(November 20, 2008) ST. FLORIAN, Austria,— Crediting the continued demand in the 3D interconnect interconnect/through-silicon via (TSV) an nanoimprint lithography markets, EV Group reports an increase in revenue for 2008 of more than 15%. Despite the current global economic slowdown, the company says it remains cautiously optimistic about its outlook for 2009 given the expected growth opportunities to ensue as these novel technologies gain market acceptance/penetration.
According to EVG Founder and President Erich Thallner, the company’s approach to growth is to continuously build upon its experience in bringing new and innovative products to the market. “Our strategy has always been to leverage our existing core capabilities and extend this knowledge and expertise into other synergistic markets that can truly benefit from us,” said Thallner, citing this as the reason EVG has been able to weather some of the effects associated with cyclical industries like the semiconductor market, even in down markets.
The company also credits increasing order wins among leading universities for advanced research and development activities as another key 2008 milestone.In its most recent win last month, EVG reported that three European universities-Southampton University, University of Ulster and Technische Universitat Braunschweig-had placed orders for multiple next-generation EVG systems for leading-edge MEMS research, totaling in excess of US$2.9 million.
As part of its quest to bring novel technologies to market, EVG claims it will continue to invest in 3D/TSVs and NIL to help customers overcome the yield and performance challenges as they scale down to 32- and 22-nm geometries.
“Looking ahead, even though the macroeconomic environment is expected to be more challenging in 2009, specifically in market segments that are automotive and consumer-product driven, we expect that new technologies, such as backside illuminated image sensors or even higher functional density cell phones, will drive continued growth for EVG’s 3D IC lithography and wafer bonding equipment, among others,” said Thallner.