MEC and JSR Corporation have collaborated on using only one etch step to reduce the cost of double patterning. 32nm lines and spaces were printed with a double exposure/single etch process, effectively freezing the resist after the first exposure. The freezing of the resist after the first exposure prevents the resist from expanding or shrinking, maintaining good CD control. When the second resist layer is added, the two do not interact.

...Initial products at launch in Baltimore were confirmed to include embedded WiMAX laptops using Intel chipsets, the Nokia N810 Internet Tablet WiMAX Edition, a Samsung PC Card, a ZTE USB dongle and a ZyXEL CPE modem. Other vendors and products are expected to be approved by Sprint for use on the network and enter commercial availability in the future...

Sharp Corp exhibited a prototype of a 26-inch LCD TV whose power consumption is drastically low at the "Environment Showcase" set by Japan's Ministry of Foreign Affairs for the G8 Hokkaido-Toyako Summit.

Cree says it’s already working with the largely luminaire-level specifications, while the US government squabbles over energy-efficiency programs that use the standards.

here is trouble in Nvidialand. AMD's new graphics cards apparently have surprised Nvidia, forcing the company to cut the prices of its new cards. Nvidia is adjusting its marketing strategy to GeForce 8800 cards to avoid what has all the signs for a big sales decline on the high end. Of course, that means that it is a good time for graphics cards shoppers.

The Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) is mulling to use energy-efficient and durable LED to replace bulbs in Metro Manila's traffic light system.

Nokia Siemens Networks said on July 11 that it had won network expansion orders worth 550 million euros (US$865 million) from the world's top mobile operator China Mobile in the first half of the year.

Epson recently contracted chipmaker Hejian Technology to make its 0.15-micorn LCD drive ICs, making it the first contract buyer to order from the mainland Chinese chipmaker sub-0.18-micron chips. Banned by Taiwan authorities to export manufacturing processes better than 0.18-micron to the mainland, mainland`s factories run by TSMC and ProMOS Technologies are still unable to offer processes below 0.18-micron node. Industry watchers fear such ban will only help mainland`s homegrown chipmakers...

vote on July 11 to confirm a proposal from the HomePlug Alliance and the Panasonic-led HD-PLC group for a powerline home networking standard failed to get the required number of backers. The two players have one more chance to get their proposal approved by the IEEE P1901 group in a vote that may come up at a meeting in Madrid in late September.

Trai has also accused the Department of Telecom (DoT) of keeping it in the dark, both on the availability of WiMAX spectrum as well as on the government’s efforts to get other users such as the department of space to vacate these radio frequencies.The regulator has also demanded that the government put in place a transparent and efficient spectrum management regime.

Shares of AMD fell to their lowest level in nearly 16 yearsafter the company disclosed that it will take US$948 million in charges against earnings when it reports its second-quarter financial performance next week...The size of the writedown was a surprise to investors, who sent the share price down 2.4% to close at US$4.84 a share, the lowest price since August 1992.

...Yang`s company has been Taiwan`s No.1 and the world`s No.5 supplier of cold cathode fluorescent lamps (CCFLs) for liquid crystal display (LCD) TVs since its founding in 1994. Now it is the only local manufacturer in Taiwan of T5 lamps since branching out into CCFL and LED segments last year, with CCFLs being the mainstream light source in Europe for its very high energy-efficiency-to-dimension ratio among all fluorescent lamps. Yang`s CCFLs measure only five-eighth inch...

...And then came July. First, AUO reported lower-than-expected revenues for June. Then LG Display warned that LCD "demand will be soft in July and August and panel prices will continue to fall." Third in line came Sony, which announced that demand for large-screen LCD TVs is so much less than expected that it's been forced to cut production at one of its US plants. Contradicting Weeks' assertion of "reasonable" inventory levels among Corning customers, Sony warned that it has to work down some of its "accumulated inventory."..