Mergers & Acquisitions
the French epitaxial wafer supplier Picogiga. Soitec will support existing
Picogiga customers and core business - growing epitaxial layers on
compound-semiconductor substrates. The business mainly uses gallium arsenide
(GaAs) substrates, with layers deposited via molecular beam epitaxy (MBE).
Soitec plans to apply its Smart Cut technology to compound materials. Smart
Cut uses wafer bonding with a hydrogen implant to cut off thin layers on a
substrate.
The Soitec-Picogiga division will concentrate on the development and
manufacture of compound-semiconductor products, with 30 engineers and
technicians from Picogiga joining Soitecs team.
Andre Auberton-Herve, Soitecs president and CEO, says: "We are excited at
the opportunity to extend our technology development efforts by combining
our Smart Cut technology with Picogigas epitaxial technology, a key element
in manufacturing compound substrates."
Machine vision system supplier Cognex has acquired the wafer identification
business of Siemens Dematic for an undisclosed amount of cash. Cognex bought
the rights to all of Siemens patented and unpatented wafer identification
technology, as well as the related assets of their wafer identification
business. The acquisition was completed on March 31, 2003.
