Electroglas has sold its Design for Manufacturing (DFM) and Fab Solutions software product lines to FEI for $6mn in cash plus the assumption of certain liabilities. The product lines include Electroglas' Yield Manager and Merlin's Framework products. FEI will found a new division that will be staffed, in part, by existing Electroglas' DFM and Fab Solutions employees.

Electroglas has sold its Design for Manufacturing (DFM) and Fab Solutions software product lines to FEI for $6mn in cash plus the assumption of certain liabilities. The product lines include Electroglas' Yield Manager and Merlin's Framework products. FEI will found a new division that will be staffed, in part, by existing Electroglas' DFM and Fab Solutions employees.

Curt Wozniak, chairman and CEO of Electroglas, explains the sale: "Earlier this year, we set out to narrow our focus, concentrating on delivering advanced wafer probers and extending our wafer probing technologies to drive equipment and process efficiencies throughout the back-end."

As part of the purchase, FEI will assume control of Electroglas' DFM and Fab Solutions engineering operations in Mumbai, India. Electroglas will work closely with FEI to provide a seamless transition and continued support for customers who are currently using the DFM and Fab Solutions products.

Vahe' Sarkissian, chairman, president and CEO of FEI, comments: "Electroglas' highly popular Merlin's Framework CAD navigation software will greatly enhance FEI's suite of solutions for circuit edit and support our design to yield strategy."

The Electroglas' software division was based on software obtained in its takeover of Knights Technology. Merlin's Framework optimises the equipment and personnel resources of design and failure analysis labs by providing computerised interfaces and navigation capabilities for more than 50 different types of analysis and test equipment. YieldManager is a customisable software system that helps manufacturers achieve and maintain high yields by enabling engineers to collect, correlate, analyse and share critical data between different points of the manufacturing process. FEI will market the products as FEI Knights.

FEI has also acquired Revise Inc, a supplier of laser etching products. The patented technology etches the backside of advanced, complex chips providing faster, more efficient and precise access for focused ion beam (FIB) circuit edit. The technology will be used in conjunction with FEI's Vectra series of circuit edit products. Revise has also developed expertise in the use of its laser technology as a micro machining tool, which the company believes may prove useful for future nanotechnology devices such as MEMS and micro optics.

Electroglas announced earlier this year the intended sale of its optical wafer inspection operations. This sale has not been completed as expected and Electroglas has discontinued further development of wafer inspection products. Electroglas will continue to support existing inspection customers.

AngelTech Live III: Join us on 12 April 2021!

AngelTech Live III will be broadcast on 12 April 2021, 10am BST, rebroadcast on 14 April (10am CTT) and 16 April (10am PST) and will feature online versions of the market-leading physical events: CS International and PIC International PLUS a brand new Silicon Semiconductor International Track!

Thanks to the great diversity of the semiconductor industry, we are always chasing new markets and developing a range of exciting technologies.

2021 is no different. Over the last few months interest in deep-UV LEDs has rocketed, due to its capability to disinfect and sanitise areas and combat Covid-19. We shall consider a roadmap for this device, along with technologies for boosting its output.

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We shall also discuss electrification of transportation, underpinned by wide bandgap power electronics and supported by blue lasers that are ideal for processing copper.

Additional areas we will cover include the development of GaN ICs, to improve the reach of power electronics; the great strides that have been made with gallium oxide; and a look at new materials, such as cubic GaN and AlScN.

Having attracted 1500 delegates over the last 2 online summits, the 3rd event promises to be even bigger and better – with 3 interactive sessions over 1 day and will once again prove to be a key event across the semiconductor and photonic integrated circuits calendar.

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