November 8, 2001 — SAN JOSE, CA — Implant Center, Inc. (IC) and Ion Implant Services, Inc. (IIS), two providers of ion implantation service to the semiconductor business, recently joined forces and adopted a new name for the combined operation, INNOViON Corporation.
The name change is subject to shareholder consent and approval of the Secretary of State in California. Terms of the agreement are undisclosed. Raymond Krummen, president and CEO of Implant Center will continue in that role for INNOViON and Wesley Weisenberger, founder of Ion Implant Service will become vice chairman of the new company.
Additionally, the new company announced that it has closed a financing round through Implant Center’s investors in excess of $21 million. These funds complete INNOViON’s new facilities in Gresham, Ore. and Phoenix, Ariz. and add liquidity to the new entity.
“Today marks a new departure in the rapidly expanding field of contract ion implantation service for the semiconductor and related industries,” said Krummen. “We are extremely pleased to see our two companies, which bring a combined 40 years of implant experience, join forces in the exciting market of ion implantation.”
The ion implantation process involves the injection of a quantity of ions (either as single atoms or molecules) into materials to alter the physical properties of the material.
According to officials, IIS has pursued an ‘insource’ concept that called for the take over of operation of a partner’s tool set in place. Outsourcing works well in areas of high geographic concentrations of semiconductor manufacture while insourcing works well in areas where little synergies exist between potential partners.
“The beauty of outsourcing,” Kummen said, “is that wafer fabs can recapture precious floor space in order to increase their wafer starts with the same ‘brick and mortar’ already invested. Being able to start 40 percent more wafers per month in the same cleanroom space that is currently occupied by implanters represents a huge financial benefit to our partners. Higher tool utilization, made possible by multiple customers in the same geographic region insure the financial win for both sides.”