9 May 2011

OEM Group buys Applied’s manual batch tool businesses

Semiconductor capital equipment provider OEM Group Inc (OEMG) of Phoenix, AZ, USA has assumed ownership of the Rhetech Inc of Coopersburg, PA, USA and Semitool Austria GmbH manual batch tool sales and service operations from Applied Materials Inc of Santa Clara, CA and its subsidiary Semitool Inc of Kalispell, MT, USA.

OEM Group will control all Rhetech and Semitool Austria sites and offer parts and services as well as system and retrofit orders for transferred products, including Semitool’s Cintillio, Scepter, Sirius, Spin-Rinse Dryer, Spray Acid Tool (excluding HF Vapor – MEMS), Spray Solvent Tool and Storm. OEMG will offer these batch spray tools, along with new product additions, under its new Chemical Process Technologies (CPT) group.

OEMG provides 75–200mm new and remanufactured semiconductor capital equipment, upgrades, spares and services to global LED, MEMS, wireless, power, energy-harvesting, WLP (wafer-level packaging), data storage and logic markets.

The latest deal was OEM Group’s fourth acquisition in less than three years, and its second from Applied Materials. “Based on our track record, OEM Group was ideally positioned to integrate these respected batch-process product lines into our portfolio,” says OEMG’s president & CEO Wayne Jeveli. “The Cintillio platform, particularly, will offer value and impressive sustainability for chipmakers seeking a low-cost-of-ownership batch-process solution from a flexible, small-footprint tool.”

OEM Group serves diverse semiconductor and emerging technologies through its LEGENDS portfolio of products, including MRC Eclipse (PVD), AG Heatpulse (RTP), Varian Legacy Implant, Lam AutoEtch, Tegal 900ACS, 980ACS, 6500 HRe- and 6500 Spectra series thin-film etch products, Sputtered Films Endeavor, and AMS PVD series products.

“We continually seek opportunities to enhance LEGENDS with complementary high-quality products and technologies that will improve our customers’ productivity, enable new applications and provide the best and the broadest selection of integrated solutions,” says chief technology officer Chris Forgey.

“This acquisition bolsters our already strong European reach with a world-class facility in Salzburg, Austria, and complements OEM Group’s existing presence in Japan and Taiwan,” says Jeveli. “Our global bandwidth has grown exponentially in less than 36 months to keep pace with demand and to position ourselves for new opportunities,” he adds. “Operationally, the addition of the Rhetech facility in Pennsylvania nearly doubles our manufacturing capacity in North America.”

All newly received product and service sales orders pertaining to the manual batch product lines purchased from Applied Materials or Semitool will be fulfilled by OEM Group and its subsidiaries. All impacted customers will receive details from OEM Group this week about their pending and future product needs.

“Our new Chemical Process Technologies will be backed by dedicated and uninterrupted engineering support [as with all OEM Group acquisitions],” Jeveli says.

See related items:

Plasma etch and dep tool maker OEM Group adds AlN film foundry services

Tegal sells thin-film etch and PVD assets to OEM Group

Tags: OEM Group

Visit: www.oemgroupinc.com