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INFICON

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INFICON
Company typePublic
SIX: IFCN
ISINCH0011029946
IndustryElectrical Engineering
Founded2000
Headquarters
Bad Ragaz (SG)
,
Switzerland
Area served
Worldwide
Key people
  • Dr. Beat E. Lüthi (CoB)
  • Oliver Wyrsch (CEO)
  • Matthias Troendle (CFO)
Revenue
  • Increase$673.7 million(2023)
  • $581.3 million(2022)
  • $515.8 million(2021)
  • $397.8 million(2020)
  • $381.7 million(2019)
[1]
Number of employees
1616 (Dec.23)[1]
ParentINFICON Holding AG
Websiteinficon.com

INFICON (Instruments For Intelligent Control),[2] headquartered in Bad Ragaz (Switzerland), is a leading provider of innovative instrumentation, critical sensor technologies, and Smart Manufacturing/Industry 4.0 software solutions that enhance productivity and quality of tools, processes, and complete factories. These analysis, measurement and control products are essential for gas leak detection in air conditioning/refrigeration and automotive manufacturing. [1]

They are vital to equipment manufacturers and end-users in the complex fabrication of semiconductors and thin film coatings for optics, flat panel displays, solar cells and industrial vacuum coating applications.

Other users of our vacuum-based processes include the life sciences, research, aerospace, packaging, heat treatment, laser cutting and many other industrial processes. We also leverage our expertise in vacuum technology to provide unique, toxic chemical analysis products for emergency response, security, and environmental health and safety.

INFICON has manufacturing facilities in Europe, the United States and China. INFICON has subsidiaries in China, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, South Korea, Liechtenstein, Malaysia, Mexico, Singapore, Sweden, Switzerland, Taiwan, the United Kingdom and the United States.[3]

History

[edit]

Inficon was founded in Syracuse, New York by a group of scientists and engineers from General Electric (GE) and Syracuse University (SU), who developed a halogen leak detector in December 1969.[4][5][6]

In January 1976, Inficon was acquired by Leybold-Heraeus GmbH a vacuum technology company. Due to this acquisition, Inficon became known as Inficon Leybold-Heraeus.[7][8]

In 1987, Leybold-Heraeus GmbH, the parent company of Inficon, was purchased by Degussa AG, and the name was changed to Leybold AG. At this point, Inficon Leybold-Heraeus became Leybold Inficon, Inc.

In 1993, Oerlikon-Bührle Holding AG (OBH), which owned Balzers AG, reached a deal to buy Leybold AG from Degussa AG. Formed in 1994, Balzers and Leybold Holding AG became the world's largest vacuum and surface technology company as a result of this purchase. Leybold Inficon, Inc. of Syracuse with Balzers Instruments of Liechtenstein and two Leybold instrument groups of Germany then became Balzers and Leybold Instrumentation (BLI).[9]

In 1998, the Oerlikon-Bührle Group was split up and the core business was renamed Unaxis.[10][6]

History Timeline for INFICON

In July 2000, Balzers AG and Leybold AG became a part of Unaxis and the instrument group was spun off forming INFICON Holding AG in Switzerland. Combined with Leybold Inficon, Inc. the three instrument groups then became INFICON. On November 9, 2000, INFICON joined the Nasdaq and SIX Swiss Exchange with a public offering under the ticker symbol "IFCN".[11][12][13][14][15][16]

In February 2005, INFICON delisted its stock from Nasdaq, but continues to trade on the SIX Swiss Exchange to this day.[17][18]

Products

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  • Chemical Detection & Utility Monitoring
  • Gas Analysis
  • Leak Detectors
  • Protective Coating
  • Recovery & Evacuation
  • RF Sensing Technology
  • Smart Manufacturing
  • Thin Film Technology
  • Vacuum Gauges & Controllers
  • Vacuum Components

Markets

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Products from INFICON are used in a wide range of markets. The most important markets include the following

Analytical Instrumentation

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INFICON works together with manufactures of analytical instrumentation to analyse and identify structures or element compositions, may it be gas, liquid, or solid.

Battery

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INFICON products help to manage electrode production, or end-of-line testing of fully assembled battery cells of electric vehicles, mobile devices, power tools, medical devices or solar power generation.

Display

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Sensors from INFICON employ process sensing technologies including thin film controllers, residual gas analysis, optical emission spectrometry, quartz crystal microbalance, leak detectors, pressure gauges and RF measurements. Coupled with proprietary software, users have real-time visibility into their processes, and immediate control of their equipment.

Energy

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INFICON provides gas analyzers for component monitoring and compositional analysis and for Greenhouse gas (GHG) emission localization and monitoring in alternate energy markets composed of various sources of non-fossil-based fuels including: hydrogen, syngas, biomass, and biomethane.

Refrigeration, Air Conditioning and Heating (HVACR)

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INFICON provides various types of leak detection products for Refrigeration, Air Conditioning and Heating Systems. Beside industrial solutions, INFICON also offers tools for HVACR service and repair.

Industrial Manufacturing

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With vacuum sensors and leak detectors from INFICON, customers can improve the output and the quality of their processes.

Mobility & Automotive

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INFICON offers leak detection solution for all automotive tasks like fuel tanks, injection systems, airbag gas generators, individual Lithium-ion battery cells or battery packs, the bipolar plates of hydrogen fuel cells or the ADAS sensors of autonomous vehicles

Packaging

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Leak detection technology from INFICON ensures that leaks in packaging are identified and prevented, with function principles requiring no test gas to avoid damage to tested packaging, complying with DIN EN 1779 standard for non-destructive testing of leaks.

Pharma & Medical

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Sensors and software from INFICON allow for collecting real-time process data, therefore, capturing critical process parameters that affect critical quality attributes. Additional software solutions enable the collecting of real-time data for monitoring and reporting, including providing SPC charts and process capability data.

Research & Academia

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INFICON provides solutions for vacuum sensing and control, leak detection and residual gas analysis for research applications like particle accelerators, fusion technology, space simulation, and material science.

Semiconductor IDM & Foundry

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INFICON semiconductor sensors employ process sensing technologies including residual gas analysis, optical emission spectrometry, quartz crystal microbalance, leak detectors, pressure gauges and RF measurements. Coupled with proprietary software, users have real-time visibility into their processes.

Semiconductor Tool Manufacturer

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INFICON offers sensors to serve processes monitoring applications for semiconductor manufacturing tools. The core technologies include mass spectrometry, quartz crystal microbalance, RF DC detectors, optical sensors, vacuum gauges and leak detectors.

Security

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The identification of narcotics, Chemical Warfare Agents (CWA), Fourth Generation Agents (FGA), explosives and toxic industrial chemicals is critical in this market. INFICON provides products to identify unknown compounds in various states of matter either vapor, liquid or solid.

Vacuum Coating

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INFICON offers RGAs, QCM sensors, leak detectors, and vacuum gauges for high-accuracy monitoring of short or long vacuum processes.

Acquisitions

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  • In February 2006, Electro Dynamics Crystal Corp. was acquired and began operating as a subsidiary with the name INFICON EDC, Inc.[19][20][21][22]
  • In May 2007, the company acquired Maxtek Inc.[23]
  • In December 2007, INFICON acquired Sigma Instruments Inc.[24]
  • In February 2016, US based, InstruTech Inc., was acquired by INFICON.[25][26]
  • In October 2018, Final Phase Systems LLC, assets of a software developer, and Techno-Tools Corp., assets of a manufacturer of hand-held leak detectors, were acquired by INFICON.[27][28]
  • In January 2024, INFICON acquired FabTime [2]

References

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  1. ^ a b "INFICON 2022 Q4 and FY Earnings Presentation" (PDF). Retrieved March 3, 2022.
  2. ^ "Instruments For Intelligent Control - Trademark #78469190, Owner: Inficon GmbH". Inventively. Archived from the original on 2017-03-07. Retrieved 2017-02-28.
  3. ^ "Governor Cuomo Announces Inficon to Expand Manufacturing Operations in East Syracuse". Governor Andrew M. Cuomo. 2014-09-28. Archived from the original on 2017-03-07. Retrieved 2017-02-28.
  4. ^ "Peter Maier: Leaders look for win-win scenarios to grow their companies". syracuse.com. Retrieved 2017-02-28.
  5. ^ Evans, James (2014). An Introduction to Six Sigma and Process Improvement. South-Western College Pub. p. 58. ISBN 978-1133604587.
  6. ^ a b James T. Mulder (16 June 2000). "Newspaper" (PDF). Herald-Journal. Herald-Journal. p. 85. Retrieved 28 February 2017.
  7. ^ "Leybold Inficon Inc. | Company-detail.com". www.company-detail.com. Retrieved 2017-02-28.
  8. ^ Staff Writer (8 January 1976). "Newspaper" (PDF). Syracuse Post-Standard. Syracuse Post-Standard. p. 8. Retrieved 28 February 2017.
  9. ^ Susan E. Scharrett and Elizabeth Doran (21 October 1993). "Newspaper" (PDF). Syracuse Post-Standard. The Post-Standard. pp. C-6. Retrieved 28 February 2017.
  10. ^ "Historical Milestones - Oerlikon Corporate". www.oerlikon.com. Retrieved 2017-02-28.
  11. ^ "Inficon acquires US company | Invest | Switzerland Global Enterprise, S-GE". www.s-ge.com. Retrieved 2017-03-02.
  12. ^ "INFICON, Inc.: Private Company Information - Bloomberg". www.bloomberg.com. Retrieved 2017-03-02.
  13. ^ "INFICON GmbH - Anbieter von Lecksuchgeräten, Vakuummessgeräten, Vakuumkomponenten, Gasanalysatoren und Umweltmessgeräten". www.xpertgate.de. Retrieved 2017-03-02.
  14. ^ "History: UCP". www.ucpgroup.com (in German). Retrieved 2017-03-02.
  15. ^ James T. Mulder (9 November 2000). "Newspaper" (PDF). Syracuse Herald-Journal. Herald-Journal. pp. C-4. Retrieved 2 March 2017.
  16. ^ "INFICON Announces Initial Public Offering of 1,736,000 Shares of Common Stock at 225 Swiss Francs Per Share" (Press release). Syracuse, NY and Zurich, Switzerland: Business Wire. November 17, 2000. Retrieved March 2, 2017.
  17. ^ "FORM 6-K SECURITIES & EXCHANGE COMMISSION".
  18. ^ "INFICON Announces Decision To Voluntarily Delist Its American Depositary Shares From The NASDAQ National Market and Terminate Its American Depositary Receipt Program. SWX Swiss Exchange Listing Remains Unchanged" (Press release). SYRACUSE, N.Y. & ZURICH, Switzerland: Business Wire. February 18, 2005. Retrieved March 2, 2017.
  19. ^ "Electro Dynamics Crystal Corp.: Private Company Information - Bloomberg". www.bloomberg.com. Retrieved 2017-04-28.
  20. ^ "Inficon Acquires Electro Dynamics Crystal Corp". www.semiconductoronline.com. Retrieved 2017-04-28.
  21. ^ "INFICON Acquires Electro Dynamics Crystal Corp. - INFICON News - INFICON". www.inficon.com. Retrieved 2017-04-28.
  22. ^ "Inficon EDC - Home". www.electrodynamics.com. Retrieved 2017-04-28.
  23. ^ "INFICON Acquires Maxtek Inc". Inficon.
  24. ^ "INFICON Acquires Sigma Instruments Inc". Inficon.
  25. ^ "BRIEF-Inficon acquires business of U.S. based InstruTech Inc". Reuters. 2017-02-01. Retrieved 2017-04-28.
  26. ^ "INFICON Acquires Business of US-Based InstruTech Inc. - INFICON News - INFICON". www.inficon.com. Retrieved 2017-04-28.
  27. ^ "INFICON Acquires Final Phase Systems". www.inficon.com. Retrieved 2019-03-05.
  28. ^ "INFICON Annual Report 2018" (PDF). www.inficon.com. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2022-02-08. Retrieved 2019-03-05.
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