INDUSTRY NEWS

Asia

Trio targets 100-nm chips

Two chipmakers and a leading Taiwanese foundry company will work together to develop process technologies for chips with linewidths 0.10 µm. UMC, IBM, and Infineon Technologies will collaborate on the project at the IBM Semiconductor Research and Development Center in East Fishkill, NY. The agreement, which extends through 2003, will enable each company to integrate the processes in its own manufacturing lines. In the second quarter of 2000, the partners expect to make 0.13-µm technology available to their customers. The processes will use copper interconnect and provide advancements in logic and mixed-signal circuits as well as embedded DRAMs on a single device, according to the alliance. Munich-based Infineon says that teaming up with the Taiwanese company's foundry operations adds momentum to its 1998 DRAM alliance with IBM. The European chipmaker adds that the combined talents will help each partner to expedite the development of deep-submicron technology. UMC will sell the processes under the brand name Worldlogic.

Adept picks Taiwan rep

Adept Technology of San Jose has chosen Marketech International to sell the Adept line of automation hardware and software in Taiwan. Based in Taipei, Marketech is a provider of equipment to fabs, mask shops, LCD manufacturers, and LED epi-wafer manufacturers. Under the terms of the agreement, Marketech will sell Adept's family of custom minienvironments, SMIF tools, simulation software, industrial robots, and related equipment. Adept's products include high-speed Scara and Cartesian robots that accommodate payloads from 12 to 330 lb.

Europe

Control firm finds rep

SEMY Engineering, a Phoenix-based maker of process control tools, has signed a European representative. Teltec, a distributor of fab equipment and materials, operates throughout continental Europe, Ireland, and the United Kingdom. A unit of Semitool, SEMY makes process control systems for automatic fault detection and run-to-run control. It also manufactures model-based control systems.

Middle East

Fab gets software upgrade

California-based Jon Goldman Associates says it will provide a "key fab" in Israel with software upgrades for the fab's computers and workstations. The computer system will monitor multiple furnace stacks, according to Goldman. In 1991 the supplier installed a system for data collection, process monitoring, and trend analysis at the unnamed facility. Goldman's data analysis tools are used to reduce downtime and lessen the number of scrapped wafers through SPC control.

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