News

Semilab acquires SSM Inc. – Budapest and Pittsburgh

03.08.2008

BUDAPEST, Hungary. March 8th, 2008 - Semilab Co. Ltd. and SSM Inc., both leading manufacturers of metrology solution materials to the semiconductor and solar industries, today announced that Semilab Co. Ltd. acquired SSM Inc. as previously it was reported.

SSM is now a new division of Semilab with responsibility for the development, manufacturing, and marketing of electrical metrology solutions for the semiconductor market worldwide. The SSM division will continue as a US-registered legal entity at its existing facilities in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The SSM division will provide continuity of support for all SSM products, and will also develop new products in cooperation with the European based parent company. Worldwide sales and support organizations are now being integrated, and Semilab has retained key executives of SSM Inc. within the new organization.

Dr. Tibor Pavelka, founder, President and Chief Executive Officer of Semilab Co. Ltd. commented: "Following this latest acquisition, Semilab will have increased market and technology development opportunities, and therefore will be better in providing sales and service support to our global customer base. The acquisition is an integral part of Semilab's strategy to become one of the largest suppliers of specialized semiconductor silicon electrical measurement equipment in the world".

SSM Inc. offers various contact electrical characterization instruments, like CV measurement by mercury probe, advanced methods such as CV/IV measurements for dielectrics and implants by FastGate technology; and the unique, non-contact near-field microwave microscope NeoMetriK for low-k-related measurements.

These tools will be integrated into Semilab’s portfolio. Semilab will provide continuous support for them, and also R&D activities will continue to further improve the products and introduce new applications.

About Semilab

Semilab Co. Ltd. with its headquarters in Budapest, Hungary, was founded in 1989. Semilab pioneered minority carrier lifetime as tool for metal contamination detection in silicon. Semilab is a leading supplier of non-contact wafer mapping metrology solutions for the global semiconductor and solar cell R&D and manufacturing markets with an installed base of over 500 systems. Current products include the WT-2000 bench top and the WT-3000 FOUP automated mapping tools with modules for the wafer mapping of microPCD lifetime, SPV diffusion length, Q-V gate dielectric properties and JPV implant sheet resistance. Semilab will continue to grow by in-house development and by further acquisitions of new technologies or companies.

About SSM

SSM, Inc., with its headquarters in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, was founded in 1970 with the spreading resistance probe for measuring dopant depth profiles in silicon. SSM added mercury probe capacitance-voltage (CV) measurement tools in 1989, and is now a market leader in electrical probe measurements for the global semiconductor industry, with an installed base of over 1000 systems. Current products include NanoSRP^® spreading resistance profilers, mercury probe CV systems for epitaxial silicon characterization, FastGate^® CV/IV systems for gate dielectric and implant measurements, and NeoMetriK microwave systems for low-k dielectrics metrology.

The technologies in the Semilab and SSM products are covered by US and foreign patents. Semilab has sales distribution worldwide, including the United States, Europe, Japan, China, Korea, Taiwan and Singapore.

Further information about Semilab can be obtained by calling +361 382 4530. Information about SSM can be obtained by calling +1 412 787 0620.

The Semilab website can be found in the following address: http://www.semilab.hu.