News from Semiconductor International

Solar Inventories Continue to Rise
Players throughout the world have rushed to get in on a promising PV market, which saw demand crash at the end of 2008, leaving a glut of inventory in the supply chain. According to a report from iSuppli, average inventories rose 64.3% over the past year, from 74.2 days to almost 122 days in the first quarter. more » » » 

Trina Solar Sales Improve 12-15% From First Quarter
Trina Solar issued preliminary financial results for the June-ending quarter, with improved sales and profits. The company also said it will refinance existing loans, and priced an offering of 4.5 million American depositary shares (ADSs) at $28.75 per share. more » » » 

Deck Stacked for Organic Solar Power
NIST scientists have deepened their understanding of organic photovoltaics, revealing ways to control how it forms. The researchers aim to significantly improve cell efficiencies and life spans. more » » » 

ReneSola Opens Polysilicon Facility in Sichuan Province
The Chinese solar wafer manufacturer celebrated a broadened portfolio with the opening of a 3000 MT polysilicon manufacturing facility. more » » » 

Commentary: Green Jobs: Hope or Hype?
Samuel Sherraden, a policy analyst for the Economic Growth Program at the New America Foundation, contends that the green sector is not large enough or competitive enough to be a major engine of job creation, and U.S. President Barack Obama should not put too many eggs in the green recovery basket.
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MEMC Enters JV With Q-Cells, Reports Sequential Revenue Gain
Though semiconductor demand is improving, wafer supplier MEMC notes continuing troubles from the solar sector, where it has had to lower prices on long-term supply agreements. The company has expanded its solar reach, however, through a joint venture with solar cell manufacturer Q-Cells. more » » » 

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News from Semiconductor International

Disaster Stimulates the Industry
Every economic crisis over the past 40 years has resulted in significant innovations, according to Anand Chandrasekher, senior vice president and general manager of Intel Corp.'s Ultra Mobility Group. It has been at the tail end of some of the severest economic downturns that novel products have emerged, creating profitable markets. more » » » 

Optical Lithography Is Still the Technology to Beat
Although EUV lithography is widely considered the prime candidate for post-optical lithography, the only available option to support 15 nm logic development in 2011-2012 is 193 nm immersion lithography with pitch division, said Yan Borodovsky, Intel's director of advanced lithography. more » » » 

Yes, This Is Business
Alex Braun's blog that posted on Saturday has certainly gotten the attention of people in the industry. Alex's point was simply that the booth was a sad sight. Not that Emerald Technology Valuations is not a reputable firm that will do a fine job of reconditioning the 300 mm tools and delivering them to a new owner for a fair price, to the great advantage of the industry. more » » » 

Toolmakers Ease Double Patterning Throughput Hit
At this year's Sokudo Lithography Breakfast Forum at SEMICON West, toolmakers presented their latest throughput achievements, detailing a variety of enhancements designed to increase productivity. more » » » 

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3-D IC Technology Continues to Advance

from Semiconductor International
Despite the downturn, several companies announced 3-D interconnect-related advances at last week's SEMICON West. NEC Electronics, CEA-Leti, EV Group, Soitec and others had 3-D news at the show. more » » » 

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News from Semiconductor International

Organic PVs Promise Better Efficiency
Canadian researchers have founds ways to improve organic photovoltaics with a "club sandwich" structure. Organic solar cells are easy to put on plastic sheets for roll-to-roll processing, reducing costs. The researchers found out how to "flatten the lettuce" in the multilayered structure, making charges more uniform. more » » » 

A Stronger, More Efficient Photovoltaic Industry
The economic turmoil of the PV market in 2009 could actually turn into a more mature and orderly supply chain for the worldwide solar industry when growth returns, iSuppli predicts.more » » » 

IBM Alliance Ready With 28 nm Eval Kits
The IBM-led alliance said the evaluation kits for its 28 nm technology are now available, with 28 nm multi-project-wafer shuttles already underway. The alliance has been promoting its high-k/metal gate offering at the 32/28 nm generation. IBM's Gary Patton said customers also are encouraged by the capacity expansion plans at GlobalFoundries. more » » » 

Flip-Chip Packaging Becomes Competitive
The cost and performance benefits of flip-chip packaging, combined with the increased cost of gold bonding wire, have made flip-chip technology competitive for applications ranging from cell phones to gaming chips. more » » » 

Splinter: 'Very Dynamic Environment' Now
Applied Materials executives said customer confidence is improving, but cautioned that the company is seeing "a very dynamic environment" in all of its major segments. China's stimulus plans may continue to support cellphone and PC consumption there, said CEO Mike Splinter following release of fiscal Q2 financial results. more » » » 

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News from Semiconductor International

ISMI Selects SSEC 450 mm Single Wafer Cleaner
The 3400 series single-wafer cleaning processor from Solid State Equipment Corp. has been chosen by the International Sematech Manufacturing Initiative (ISMI) to clean particles and metallic contaminants from 450 mm silicon wafers. more » » » 

Post-Silicon Solutions Emerging
Researchers have an array of new technologies in the pipeline to boost CMOS logic and memory performance, Sematech Vice President Raj Jammy said Tuesday at the Device Scaling TechXPOT at SEMICON West. High-mobility graphene channels, gates built around nanowires, finFETs with III-V materials -- all promise to blow past the power/performance capabilities of silicon CMOS. more » » » 

IMEC Reveals Interconnect Roadmap to 10 nm
IMEC says there has been great progress in identifying metallization solution for 22 nm. The research center and its partners also have demonstrated interconnect feasibility to the 10 nm node, targeting the year 2022. more » » » 

ISMI Reports Progress at SEMICON West
At the SEMICON West show, ISMI met the supplier community to discuss progress with the 450 mm and Next Generation Factory programs. The 450 mm effort is moving from automation and wafer handling testing to demonstration wafer processing equipment. Updated metrics for 60 different types of equipment were posted to the ISMI website early today.more » » » 

SUSS MicroTec, 3M Partner on 3-D Bonds
SUSS MicroTec AG (Garching, Germany) and 3M Corp. (Minneapolis) will work together, offering 3M's temporary bonding process as part of the new SUSS 300 mm bonder line. more » » » 

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Next-Gen Nanoimprint Stepper Improves Defectivity, Alignment

from Semiconductor International
EV Group announced its latest UV-NIL stepper in conjunction with SEMICON West, but the tool is mainly targeted at the latest micro-optical applications rather than next-generation semiconductor devices. more » » » 

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Launch of PVSociety.com

Semiconductor International Announces the Launch of PVSociety.com 
A new network for solar cell engineers and researchers

Oak Brook , Ill., July 13, 2009 – The staff of Semiconductor International is pleased to announce the launch of PVSociety.com, a destination for professionals in the photovoltaics manufacturing industry. "We designed PVSociety.com to be a gathering place for engineers and researchers facing the day-to-day challenges of solar cell and module manufacturing," said Laura Peters, Editor-in-Chief of PVSociety.com.

PVSociety.com is the place to go for the latest PV manufacturing and industry news, technical features, and insightful blogs from experts in the PV field. Site visitors are encouraged to participate in the conversations and network with industry professionals. Topics will range throughout the PV manufacturing chain, from polysilicon to module, and cover all PV technologies, including crystalline silicon, thin film, organic and more, as the industry strives to find the best technologies and manufacturing methods to reach grid parity.

Semiconductor International, published by Reed Business Information and a part of Reed Elsevier's global array of information products, is the leading technical publication servicing the global semiconductor manufacturing industry. SI boasts the industry's most experienced full-time technical editorial team, which brings its knowledge of semiconductor manufacturing to bear on the evolving PV manufacturing space.

Additional information about SI and its many products and activities are available atwww.semiconductor.net. For more information about PVSociety.com, go towww.pvsociety.com. 

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