ON Semiconductor, Nantero to Integrate CMOS Fab with Carbon Nanotubes

Phoenix-based ON Semiconductor and nanotechnology company Nantero Inc. of Woburn, Mass., announced they have teamed to make the world's first CMOS fabrication semiconductor devices using carbon nanotubes at ON's Gresham, Ore., facility. ON bought the facility from LSI Logic Corp. and took it over earlier this month, hiring most of its existing employees. The plant has production capabilities down to the 130 nm node and was the first production fab in the world to qualify carbon nanotubes, ON said. Nantero's proprietary processes for the use of carbon nanotubes are CMOS-compatible and are presently under development at the facility. Nantero said it will use the technology in nonvolatile storage devices to enable instant-on computers and to replace the memory in cell phones, MP3 players, digital cameras and PDAs.