Semefab to Spend $11 Million Building a CMOS Fab

Semefab (Scotland) Ltd. (Glenrothes, Scotland) has started building its CMOS3 wafer fab to support front-end processing of MEMS structures.

Semefab, with financial support from Scottish Enterprise and the United Kingdom government's Technology Strategy Board, is spending ٤.6 million (about $11 million) to create a 0.5-micron capable CMOS facility, to support its MEMS manufacturing capability.

The CMOS3 fab will include a 1,200 square meter (12,912 sq. ft.) Class-100 cleanroom capable of fabricating 0.5-micron structures. The combination of CMOS3 with the already operational MEMS2 fab on the site will allow a full wafer flow for 6-inch diameter wafers for integrating CMOS and MEMS technologies, Semefab said. Semefab has contracted Merit Merrell Technology to build the cleanroom and to complete the hook-up of all fabrication tools. The CMOS3 is scheduled to become operational during June 2010.

Semefab is a 20 year old manufacturer of ASICs, ICs and other electronic components but it has now larger concluded a multiyear transition to move it to MEMS manufacture.

"The contract to create an operational CMOS fab will complete Semefab's operational commitment to provide an open access MNT [micro and nanotechnology] development model and a viable route to commercialization for academia and global industry," said Ian McNaught, MEMS business manager for Semefab, in a statement.

"CMOS3 is being built primarily to support the CMOS-compatible component of the MEMS structure. The wafers will then transition from CMOS3 to MEMS2 for final fabrication. CMOS3 will also be used to integrate non-MEMS technologies with MEMS structures," McNaught told EE Times.

"Semefab has a diverse process portfolio and we see several opportunities to integrate technologies. The three-axis accelerometer is the first application where we integrate CMOS control circuitry on the proof mass and then complete the fabrication in MEMS2."

Ewing Thomson, project director with Merit Merrell Technology, said: "Merit was delighted to extend the working relationship with SemeFab following the successful conclusion of the MEMS2 Fab. The CMOS3 project is currently ahead of program with the structural steel mezzanine being completed one week ahead of schedule."

Picosun Launches 200 mm Batch Production ALD System

Picosun Oy, Finland-based global manufacturer of state-of-the-art Atomic Layer Deposition (ALD) systems launched today a 200 mm batch production version of its highly praised design of SUNALE™ ALD process tools. The new SUNALE™ P200B system comes with a large variety of configurations and is able to process up to hundreds of silicon wafers per day. P200B can also process 3D objects with stunning accuracy.

"The SUNALE^™ family of ALD reactors has been extremely successful in advanced scientific research and R&D," says Juhana Kostamo, Managing Director of Picosun. "Our production customers have thus far registered excellent results with Picosun's P100B production reactor system, but the introduction of the P200B will revolutionize the capabilities we can offer to industries" he says.

"During the 30+ years of ALD history, people working today for Picosun have designed and produced 15 generations of ALD systems. Picosun's ancestry in ALD is completely beyond comparison, and it shows in the superior usability and reliability of our products and the terrific quality of results obtained using them", Kostamo says.

The man who invented and patented the method of ALD in 1975, Dr. Tuomo Suntola, continues to serve as a member of the board of directors of Picosun. Globally by far the most experienced designer of ALD reactors, Mr. Sven Lindfors, is CTO of Picosun. Combined, Picosun people possess well over 200 years of first-hand ALD experience and have been instrumental in producing over 100 patents on the science and technique of ALD.

SUNALE^™ ALD process tools are well known for the fact that their genial generic design allows results of research to be turned into production use. Usually, when promising laboratory results are being transformed to meet production requirements, the all too common technology gap between the two layers of practice delay or even prevent success in transferring singular success into HVM production. The P200B is yet another demonstration of Picosun's ability to convincingly bypass these perils.

Picosun develops and manufactures Atomic Layer Deposition (ALD) reactors for micro- and nanotechnology applications. Picosun represents continuity to over three decades of ALD reactor manufacturing in Finland. Picosun is based in Espoo, Finland with production, R&D and laboratory facilities in Kirkkonummi, Finland and has its US headquarters in Detroit, Michigan. SUNALE™ ALD process tools are installed in various universities, research institutes and companies across Europe, USA and Asia. Picosun Oy is a part of Stephen Industries Inc Oy.

X-FAB Sells UK-Based Wafer Fabrication Plant to Plus Semi

Both parties have signed the agreement to transfer ownership and the deal is expected to close by the end of 2009.

X-FAB UK is a semiconductor manufacturing plant that represents less than five percent of the total capacity of X-FAB Silicon Foundries Group. The latter was interested in strategically aligning its facilities in order to achieve further growth as a business and this meant either closing or selling the wafer manufacturer. By selling the plant to Plus Semi, however, both parties benefit, since X-FAB Group no longer has to manage the facility and Plus Semi can use the new factory to expand its business into analogue product sales.

“We are glad to have reached a solution that continues operation and maintains jobs at the site in Plymouth, outside the X-FAB organization,” said Hans-Jurgen Straub, CEO of X-FAB Group. “The sale is an important milestone for optimizing the X-FAB Group’s capacities.”

The deal includes a technology license agreement, which ensures the continued operation of the facility, with Plus Semi expected to take full control of the Plymouth-based factory by the end of the year. After that, X-FAB can see to its own development plans, while Plus Semi can put its new acquisition to good use, preserving the jobs of the fab's workers who will enable the Swindon-based Plus Semi to grow in the area of semiconductor design.

“This has been the culmination of an enormous effort from all concerned to bring these two former Plessey businesses, Plymouth and Swindon, together again.” stated Michael LeGoff, Plus Semi Managing Director. “We have retained our key engineering competence within a design and technology center in Swindon with approximately 20 employees. Together with the 150 people we will employ at the Plymouth facility we have an exciting opportunity to find significant growth in semiconductor design and manufacture in the lucrative analog/mixed-signal semiconductor markets.”

Although the deal will close by the end of December, financial aspects have not been revealed as of yet.

Cando to Set up Touch Panel Plant in CTSP

Taiwan-based color filter (CF) maker Cando, a subsidiary of LCD panel maker AU Optronics (AUO), will invest as much as NT$24 billion (US$745.1 million) to set up a touch panel production plant in the Central Taiwan Science Park (CTSP), according to a committee under Taiwan's National Science Council (NSC).

Cando's initial investment for the plant will be NT$3.5 billion, and may further expand it to bring total investment to NT$24 billion, according to the committee, which has approved the project. The committee is in charge of screening projects for Taiwan's science parks.

The company aims to generate revenues of NT$7 billion from the touch panel business in the first year after production begins in 2011, the committee noted.

AUO's LED subsidiary Lextar Electronics will also set up production plants in CTSP. The company will invest NT$30 billion to build a total of five LED plants in CTSP, according to the NSC committee. The company plans to ramp up production in 2011 with a monthly capacity of 2.1 billion LED chips and estimated revenues of NT$15.6 billion in 2011, the committee said.

New York Bond Sale Planned to Generate Money for GlobalFoundries Fab 2 Project

New York State is making good on its billion-dollar promise to GlobalFoundries Inc., the computer chip manufacturer building a $4.2 billion factory in Saratoga County.

Empire State Development Corp., the state's economic development arm, is raising $1.5 billion this month through a Wall Street bond sale -- and nearly one-third of the proceeds will be set aside for the GlobalFoundries project.

Three years ago, the state Legislature approved $650 million in cash for the construction of the 1.4 million-square-foot factory, which is expected to employ 1,465 people and could potentially create thousands of additional service and supplier jobs.

The final cost of building the "shell" of what's called Fab 2 is expected to be $800 million. GlobalFoundries will spend an additional $3 billion on the expensive manufacturing tools inside the factory's clean room that will print integrated circuits onto 12-inch silicon disks known as wafers.

GlobalFoundries is also eligible for more than $700 million in tax breaks through the state's Empire Zone program, bringing the total incentive package to well over $1.3 billion.

GlobalFoundries does not get the cash up front. Rather, it must bill the state for project costs and get reimbursed after the fact.

The bond sale is scheduled to close Dec. 1. Matt Anderson, a spokesman for the state's Division of Budget, said that $400 million from the sale would go to pay for construction costs of Fab 2. The money is expected to cover the state's obligations to the project through the fall of 2010, he said.

GlobalFoundries broke ground on Fab 2 in July at Luther Forest Technology Campus in Malta, and already large steel and concrete walls have been built. The factory is expected to be fully operational by 2012.

Interest and principal on the bonds are paid with state income tax revenues.

It's unclear just how much interest the state will end up paying on the $400 million that is currently being raised. But Anderson, the budget office spokesman, said the interest payments on the total $1.5 billion being raised are expected to reach $677 million.

The money is a long time coming for GlobalFoundries. The cash was originally approved by the state Legislature and then-Gov. George Pataki in the summer of 2006 when the project was proposed by Advanced Micro Devices Inc.

Back then, the project cost was pegged at $3.2 billion, but AMD later decided to spin off its costly manufacturing operations into a joint venture with an investment fund run by the government of Abu Dhabi called Advanced Technology Investment Co.

The spin-off created GlobalFoundries, which operates as a "foundry" making chips not only for AMD but also for any other chip company that wants to outsource its manufacturing, a growing trend in the semiconductor industry. The company also runs AMD's former chip fabs in Dresden, Germany.

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