Willow Grove, Pennsylvania–Kulicke & Soffa (K&S) Industries Inc., a supplier of semiconductor assembly equipment and materials, has completed its acquisition of Santa Clara, California-based Probe Technology Corp. The acquisition, combined with the recently completed tender offer for Cerprobe Corp., may make K&S the world’s leading supplier of probe cards and sockets used for testing semiconductor wafers and integrated circuits. The company also announced the creation of a Test Division, which will market the offerings of both companies while developing advanced semiconductor interconnect test solutions.

C. Zane Close, formerly president and CEO of Cerprobe, has been named president of the new Test Division. Ron Mende, formerly president of Probe Technology Corp., will head the Test Division’s Wafer Probe business unit.

“As input-output densities continue to increase and line widths continue to decrease, probe and test are becoming key interconnect enabling technologies,” says K&S Chairman and Chief Executive Officer C. Scott Kulicke. “With the acquisition of Cerprobe and Probe Tech, K&S has made a major entrance into the semiconductor test market and is positioned to solve the current and future challenges in probe card, test socket, and ATE board design. At the same time, K&S will continue to develop new assembly equipment, materials, and technologies to deliver the chip interconnect solutions our customers require.”

“We believe the combination of Cerprobe and Probe Tech with our own R&D infrastructure will allow K&S to offer our customers an unparalleled array of test solutions along with the critical mass to support their product roadmaps,” adds Jim Spooner, vice president of corporate development.