SAN JOSE – Worldwide sales of semiconductors reached $19.6 billion in April, up 8.1% from April 2005’s sales of $18.1 billion, the Semiconductor Industry Association reported today. SIA reported a nominal decline of 0.4% from March, when total sales were $19.7 billon.
“More intense competition led to a sequential decline of 6.1% in sales of microprocessors, offsetting modest growth in the rest of the microchip market,” said SIA president George Scalise.
“More intense competition led to a sequential decline of 6.1% in sales of microprocessors, offsetting modest growth in the rest of the microchip market,” said SIA president George Scalise.
SANTA CLARA, CA -- Sun Microsystems will lay off 11 to 13% of its workforce and shut down some of its North American campuses as it seeks to regain profitability.
The server OEM said it would lay off between four and five thousand employees and sever its Newark campus and Sunnyvale, CA, leases. The moves are expected to save as much as $590 million in annual operating expenses.
The server OEM said it would lay off between four and five thousand employees and sever its Newark campus and Sunnyvale, CA, leases. The moves are expected to save as much as $590 million in annual operating expenses.
JACKSON, MI -- EMS services
provider Sparton Corp. has completed its acquisition of Astro
Instrumentation for approximately $26.15 million, the company said today.
Privately owned Astro had audited sales for the year ended Dec. 31 of $33 million.
Additional
consideration may be paid to the sellers over the four years following
the closing based on a percentage of earnings before interest and
taxes.
Astro designs, manufactures and sells a variety of specialized medical laboratory test equipment. It operates a 40,000 sq. ft. facility in Strongsville, OH, and has a 20,000 sq. ft. addition under construction.
Sparton's intent is to operate the business as a wholly-owned subsidiary at its present location and with the current operating management and staff.
Munich – SUSS MicroTec successfully completed initial reliability testing with IBM for 300 mm Pb-free C4NP solder bumped wafers. SUSS is currently building a high-volume manufacturing C4NP tool set for IBM in preparation for production use.
C4NP, a wafer-bumping technology developed by IBM, stands for Controlled Collapse Chip Connection - New Process. It is an alternative to the electroplating process. Bulk solder is injection-molded into glass molds and subsequently transferred from mold to wafer in a single step.
In the reliability testing, 300 mm wafers were bumped with SnCu and SnAg solders using a 200 micron pitch with 1.3 million bumps per wafer test vehicle. Chips measuring 14.7 mm² were joined to organic buildup chip carriers and subjected to the following tests:
JEDEC moisture level 3 preconditioning
Shock and vibration
Deep thermal cycling (-55 to + 125°C)
HAST and THB moisture stressing
High temperature storage
Electromigration
Wettability
Construction analysis
Alpha emissions
C4NP, a wafer-bumping technology developed by IBM, stands for Controlled Collapse Chip Connection - New Process. It is an alternative to the electroplating process. Bulk solder is injection-molded into glass molds and subsequently transferred from mold to wafer in a single step.
In the reliability testing, 300 mm wafers were bumped with SnCu and SnAg solders using a 200 micron pitch with 1.3 million bumps per wafer test vehicle. Chips measuring 14.7 mm² were joined to organic buildup chip carriers and subjected to the following tests:
JEDEC moisture level 3 preconditioning
Shock and vibration
Deep thermal cycling (-55 to + 125°C)
HAST and THB moisture stressing
High temperature storage
Electromigration
Wettability
Construction analysis
Alpha emissions
No failures were attributed to the C4NP process.
Pittsburgh, PA – DesignAdvance Systems, a developer of design automation software for users of EDA and MCAD tools, has entered the European PCB design market with its appointment of CADLOG as a distribution partner.
Based in Rome, the distributor will provide PCB designers in Italy, Spain, Portugal and Switzerland with DesignAdvance products and technical support.
Based in Rome, the distributor will provide PCB designers in Italy, Spain, Portugal and Switzerland with DesignAdvance products and technical support.
MANKATO, MN -- XATA Corp. has increased its purchase commitments to Winland Electronics by $3.3 million. The increase is anticipated to be consumed by the end of this year. Winland manufactures products used in XATA's onboard GPS tracking and wireless communications system marketed to the fleet trucking industry.
Lorin Krueger, Winland CEO, said in a press release, "This significant order follows the original $4.5 million purchase order we received from XATA Corp. in September of 2005. We have a multi-year agreement with XATA and look forward to being a part of their long-term growth."
Lorin Krueger, Winland CEO, said in a press release, "This significant order follows the original $4.5 million purchase order we received from XATA Corp. in September of 2005. We have a multi-year agreement with XATA and look forward to being a part of their long-term growth."
