ASM International

1960s: In 1964, Arthur del Prado founds ASM as 'Advanced Semiconductor Materials' in Bilthoven, the Netherlands. Initially the company operates as a sales agent in semiconductor fabrication technology in Europe. In 1968, the company was formally listed as a private limited company.

1970s: ASM starts to design, manufacture and sell chemical vapor deposition equipment. In 1974 it acquires Fico Toolings, a Dutch manufacturer of semiconductor molds. A Hong Kong sales office ASM Asia, now known and traded as ASM Pacific Technology, is established in 1975. ASM America is founded in Phoenix, Arizona, in 1976. Sale of ASM's horizontal plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition furnaces drive the company's growth.

1980s: Following an initial public offering on the Nasdaq in May 1981, the company expands. In 1982 ASM Japan is established. ASM invests in new semiconductor fabrication technologies, like lithography, ion implantation, epitaxy, and wire bonding. In 1988, the company divests ASML Holding N.V., ASM Ion Implant, and it lists its Hong Kong–based activities as ASM Pacific Technology on the Hong Kong stock exchange in 1989.

1990s: The company reorganizes thoroughly between 1991 and 1994. In 1993, ASM divests ASM Fico to Berliner Electro Holding, now known as Besi. ASM focusses on vertical low-pressure chemical vapor deposition furnaces by ASM Europe, single wafer plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition by ASM Japan and single wafer epitaxy by ASM America. From 1996 onwards, the company is also listed on the Euronext, Amsterdam.ASM retains a majority stake in ASM Pacific Technology.

2000s: ASM expands again with investments in 300-mm wafer technology and atomic layer deposition. In 2007, the company successfully brings atomic layer deposition from R&D to high-volume production via the high-κ metal gate application. At the same time, hedge funds question the company's stake in ASM Pacific Technology. In 2008 Arthur del Prado is succeeded as CEO by his son, Chuck del Prado. In 2009 headquarters move from Bilthoven to Almere, the Netherlands.

2010s: The company returns to structural profitability after execution of a worldwide restructuring program, that includes the implementation of a product driven organization, a single global sales organization, consolidation of manufacturing in Singapore, and the establishment of a global human resources, finance, IT, operational excellence and environment, health and safety organization. The application of (plasma enhanced) atomic layer deposition in multiple patterning and high-κ metal gate drives ASM's growth. Other products include epitaxy, PECVD and vertical furnace. Its stake in ASM Pacific Technology is reduced to 25%.

2020s: In 2020, on the Euronext, the company is included on the AEX index. which includes the top-25 of companies listed on the Euronext Amsterdam stock exchange. The same year, after 12 years as CEO, Chuck del Prado decided to step down, and was succeeded by Benjamin Loh. Between 2020 and 2022, ASM renewed its vertical furnace product line with A400DUO (200mm wafers) and Sonora (300mm wafers).

To create a semiconductor chip, many individual steps are performed using various types of wafer processing equipment, including photolithographic patterning, depositing thin layers, etching to remove material, thermal treatments, and other steps. ASM's systems are designed for deposition processes, when thin films, or layers, of various materials are grown or deposited onto the wafer. Many different thin-film layers are deposited to complete the full sequence of process steps necessary to manufacture a chip.

ASM's technology development is driven by its customers' goal to build faster, cheaper, and more powerful semiconductor chips with reduced energy consumption. This goal drives the need to shrink the dimensions of components on the chip, targeting to double the number of components per unit area on a chip every two years (Moore's law). As part of this scaling of dimensions, ASM supplies its customers – chip manufacturers – with machines that deposit ever thinner films of semiconductor materials. ASM also develops deposition processes for new materials to be used in semiconductor fabrication.

During the past 15 years, an increasing array of new materials has been introduced in the fabrication of chips. These new materials were required to achieve the necessary performance improvements of chips, as outlined by Moore's Law. For instance, in 2007 in a MOSFET transistor, the silicon oxidegate dielectric was replaced with a high-κ, a material that has a higher dielectric constant than silicon oxide. In this particular case, ASM pioneered the chemical process and a new deposition method called atomic layer deposition after nearly a decade of R&D. In addition, increasingly precise deposition methods are required as components on a chip such as transistors moved from planar to 3D structures, like FinFETs in the past decade. ASM has a leading position in single wafer atomic layer deposition (ALD).

Research

ASM offers a number of methods and accompanying machines to deposit these thin films of materials. The company tries to expand the applicability of its deposition technologies and machines as much as possible. R&D is critical in that effort. In 2021, the company spent 151 million euro on R&D (or 9% of its annual revenues). R&D activities stretch from basic research of new materials to the application of new materials in chip manufacturing.