China Racing Ahead of U.S. in the Drive to Go Solar

from Semiconductor International President Obama wants to make the United States "the world's leading exporter of renewable energy," but in his seven months in office, it is China that has stepped on the gas in an effort to become the dominant player in green energy -- especially in solar power, and even in the United States. In this New York Times...

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IC Insights: Conditions Favor Flash Density

from Semiconductor International The flash memory market is setting up for a dramatic shift in the supply-demand balance -- one that will fuel growth for the NAND flash market through 2012. Bit growth is escalating wildly, yet this does not translate to great increases in capital spending. more » » » ...

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Imaging Bonded Wafer Defects for 3-D

from Semiconductor International The range of products whose fabrication depends on wafer-to-wafer bonding is growing rapidly, and includes MEMS, wafer-level packaging and various types of 3-D integration. A practical, acoustic imaging technique is applied to bonded wafer pairs to image interface defects and wafer scratches in various materials. more...

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Perspectives From the Leading Edge: SEMICON TechXPOTs

from Semiconductor International Packaging expert Phil Garrou offers 3-D packaging updates from the TechXPOT stages of SEMICON West. He offers his take on the latest from Dow Electronic Materials, Semitool, STATS ChipPAC and IMEC. more » » » ...

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MEMS Packaging Headed to Wafer Level

from Semiconductor International MEMS packaging may take an evolutionary leap forward into wafer-level packaging, driven by large IDMs and foundries, analysts said. "The big fabs may end up being the ones doing the innovative MEMS packaging," said Ken Gilleo, founder of packaging consultancy ET-Trends. more » » » ...

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Taking Measurement Technology to the Quantum Level

from Semiconductor International Alain C. Diebold, a professor at the College of Nanoscale Science and Engineering (Albany, N.Y), writes in the August issue of Semiconductor International that the nanoscale dimensions of ICs are driving measurement science and technology into quantum-level metrology (QLM). more » » » ...

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Illumitex Launches Into HB-LED Market

News from Semiconductor International A new startup, Illumitex, is targeting the high-brightness LED market. Vice President of Engineering Paul Winberg said the Austin-based company is emerging from stealth mode armed with its initial Aduro HB-LED, which he said incorporates proprietary secondary optics technology that permits more light to emerge...

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Photovoltaics Updates

Suntech Breaks Efficiency Record for Multicrystalline Solar Module Suntech Power Holdings has achieved a 15.6% conversion efficiency for its commercial-grade multicrystalline silicon PV module -- a new record that is backed up by Fraunhofer and Progress in Photovoltaics.more » » »  Solar Outlooks: Bottleneck or Roadblock: The Demand...

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Yale Team Creates Ferroelectric DRAM

From Semiconductor International A Yale University team led by Professor T.P. Ma has proposed a DRAM that marries a ferroelectric material with a silicon transistor. While the polarization of the ferroelectric decays, the structure, refresh cycle, power consumption and speed of the FeDRAM could offer advantages over conventional DRAMs, Ma said. more...

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NEWS FROM THE WORLD OF MATERIALS

Visit the Materials360® Plus and the Materials News pages on the MRS Website for continually updated research news and features Image in Focus        Credit: X.-M. Sui and H.D. Wagner, Weizmann Institute of Science Tough Nanocomposite TEM image of stretched poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA)/single-wall...

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Duke Gains Control of Janus Particles

TOP STORY... from Semiconductor International Janus particles, which thus far could not be realized for lack of precise control, appear to finally have been domesticated by an engineering research team at Duke University. Janus particles have potential application in electronic displays, sensors and other devices. more » » » ...

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