NuTool acquisition complete
ASMI has purchased the 85% of NuTool not already owned by ASMI, in exchange for ASMI common stock. The number of ASMI shares issued at closing was 1.96mn or 3.9% of the currently outstanding shares. In addition, ASMI issued replacement employee stock options to NuTool employees. ASMI may also issue up to an additional 800,000 shares, or 1.6% of its currently outstanding shares over the next three years based on NuTool's achievement of various performance targets.
Arthur del Prado, president and CEO of ASM International, comments: "With its breakthrough electrochemical mechanical deposition, or ECMD technologies, NuTool brings our company a unique capability that complements ASMI's suite of metals and dielectric film deposition technologies, which includes our patented Aurora low-k film, and provides ASMI with the planar copper deposition and removal technology required for integration of ultra and extreme low-k films. Having collaborated with our associates at NuTool for the past two years on the integration of our technologies [Bulletin 406, October 29, 2001], we are confident that this amplification of our back-end-of-line (BEOL) roadmap will accelerate adoption of our overall interconnect offering."
Homayoun Talieh, president of NuTool, adds: "We received confirmation of our technology from the marketplace with the acceptance this year of our first 300mm Lumina Copper ECMD platform by a key customer in Europe."
NuTool has nearly 120 patents issued and pending for copper plating, planarisation and removal on a single platform aimed at reducing the cost of ownership of copper damascene processing.
