Crolles2 Alliance Partners Pool Research Efforts in Advanced CMOS Wafer Probing and Assembly.CROLLES, France -- The STMicroelectronics, Philips and Freescale Crolles2 Alliance Adds 300-mm Test and Packaging Development to Industry's Largest Joint R&D Effort The Crolles2 Alliance partners Freescale Semiconductor Freescale Semiconductor, Inc. is an American semiconductor manufacturer. It was created by the divestiture of the Semiconductor Products Sector of Motorola in 2004. Freescale focuses their integrated circuit products on the automotive, embedded and communications markets. (NYSE NYSE See: New York Stock Exchange :FSL FSL - Formal Semantics Language. A language for compiler writing. ["A Formal Semantics for Computer Languages and its Application in a Compiler-Compiler", J.A. Feldman, CACM 9(1) (Jan 1966)]. [Sammet 1969, p. 641]. ) (NYSE:FSL.B), Philips (NYSE:PHG)(AEX AEX See: Amsterdam Exchange :PHI) and STMicroelectronics (NYSE:STM (Scanning Tunneling Microscope) A microscope that can image down to the atomic level. An STM uses a piezoelectric tube with a tiny sharp tip at the end that is moved within nanometers of the object being sampled. ) have extended the scope of their joint semiconductor R&D activities to include R&D related to wafer testing and packaging, in addition to the original development of sub 100-nm CMOS (Complementary Metal Oxide Semiconductor) Pronounced "c-moss." The most widely used integrated circuit design. It is found in almost every electronic product from handheld devices to mainframes. process technologies. "The combined expertise of Freescale, STMicroelectronics and Philips will provide the Crolles2 Alliance with an industry-leading packaging and test foundation. This agreement will enable future generations of semiconductor technologies supporting applications in the automotive, consumer, industrial, networking and wireless markets," said the Alliance members in a joint statement from Rene Penning de Vries de Vries. For some persons thus named use Vries. , senior vice president and chief technology officer, Philips Semiconductors; Claudine Simson Dr. Claudine Simson was vice president and chief technology officer for Freescale Semiconductor. Dr. Claudine Simson then joined LSI as Chief Technology Officer (CTO) as of March 26th. , chief technology officer, Freescale Semiconductor; and Laurent Bosson, corporate vice-president, Front-End Technology and Manufacturing, STMicroelectronics. This agreement reflects the special needs of wafer testing and packaging for devices produced on 300-mm wafers in 90-nm, 65-nm CMOS and beyond. It will look at all aspects of post-fabrication wafer processing including probing, grinding, sawing, die attach, wire-bonding, flip chip A chip packaging technique in which the active area of the chip is "flipped over" facing downward. Instead of facing up and bonded to the package leads with wires from the outside edges of the chip, any surface area of the flip chip can be used for interconnection, which is typically done and package molding techniques as well as optimization of bond-pad stack design. "New materials used in 65-nm processes, such as ultra-low K dielectrics, significantly change the nature of the silicon that you have to handle during assembly and test," the Alliance said. "This means that existing equipment and processes have to be refined to maintain high production yields." The expanded relationship builds on two years of successful collaboration in the semiconductor industry's largest R&D alliance. By combining efforts, alliance members have achieved several milestones in 90-nm production and 65-nm process development. The partners will establish a new research laboratory in Grenoble (France) staffed by about 20 scientists and technicians drawn from the three companies. The partners now have more than 1000 employees working on front-end process development in Crolles, near Grenoble. The lab will focus on bond-pad stack design and the assessment of low-stress probing, sawing and assembly processes including laser cutting and low-stress molding materials. It will also investigate requirements specification for the next generation of assembly and test equipment. The new Crolles2 Alliance assembly and test R&D team will also work closely with key equipment suppliers. All three companies now have experience in the production and handling of 300-mm wafers produced on the Alliance's 90-nm CMOS production line in Crolles (France). This new expansion of the Alliance for extended R&D in assembly and test will help the Alliance partners remain in-line with the ITRS ITRS International Technology Roadmap for Semiconductors ITRS International Terrestrial Reference System ITRS International Transaction Reporting System (EU) ITRS International Technical Rescue Symposium roadmap for process introduction and at the leading edge of assembly and test technology. Ultimately, it will help to ensure timely high-volume delivery of devices fabricated in these new processes to their customers. About the Crolles2 Alliance Under a five-year agreement extending through to December 2007, the Crolles2 Alliance brings together STMicroelectronics, Philips and Freescale Semiconductor, Inc., in an alliance of unprecedented scope in the microelectronics sector. Their joint Crolles2 center will focus on specific technologies at the forefront of semiconductor R&D: baseline CMOS processing, embedded memories (static, dynamic and magnetic RAM), Silicon-On-Insulator, analog CMOS, advanced process modules, advanced copper interconnect, low-power designs and RF capabilities. Starting at 90-nm, the alliance will continue on and develop CMOS processes at 65-nm, 45-nm and, ultimately, the 32-nm node. The Alliance has already demonstrated successful cooperation between the partners with the early availability of the industry's first 90-nm CMOS design platform and cell libraries for system-on-chip solutions. About Freescale Semiconductor Freescale Semiconductor, Inc. (NYSE:FSL) (NYSE:FSL.B) is a global leader in the design and manufacture of embedded semiconductors for the automotive, consumer, industrial, networking and wireless markets. Freescale became a publicly traded company publicly traded company A company whose shares of common stock are held by the public and are available for purchase by investors. The shares of publicly traded firms are bought and sold on the organized exchanges or in the over-the-counter market. in July 2004 after more than 50 years as part of Motorola, Inc. The company is based in Austin, Texas, and has design, research and development, manufacturing or sales operations in more than 30 countries. Freescale, a member of the S&P 500(R), is one of the world's largest semiconductor companies with 2004 sales of $5.7 billion (US). www.freescale.com About Royal Philips Electronics Royal Philips Electronics of the Netherlands (NYSE:PHG) (AEX:PHI) is one of the world's biggest electronics companies and Europe's largest, with sales of EUR EUR In currencies, this is the abbreviation for the Euro. Notes: The currency market, also known as the Foreign Exchange market, is the largest financial market in the world, with a daily average volume of over US $1 trillion. 30.3 billion in 2004. With activities in the three interlocking interlocking /in·ter·lock·ing/ (-lok´ing) closely joined, as by hooks or dovetails; locking into one another. interlocking Obstetrics A rare complication of vaginal delivery of twins; the 1st domains of healthcare, lifestyle and technology and 161,500 employees in more than 60 countries, it has market leadership positions in medical diagnostic imaging and patient monitoring, color television sets, electric shavers, lighting and silicon system solutions. News from Philips is located at www.semiconductors.philips.com. About STMicroelectronics STMicroelectronics is a global leader in developing and delivering semiconductor solutions across the spectrum of microelectronics applications. An unrivalled combination of silicon and system expertise, manufacturing strength, Intellectual Property (IP) portfolio and strategic partners positions the Company at the forefront of System-on-Chip (SoC) technology and its products play a key role in enabling today's convergence markets. The Company's shares are traded on the New York Stock Exchange New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) World's largest marketplace for securities. The exchange began as an informal meeting of 24 men in 1792 on what is now Wall Street in New York City. , on Euronext Paris and on the Milan Stock Exchange Milan Stock Exchange The largest regional stock exchange in Italy, facilitating more than 90% of the country's trading volume. . In 2004, the Company's net revenues were $8.76 billion and net earnings were $601 million. Further information on ST can be found at www.st.com. |
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