smart solutions

Veeco is a New York-based global equipment supplier that was originally founded in 1945. It is a leading provider of smart solutions in the semiconductor market, especially for nanoscale devices and smart packaging production. Some of its well-known advanced solutions are laser processing systems, lithography systems, dicing and lapping systems, and many more. Apart from semiconductors, it also offers various data storage products and scientific materials. Veeco has more than 1,100 employees who are working coherently to deliver services around the clock. The technologies that are offered by Veeco are used by various enterprises to enable AI, virtual and augmented reality, cloud storage, 5G wireless communication, etc. 

Back in the 1940s

Two scientists, Frank Raible and Al Nerken established Veeco in 1945. The company was founded as a business that specializes in leak detector equipment. Originally, the name of the company was Vacuum Electronic Equipment Company, and in short, it made the current name of the company “Veeco.” During the 1960s, the company decided to merge with another company, Lambda (a power supply manufacturing business) which was followed by the merged company’s acquisition by Unitech in the 1980s. 

In the late 1980s, discussions took place to split Veeco’s instrument business from Unitech. And, this was successfully acquired by Edward H. Braun, the then COO of Veeco, and a group of senior executives from the company. It was a management buyout and Braun became the new CEO of the independent company. The new company was named Veeco Instruments and it completed an initial public offering in 1994. Veeco Instruments raised $27.5 million from the IPO. After it went public, Veeco acquired a series of companies including Ion Tech Inc through which it entered the optical coating market. 

Veeco in the 21st century

In the new decade, the company’s first acquisition was Applied EPI, which is the current-day Molecular Beam Epitaxy group. This group currently maintains a leadership position in MBE technology worldwide. In 2003, Veeco acquired Emcore which helped the company start a business in metal-organic chemical vapor deposition technologies. Thus, it entered the advanced LED, VCSEL, and photonics market. From 2007 to 2010, the company released several MOCVD and MBE compound semiconductor systems. The company also did heavy research in the ALD field for more than a decade and published several papers. 

In July 2007, Braun became the chairman of the board of Veeco whereas former president of JDSU’s Communications Test and Measurement Division, John Peeler joined the company as the new CEO. Next year, Veeco settled patent litigation that it brought against Asylum Research Corporation in 2003. In late 2010, Veeco decided to sell its metrology business to Bruker Corporation and the deal was settled for $229.4 million. After a couple of years, John Peeler became the new chairman of the company’s board. In 2014, Veeco acquired Solid State Equipment Co. which helped to expand its portfolio to solvent-based wet etch and clean technologies for semiconductors. In recent years, the company is focussing on the advanced packaging market, hence it decided to acquire Ultratech in 2017. Through this acquisition, it also acquired Cambridge Nanotech, a Boston-based company specializing in atomic layer deposition technology. 

Bill Miller – CEO of Veeco

Bill Miller is the present CEO of the company and has also served as the company’s President since 2016. He is associated with the company for a long time as he held several executive positions before becoming the CEO. Dr. Miller studied Mechanical Engineering at the University of Pennsylvania and thus he held various engineering and operations positions in other companies he worked for. Before joining Veeco, he worked at Advanced Energy and Exxon.