Sales & orders
Micron will purchase ASML's MaskWeaver for RET implementation and LithoCruiser for ASML scanner optimisation. Micron also acquired a global license for ASML MaskTools' intellectual property portfolio for volume production use in Micron fabs. Micron will in return supply the lithography equipment division of ASML with high-end mask-making and mask-characterisation services to help qualify ASML TWINSCAN ArF scanners for volume production at the 65nm and 45nm nodes.
Consumer satellite-navigation equipment supplier TomTom is to use MEMSIC's thermal accelerometers in the TomTom GO car navigation device. The accelerometer will be used for determining travel distance using "dead reckoning" navigation and is activated when the GPS satellite signal is lost - for example, when travelling through a tunnel or in underground parking structures.
"Our highly reliable thermal accelerometer product does not require special manufacturing systems, and currently has a failure rate of 1.75ppm," says MEMSIC CEO, Dr Yang Zhao.
MEMSIC works through manufacturing partnerships in Asia with TSMC and Fujitsu, reducing operational costs through outsourcing by nearly 90%. MEMSIC also recently opened a facility in Wuxi, China, with a manufacturing capacity of 3mn units per month.
NEC Electronics has adopted Synopsys' Proteus optical proximity correction (OPC) software for 90nm production. Synopsys boasts of near-linear scalability for Proteus' architecture when using clusters of inexpensive Linux based central processing unit (CPUs). Several leading-edge semiconductor companies are reported to have deployed Proteus to reduce mask synthesis turn-around-time from days to hours.
