News

23 February 2010

 

Plasma-Therm celebrates first year of independence and reports positive financial results for FY/2009

Plasma-Therm LLC of St. Petersburg, FL, USA celebrated its first anniversary on Friday 19 February 2010 with Florida Governor Charlie Crist and St. Petersburg Mayor Bill Foster. The firm also reported positive financial results for full-year 2009.

Picture: Governor Charlie Crist and technical marketing director David Lishan talking about wafers and the specialty markets Plasma-Therm serves.

“Our first anniversary celebration as an independent company coincides with the 35th anniversary of Plasma-Therm being in business. Our commitment to our customers and technology has remained our core focus throughout the evolution of Plasma-Therm,” said Abdul Lateef, CEO of Plasma-Therm. “We are grateful for the support provided by city, county and state officials to small business growth, especially during a struggling economy. This support has allowed us the chance to maintain key technology development and the related high value jobs in the U.S.”

“I congratulate Plasma-Therm on their first anniversary and for their success creating jobs for the people of Florida,” said Governor Crist.

Picture (left to right): Ed Ostan, executive VP of Sales & Marketing; Florida Governor, Charlie Crist; Russ Westerman, CTO; Jim Pollock, COO; and Abdul Lateef, CEO.

Plasma-Therm Inc was originally founded in March 1975, and sold to Unaxis (later re-branded Oerlikon) in 2000. In January 2009, Plasma-Therm went through a management buyout to separate from Oerlikon. The buyout was made possible through government support like the Qualified Target Industry (QTI) tax incentive program, a program supported by Governor Crist as part of Florida’s strategic economic development platform.

Picture: Plasma-Therm's marketing assistant Kristina Martinez (right), with Kristen Walsh, preparing for the celebrations.

Plasma-Therm manufactures plasma process equipment that caters to specialty semiconductor markets, including compound semiconductor, solid state lighting, thin film head, solar, and MEMS. The firm offers both dry etch and PECVD technologies, and has sale and service locations throughout North America, Europe and Asia-Pacific.

Last November, Plasma-Therm announced the sale of a multi-module VERSALINE ICP production etch system to a major III-V foundry. The system is configured with three chambers for gallium arsenide via etch processing, resulting in high productivity, says the firm. The VERSALINE ICP modules also feature actively controlled source heating, which enables a stable process environment and reduces downtime due to maintenance. Additionally, the modules incorporate fully integrated EndpointWorks for accurate and repeatable endpoint process control.

See related item:

Plasma-Therm sells multi-module ICP etch system to III-V foundry

Search: Plasma-Therm Etch PECVD

Visit: www.plasmatherm.com