PRESS RELEASE | Nijmegen, the Netherlands | January 16, 2023

Chip Integration Technology Center (CITC) today announced the appointment of Mark Luke Farrugia as its new general manager. As of March 1, Farrugia will take over the responsibilities from general manager Jeroen van den Brand, who fulfilled the role ad interim.

Farrugia has an extensive background in the semiconductor backend industry. Prior to this appointment, he worked for almost sixteen years at NXP Semiconductors and most recently as technical director at Nexperia Semiconductors.

He explains why he is now switching to CITC: “Innovation work within semiconductor packaging has been my greatest professional passion for the past 27 years. Breakthrough innovation requires a dedicated organization having the right focus, knowledge and passion and determination, and I see this in CITC.”

In his position as general manager, Farrugia will be responsible for the further development of CITC as an internationally distinctive and well-recognized center of semiconductor and photonic chip packaging technology. “CITC is a young organization, and therefore needs to put itself on the semiconductor packaging map. This should be done by understanding the needs and expectations of the industry, building and enhancing the right competences, and by collaborating with other organizations. I look forward to working with the CITC team, as well as scouting and mentoring the next generation, dealing with the highly complex puzzle of understanding what the various industry stakeholders would like to achieve, and ultimately, to delivering results that have a meaningful impact on the industry.”

Roel Fonville, chair of the CITC Supervisory Board, expresses that this is what qualified Farrugia for the position at CITC: “The Supervisory Board is enthusiastic about the appointment of Mark Luke Farrugia as general manager of CITC. Mark Luke has substantive expertise, an up-to-date business network, entrepreneurial thinking and a strong drive to further internationalize CITC as an innovation center in the field of packaging.”

The position of general manager became vacant following the sad passing of CITC founder and first general manager Barry Peet in July 2022.

About CITC
Chip Integration Technology Center (CITC) is a non-profit joint innovation center specializing in heterogeneous integration and advanced chip packaging technology. CITC has created an effective ecosystem in which companies, research and educational institutes work on bridging the gap between academics and industry. CITC’s contribution to the ecosystem is to provide access to innovation, infrastructure and education. CITC was founded in 2019 with strategic partners TNO and Delft University of Technology and powered by Holland Semiconductors. It is also supported by local and regional governments.
www.citc.org

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Roger Wood to retire as CEO effective July 7, 2023; Robert Blanding named as successor and has been appointed President of Tosoh Quartz, Inc. (TQI) effective January 1, 2023.

Tosoh Corporation announced today that Mr. Roger E. Wood, Chief Executive Officer, and President of Tosoh Quartz Inc. will retire as CEO effective July 7, 2023. Mr. Wood will step down from his duties as President as of January 1, 2023, and remain CEO until July 7, 2023, at which time he will retire from the company. Robert Blanding, currently Chief Financial Officer, will take on the role of President and successor as of January 1, 2023.

Mr. Wood possesses more than 45 years of management experience in the semiconductorrelated quartz industry with Tosoh Quartz, Inc., and has been CEO & President since 2006. Mr. Wood joined the organization in 1978 as the sixth employee when it was known by its former name, Weiss Scientific Glassblowing Company, and has held many roles across the company as it has grown. Weiss was acquired by Japan-based Tosoh Corporation in 1994, and was renamed Tosoh Quartz, Inc. in 2000. Tosoh Quartz Inc., headquartered in Portland, OR also has operations in Durham, England.

“I am grateful to have spent 45 years with this great company, and very honored to have had the opportunity to lead it for the last sixteen years. I consider myself fortunate to have witnessed the innovation and creativity that enabled us to support the Semiconductor industries growth from its infancy to its current status. I believe the future holds even greater opportunities and I
am confident that Robert Blanding, as our new President, is the right choice to lead us on this path.”

Mr. Blanding joined TQI in 2019 as Chief Financial Officer and has a wealth of manufacturing and technology industries experience, along with a proven record of leadership in global businesses. Prior to TQI, Mr. Blanding spent three years at HP Inc. as a Senior Director within the ink and toner businesses; three years at ESCO Corporation (now part of the Weir Group) as the Vice President of Finance for the Products and Mining Divisions; and eighteen years at Intel Corporation in a variety of operational finance roles including eight years directly supporting manufacturing organizations as well as a role in Intel Capital, supporting mergers and acquisitions and an international role supporting the Europe, Middle East, and Africa sales region. Mr. Blanding holds a BA in Business Administration from the Foster School of Business at the University of Washington, and an MBA from the Kelley School of Business at Indiana University.

About Tosoh Quartz Inc.
Tosoh Quartz Inc. and Tosoh Quartz Japan, lead the industry in the production of quartz glass products for use by the semiconductor industry in the manufacture of integrated circuits. Tosoh Quartz Inc. has been operating in the Portland area since 1970 and in Durham, England since 1993, and is a member of Tosoh Corporation’s Advanced Materials Division along with sister
companies Tosoh Quartz Corporation (Japan), Tosoh Quartz Co., Ltd. (Taiwan), Tosoh SGM Corp. (Japan), Tosoh TSC (China), Tosoh SMD and Tosoh SMC.

Tosoh Corporation is the parent company of a Japanese chemical and specialty products and materials group that comprises over 100 companies worldwide and a multiethnic workforce of more than 12,000 people. 

Tosoh’s principal markets include the chemical and petrochemical, construction, automotive, consumer electronics, information technology, bioscience, and environmental markets. 

Tosoh is a global chemical company that supplies manufacturers with the materials they need to produce the things that make modern life all that it is and everything it can be.

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Kitchener, Ontario, January 11, 2023 – PEER Group® will showcase its full suite of innovative testing, connectivity, and automation solutions at booth A836 during SEMICON Korea. The annual tradeshow and conference, which is happening February 1-3, 2023 at COEX in Seoul Korea, is the country’s preeminent semiconductor industry event.

“South Korea continues to be a very important market for us and we look forward to showcasing our entire suite of products and services during SEMICON Korea,” says Bob Kane, PEER Group’s Director of Factory Sales, Asia.

PEER Group is the semiconductor industry’s largest supplier of testing, connectivity, and automation software. “Most factory automation engineers are familiar with our flagship test application, SECSIM Pro®+,” remarks Kane, while adding: “Beyond testing, our connectivity and automation products are being used to power more than 90,000 active equipment connections in fabs around the world and our Professional Services team has automated more than 130 tool platforms while helping customers achieve more than 120 fab acceptances.”

Visitors to booth A836 will have the opportunity to meet with representatives from PEER Group’s global sales team, as well as members from Toward Future, PEER Group’s exclusive sales partner serving Korea. To learn more, and to schedule a meeting during SEMICON Korea, visit PEER Group’s event page.

About PEER Group
PEER Group® is the largest supplier of innovative factory automation software products for the semiconductor industry. Since 1992, our solutions have helped the world’s most advanced OEMs and factories reduce time to market and lower costs by solving their equipment automation, data management, and process control problems. A multi-award winning company, PEER Group has been named a Best Workplace by Great Place to Work Canada 11 times, and most recently was one of six recipients of Intel’s 2022 EPIC Outstanding Supplier Award, which recognizes the absolute top performers in the Intel supply chain. Follow PEER Group on LinkedIn and Twitter at @PEERgroup_Inc..

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January 12th, 2023 – Tempe, AZ: Moov, a data-fueled marketplace for used semiconductor equipment, today announced David Duke as Head of Enterprise Partnerships. A 27-year semiconductor industry veteran, Duke has led over $1bn in strategic fab level sales and exclusive remarketing of semiconductor equipment, including developing and running the largest equipment resale operations in the world at GlobalFoundries and GE Capital.

“We are excited to welcome equipment remarketing pioneer and semiconductor industry veteran, David Duke, to Moov,” said Moov CEO and co-founder Steven Zhou. “David’s expertise stems from decades of experience devoted to semiconductor equipment, first as an exec at top equipment manufacturers focusing on their service offerings, and then building the largest remarketing programs in the world at GE Capital and GlobalFoundries. This is the type of world-class talent we know will continue to make Moov successful as we deepen our global partnerships with semiconductor manufacturers in 2023 and beyond.”

Duke has held executive positions at semiconductor equipment behemoths AMAT, KLA, and Cymer (ASML), with focus on equipment services. At GE Capital, Duke served as VP of Sales, leading US and European sales of semiconductor and test equipment. At GlobalFoundries, Duke was responsible for acquisitions, valuations, and recovery of surplus assets, building GlobalFoundries’ remarketing process to world-class standards. Most recently, Duke served as President of US and Korea for precision deposition equipment manufacturer Kateeva.

“I was initially drawn to Moov because Moov’s approach is highly ethical, transparent, and truly has customers' best interests in mind,” said David Duke, Head of Enterprise Partnerships at Moov. “With the technology, marketplace data, and full aftermarket service suite Moov offers, manufacturers can more robustly incorporate used equipment into their enterprise procurement strategy and recoup capital on pre-owned assets at a scale never before possible.”

Duke will be responsible for establishing and growing Moov’s newly minted Enterprise Partnerships division. In this role, he will oversee strategic enterprise partnerships with semiconductor manufacturers to leverage surplus equipment in a way that moves the needle strategically beyond individual tool sales. Moov offers chipmakers a compelling solution to resell idle assets. Moov’s global marketplace and wealth of secondary capital equipment market data offers sellers immediate access to global demand and data-driven valuation solutions to make more intelligent decisions. Moov’s global team offers expertise in equipment sales including compliance with trade and financial regulations. The new Enterprise Partnerships division will focus on complex, multi-asset sales including supporting manufacturers’ equipment needs during fab acquisition or divestiture. For more information on Moov’s strategic equipment remarketing services contact [email protected].

About Moov Technologies Inc.
Headquartered in Tempe, Arizona, and Austin, Texas, Moov is a technology-driven marketplace and asset management platform that matches buyers and sellers of pre-owned semiconductor manufacturing equipment. Built by a team with more than 50 years of experience in the manufacturing equipment brokerage industry, Moov’s platform ensures accurate listings and faster transactions. CEO Steven Zhou and Managing Director Maxam Yeung co-founded the company in 2017. To learn more, please visit Moov.co.

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HATFIELD, Pa. (USA) January 5, 2023 — Brooks Instrument, a leader in precision fluid measurement and control technology, has earned a Supplier Excellence Award from Applied Materials, Inc., the leader in materials engineering solutions used to produce virtually every new chip and advanced display in the world.

Applied’s Supplier Excellence Awards recognize the company’s top performing suppliers for outstanding technical and operational achievements in areas including quality, service, lead time, delivery, cost and responsiveness. Brooks Instrument received the award for Best in Class Performance.

“Applied Materials congratulates our Supplier Excellence Award recipients for achieving outstanding performance over the past year,” said Dr. Paul Chhabra, Corporate Vice President of Global Supply Chain at Applied Materials. “Having strategic relationships throughout the supply chain is more important than ever, and we thank our suppliers for their strong support and collaboration.”

About Brooks Instrument
Since 1946, Brooks Instrument has been a leader in precision fluid measurement and control technology. Providing instrumentation for flow, pressure and vapor delivery, the company serves customers in semiconductor manufacturing, fiber optics, thin film manufacturing, solar cells, LED, pharmaceutical, biopharmaceuticals, alternative energy, oil and gas, chemical and petrochemical.

With manufacturing, sales and service locations in the Americas, Europe and Asia, Brooks Instrument has the world’s largest installed base of mass flow controllers. Its broad family of products includes the brands UNIT Instruments, Tylan and Celerity.

For more information, please visit www.BrooksInstrument.com. The company is also on LinkedIn (www.linkedin.com/company/Brooks-Instrument) and YouTube (www.youtube.com/user/Brooks407).

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Heidelberg, Germany – We are happy to announce that one hundred and fifty MLA 150 Maskless Aligners have been successfully installed worldwide at our customers facilities. First launched to the market in 2015, the revolutionary maskless technology of the MLA 150 has become firmly established within the advanced microfabrication community.

The MLA 150 was the first and only tool that has become a true alternative to mask-based aligners, offering extremely high exposure speed, high frontside and backside alignment accuracies, warpage compensation, high resolution and high accuracy, and the ability to expose on any substrate size from pieces that are a few square millimeters up to full 8” wafers. Further adding to the flexibility, the non-contact exposure technique for the MLA150 in addition to the simple ease of use makes this the ideal tool in rapid prototyping environments, for low to mid-volume production, and for research and development. Common application areas include MEMS, electronics, micro-optics, micro-fluidics, sensors, and many more.

École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL) – Pioneer in maskless technology
The beta-version of the MLA 150 was installed in August 2014 at the Center of MicroNanoTechnology (CMi) of the renowned École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL) located in Switzerland, being one of Europe’s most vibrant and cosmopolitan science and technology centres. The CMi is a complex of clean rooms and processing equipment devoted to microtechnology made accessible to trained academic and industrial users. The CMi is at the same time one of the pioneers in maskless lithography.

In 2022, the CMi purchased their second MLA 150 Maskless Aligner, which was installed most recently. “The MLA 150 is today one of the most important equipment in our facility, and there are many users that daily use the machine for printing. So, we wanted to have two of them”, emphasizes Julien Dorsaz, the manager of the photolithography division of the CMi. To get insights into the work at the CMi, and to learn about the MLA 150 experience of the users, we conducted a 30-minute interview with Julien Dorsaz. Get the full interview on our YouTube channel.

Today, the MLA 150 serves as a trusted, indispensable workhorse in many multi-user facilities, microfabrication labs, and research institutes. Since its market introduction, the MLA 150 has developed into one of our most important technologies in our company’s product portfolio. Setting the bar for state-of-the-art maskless lithography, the MLA 150 promises continuous market growth in the coming years.

For further information please visit: www.heidelberg-instruments.com

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Rochester, N.Y. -- Linton Crystal Technologies (www.lintoncrystal.com) announces Scott Blazey has joined the company as Director of Operations. Located in Henrietta, New York, Linton is the world leader in the design, development and manufacture of Czochralski silicon furnaces for production of monocrystalline silicon ingots for the semiconductor and solar industries.

“Scott brings with him a wealth of experience in operations, as well as direct knowledge of our Czochralski furnaces and the silicon ingot growth process,” says Todd Barnum, president and COO of Linton Crystal Technologies. “This, combined with his track record in the areas of cost reduction, continuous improvement, quality control, and employee and business development, will help us take advantage of new opportunities in both solar and semiconductor.”

Blazey has a passion for problem-solving, quality control and employee and business development. He most recently served as senior manager of quality for Gleason Works in Rochester, New York. In this position, he focused on driving down the cost of poor quality through process development and continuous improvement. In his previous role, he managed operations and manufacturing for Gleason Works automation and CNC divisions. There, he implemented processes to reduce manufacturing variance and lead time while improving upon on-time delivery. As the operations manager, he successfully led the development, production and installation of many projects for tier one automotive manufacturers. Prior to joining Gleason, he worked for Kayex SPX. Over the course of five years there, he moved from field service engineer to field service site manager, and ultimately to project manager/process development engineer.

Linton specializes in silicon and produces equipment for materials such as germanium and gallium arsenide. They also provide technical support, process engineering support and replacement parts to help clients get businesses off the ground, improve productivity and continue to innovate. Linton has been the exclusive owner of Kayex technology since 2013.

For more information, visit www.lintoncrystal.com.

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Deventer, December 15, 2022 – RoodMicrotec N.V., a leading independent company for semiconductors supply and quality services, and NOVELDA, the world leader in UWB (Ultra-Wideband) sensing solutions, today announce that the companies have reached agreement on the qualification, test and supply of NOVELDA’s new generation of UWB devices. The Ultra-Wideband Sensor can detect the tiniest movements, even breathing and heartbeat. This ability enables NOVELDA to offer the most reliable human presence sensor in the world. It will automatically activate a device like a laptop, an LCD screen or a ceiling lamp, when you need it, and turn the device off when you leave. This is useful in a variety of indoor applications in consumer electronics, building automation and in smart building systems. NOVELDA UWB Sensor enables new levels of user experience, increases safety, and reduces energy consumption.

The cooperation with RoodMicrotec as European partner enables NOVELDA to manage faster qualification and industrialization of new products. Effective collaboration, both on engineering and management level, and combining each partner’s expertise is allowing ‘first time right’ development of test solutions, qualification processes and rapid launch of production testing and supply. Furthermore, being a long-term partner, RoodMicrotec will support NOVELDA in continuously optimizing testing procedures to drive cost down over time.

RoodMicrotec will be partnering with NOVELDA in serving the global UWB market, which is forecasted by TSR (Techno System Research) to reach from 300 million units shipped in 2022 towards more than 1.8 billion units shipped by 2030.
“This collaboration provides us with faster time-to-market of our innovative UWB solutions, continuity of supply and constant focus on improvements both in quality and cost”, says Jan-Bjørnar Lund, NOVELDA’s CEO.
For RoodMicrotec, this partnership matches well within its portfolio of capabilities and services, as European leading test house.

Martin Sallenhag, CEO of RoodMicrotec, says: “This partnership is right within the sweet spot of our business proposition; combining our expertise with our customers' interests. We support our customers with state-of-the art RF test development and equipment in 24/7 highly flexible production test environment, complying with world class quality standards.”
 
About NOVELDA
NOVELDA, the world leader in UWB sensing solutions, provides the world’s most accurate, intelligent and reliable sensor solution for human presence detection. NOVELDA Ultra-Wideband (UWB) short-range impulse radar sensors help save energy and achieve new levels of user experience and interactivity in a variety of indoor applications, including consumer electronic devices and smart building systems. NOVELDA technology complies with worldwide UWB regulations and is protected by several design patents.

Further information
Tove Elisabeth Lutdal – VP Marketing
Phone: +47 90 73 49 49 Email: [email protected] Web: www.novelda.com

About RoodMicrotec
RoodMicrotec is a leading independent company for semiconductor supply and quality services. With more than 50 years of experience in the semiconductor and electronics industry, RoodMicrotec is well-established as a highly valued partner for many companies worldwide. The company provides full-turnkey ASIC services for complex microchips that are customized to handle specific applications for individual customers. In cooperation with strong partners, RoodMicrotec manages the entire development and production flow of ASICs in the target volume, ranging from low quantities up to multiple millions per year. The turnkey solution includes project management, wafer test, assembly, final test, qualification, failure analysis and logistics. All services comply with the industrial and quality requirements of the high reliability, aerospace, automotive, healthcare and industrial sectors. RoodMicrotec’s headquarter is located in Deventer, Netherlands, with operational units in Nördlingen and Stuttgart, Germany.
For more information visit https://www.roodmicrotec.com

Further information
Martin Sallenhag - CEO, Arvid Ladega – CFO
Phone: +31 570 745623 Email: [email protected] Web: www.roodmcirotec.com

This press release is published in English and German. In case of conflict between these versions the English version shall prevail.

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Breker Verification Systems, the leading provider of advanced test content synthesis solutions, today unveiled the Breker Integrity FASTApps™ Portfolio, a library of automated test generation intellectual property (IP) elements targeting difficult-to-verify processor core and system-on-chip (SoC) scenarios.

The FASTApps provide commercial-grade, high-coverage verification for RISC-V processor cores and the SoC platforms that use them.

“The RISC-V Open ISA concept, while powerful, introduces verification challenges to engineering teams unfamiliar with processor complexities,” observes David Kelf, Breker’s CEO, an active RISC-V Consortium member involved with a public effort to improve RISC-V verification methodologies. “By automating test content generation, Breker’s years of verification experience can be encapsulated and applied across many projects, driving high test coverage with a minimal level of effort.”

Breker’s new Integrity FASTApps, ideal for the verification of processors based on the RISC-V Open Instruction Set Architecture (ISA) provide specific test sets for both processor core integrity and the System-on-Chip (SoC) that encompass these cores.
The Processor Core Integrity FASTApps include commonplace, but hard-to-verify scenarios such as load store integrity, random instruction testing, register-to-register hazards, conditionals and branches, exceptions, async. interrupts, privilege level switching, core security, exception testing (memory protection and machine-code integrity), virtual memory/paging and core coherency.

In addition, the SoC Integrity FASTApps include random memory and register tests, system interrupt testing (external, timing and software interrupts), multi-core execution, memory ordering, atomic operations, system coherency, system paging and memory management unit (MMU) operations, system security and power management.

Also available are apps for end-to-end multi-IP SoC testing and early firmware testing for RISC-V.

The FASTApps make full use of the Breker Test Suite Synthesis technology. Features include seamless portability across the entire verification flow and execution platforms, coverage-driven and pre-execution randomization for enhanced use models, powerful debug and performance profiling capability, and concurrent test set. They integrate fully with the Breker TrekApps such as the system coherency, security, power domain, networking and other system verification IP tests for fully comprehensive SoC and core-level verification.

Availability and Pricing
The Breker Integrity FASTApps for RISC-V as well as Arm and X86 based systems are available today.
Pricing is available upon request. Special introductory pricing applies to the FASTApps.
For more information, visit the Breker website or email [email protected].

Breker at the RISC-V Summit
Breker executives and technical staff will be part of the RISC-V Summit program held Tuesday, December 13, and Wednesday, December 14, at the San Jose Convention McEnery Center in San Jose, Calif.
John Sotiropoulos, principal engineer at Breker, will present “The New Verification Ecosystem that Supports RISC-V Verification for all Adopters” with Lee Moore, consulting engineer at Imperas Software, December 13 at 4:20 p.m. P.S. T.
Adnan Hamid, Breker’s CTO, will address “RISC-V SoC and Processor Integrity: Dealing with Unique RISC-V Integrity Issues” December 14 at 12:10 p.m. P.S.T.
Send email to [email protected] to arrange a meeting.

About Breker Verification Systems
Breker Verification Systems is a leading provider of Portable Stimulus solutions, a standard means to specify verification intent and behaviors reusable across target platforms. It is the first company to introduce graph-based verification and the synthesis of powerful test sets from intent-based, abstract scenario models based on AI planning algorithms. Breker’s Test Suite Synthesis and TrekApp library allows the automated generation of high-coverage, powerful test cases for deployment into a variety of UVM, SoC and Post-Silicon verification environments. Case studies that feature Altera (now Intel), Analog Devices, Broadcom, IBM, Huawei and other companies leveraging Breker’s solutions are available on the Breker website. Breker is privately held and works with leading semiconductor companies worldwide.

Engage with Breker at:
Website: www.brekersystems.com
Twitter: @BrekerSystems
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/breker-verification-systems/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/BrekerSystems/

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