GLG News by Polysilicon Purchasers (North America)

Bertrand Cambou, CEO of Spansion, has an opinion on Numonyx' push into phase-change memories: "Phase-change memory is pure marketing fluff." Although Cambou is correct that existing Numonyx phase change memories are not ready for prime time, the situation will be quite different below 32nm, which...

Intel is a terrific company. Since 1985, it has focused mostly on MPU's, as the expense of everything else, and consequently, it has dominated the market. Prior to 1985, it was also a memory company - competing against the Japanese. Intel used GCA steppers - an utterly inferior product - while...

Micron announced last week that its newly named sensor business, Aptina, will run as an independent division within Micron. The divsion will have independent sales, marketing and profit-and-loss functions in order to be more "responsive to the market." Aptina employs about 700 people...

Development of silicon and III-V compound semiconductor nanostructures offers yet another path for low cost production and increased photovoltaic efficiencies. The real question is when how soon these advanced methods will become commercialized. The decisive factor for the success and production of...

This acquisition is not Lam Research’s first step into wet processing but will be the most significant and application intensive. A very good match considering the industry is in the transitional phase for new materials and device structures at and below the 65nm node and requires an in-depth understanding...

The sluggish memory market combined with the credit crunch changes the dynamic for bank funding of the Intel, STMicroelectronic and Francisco Partners joint venture agreement. This delay could impact select semiconductor capital equipment vendors. Competitor Spansion won’t likely benefit from a 3-month...

Nanoscale probing directly at the transistor level for 65nm, 45nm and 32nm IC's has come of age. Agilent and MultiProbe's strategic partnership using Agilent's tester and MultiProbe's atomic force probe (AFP) system is posed to strengthen Agilent’s product offerings to include...

Varian and Axcelis have long controlled the beamline-based implant market so this is no surprise. Applied's market share was relatively small by comparison and primarily within in the EU. GCIB (Gas Cluster Ion Beams) and plasma immersion technologies are still largely in R/D. This could...