Jiangsu Leuven Instruments was established in 2017 by Leuven Instruments of Belgium and the Institute of Microelectronics of the Chinese Academy of Sciences. The company develops and produces semiconductor etching equipment and process development equipment, especially for magnetic material etching technology.
Veeco Instruments is a process equipment producer that address several markets, the main ones being LEDs, PVs and data storage.
For the MRAM market, Veeco developed an Ion Beam Etch system that is now shipping to customers.
Applied Materials is developing and marketing equipment, services and software for manufacturing of semiconductors, displays and PV products.
In July 2019 Applied Materials launched its Endura Clover MRAM PVD platform for MRAM mass production.
Tokyo Electron (TEL), established in 1963 is based in Japan and is a global supplier of semiconductor and FPD production equipment worldwide. Product lines include coater/developers, thermal processing systems, plasma etch systems, CVD systems, surface preparation systems, and test systems.
In November 2012 TEL acquired Magnetic Solutions, a magnetic annealing systems developer.
MicroSense (previously known as ADE Technologies) designs precision capacitive position sensors and vibrating sample magnetometers for magnetic measurement.
For the MRAM market, MicoSense offers the Polar Kerr System which provides 300-mm non-contact magnetic property metrology system for perpendicular MRAM. The system utilizes the polar Magneto-Optical Kerr Effect (MOKE) to characterize the magnetic properties of multi-layer wafers used in the development and manufacturing of perpendicular MRAM.
Integral Solutions Int, (ISI) is a privately held US-based company that supplies Quasi Static Testers for characterizing Magneto-Resistive type heads.
ISI's product suite includes QST testers for every stage of manufacturing. ISI says that about 85% of the entire head production for the HDD industry is being tested on ISI's equipment.
Capres A/S is a Danish company established in 1999 to develop and market a unique probe technology designed for in-line production monitoring in the semiconductor industry. The company was acquired by KLA and is now a wholly-owned subsidiary.
Capres, in collaboration with IBM developed a resistivity measurement technique to characterize MTJ stacks used in HDD read heads and MRAM devices.
Singulus technologies (ETR:SNG) is a German-based company that focuses on manufacturing equipment for optical discs. Singulus' products range from mastering and injection molding to replication lines.
Singulus is offering its TIMARIS machine for Thin Film read/write heads (up to 300mm wafers), used in MRAM production, and has already sold several systems (we know that Grandis and Crocus have acquired at least one of these systems each).
US-based Despatch Industries, established in 1902, is a specialized thermal-processing equipment maker. Despatch is involved in three markets - thermal, solar and carbon fiber. Despatch also offers equipment for the data storage industry.
Despatch installed the world's first 50-wafer fully automated MRAM system at Freescale, in addition to a 300mm 50-wafer thermal chamber.
Canon ANELVA (ANalysis ELectronics VAcuum) is a fully owned subsidiary of
Canon Inc. that manufactures thin film vacuum processing equipment for semiconductor, data storage, and the display industry.
Canon ANELVA started developing PVD tool for spintronics back in1997, and since then the company's equipment has evolved to accommodate advancements in read head technologies - from GMR to TMR to low-RA TMR. Leveraging its expertise in magnetic thin films, Canon ANELVA started developing PVD and etch equipment for MRAM devices in 2000.
