INDUSTRY NEWS

Expansions and Acquisitions

Entegris buys Asyst lines

Entegris has purchased the wafer- and reticle-carrier product lines of Asyst Technologies for $38.75 million. The purchase includes all intellectual property related to the products. Based in Chaska, MN, Entegris provides protection and transport products and services. Asyst, which is headquartered Fremont, CA, specializes in wafer isolation systems, robotics, automated transport, and automated loading systems.

The mutual agreement came about following a series of meetings between the two companies. The vendors say the deal will enable them to focus on their respective strengths and to develop new products. Both Entegris and Asyst will work together to improve carriers that can be used with automation systems made by Asyst and other suppliers. Entegris says it will hire key personnel from Asyst.

Steve Schwartz, Asyst's chairman and CEO, says the company will continue to use outsourcing while it channels resources "toward the key automation technologies and markets that provide us with the greatest competitive advantage."

SCP to buy wet tool biz

Mattson Technology is selling its wet products division to SCP Global Technologies of Boise, ID. The company says the transaction will strengthen SCP's position as the world's second-largest supplier of surface-preparation equipment. For its part, Mattson says the divestiture will enable it to focus on its RTP and resist strip products. The companies also are discussing an alliance to collaborate on advanced cleaning technologies.

SCP and Mattson announced the deal on February 12, adding that they expected to complete the transaction by the end of March 2003. Upon completion, SCP expects to receive a $50 million infusion of venture capital funds and be given access to a $20 million line of credit. SCP will become the only company to have both the Marangoni and GreenDry vapor drying technologies, the vendor points out.

Spectra absorbs brands

Spectra-Physics began 2003 with a bang by claiming the "biggest brand merger" in the history of the photonics industry. The Mountain View, CA– based laser products specialist has integrated six businesses from Thermo Electron, a supplier of lasers and related scientific equipment based in Waltham, MA. Spectra-Physics is a subsidiary of Thermo Electron.

The businesses involved in the merger are Laser Science, Oriel, Corion, Hilger Crystals, Cidtec, and RGL. All will be integrated with the existing laser business of Spectra-Physics. Cidtec makes imaging cameras; Corion makes thin-film interference filters; and Hilger manufactures scintillation and electro-optic crystals. RGL, or Richardson Gratings, manufactures replicated diffraction gratings. Cidtec makes charged-injection-device solid-state video cameras. Spectra-Physics plans to expand Oriel's catalog, the Book of Photon Tools.

Integrating the laser and photonics product lines places Spectra-Physics "in a unique position to serve both established and nascent applications of lasers, optics, and imaging," boasts Guy Broadbent, president. "In a nutshell, our goal is to use this platform to simplify and expand the use of photonics as a critically enabling technology for end-users and OEMs."

Veeco, FEI nix merger

Veeco Instruments and FEI have called off a merger agreement the companies announced last July 2002. The firms said overall economic conditions and uncertainty about the timing of a recovery in the semiconductor industry led to the mutual decision. No termination fees or expenses were paid. Based in Woodbury, NY, Veeco Instruments specializes in metrology equipment. FEI, of Hillsboro, OR, makes ion and electron-beam instruments for three-dimensional metrology.

Solvay launches Solexis

Solvay Solexis, a manufacturer of fluorinated materials for semiconductor manufacturing and other industries, made its debut on January 1. The new company is the result of a May 2002 merger between Solvay Group of Thorofare, NJ, and Ausimont. The firm has its headquarters in Bollate, Italy, and will operate plants in Europe, the United States, Japan, and Brazil. Solvay, the parent company, is based in Brussels.

The acquisition—the largest in Solvay's history—cost approximately $1.4 billion and makes the Solvay Group the world's second-largest manufacturer of fluorinated products, according to the parent firm. Ausimont markets fluorinated materials such as Halar ECTFE, Hylar 5000, PVDF, and Fomblin PFPE.

Microchip seeks fab buyer

Microchip Technology has hired a bicoastal company to find a buyer for the chipmaker's empty fab in Puyallup, WA. Binswanger/Puget Sound Properties of Philadelphia and Seattle will represent Microchip for the sale of the 710,000-sq-ft fab. The asking price is $93.8 million for the complex, which is situated on a 92-acre campus east of Tacoma. Microchip makes field-programmable RISC microcontrollers as well as devices for linear, mixed-signal, and power and thermal-management uses.

The site has 10 buildings, three of which are fabs. Fab D measures approximately 300,000 sq ft and houses a Class 1 ballroom-style cleanroom with 180-nm technology capability. Measuring approximately 185,000 sq ft, Fab C can accommodate expansion to a Class 10 rating, Microchip says. Fab A has 152,000 sq ft of space. The remaining buildings house offices and site support.

Software, litho merger set

Two Silicon Valley suppliers say their proposed merger of IC design software and lithography-enabling technology will facilitate chipmaking at the 65-nm node and below. Synopsys, a supplier of EDA programs based in Mountain View, CA, has signed an agreement to purchase Numerical Technologies, which makes technology for production of subwavelength ICs. Numerical is based in San Jose. The total value of the deal is approximately $250 million.

The merger will create technology that improves yields "by transparently embedding mask and lithography requirements into the EDA flow and into tools that designers are currently using," claims Naren Gupta, Numerical's president and CEO. The companies expect to complete the transaction by the end of 1Q03.