FEB. 20 Chelmsford, Massachusetts–Brooks Automation, Inc., a supplier of tool and factory hardware and software automation solutions for the semiconductor industry, announced today that it has acquired SEMY Engineering, Inc. (SEMY) of Phoenix, Arizona, a wholly owned subsidiary of Semitool, Inc. and a leading provider of advanced process and equipment control systems for the semiconductor industry.

Consideration for the transaction was $36.0 million in cash and $2.75 million in stock and is expected to be accretive in Brooks’ fiscal year 2001. In SEMY’s fiscal year 2000, ending September 2000, the company had revenues of $19.4 million and was profitable.

“Our customers are facing challenges in the chip fabrication process driven by industry trends including shrinking geometries, 300mm wafers, and the use of copper for IC interconnects. The ability to automate and control advanced processes and detect process errors before significant quantities of materials go through a defective process is critical,” says Robert J. Therrien, president and chief executive officer, Brooks Automation, Inc. “Brooks’ Factory Software Division offers an integrated CIM solution for optimizing equipment utilization and factory performance. With the addition of the SEMY products to the Brooks product family, we extend our CIM solution to include decision support capabilities that process and equipment engineers can use to achieve higher yield, faster throughput, and increased efficiency. SEMY Engineering brings more than 15 years of success in the important process control solutions area, and we are proud to have them as a member of the Brooks organization.”