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ASML plans takeover of computational lithography company Brion |
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Dec 19, 2006 at 01:59 PM |
 ASML Holding has agreed to acquire Brion Technologies, a provider of semiconductor design and wafer manufacturing optimization solutions for advanced lithography. The companies expect that the transaction will cost ASML $270 million cash. ASML also expects Brion to be cash positive in 2007.
Brion was founded in 2002 and has capabilities for optical proximity correction (OPC) and modelling of other lithography processes. This ‘computational lithography' encompasses design verification, reticle enhancement technologies and optical proximity correction. The company also supplies Tachyon, a hardware-accelerated, image-based data and simulation engine modelling system, and Aerion, a microlithography aerial image sensing platform that is capable of capturing full-field in-scanner aerial images at resolution and at the wafer plane for 193nm and 248nm production wafer scanners, under exact production conditions such as illumination scheme, lens settings and stage speed.
Subject to approval by regulatory authorities, closing is expected in the first quarter 2007. Following completion of the acquisition, Brion will continue to support its current product offering and operate as a wholly owned subsidiary of ASML. The staffing and management of the company is not expected to change. The company has more than 120 employees and has field operations in the USA, Europe, Japan, Korea, Taiwan, and China. Its headquarters is in Santa Clara, California.
"This combination extends significantly ASML capabilities to support the semiconductor industry as our complementary technologies can enhance further the efficiency of chip manufacturing," said Eric Meurice, president and CEO of ASML. "Brion's simulation technology combined with ASML's lithography systems will generate value for customers through faster time to market, better imaging quality and higher yield in wafer manufacturing."
ASML also owns ASML MaskTools that also has OPC technologies for scattering bar placement and a chromeless phase shift technology. The European lithography company also develops control software for its scanners (LithoCruiser) that can feedback information into the Brion system.
While ASML is keen to promote an integrated system of interconnections between its existing scanner and MaskTools technologies and its Brion acquisition, the companies' promise that Brion will "continue to support its current product offering" seems to be an attempt to allay fears of those using other litho systems (mainly Nikon and Canon). However, one wonders how keen other lithography companies will be to work with Brion in developing modelling capabilities with equipment information, or, perhaps more importantly, how keen ASML will be to let Brion support other companies' equipment.
Brion's CEO Eric Chen seems confident. "Joining forces with ASML enables Brion to reinforce its technology leadership in computational lithography while increasing its reach and creating an opportunity for potentially accelerated growth for our products addressing the most advanced semiconductor nodes," he says. "This combination represents an unprecedented synergy of wafer manufacturing technologies with multiple areas of cooperation to make our products even more effective. We remain committed to delivering an extended suite of computational and wafer lithography solutions to our customers as we become integrated with and supported by the world's leading semiconductor scanner manufacturer."
By Dr Mike Cooke
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Lithography 
