USA

05/01/1998

USA

ATMI Inc., Danbury, CT, is planning to acquire NOW Technologies, a Bloomington, MN, semiconductor materials packaging systems supplier, in a deal valued at $44 million. Under the agreement, NOW will become a subsidiary of ATMI once shareholder and regulatory approval is received. A maximum of 1.86 million shares and a minimum of 1.35 million shares of ATMI will be issued to NOW shareholders. NOW`s primary products are based on its patented NOWPak systems, used for packaging advanced photoresist materials.

PRI Automation, Billerica, MA, has finished its acquisition of wafer-handling robot maker Equipe Technologies Inc. The stock swap deal, valued at approximately $172 million when announced, saw PRI issue 4.4 million shares to Equipe shareholders. Product integration work, with a focus on 300-mm offerings, is expected take place throughout 1998. PRI will retain Equipe`s Sunnyvale, CA, headquarters, and operate the facility as a division of the firm. Meanwhile, PRI and Kulicke & Soffa Industries will partner to install a fully automated assembly line utilizing overhead transport to a leading IC packaging, design, and assembly firm.

Schlumberger Automated Test Equipment (ATE), San Jose, CA, has acquired metrology system supplier Interactive Video Systems (IVS), and plans to market the IVS line through its new Verification Systems business group. Terms of the deal were not disclosed. IVS will likely retain its Concord, MA, base, with all 90 of the company`s employees becoming part of Schlumberger ATE.

Veeco Instruments has signed a definitive merger agreement with scanning probe and atomic force microscope producer Digital Instruments (DI), Santa Barbara, CA. The agreement follows an agreement in principle signed between the two companies in February, and failed merger attempts last year between DI and Zygo Corp. The stock swap deal, which is expected to close during 2Q98, is valued at about $193 million at recent share prices. DI shareholders will receive approximately 5.6 million Veeco shares under the deal.

Asyst Technologies, Fremont, CA, will acquire Fluoroware`s FluoroTrac automated radio frequency identification (RFID) technology for automated work-in-progress tracking. The deal, valued at about $3 million, includes all of FluoroTrac`s intellectual property, RF-based ID/tracking solutions, inventory, and installed base opportunities. Asyst CEO Mihir Parikh said the acquired technology compliments Asyst`s SMART-Traveler WIP tracking and ID systems, and gives Asyst the ability to address both SMIF and non-SMIF applications.

Dow Corning, Midland, MI, is suing AlliedSignal for allegedly infringing patents on its FOx Flowable Oxide dielectric material. Dow alleges that AlliedSignal has infringed and/or induced infringement of three patents related to the use of the hydrogen silsesquioxane resin technology. While Dow does grant practice rights to purchasers of the product, the company said it has not licensed any other company to supply the material to chipmakers.

Applied Materials said it will cut costs by shutting down company-wide operations for 11 days during 1998. Applied closed its doors for two days in April, and will close for two days in June and July, and five days in August. A spokesman said some of the shutdown days will be taken around holidays; employees can opt to take the days as vacation days, or as unpaid time. The decision to shut down follows other cost-saving measures taken by the company in December, including a limit on hiring, reduced capital spending, and reduced spending on conferences, off-site meetings, and nonessential travel.

Trikon Technologies plans to close its two Chatsworth, CA, manufacturing and R&D facilities this month, and move the operation to its headquarters in Newport, Wales. The remaining 25 employees in Chatsworth will be laid off once the facility closure is finalized. Last year, Trikon restructured operations and laid off about 20% of its workforce. Trikon`s 110,000-ft2 facility in Wales is operating under capacity; consolidation of operations will result in savings by reducing overhead costs and cutting operating expenses in half. The company will maintain its Santa Clara, New York, Boise, and Dallas sales and service offices, with a total of about 50 US-based workers.

Brooks Automation, Chelmsford, MA, a supplier of wafer handlers and robotics, laid off about 49 US employees, from its worldwide work force of about 540. Brooks has eliminated its standalone flat-panel display engineering operation, integrating the function into its semiconductor-related engineering group. The main reason for the personnel cuts is the downturn in Asia, according to president and CEO Bob Therrien. Brooks had 36% of its sales in Asia last year. Moreover, Therrien noted that 300-mm interest, while still strong, is seeing "slower momentum" as fab plans are pushed out.

Johnson Matthey Electronics (JME), Spokane, WA, is attacking the semiconductor metallization materials market with the decision to build a new manufacturing facility in Widnes, England. The plant is to begin operations by the end of the year. With it, and a plant in Taiwan, JME will have "copy exact" facilities with identical tools in five key geographic regions, allowing it to use the same production processes at each one. Orders can be filled within two to three weeks. In the future, JME will use wide-area data networks and computer-integrated manufacturing techniques to control documentation of all global manufacturing to ensure tight uniformity in producing CVD and PVD targets and components, thermocouples, and other products.

Intel has begun construction on a 300-mm wafer fab in Hillsboro, OR. The facility will begin as the D-1C developmental fab, adjacent to the existing D-1B fab in an area known as Ronler Acres. Original plans had called for an aggressive fast-track construction program with work beginning at 180-nm (0.18-?m) geometries in 1999, but Intel`s decision to push out 300-mm work to the 130-nm generation has resulted in a new schedule calling for the facility to be completed in 2000. Initially it will serve as the new home for Intel`s Portland Technology Development operation, Intel`s lead R&D group. Meanwhile, Intel has again delayed its $1.3 billion fab in Fort Worth, TX, this time freezing construction and pushing out its production start date until 2002, when it expects to open the Fab 16 facility using 130-nm technologies on 300-mm wafers.

Anorad`s subsidiary AnoTech, Hauppauge, NY, has signed a joint development agreement for its model 5300 and 5400 flip chip bonders with die bonding and packaging firm ESC, Ivyland, PA. Under the deal, the two companies will combine expertise to produce high speed automatic flip chip die bonding systems with placement accuracy of ?1 ?m at 3 s. The FCB-5400 uses Anorad`s linear motor and bond head technology and ESC`s advanced multimagazine lead frame feeding technology. AnoTech and ESC will also provide joint sales, marketing, and service functions in Asia.

In one of the first instances of linkage between mainstream IC design software and advanced photomask technology, Mentor Graphics has agreed to market SignaMask-OPC, a software tool for optical proximity correction developed by OPC Technology, San Jose, CA. The OPC package will also be integrated into Mentor`s Calibre and xCalibre physical verification and parasitic extraction design tools. By making OPC available as part of one of the leading design packages, the technology should become more attractive to a broader range of circuit designers, including designers of ASICs and other low-volume devices.

DuPont Photomasks Inc., Round Rock, TX, has signed a memorandum of understanding to create a strategic alliance with Hyundai Electronics Industries Co. Ltd., under which the companies will jointly develop advanced photomask technology. DuPont will enter into a long-term supply agreement to furnish photomasks to Hyundai`s semiconductor operations. Hyundai will discontinue operations of its internal photomask facility, and will sell the manufacturing equipment to DuPont.

Newport Corp., Irvine, CA, a maker of precision laser and optical equipment, has received an order from Therma-Wave Inc. for motion systems. The order, worth $4 million, will be delivered over a 12-month period. Therma-Wave will incorporate the new platforms in its film thickness measurement systems.

Integrated Process Equipment Corp. (IPEC) will increase R&D spending on its CMP technology, and consider potential acquisition offers from larger firms. IPEC will continue spending aggressively to advance its planarization capabilities for 300-mm and copper/damascene processes. R&D spending was 16.66% of sales in the year ended last summer, and will rise this year. IPEC has backed off on producing early units of its model 876, 300-mm polisher until it sees more demand.

STEAG MicroTech, Austin, TX, has received an order from White Oak Semiconductor, Richmond, VA, for automated wet processors. Initial systems of the AWP GEN III automated wet processor are being installed in the fab, which produces 64-Mbit DRAM chips using 0.25-?m technology.

Integrated Solutions Inc., Austin, TX, is accepting orders for lithography evaluation systems based on Bell Labs` SCALPEL projection electron beam technology. Based on the current SCALPEL proof of lithography tool, the new system offers enhancements to systems control and wafer handling. Initial pricing is about $10 million/system. The SCALPEL effort is supported in part by DARPA and SEMATECH.

Cymer Inc., San Diego, CA, a supplier of excimer laser illumination sources, and Canon Inc.`s Semiconductor Production Equipment Group, have finalized an agreement to provide worldwide lithography support. The agreement focuses on support and services, product reliability, warranty, selling, purchasing, and forecasting.

Ion Systems, Berkeley, CA, has donated a 5000 series room ionization system to Brevard Community College, Palm Bay, FL. The Brevard cleanroom was designed as a world-class flat panel display material handling test facility, and was built in conjunction with the US Display Consortium. The USDC plans to use the new cleanroom to provide its member firms with a test facility for cooperatively developing advanced display technology.

Rodel is planning to build a new polishing pads manufacturing plant in Monroe, NC, this year, and hopes to have the facility fully operational by 1999. The CMP firm recently broke ground on the project to build the 80,000-ft2 plant, and expects construction will be completed by November. The facility will be located on a 100-acre site within the Monroe Corporate Center.