Businessweek

Entegris, Inc. engages in the development, manufacture, and supply of products and materials used in processing and manufacturing in the semiconductor and other high-technology industries. For the semiconductor industry, the company’s products maintain the integrity of critical materials used by the semiconductor manufacturing process. For other high-technology applications, its products and materials are used to manufacture flat panel displays, light emitting diodes (LEDs), chemicals, photoresists, fuel cells, solar cells, gas lasers, optical and magnetic storage devices, fiber optic cables, and critical components for aerospace, glass manufacturing and biomedical applications. The company sells its products worldwide through a direct sales force and through selected distributors. The company offers a product portfolio that includes approximately 17,000 standard and customized products. Its products include both unit driven and capital expense driven products. Its unit-driven and consumable product class includes membrane-based liquid filters and housings, metal-based gas filters, resin-based gas purifiers, wafer shippers, disk-shipping containers and test assembly and packaging products and consumable graphite and silicon carbide components used in plasma etch, ion implant and chemical vapor deposition (CVD) processes in semiconductor manufacturing. The company’s capital expense-driven products include its components, systems and subsystems that use electro-mechanical, pressure differential and related technologies, to permit semiconductor and other electronics manufacturers to monitor and control the flow and condition of process liquids used in these manufacturing processes, and its process carriers that protect the integrity of in-process wafers. Segments The company offers its products through three business segments: Contamination Control Solutions; Microenvironments; and Specialty Materials. CONTAMINATION CONTROL SOLUTIONS The Contamination Control Solutions segment offers a range of products that purify, monitor, and deliver critical liquids and gases to the semiconductor manufacturing process and similar manufacturing processes. Liquid Filtration Products: Liquid processing occurs during multiple manufacturing steps, including photolithography, deposition, planarization and surface etching and cleaning. The fluids that are used include various mixtures of acids, bases, solvents, slurries and photochemicals, which in turn are used over a range of operating conditions, including temperatures from 5 degrees Celsius up to 180 degrees Celsius. Specially designed proprietary filters remove sub-micron sized particles and bubbles from the different fluid streams that are used in the manufacturing process. Its filters are constructed with ultra-high molecular weight polyethylene flat sheet membranes that offer improved bubble clearance and gel removal to prevent defects in the wafers that occur if these elements are not removed. The company’s low hold-up volume disposable filters, with flat sheet membranes, use its Connectology technology to allow filter changes in less than a minute. Components and Systems: The company offers chemical delivery products that allow the delivery of chemicals from the chemical manufacturer to the point-of-use in the semiconductor fab. Its product line provides its customers with a single-source provider for their chemical storage and management needs throughout the manufacturing process. The company’s chemical delivery products include valves, fittings, tubing, pipe, chemical containers, custom fabricated products, and associated connection systems for chemical applications. The company’s proprietary photochemical filtration and dispense systems integrate its patented two-stage, filter device and valve control technologies. Its two-stage technology permits the filtering and dispense functions to operate independently so that filtering and dispensing of photochemicals can occur at different rates, reducing the differential pressure across the filter, conserving photochemicals, and resulting in reduced defects in wafers. The company offers a line of proprietary filters sp