INDUSTRY NEWS

EXPANSIONS AND ACQUISITIONS

Air Products ups SiF^₄ capacity

Air Products and Chemicals is following a recent boost in silicon tetrafluoride production capacity with the addition of two expansion projects in the United States and South Korea. The Pennsylvania-based gases and chemical giant is building an SiF^₄ plant at its electronics specialty gas facility in Shihwa, South Korea. The producer was also scheduled in January to begin construction of an addition to its plant in Catoosa, OK. The Korean facility will begin production in the first quarter of this year. Production of the gas at the Oklahoma site is scheduled to begin in the third quarter of this year.

Last October Air Products ramped up SiF^₄ production at its facility in Morrisville, PA. The gas is used for ion implantation processes and is specifically used to deposit fluorinated silicon glass layers in HDP CVD, Air Products says. The company adds that the gas will become an increasingly critical dielectric material for processing chips with linewidths of 0.18 to 0.13 µm, as well as for manufacturing fiber-optic cables.

New unit extends JM line

Johnson Matthey of Wayne, PA, has established a gas process technology (GPT) unit that will enable the company to expand the range of its purification products. The vendor will add getter and catalytic gas purifiers to its product line. Johnson Matthey sells purifiers for a range of gases, including hydrogen, nitrogen, argon, oxygen, helium, and specialty products. The GPT unit will offer a line of hydrogen purifiers and the PureGuard line of getter and catalytic and gas purifiers. The product line will include point-of-use and gas cabinet purifiers as well as large bulk-gas processing systems. Capacity of the systems will range from 1 to 900 std L/min.

Asyst buy bolsters line

Looking to bolster its process automation product line, Asyst Technologies will buy two privately held California-based semiconductor equipment manufacturers. The companies, Advanced Machine Programming (AMP) and Semifab, make precision machining and environmental-control systems, respectively. Asyst will pay approximately $24 million and an estimated 2.95 million shares of stock for the firms. The deals are expected to close early this year. Asyst is looking to offer its customers a foundry model for tool-integrated automation.

Newport, Kensington to merge

Newport and Kensington Laboratories have cemented a long-term business relationship with the signing of a merger agreement. Newport of Irvine, CA, specializes in high-precision components and instruments for test, measurement, and automation. Based in Richmond, CA, Kensington makes motion control and robotic systems for wafer handling and related applications. Kensington will become part of Newport's industrial and scientific technologies division. Newport says its new acquisition had revenues of approximately $38 million in 2000.

The two companies have worked together to provide automation tools for submicron chip manufacturing.

Daifuku merges units

Daifuku America of Reynoldsburg, OH, has merged its clean factory automation division with Eskay, an affiliate based in Salt Lake City. Daifuku manufactures cleanroom automation systems and counts among its clients chipmakers such as Motorola, AMD, TI, and Hyundai. The company recently sold automated material-handling systems to a U.S. client processing 300-mm wafers. Daifuku hopes the merger will put Eskay in the position to become a market leader in automated staging, transport, and WIP management. All staff and production will remain in Salt Lake City. In June the company plans to move into a new 85,000-sq-ft office building and demonstration center there.

3M picks Semitorr as rep

The specialty materials division of 3M has chosen Semitorr as its new West Coast representative. Semitorr has offices in Fremont, CA, and Wilsonville, OR. As part of the arrangement, Semitorr will sell the 3M line of Novec engineering fluids. The fluids are used for precision cleaning, wiper cleaning of dry etch chambers, and heat transfer applications in chillers. Minnesota-based 3M chose Semitorr after successfully working with the West Coast firm since August 15 of last year.

Olympus opens optics office

Olympus Optical of Japan has moved its new U.S. subsidiary into corporate headquarters in Silicon Valley. The headquarters of Olympus Integrated Technologies America is in San Jose's Baytech Park. The business unit was established in May 2000 and introduced during Semicon West. The Japanese parent is an 80-year-old firm with $4 billion in revenues, says Rick LaFrance, president of the U.S. subsidiary.

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