01/24/2003  Ardesta LLC, an Ann Arbor, Mich., small tech investment firm and company builder, has invested in San Francisco-based Angstrovision Inc., according to a news release. The amount of the investment is not being released, an Ardesta spokeswoman said.

01/17/2003  Two small tech equipment makers had hoped that by merging they could offer researchers a package of tools. But as Veeco Instruments and FEI Co. blamed last week's breakup on bad economic timing, one nanotech analyst said such a marriage just wasn't meant to be.

01/13/2003  A small Wisconsin company is gearing up to become a big supplier of microscopic components for nanotech research and design. Its CEO estimates the market at $74 million per year, with an additional $35-million-per-year market in semiconductor chip lithography. Newer markets in nanotechnology for life sciences and defense hold additional promise.

01/10/2003  Veeco Instruments and FEI Co. said Thursday they won't merge as planned, citing continued poor economic and market conditions.

01/09/2003  Jan. 9, 2003 - Woodbury, NY and Hillsboro, OR - Veeco Instruments Inc. and FEI Co. have mutually terminated the merger agreement that they entered into on July 11, 2002.

12/18/2002  Veeco Instruments Inc. and FEI Co. said they won't merge as planned by year's end, citing delays in obtaining regulatory and shareholder approvals.

11/06/2002  Nov. 6, 2002 - Milpitas, CA - Nanometrics Inc., which supplies the semiconductor industry with integrated and standalone metrology tools, has announced the introduction of its newest metrology system, designed to control the copper CMP process.

10/08/2002  When Veeco was founded in 1945, the name was an acronym for Vacuum Electronic Equipment Company. Today, it might stand for Very Enormous Electronics Company. Recently, its acquisitions have revealed a move toward nanotechnology and MEMS. Most notable are Veeco’s purchases of three companies that manufacture atomic force microscopes.

09/12/2002  Sept. 12, 2002 - Danbury, CT - ATMI Inc., a provider of specialty materials and services to the semiconductor industry, and Metara Inc., a supplier of automated metrology systems, have signed a joint development and manufacturing agreement.

09/04/2002  As mask data sets become more complex and data-intensive, maskmakers face the challenge of how to manage large amounts of data that must be moved from design to mask.

08/29/2002  Rapid, non-destructive analyzer ideal for materials used in bump bonding and flip chip assembly

08/22/2002  The White House has signed off on a report detailing the full scope of the National Nanotechnology Initiative, which includes a heightened commitment to using nanotechnology to fight weapons of mass destruction. The report concludes that while the NNI has fundamental research as its focus, “its ancestral programs have already made enormous impact in commercial markets."

08/15/2002  Aug. 15, 2002 - Fremont, CA - Therma-Wave Inc., a supplier of metrology equipment, has opened a new sales and service office in Shanghai, China.

07/30/2002 

07/29/2002 

07/25/2002 

07/23/2002  July 23, 2002 - Flanders, NJ - Rudolph Technologies Inc., a provider of process control metrology systems, has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire privately held ISOA, a defect control company based in Richardson, TX.

07/23/2002  July 23, 2002 - Woodbury, NY - Veeco Instruments Inc.'s metrology group has created a technical advisory board (TAB).

07/22/2002 

07/16/2002  In the expensive and complicated world of integrated metrology, a different approach could get customers interested in a concept that may work better - while also being cheaper, simpler, and less intimidating.