NEC Electronics and Implant Center, Inc. Sign Agreement for Outsourcing

August 01, 2001 - San Jose, CA

SAN JOSE, California, August 1, 2001-Implant Center, Inc., the only QS-9002-certified ion implant processing and support services provider to the semiconductor industry, announced that it has signed a term agreement with NEC Electronics Inc. Implant Center will provide outsource services and support for the rebuilding, repair and testing of ion sources and related assemblies for NEC's operation in Roseville, California.


“We are pleased that as a result of a rigorous and successful evaluation, NEC Electronics has elected to sign a term agreement for this specialized service at their Roseville facility. It is a testament to the level of expertise and commitment we have in this unique outsource service,” states Ray Krummen, President and Chief Executive Officer. “Since the announcement of the sub-assembly rebuilding operation, Implant Center has achieved tremendous growth in this area by investing in a highly skilled staff of technicians and in sophisticated tooling to increase reliability and optimize the efficiency of implanters. The outsourcing of these services for semiconductor facilities provides reduced environmental and hazardous liability, while increasing machine availability and throughput, resulting in a lower cost per wafer. As the world’s largest and only foundry operation for ion implantation, Implant Center has performed thousands of source rebuildings for a multitude of ion species to support partner customer manufacturing and technology development programs. Subsequently, offering this proven service to our customers was a natural progression for us.”

“After demonstrating to NEC through a year-long evaluation that source rebuilding is a quality-driven and reliable operation at Implant Center, NEC opted to rely on their expertise for outsourcing of this function. We consider partnering with Implant Center a great opportunity for us both to gain significant advantages in operational effectiveness. We look forward to a long and mutually beneficial partnership,” stated Frankie McDermott, Director, Equipment Engineering/Facilities, NEC Electronics.

Implant Center has dedicated significant resources in its San Jose facility to the sub-assembly rebuilding operation and is currently duplicating these efforts to serve customers in its regional locations. Implant Center uses the sophistication of Krytek source conditioners to electrically test and pre-condition source units and also rebuild and clean flood gun and plasma gun assemblies, source extraction manipulator assemblies and other components closely related to ion sources that require weekly cleaning and rebuilding. Rebuilt ion sources are returned to the customer conditioned and under vacuum to certify performance, and are ready for re-assembly in the implanter.