Tegal sells thin film etch and PVD assets to OEM Group

PETALUMA, USA: Tegal Corp., an innovator of specialized production solutions for the fabrication of advanced MEMS, power ICs and optoelectronic devices, has sold its legacy thin film etch and physical vapor deposition (PVD) product lines to OEM Group, Inc. for aggregate consideration of up to $3 million, of which a maximum of $1 million is subject to OEM Group’s achievement of certain target sales levels.

Tegal sold to OEM Group the Tegal 900ACS, 980ACS, 6500 HRe- and 6500 Spectra series Thin Film Etch products, along with the Sputtered Films Endeavor and AMS PVD series products, intellectual property and process know-how.

OEM Group will bring continued global support to existing Tegal Thin Film Etch and PVD customers, and will integrate these world class technologies into their LEGENDS offering, which already includes the MRC Eclipse (PVD), AG Heatpulse (RTP), Lam AutoEtch (Etch), and Varian Sunset (Implant) platforms.

“OEM Group is the perfect company for these Tegal products, which represent an important legacy in semiconductor capital equipment and process technology,” said Thomas Mika, president and CEO, Tegal. “We are pleased that we have been able to place these products and many of the skilled employees associated with them in a company whose business model is built on the continued sales, service and support of late life cycle technology into new and existing customers and markets.”

“We are honored to continue providing Tegal’s world class Thin Film Etch solutions to the market; and, with the addition of the Sputtered Films technologies to our own PVD focus, we believe we will have an unmatched product offering,” said Wayne Jeveli, President of OEM Group. “Over the course of more than 30 years, Tegal’s brand has symbolized innovation, quality and customer focus. We believe these attributes will continue on for many years at OEM Group.”

The sale of the Thin Film Etch and PVD product lines to OEM Group represents a significant step in Tegal’s execution of its previously announced pursuit of strategic alternatives for the benefit of Tegal’s stockholders.

While continuing to evaluate strategic alternatives for the Company, Tegal intends to continue to sell and support its full range of Deep Reactive Ion Etch (DRIE) systems that it acquired from Alcatel Micro Machining Systems (AMMS) in September, 2008.

Tegal’s DRIE systems are critical enablers for etching silicon and dielectric films found in the MEMS, bio-tech, power IC, optoelectronic, and 3D-IC markets. Tegal DRIE tools are employed in MEMS foundries and commercial high volume manufacturing lines worldwide, and can be found in numerous academic and commercial research and development laboratories throughout the world.