Brooks Automation has opened a plant near Los Angeles for manufacturing the company's process tool automation and factory management software. Located in Sylmar, the plant houses the largest cleanroom in all of Brooks' plants. The room includes a Class 10,000 production area measuring 13,900 sq ft and a Class 1000 final test and packaging area. Based in Chelmsford, MA, Brooks manufactures vacuum robots, cluster tool platforms, and ultraclean minienvironments.

Ion Systems has purchased Cornerstone Coatings, a manufacturer of conductive and static-dissipative flooring, for an undisclosed sum. The company is based in Bowie, TX. The purchase makes Cornerstone a subsidiary of Ion and enables the parent company to expand its line of ESD-management products to cover flooring. Founded in 1993, Cornerstone developed a static control flooring called PolyTerra.

Hodess Building of North Attleboro, MA, recently completed a $12 million expansion of Fairchild Semiconductor's plant in Portland, ME. Working with SMRT Architects, Hodess built a 15,000-sq-ft fab, with Class 1 areas, connected to the existing plant. The new three-story building will receive at least 160 tools, both relocated and newly installed. Hodess says it upgraded systems for chilled water, acid neutralization, and waste treatment.

Advanced Energy (AE) has acquired a German supplier of RF power systems for $16.7 million. The company, Dressler HF Technik, is based in Stolberg and specializes in RF systems for plasma uses. Advanced Energy of Fort Collins, CO, says it has agreed to pay an additional $3.25 million for the acquisition if Dressler reaches certain business goals by March 30, 2003. The acquisition will enable AE to expand its list of products for clients in the semiconductor, data storage, and FPD markets. The deal also will bolster AE's European presence, the company says.

Air Products and Chemicals has teamed with Kinetics Group to install a turnkey bulk-chemical developer at ASML's facility in Arizona. Kinetics designs and installs chemical, water, gas, and utilities systems. Collaborating with Air Products in a joint venture called TRiMEGA, Kinetics has installed a MegaPure chemical distribution system at ASML's plant in Tempe. Air Products is providing OptiYield-S tetramethyl ammonium hydroxide photoresist developer from its plant in Tempe.

DuPont Photomasks (DPI) of Round Rock, TX, has bought a small Silicon Valley firm specializing in software designed to improve chipmakers' productivity during subwavelength lithography. DPI paid approximately $4 million for BindKey Technologies of Santa Clara, CA. BindKey's electronic design automation software can improve IC layout productivity and reduce the number of times chip designers need to use resolution enhancement technologies such as optical proximity correction before ordering photomasks, the company says. The software enables semiconductor manufacturers to reduce costs, improve yields, and reach market faster. The company becomes a wholly owned subsidiary of DPI.

BindKey's primary product is the RapidIC tool suite, which uses a proprietary technology called the Polygon Morph Synthesis Engine. In the third quarter of 2002, BindKey says it will release RapiDRCFix, an automated program for correcting physical design violations.

HPL Technologies has purchased Defect and Yield Management (DYM), a supplier of defect management software, for approximately $16.5 million. Based in Massachusetts, DYM makes the Odyssey System software. The program is installed in more than 70 fabs around the world, according to the company. KLA-Tencor previously distributed the DYM program under the Quest name. San Jose–based HPL says it hopes to make further inroads into the yield optimization market by combining the DYM system and its own YielDirector tool.

The first phase of a new technology center for the development of 193-nm photoresists should be ready to open before the end of 2002, Shipley says. The first phase of the Advanced Technology Center in Marlborough, MA, will measure 65,000 sq ft and house a Class 1 cleanroom, metrology lab, computer modeling facility, and research areas as well as personnel for equipment engineering and facility support. The initial part of the three-phase project will cost approximately $25 million to $30 million. Shipley says the expansion will ready the supplier for an expected upturn in its core photoresist and antireflectant products markets.

The vendor expects to install an ASML 5500/1100 193-nm scanner by the end of the year. The company says the center will be among the first facilities in the United States to have the 0.75-NA tool. In January the supplier installed an ASML 248-nm step-and-scan system for its deep-UV photoresist program. The metrology lab will house 12 Amray SEMs, Hitachi low-voltage SEM, two KLA-Tencor linewidth analysis systems, and an FEI focused ion-beam SEM. The lab will open in December. Plans call for an additional 65,000 sq ft to accommodate expansion that will enable Shipley to develop low-k dielectric materials and test materials on next-generation lithographic tools.