One of the most advanced university cleanrooms in the world, the Nanofabrication Laboratory, at the Department of Microtechnology and Nanoscience, MC2, at Chalmers University of Technology, in Göteborg, Sweden, is now offering European Universities and SME’s access free of charge to advanced micro- and nanotechnology fabrication resources.

The Department of Defense (DoD) has announced plans to award research grants to universities totaling more than $150 million.

Fife-based semiconductor technology company Semefab is set to become the UK’s primary centre for the design and development of micro machines and nanosystems, helping to drive major advances in medicine, drug discovery and defence.

SEMATECH North researchers working on extreme ultraviolet lithography (EUVL) have achieved an important breakthrough in the complex process of cleaning mask blanks, the base material for the stencil-like photomasks that are used to describe patterns on semiconductor wafers.

Nanotecture Ltd, nanotechnology material company, announces that it has been awarded a £374.6K grant by the UK’s DTI, to support a two-year research and development project entitled “Next Generation Super-capacitors for Hybrid Vehicle Applications”.

Freescale and STMicroelectronics, are teaming up to establish a wide-ranging initiative to reinforce their respective strengths in automotive applications.

SUSS MicroTec, supplier of precision manufacturing equipment for the semiconductor and emerging markets, announced the installation of an additional wafer bonding system at Innovative Micro Technology.

UK Trade & Investment will be leading a delegation of pioneering UK nanotechnology organisations at the flagship nano tech 2006 event, taking place in Tokyo next week.

KLA-Tencor unveiled its next-generation photomask inspection system, STARlight-2, providing wafer fabs with a cost-effective contamination inspection solution for all types of photomasks, including mainstream extreme resolution enhancement technique (XRET) photomasks, at the 65-nm node and below.

Alight Technologies is tackling the need for powerful long-wavelength, single-mode VCSELs by marrying its photonic-bandgap technology with Infineon's dilute-nitride platform. Dan Birkedal and Dirk Jessen detail the hybrid design and reveal why it will benefit datacom and telecom networks.

European Commissioner Viviane Reding to Present Opening Address at Photonics Europe 2006; Photonics21 Strategic Research Agenda for Photonics will be Delivered to the European Commission

Communications Industry Researchers, (CIR) has announced a new mini-series of articles focused on the optical components market.

Using a microphone-inspired probe, researchers at the Georgia Institute of Technology have created a highly sensitive atomic force microscopy (AFM) technology capable of imaging 100 times faster than current AFM.

THE ISSCC (International solid-state Circuits Conference (ISSCC) was the event where IMEC nanotechnology R&D center elected to announce three major advances in technologies that will be used in wireless autonomous sensor nodes.

According to research company, Research and Markets, the market for MEMS in mobile communications will reach US$750mill in 2009. In 2005, the company reported on MEMS applications for the mobile phone industry.

Freescale and STMicroelectronics are teaming up to establish a wide-ranging initiative to reinforce their respective strengths in automotive applications. The two companies will create a joint microcontroller design team, align process technologies and share intellectual property, including high-power MOS technologies.

NEC today announced the successful development of fundamental silicon (Si) nanophotonics technology that facilitates optical data transmission in large- scale integration (LSI) chips by eliminating data transmission bottlenecks, aiming to realize higher performance in electronic devices