July 26, 2004 – Semitool Inc., Kalispell, MT, has licensed its seed-layer enhancement patents to Japan’s Ebara Corp., for an initial license fee of $3.25 million.
Semitool also will receive an additional commercialization fee dependent upon a number of tools sold using the technology. The two companies also have agreed to drop patent infringement litigation brought in US District Court in Oregon. The agreement with Ebara, which does not include rights to Semitool’s bulk-fill electroplating IP, is similar to a licensing deal reached with Applied Materials earlier this year.