Michael A. Fury, Ph.D., reports from the pre-opening day (July 9) of SEMICON West at the Moscone Center in San Francisco, CA. The first day hosts SEMI’s press conference on semiconductor revenues and the SEMI/Gartner Market Symposium.

Ushio launched its thinnest UV irradiance meter 'UIT-q365." The meter is 4.9mm thick, used to keep major UV processes within spec. It can be used during optical film manufacturing for flexible electronics, as well as during adhesion of precision optical parts.

Following are some of the new and flagship products that will appear this week at SEMICON West, July 10-12 in the Moscone Center of San Francisco, CA.

We at Solid State Technology have compiled the best conference reports so far this year, in the lead up to SEMICON West 2012, next week in San Francisco.

Detection of non-visual defects in the steps prior to optical inspection was used to trace the cause of a silicon pitting defect. Jungtae Park, Samsung Electronics Co.; Sungjin Cho and Jeff Hawthorne, Qcept Technologies Inc.

The Semiconductor Industry Association (SIA) presented its 2012 University Researcher Awards to Stanford University professors Krishna Saraswat and Bruce Wooley as well as its 2012 Congressional Leadership Awards to Sen. Carl Levin, Sen. John McCain, Rep. Kevin Brady and Rep. Wally Herger.

The IDE Group developed the STC series of Active Vibration Isolation Systems supporting OEMs in the production of 450mm wafer equipment.

Maxim is spending $200 million to upgrade and expand its US semiconductor manufacturing facilities in San Antonio and Dallas, TX; Beaverton, OR; and San Jose, CA. Maxim manufactures about 50% of its products in the US.

Semiconductor manufacturers identified key factory productivity challenges that need to be addressed and shared effective solutions they will need to stay leading-edge and competitive amid turbulent industry transitions during the recent ISMI Manufacturing Week.

Following are some of the process control, device inspection, defect detection, and other metrology and test products that will be on display at SEMICON West 2012, July 10-12 in San Francisco, CA.

Solid State Technology and SEMI today announced the finalists for the 2012 “Best of West” awards, recognizing important product and technology developments in the microelectronics supply chain.

DFMSim announced a distribution agreement with a leading US process control OEM that involves the integration of DFMSim’s SMARTlitho manufacturing software into new tools for advanced metrology.

SEMATECH added Michael Lercel as senior director for nanodefectivity and metrology, taking the helm on SEMATECH’s ongoing semiconductor wafer metrology program and the new Nanodefect Center in NY.

Evans Analytical Group Inc. (EAG) added electron backscatter diffraction (EBSD) to its analytical and testing services.