencor?s VisEdge technology; a dedicated wafer back-side inspection module; and a flexible optical defect review and classification module. The modular architecture enables tailoring for a fab?s needs and reduces footprint in the facility. Upgrades are kept at a lower cost.

The modules comprising the CIRCL suite can be matched to like modules in other CIRCL tools, to facilitate flexible routing of work in progress and to promote baseline stability.

CIRCL modules have been shipped to leading foundry, logic and memory chip manufacturers for use in advanced development and production lines.

KLA-Tencor Corporation provides process control and yield management products, including state-of-the-art inspection and metrology technologies for the semiconductor, data storage, LED, photovoltaic, and other related nanoelectronics industries. Additional information may be found at www.kla-tencor.com (KLAC-P).

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It features 6.5x motorized CNC zoom optics for 0.002mm accuracy. Touch probes can be added for multi-sensor measurement. The Classic 321GL tp is the smallest model in the Optiv product line. It offers calibrated lighting, a high-resolution color CCD camera, a laser locator and an 8-segment LED dual angle ring light. The LED ring and software controls for red/green/blue sensitivity enable better edge detection, including for colored parts where edges can be difficult to capture.

The Classic 321GL tp includes PC-DMIS Vision image processing software and full online 3D CAD capabilities for live programming of the machine to compare measured values to nominals. The software?s MultiCapture feature finds all 2D characteristics in the field of view, measures them simultaneously, and moves the camera for the next cluster, optimizing the path of stage movement. Inspection speeds can increase by 50% or more.

The tool is made on a granite base with mechanical bearings.

Hexagon Metrology is part of the Hexagon AB Group. Hexagon is a leading global provider of design, measurement and visualization technologies. Learn more at www.hexagon.com.

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2011 was a record year for critical semiconductor manufacturing subsystem suppliers, with 9.3% revenue growth to $7.88 billion for the industry segment. Semiconductor manufacturing at 32nm and smaller nodes drove capital expenditures, stimulating demand for high-value critical subsystems. Weakening demand was seen from the flat panel display (FPD), data storage, light-emitting diode (LED) and photovoltaic industries. Another record year is on the horizon, VLSIresearch estimates, with 2012 set to beat the $8 billion mark for the first time.

Carl Zeiss SMT continued to gain market share as the top supplier, coming out of 2011 with record lenses sales at $1,545 million.

Edwards recaptured the #2 ranking from MKS Instruments, which dropped to #3.

Brooks Automation performed well, retaining #4.

The big gainer was Pfeiffer Vacuum Technology, which acquired Alcatel-Lucent?s Vacuum Technology Unit, Adixen, at the end of 2010. Pfeiffer Vacuum jumped sixteen places to #5.

Horiba consolidated its #6 position, while Advanced Energy Industries lost 2 places as the sale of its Aera mass flow business to Hitachi Metals took effect.

Cymer (#8) and EBARA (#9) posted steady growth.

A surge in Q1 2011 sales propelled Hirata into the Top 10 for the first time.

VLSIresearch inc provides market research and economic analysis on the technical, business, and economic aspects within nanotechnology and related industries. VLSIresearch?s primary databases and reports cover the semiconductor, flat panel display, PV cell and module manufacturing industries, and the market for critical subsystems and components within these and associated high technology industries. Website: www.vlsiresearch.com.

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The three-month average of worldwide bookings in March 2012 was $1.48 billion, the highest reported value since July 2011, said Denny McGuirk, president and CEO, SEMI. The bookings figure is 10.7% higher than the final February 2012 level of $1.34 billion, and 6.4% below the $1.58 billion in orders posted in March 2011.

The three-month average of worldwide billings in March 2012 was $1.31 billion. The billings figure is 0.9% less than the final February 2012 level of $1.32 billion, and is 20.9% less than the March 2011 billings level of $1.66 billion.

The SEMI book-to-bill is a ratio of three-month moving averages of worldwide bookings and billings for North American-based semiconductor equipment manufacturers. A book-to-bill of 1.13 means that $113 worth of orders were received for every $100 of product billed for the month.

Figure. Billings and bookings figures are in millions of U.S. dollars. Source: SEMI April 2012

The data contained in this release were compiled by David Powell, Inc., an independent financial services firm, without audit, from data submitted directly by the participants. SEMI and David Powell, Inc. assume no responsibility for the accuracy of the underlying data.

The data are contained in a monthly Book-to-Bill Report published by SEMI. The report tracks billings and bookings worldwide of North American-headquartered manufacturers of equipment used to manufacture semiconductor devices, not billings and bookings of the chips themselves. The Book-to-Bill report is one of three reports included with the Equipment Market Data Subscription (EMDS).

SEMI is a global industry association serving the nano- and micro-electronic manufacturing supply chains. For more information, visit www.semi.org.

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For over 20 years, ASMC has provided a premier venue for industry professionals to learn and share knowledge on new and ?best practice? semiconductor manufacturing issues and concepts.  ASMC provides a valuable source of cost-effective, hands-on solutions to address real-world manufacturing challenges. It is acknowledged as a leading technical conference that enables collaboration and sharing of technical breakthroughs. This year?s conference features keynotes delivered by industry leaders, including: Michael Campbell, senior vice president, Engineering, Qualcomm, and Andrea Lati, principal analyst, VLSI Research.

As advances in materials and process technology continue, the semiconductor manufacturing industry is faced with difficult challenges as it balances costs and critical technology issues. Limited R&D dollars is the reality, and it is unclear how wafer size transition, next node scaling, new transistor technology, 450mm EUV, and 3D-IC will be funded. To address this issue, ASMC offers a panel discussion this year on ?Competing for R&D Dollars: Funding the Future? with panelists from Applied Materials, ASML, GLOBALFOUNDRIES and IBM addressing 450mm, EUV and 3D.  

ASMC 2012 sessions include:

• Factory Optimization: Semiconductor equipment and manufacturing are increasingly complex with strict economic constraints. The sessions discuss novel solutions to improve equipment/factory productivity and performance.
  
• Advanced Metrology: Advanced semiconductor manufacturing demands advanced metrology techniques. This session details new technologies and improvements.
  
• 3D/Through Silicon Via (TSV): Very Large Scale Integration motivates 3D integrated circuit architectures. This session presents complexities of TSV techniques supporting 3D designs.
  
• Equipment, Materials & Processes: Advanced memory and logic manufacturers face daunting challenges as the next generation device nodes come on line. Innovations in equipment, materials, and processes help meet those challenges.  
  
• Emerging Technologies and Innovative Devices: Innovative integrated circuit functionalities continue to be integrated in semiconductor manufacturing. This session presents analysis of the effects of enabling technologies, and innovative integrated circuit designs.
  
• Equipment and Materials Productivity: Optimizing equipment and performance will help improve fab metrics, minimize wafer costs and maximize competitiveness? how to help optimize equipment utilization, improve predictive modeling of fab operations, and tool performance.
  
• Advanced Patterning and Design for Manufacturability: IC production today requires innovative lithography design and manufacturing techniques, including collaborative efforts between chip makers and equipment suppliers discussing leading-edge solutions
  
• Process Development and Control: The demand for high quality and product yields is a constant driver for advanced process development and control techniques. Session covers improvements in processes, tool controls and predictive process performance analysis.
• Defect Inspection and Yield Optimization: Defect inspection, yield analysis and optimization are integral components in the development and manufacture of semiconductor devices

ASMC also holds an interactive poster session and reception, which provides an ideal opportunity for networking between authors and conference attendees. During this session, participants can engage authors in in-depth discussion of a wide range of issues.

ASMC 2012 is presented by SEMI with technical sponsors: Institute of Electrical & Electronics Engineers (IEEE), IEEE Electron Devices Society (EDS), and IEEE Components, Packaging and Manufacturing Technology Society (CPMT).  Corporate sponsors include: Applied Materials, ATMI, ChemTrace, CNW Courier Network, Edwards, KLA-Tencor, Mentor Graphics, Nikon, NY Loves Nanotech, and Valqua. Additional sponsors include: Saratoga Convention & Tourism Bureau, Saratoga Economic Development Corporation, and the city of Saratoga Springs, New York.

?2011 was a year that tested all aspects of the supply chain from core challenges of business continuity and affordability to the need for continuous innovation, velocity improvements and growing expectations of sustainability,? said Jaclyn A. Sturm, vice president, Technology and Manufacturing Group and general manager of Global Sourcing and Procurement. 

Also read: Intel, Samsung, TSMC semiconductor capex in 2012

Preferred Quality Suppliers: 

• Advantest Corporation supplies testers, test handlers, and test interface products.
• Applied Materials, Inc. supplies semiconductor manufacturing equipment, software and support services.
• ASML supplies semiconductor lithography equipment.
• Cabot Microelectronic Corporation supplies chemical mechanical polishing slurries.
• Daewon Semiconductor Packaging Industrial Co., Ltd. supplies plastic injected molded trays.
• DISCO Corporation supplies cutting, grinding, and polishing equipment and services.
• DuPont AirProducts NanoMaterials L.L.C. supplies chemical mechanical planarization slurries.
• Ebara Corporation supplies electroplaters, chemical mechanical polishers and pumps and abatement systems.
• FUJIFILM Electronic Materials supplies formulated chemicals, developers, precursors, slurries and advanced photoresists.
• KLA-Tencor Corporation supplies inspection and metrology capital equipment and services.
• Marvell Semiconductor supplies application-specific integrated circuit semiconductor products and engineering resources.
• Mitsubishi Gas Chemical Company, Inc. supplies chemicals for semiconductor device manufacturing.
• Murata Manufacturing Co., Ltd. supplies multi-layer ceramic capacitors.
• Rofin-Baasel supplies laser mark equipment.
• Samsung Electro-Mechanics Co., Ltd. supplies flip chip substrates.
• Siliconware Precision Industries Co., Ltd. supplies semiconductor assembly and test services.
• STATS ChipPAC Ltd. supplies full turnkey packaging and test services.
• TAIYO YUDEN CO., LTD. supplies ceramic capacitors, inductors, and filters.
• Tosoh Quartz Inc. supplies quartzware for semiconductor wafer processing equipment.

Achievement winners:

• Nikon Corporation awarded for velocity.
• Powertech Technology Inc. awarded for customer orientation & cycle time reduction.

"This year's Intel Preferred Quality Supplier award winners have truly distinguished themselves by driving and executing to world-class supply chain performance in execution, innovation and quality," said Sturm. "Intel's 2011 have excelled across an extremely demanding set of expectations, and have distinguished themselves as industry leaders in technology innovation, supply chain excellence, and corporate responsibility," added Robert Bruck, corporate vice president and general manager of Technology Manufacturing Engineering. 

The PQS award is part of Intel's Supplier Continuous Quality Improvement (SCQI) program that encourages suppliers to innovate and continually improve. To qualify for PQS status, suppliers must score at least 80% on a report card that assesses performance and ability to meet cost, quality, availability, delivery, technology and environmental, social and governance goals. Suppliers must also achieve 80% or greater on a challenging improvement plan and demonstrate solid quality and business systems. Additional information about the SCQI program is available at www.intel.com/go/quality.

Intel (NASDAQ:INTC) is a world leader in computing innovation. The company designs and builds the essential technologies that serve as the foundation for the world?s computing devices. Learn more at www.intel.com.

Check out Analog Devices Inc.'s (ADI) top suppliers of 2011 here.

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Check them out by clicking the links below:

Lithography trends

Metrology trends

Test trends

Deposition trends

Clean trends

Etch trends

Ion implant trends

Overall semi test intensity (% of total WFE spending) fell in 2011, from ~7% to ~5.5.

Within the test market, system on chip (SoC) test continues to climb as a percentage of overall test, rising from ~43% share in 2007 to ~64% in 2011. Memory test has continued to shrink as a percentage of the overall market, though it stayed roughly flat year-over-year in 2011.

For information on Teradyne?s LitePoint acquisition and other top test players, read Wafer fab equipment leaders in 2011 and expectations for 2012

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Process control intensity (% of total WFE spending) rebounded in 2011, hitting a new near-term high of 14%. While 2010 saw semiconductor manufacturing yield improvements, 2011 brought poor yields at the leading-edge nodes and increasing technology buys as foundries and memory makers began manufacturing next-generation nodes. Record quantities of process control and yield management tools were purchased in 2011 to combat yield issues from larger die and increased architectural, manufacturing, and material complexities.

For 2012, expect process control spending to remain roughly flat as capacity buys begin to take up a bigger part of the chip maker?s budget. In the long term, the process control market will remain steady, as yield will always be a key issue to deal with for chip manufacturers.

To learn more about the top players in metrology and process control, read Wafer fab equipment leaders in 2011 and expectations for 2012

Next in the series: Test trends

Previous: Deposition trends

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