Veeco Instruments is a supplier of thin film process equipment, including metal organic chemical vapor deposition (MOCVD), molecular beam epitaxy (MBE) lithography, laser spike annealing, ion beam, single wafer etch and clean technologies for LEDs and the fabrication of power electronics, photonics, optics and advanced semiconductor devices.
The company also provides proprietary coherent gradient sensing (CGS) technology for the wafer inspection market and atomic layer deposition (ALD) tools for research organizations.
Initially founded in 1945 as Vacuum Electronic Equipment Co. developing leak detector equipment. Veeco merged with switching and linear power supply company Lambda in 1965. In 1988, Veeco was acquired by Unitech, also a maker of power supplies.
In 1990, the Veeco Instruments division split from Unitech in a management-led buyout headed by soon-to-be CEO Edward H. Braun for $29.2 million. In 1994, the company completed an IPO on NASDAQ, raising $27.5 million. (NASDAQ: VECO)
In 1997, Veeco acquired Media & Magnetics Applications (MR/GMR deposition technology) and Wyko Corp. (automated non-contact optical testing systems).
In 1998, Veeco bought Digital Instruments, Inc., a manufacturer of high-precision measurement products, for $150 million.
In 1999, Veeco merged with OptiMag, Inc., a supplier of automated optical defect inspection and process control equipment for the data storage thin film magnetic head industry, and purchased Ion Tech, Inc., entering into the optical coating market.
In 2001, Veeco purchased Applied EPI, which became its Molecular Beam Epitaxy group.
In 2003, Veeco purchased Emcore, entering the MOCVD business for LEDs.
In 2010, Veeco sold its metrology business to Bruker Corporation for $229 million in cash.
In 2014, Veeco purchased Solid State Equipment LLC.
In 2017, Veeco bought Ultratech, Inc, which made lithography products for advanced packaging and worked on laser spike anneal technology.
