USA

12/01/1997

USA

In a move that will boost its optical capabilities, Silicon Valley Group (SVG), San Jose, CA, is planning to acquire precision optics manufacturer Tinsley Laboratories Inc. in a stock pooling worth about $39.5 million at recent share prices. Under the proposed agreement, SVG will acquire Tinsley`s facilities, including operations in Richmond and North Hollywood, CA. Pending regulatory and stockholder approval, Tinsley - a public company with 1996 revenues of $17.4 million - will be operated as a wholly-owned subsidiary of SVG. Current management will be retained, and a staff expansion is possible.

MEMC Electronic Materials, St. Peters, MO, and the plasma-based unit of Integrated Process Equipment Corp. (IPEC), San Jose, CA, have agreed to further develop 200- and 300-mm plasma wafer shaping and metrology tools, and have formed a new limited liability firm to license the technology. Under the two-year, multiphase program, the firms will develop improvements and enhancements to IPEC Precision`s plasma-assisted chemical etching tools and processes. Joint work is specifically planned for IPEC`s Precision Wafer Shaper, PACEJet II, and AcuFlat tools. The new company, PlasmaSil, is owned 60% by MEMC and 40% by IPEC Precision.

Planar Systems Inc., Beaverton, OR, a maker of flat panel displays, has completed the acquisition of Standish Industries Inc., a maker of flat panel liquid crystal displays. The purchase price was about $15 million. The new company, called Planar Standish, will remain in Lake Mills, WI.

In addition, Planar has received an order from Allen-Bradley, a maker of industrial control systems, for its ICEBrite electroluminescent (EL) flat panel display for use in its PanelView line of operator terminals.

Sematech and the Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI) consortium have established a new center to explore productivity, environmental, and energy issues in semiconductor manufacturing and related electronics industries. The EPRI Center for Electronics Manufacturing will be based in Austin, TX, at SEMATECH headquarters. The center will focus on energy efficiency, water-use optimization, cleanroom HVAC redesign, and power quality.

CMP slurry maker Rodel Inc., Newark, DE, has acquired access to key colloidal slurry technologies in its announced purchase of Solution Technology Inc. (STI), a Monroe, NC-based slurry manufacturer and distributor. According to the purchase deal, the privately-held STI will become a wholly-owned subsidiary of Rodel, and will maintain its North Carolina headquarters.

Zygo Corp., Middlefield, CT, and privately held Digital Instruments, Santa Barbara, CA, have canceled plans to merge by the end of the year after efforts to resolve outstanding merger-related differences failed. Zygo`s stock swap acquisition of Digital Instruments, announced in July, was valued at about $220 million. The two firms said the decision to call off the proposal was reached after both companies realized they could not resolve the outstanding issues.

In an effort to add capacity for its popular lines of microcontrollers, Motorola will expand its Chandler, AZ, MOS-12 facility with a $1.1 billion, 260,000-ft2 addition. The facility will closely follow the processes and equipment set in use at the existing MOS-12 line, and begin work at half-micron geometries in late 1998. The new structure, which will sit between the existing fab and a nearby office building/design center, will cost about $200 million to build, with equipment costs estimated at $900 million. The Class 1 cleanroom will cover 90,000 ft2, and about 500 new employees are expected to be added. The new addition will more than double the manufacturing capacity at the site.

AlliedSignal, Morris Township, NJ, has acquired the assets of Litronic Industries` advanced semiconductor packaging division. The Litronic division will become part of AlliedSignal`s Electronic Materials Santa Clara, CA-based business as a new company with about 70 employees. The new firm, AlliedSignal Substrate Technology & Interconnects (ASTI), will retain its headquarters in Costa Mesa, CA. Litronic will operate its other division, focused on information security operations, as a separate entity.

Aetrium Inc., St. Paul, MN, has agreed to acquire the Handler Division of Advantek Inc., Arden Hills, MN. In the most recent 12 months, the division logged $4 million in revenues. The company`s handlers, which utilize "pick and place" handling technology, are said to be technically complimentary to Aetrium`s existing test handler models. The division`s 50 employees are all expected to become Aetrium employees when the deal closes, possibly during the 4Q.

The parent company of Fairchild Technologies, Fairchild Corp., New York, is planning a 1998 spin-off of all nonaerospace operations, including its semiconductor equipment unit. The new company will be called Fairchild Industrial Holdings Corp., which will include Fairchild Technologies, which is comprised of an optical disc equipment group and a semiconductor equipment group. Late last year, the semiconductor equipment unit unveiled a low-k spin-on dielectric processing tool. The unit also offers tools for photoresist processes and mask/thin-film head manufacturing.

Lam Research Corp., Fremont, CA, has received a $38 million order from United Silicon Inc., Taiwan. The order spans

a range of Lam`s etch systems, including Rainbow 4720XL tungsten etchback systems, Rainbow 4420XL nitride etch systems, TCP 9600SE high-density metal etch systems with microwave strippers, and several Alliance cluster tool systems. The order will be shipped to USIC`s new fab in Science-based Industrial Park in Hsinchu. The systems will be used for the volume production of memory and logic ICs.

In a proposed stock deal worth $16.8 million, Selas Corp. of America, Dresher, PA, will buy MRL Industries, a Sonora, CA, semiconductor furnace system supplier. The move will effectively bring Selas into the semiconductor equipment market. Over the past two years, MRL averaged $27 million in annual revenues. The firm will be operated as a subsidiary of Selas, based in Sonora; current management and employees will remain with the company.

Comdisco Electronics Group, in conjunction with Itochu Corp., has formed a new company in Japan to provide leasing services, resale of used fab tools, and sale/leaseback of currently installed equipment. Tokyo-based ComIto Equipment Management has about $4 million in paid capital, and is 60% owned by Comdisco and 40% by Itochu, a general trading company. Comdisco hopes to expand its business through Itochu`s sales channels.

In a proposed deal valued at about $8 million, PRI Automation, Billerica, MA, will acquire Interval Logic Corp., a Sunnyvale, CA, developer of planning and scheduling software. The move will allow PRI to offer a full planning and scheduling software solution and will boost its automation product line. The acquisition is particularly significant in the 300-mm arena, where automation becomes a necessity, and planning and scheduling are a crucial component. Once the deal is finalized, the firm will become a subsidiary of PRI`s software division.

STEAG AST elektronik USA, Tempe, AZ, has received an order from White Oak Semiconductor for multiple AST SHS-2800e RTP tools. White Oak is a joint venture between Siemens Semiconductor Group and Motorola Semiconductor Products Sector located in Richmond, VA. STEAG MicroTech is delivering automated wet processors to White Oak. Fluoroware Inc., Chaska, MN, a supplier of materials management solutions, will supply all 200-mm wafer handling products to White Oak. White Oak will purchase Fluoroware`s highest performance perfluoroalkoxy process wafer carriers, STAT-PRO 3000 transport wafer carriers, and STAT-PRO 175 work-in-progress storage boxes.

MicroUnity Systems Engineering Inc., Sunnyvale, CA, is supplying its MaskTools optical proximity correction solutions to National Semiconductor Corp. National, which became the first licensee of the MaskTools software, is putting the technology into production of its latest circuit designs, including the recently acquired Cyrix microprocessor.

CFM Technologies Inc., West Chester, PA, a maker of wet processing equipment for semiconductor and flat panel display manufacturing, has received orders from Hyundai Electronics Industries Co. Ltd., South Korea, for a Full Flow dual-vessel FPD system worth $3.8 million. This will be a custom-ized tool to be used for processing 600 ? 720-mm substrates and will be shipped in FY 1Q98. Another order placed by a Taiwanese joint venture company was for a Full Flow single-vessel FPD system worth $2.1 million. The system will be used for processing 320 ? 400-mm substrates.

Motorola and Mitsubishi Electric Corp. have finalized an agreement that will offer the first merchant market second source of customized solutions utilizing Motorola`s ColdFire architecture. Under the terms of the agreement, Mitsubishi will receive Motorola`s versions 2 and 3 ColdFire architecture technologies, with the right to include encrypted synthesizable models and core views in its cell library for customers to design and develop products. Motorola will in turn receive Mitsubishi`s 0.35-?m embedded DRAM technology and design tools for future products.

Electroglas Inc., Santa Clara, CA, a supplier of wafer probing products, will supply its Horizon 4090 wafer prober to Lattice Semiconductor Corp., Hillsboro, OR. Lattice has purchased multiple 4090s for its high-volume production of advanced programmable logic devices. Installation is scheduled through the end of 1997.

Watkins-Johnson Co., Scotts Valley, CA, has received an order from United Semiconductor Corp., Taiwan, for a WJ-2000H high-density plasma chemical vapor deposition system for use at its wafer-fabrication facility in the Science Park of Hsinchu. The system will be used for evaluation and development of sub-0.25-?m intermetal dielectric deposition and shallow trench isolation applications.

Hewlett-Packard Co., Palo Alto, CA, and VLSI Technology Inc. have entered a development effort aimed at producing design and development tools for engineers creating custom silicon systems based on VLSI`s ARM CPU offering. HP intends to produce emulation and logic-analysis tools that VLSI and its customers will use for hardware and software debug and verification when developing ARM CPU core-based ASIC and ASSP products.