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Europe

Flanders flips for chips

Flanders, one of Belgium's three semiautonomous regions, will spend "several hundred million dollars" to develop a homegrown semiconductor manufacturing industry, its foreign investment office announced. The money will be spent on incentive programs to attract chipmakers and equipment vendors to the region, where government leaders hope to trade on the reputations of the Interuniversity Microelectronics Center (IMEC), which is based in Leuven, and Mietec, an ASIC fab operated by Alcatel and recently renamed Alcatel Semiconductor. IMEC is renowned for its cooperative semiconductor manufacturing research in areas such as wafer cleaning. Roger De Keersmaecker, the center's associate director, has been assigned to work with the Flanders Foreign Investment Office (FFIO) in Palo Alto, CA, as director, IC Project, according to Filip Vandenbussche, director of business development for FFIO. De Keersmaecker noted that IMEC is capable of offering technology partnerships and supporting designs for system-on-chip integration. He added that regional institutions such as the Flemish Institute for the Promotion of Scientific and Technological Research in Industry can provide matching R&D funds.

Triant signs software deal

European distributor Metron Technology will sell Triant Technologies' monitoring and fault-detection software in Europe and Israel under the terms of a recently signed agreement. The ModelWare/RT software offers real-time collection of process trace data and data visualization, as well as setpoint and model-based monitoring, says Triant, which is based in Vancouver. The program will be distributed by Metron's EDA division, which specializes in design and yield software.

Air Liquide signs AMD pact

Air Liquide has signed an agreement valued at approximately $30 million to supply ultrapure gases to AMD's new fab in Dresden, Germany. The long-term contract calls for Air Liquide to provide nitrogen, oxygen, argon, hydrogen, and helium beginning this month. The French vendor has also established a joint venture with electricity supplier Dresden Elektrizität und Fernwärme and Meissner + Wurst to build a trigeneration plant that will supply utilities to the site. The plant will provide a stable flow of electricity so that power interruptions will not disrupt chip production, Air Liquide said.

ASM furnaces set for UK

Newport Wafer-Fab Ltd. (NWL) has purchased four Advance 400 furnaces from ASM Europe for installation at its new Fab 3 plant in Newport, England. Equipped with SMIF interfaces, the systems are configured for production of devices with 0.18-µm linewidths. When fully operational, Fab 3 will run 10,000 or more 8-in. wafers per month. ASM Europe is the Dutch subsidiary of ASM International.

Nanometrics supports Scotland

Silicon Valley­based Nanometrics has opened a sales and customer support office in Silicon Glen. The analytical instruments vendor established the office in Bellshill, Scotland, in order to better serve customers in the region. Nanometrics has its headquarters in Sunnyvale, CA.

Asia

AutoSimulations opens office

AutoSimulations of Bountiful, UT, has opened an office in Singapore to serve customers throughout Southeast Asia. The company specializes in software for plant simulation, reporting, scheduling, and dispatching. Clients in the region include Winbond Electronics, SubMicron Technology, and SGS Thomson Microelectronics. The regional office will operate as AutoSimulations Asia Pacific.

Laporte claims Taiwan site

UK-based Laporte has chosen Taiwan as the site of a new $25-million wafer reclaim plant. The facility will be located in Tainan Science Park in the island's southern region. It will be the company's first such plant in Asia. The facility will use advanced polishing and cleaning technologies to produce reclaimed 200-mm wafers. The company says it also plans to develop the capability to reclaim 300-mm wafers. The Taiwanese plant is set for completion by the end of 1998. Laporte, which is based in Luton, England, has appointed SCH Electronics as its Taiwanese agent. Another reclaim plant is under construction in Arizona and is scheduled for completion in the first quarter of 1998.

Asyst nabs $4M order

Holtek Microelectronics of Hsinchu, Taiwan, has bought SMIF-based wafer isolation tools valued at $4 million from Asyst Technologies. The equipment includes SMIF load port transfer systems, which will be installed at Holtek's Fab II 8-in. facility. Pilot production at the plant was set to begin this month, with output reaching 5000 wafers per month by January 1998. At full production the fab will produce 35,000 8-in. wafers per month.

Tegal takes repeat orders

South Korean chipmakers Samsung and Hyundai have placed additional orders totaling more than $5 million for 6540-series etch systems from Tegal. Deliveries of the tools were scheduled for this past summer, the Petaluma, CA­based vendor says.

Ionics signs Asian agent

Nomura Microsciences of Kanagawa, Japan, will market Ionics' electrodeionization products in Japan, South Korea, and Taiwan under the terms of a licensing and marketing agreement. Ionics of Watertown, NY, has installed more than 50 of the ultrapure-water systems worldwide. The vendor says the patented process eliminates the use of hazardous chemicals required by ion-exchange technology in certain water purification processes.

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