Ultratech goes for mask writing with Lepton buy

Electronic News, Jan 13, 1997 by Judy Erkanat

San Jose, Calif.--Moving in characteristic form, Arthur W. Zafiropoulo, president and CEO of Ultratech Stepper, stepped in where Canon U.S.A. had decided to no longer tread. Ultratech executed a letter of intent last week to acquire the assets of Lepton, Inc., an electron-beam lithography equipment company.

Lepton had apparently been looking for a buyer, accepting bids since Christmas at a $1 million-minimum-bid auction. Sources believed Canon stopped any additional investment in Lepton late last year because of Canon's 1996 write-off. This pullout came as a surprise to many, after Canon had reportedly sunk $60 million into the project.

"I think this was a way for Canon to exit gracefully," speculated one source. "There wasn't enough time for anyone but Art Zafiropoulo to make such a quick decision and make it work."

An Ultratech spokesperson said the company also signed a confidentiality agreement with Lepton, and therefore could not disclose any in-depth information or the financial terms of the deal.

Larry Amon, president and CEO of Diamon Images, Inc., the Silicon Valley mask shop where Lepton had its alpha site, was enthusiastic about the deal, and the effectiveness of the Lepton E-beam machine.

"We have been Lepton's alpha site two-and-a-half years now, and we are pleased to see Ultratech take over the company," said Mr. Amon. "We hope this technology will go forward. The major problem was the lack of a process to go along with Lepton's writing tool. The Lepton machine is a great technology, to which I believe Ultratech can contribute the process."

He praised the Lepton EBES system as far superior to anything currently on the market. "We have written some plates on this machine that I think surprised the industry because of the small address sizes and optical proximity corrections (OPC). We are looking forward to working with Ultratech and putting forward this technology."

Mr. Amon explained that the Lepton EBES is the next generation past the MEBES technology developed at AT&T Bell Labs. Lepton's founding father was Bell Labs researcher Martin Lepselter, whose name is reflected in that of the company.

Diamon Images provided manufacturing and applications support for the Lepton machine, while lauding the system's dose modulation capability and overlay results. Lepton's goal was to produce quarter-micron features with masks and reticles turned out on the EBES, specified for a writing frequency of 500MHz and a fixed spot size of 50-100 nanometers.

Lepton's founder was also pleased at the deal. "Ultratech is a first-rate company and will do great things with the technology," Mr. Lepselter said. "I guess Canon finally learned that there is a difference between copiers and E-beam machines. The EBES4 from Lepton is a whole new generation with capabilities of a high-speed, high-current system with vector scan capability. It takes only 2 nanoseconds to write a pixel and blanks at 100 picoseconds."

He said the name for the company came from a tiny, subatomic particle, the lepton, as well as forming a double entendre with his own name.

Under development at Lepton since 1988, the E-beam technology was licensed from Bell Labs, as was the original technology used by Etec Systems, later known as the Electron Beam Technology division of Perkin-Elmer Corp., and then again as Etec following the 1990 management buyout.

In the early '90s, Mr. Lepselter enticed Canon to bankroll Lepton's R&D in exchange for rights to distribute Lepton's E-beam machine when it was ready. Canon poured millions of dollars into the project, eventually replacing Mr. Lepselter as president and CEO of the company with a Japanese executive. Mr. Lepselter finally left altogether, and has been out of the industry for some time.

Lepton's facilities are located in Murray Hill, N.J., and the acquisition is expected to close by the end of the month.

The deal followed mention of the virtually-shelved lithographic technology at last week's Semiconductor Equipment & Materials International Industry Strategy Symposium. At the end of his technology keynote address, Paolo A. Gargini, director of technology strategy at Intel, mentioned a possible resurgence of E-beam lithography in the coming year.