Signetics Korea Selects Teradyne's Digital ATE Seoul, Korea-Signetics Korea Ltd. has received a Teradyne J973 Test System. The J973 will be employed for testing packaged graphics chips, cable modem ICs, microprocessors and telecom networking devices. "By expanding our on-site test with Teradyne's leading edge digital system, we will be able to provide our existing customers with many more test options, particularly in such rapidly expanding market areas as graphics ICs," said Wayne Moore, president of Signetics High Technology Inc., San Jose, Signetics' North American sales and support arm. [signetics.com] Korean President Honors Signetics for Growth Seoul-S. Korean President Kim Dae Jung recently honored Signetics Korea Ltd. for its ability to prosper in times of economic crisis. S.J. Yang, Signetics' president and CEO, joined other selected companies who met with President Kim during a special ceremony at the Blue House, S. Korea's presidential residence.
"It was a great honor for Signetics to be included among the leading companies selected to meet President Kim," Yang said. "Signetics' outstanding growth during 1998 and last year was enabled by the dedication and hard work of Signetics' employees everywhere." Wayne Moore, president of Signetics High Technology Inc., the company's North American sales and customer support arm in San Jose, said the company's next goal is "to build the company's annual revenues to $400 million over the very near term." [signetics.com] EKC Receives Photo-imaging License Hayward, Calif.-EKC Technology, an operating unit of ChemFirst, has received exclusive rights to commercialize a patented photo-imaging process that employs light with metallic compounds to deposit metal and metal oxides on a substrate. Potential applications range from PWBs to advanced ICs, according to EKC. The process was invented by Prof. Ross H. Hill of Simon Fraser University, Burnaby, B. C., Canada. Advantages of the process are said to include low temperature processing, simplified process flow, elimination of vacuum processing steps and lower capital costs. [chemfirst.com] New Patent Cuts IC Power Use by up to 40% San Carlos, Calif.-ImaginOn, an information technology company, has developed a way to use a semiconductor's power grid for clock distribution. According to David M. Schwartz, ImaginOn's CEO/co-founder, the "PowerClock" may reduce an IC's power consumption by 40% and also offers the potential to shrink chip size. While Schwartz's patent, No. 5,969,559, is outside the interests of ImaginOn's Internet core business, Schwartz said ImaginOn may license PowerClock to IC makers. ICs with synchronous or clocked circuit elements operate based on the timing of clock signals, which provide a reference point or activation signal for circuit activity and processing. The clock signal also provides a timing reference, which different circuits adopt when stepping through their respective processing tasks. [imaginon.com] Unitive Issued U.S. Patent for 3-D Assembly Technology Research Triangle Park, N.C.-A patent for a three-dimensional assembly technology has been awarded to Glenn A. Rinne, Unitive Electronics' vice president of engineering. U.S. patent No. 5,793,116 enables very- high-density memory systems to be created employing arched solder columns.
The patent covers a method of forming a microelectronics package that allows solder bumps on one substrate to be extended and form a connection with a second substrate. The extended solder bump forms an arched solder column with a circular cross-section between the two substrates, making it an excellent conductor for high-speed ICs, according to Unitive. The substrates may be arranged in non-parallel orientations, oblique, co-planar or at right angles, with a series of substrates connected to form a variety of 3-D packages. [unitive.com] Dataquest Says Worldwide Semiconductor Market Grew Nearly 18% Last Year San Jose-The Gartner Group's Dataquest says the worldwide chip market experienced double-digit growth last year-for the first time since 1995. Semiconductor revenues, according to Dataquest, exceeded $160 billion last year, an increase of 17.6 percent over 1998 revenues, according to preliminary results from the industry market intelligence firm. A key factor for industry growth "was the firming up of the DRAM market," said Joe D'Elia, chief analyst for Dataquest's Semiconductors Europe program. "The Taiwan earthquake also had an impact on the market, as it forced spot market prices to triple in a matter of days. Although they fell back quite rapidly, once the full effect was known, the main impact was to accelerate the rate of rise of contract pricing." Intel continued to dominate the market with 1999 revenue of $16 billion more than its nearest competitor, NEC. [dataquest.com]
IBM announced recently that it was awarded the most U.S. patents in 1999, the seventh consecutive year it has taken the top spot. The company said its record-breaking total of 2,756 included more than 830 patents contributed by IBM's Microelectronics Division. This achievement, according to IBM, places the microelectronics unit among the leading semiconductor industry patent recipients, equaling or outpacing other giants, such as Intel. In 1998, IBM Microelectronics contributed more than 750 patents, helping the company to become the first to break the 2,000 U.S. patent issuance barrier in a single year. Two examples of IBM's 1999 patents: • No. 5,930.643 "Defect-induced buried oxide (DIBOX) for thoughput (using) SOI" defines fundamental improvements to the SOI chip-making process that enable faster and less costly SOI chip manufacture. • No. 5,862,058 "Optical proximity correction and system" describes a method of enabling optical lithography to continue its usefulness for semiconductor manufacturing. Amkor Technology Reports Glowing 4th Quarter West Chester, Pa.-Amkor Technology Inc., the world's largest contract IC packaging and test provider, has reported revenues of $538 million for the fourth quarter ended Dec. 31, 1999, up 27% from $425 million for the comparable 1998 quarter. Assembly and test revenues rose 29% to $457 million for the reported quarter from $355 million in the fourth quarter of 1998. Wafer fab revenues were $81 million compared to $69 million for the fourth quarter of 1998. Operating income rose sharply to $62.8 million, compared to $32.3 million in the fourth quarter of 1998. Fourth quarter 1999 net income before an after-tax, non-cash charge of $13.9 millin for the early conversion of convertible debt was $34.1 million, or 26 cents/share. Net income, including the after-tax charge, for the fourth quarter was $20.2 million or 16 cents/share, compared to 1998's fourth quarter net income of $19.7 million. "We are rapidly expanding capacity in the Philippines and Korea to accommodate strengthening demand across a broad spectrum of our package technology," said John Boruch, Amkor's president. Boruch said the company entered 2000 "with very strong business momentum, which suggests that our growth will continue to outpace that of the semiconductor industry during the coming year." Allteq Industries Offers Money-Back Guarantee
The System 888 has been designed to clean and control static charge and to remove contaminants from leadframes during IC assembly. The unit can be retrofitted directly to die and wire bonders, inspection stations, molding systems and other equipment. "We are able to offer a no-hassle, money-back guarantee on this system because it has been field-proven in several demanding manufactuing environments to work exactly as promised," said Philip J. Davies, Allteq president. Davies said the system improves final yields by removing foreign materials from the leadframe during the packaging process. "While we can't predict an exact yield percentage gain, if a company improves its yield by only 0.5 percent, the gain could pay for the Allteq unit in less than six weeks."
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