Item 1. Business
Item 1. Business
Business Description and Overview
Headquartered in Plainview, New York, we were organized as a Delaware corporation in 1989. We are a manufacturer of advanced semiconductor process equipment that solves an array of challenging materials engineering problems for our customers. Our comprehensive collection of ion beam, laser annealing, metal organic chemical vapor deposition (“MOCVD”), chemical vapor deposition (“CVD”), advanced packaging lithography, single wafer wet processing, molecular beam epitaxy (“MBE”), and atomic layer deposition (“ALD”) technologies play an integral role in the fabrication of key devices that are enabling the 4th industrial revolution of all things connected. Such devices include leading advanced node application processors for AI chips, mobile devices, high-speed data communications, and radio frequency (“RF”) filters and power amplifiers for fifth generation (“5G”) networks and mobile electronics, photonics devices for 3D sensing, advanced displays, and thin film magnetic heads for hard disk drives in data storage. In close partnership with our customers, we combine decades of applications and materials know-how with leading-edge systems engineering to deliver high-volume manufacturing solutions with competitive cost of ownership. Serving a global and highly interconnected customer base, we have comprehensive sales and service operations across the Asia-Pacific, Europe, and North America regions to ensure real-time close collaboration and responsiveness.
Markets
Our products are purchased by customers in the following four end-markets: 1) Semiconductor; 2) Compound Semiconductor; 3) Data Storage; and 4) Scientific & Other.
Our array of process equipment systems are used in the production of a broad range of microelectronic components, including logic, dynamic random-access memory (“DRAM”), photonics devices (including laser diodes and micro-LEDs), power electronics, RF filters and amplifiers, magnetic heads for hard disk drives, and other semiconductor devices. Many of our systems are used to deposit advanced materials critical to the operation of the device and some of our systems are used in cleaning and surface preparation as well as the precise removal of critical materials. We are also a leader in systems used in the advanced packaging process flow of microelectronic components such as flip chip, fan-out wafer level packaging (“FOWLP”), and other wafer level packaging approaches used in the modern integration of diverse semiconductor products, especially in consumer electronics. In general, our customers purchase our systems to both produce current-generation devices in volume and to develop next-generation products which deliver more efficient, cost-effective, and advanced technological solutions. We operate in several highly cyclical business environments, and our customers’ buying patterns are dependent upon industry trends and buying patterns for consumer electronics. As our products are sold into multiple markets, the following table describes these markets and the applicable Veeco technologies.
Markets
Description
Applicable Veeco Technologies
Semiconductor
The Semiconductor market refers to process steps in logic and memory applications where silicon wafers are processed. There are many different wafer level process steps in forming patterned wafers, such as deposition, etching, masking, and doping. As device architectures continue to shrink with advanced nodes, more precise process control is paramount to achieving high yields and competitive cost. One such process step is called Laser Annealing,
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Laser Annealing
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Ion Beam Deposition (“IBD”)
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Ion Beam Etch (“IBE”)
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Wet Processing
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Advanced Packaging Lithography
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which uses a very precise method to activate dopants, reduce contact resistance and modify material grain structure. The Veeco laser annealing technology enables our customers to have a lower thermal budget by annealing at higher temperatures over a shorter period of time.
This market also includes mask blank production for extreme ultraviolet (“EUV”) lithography, where Veeco’s Ion Beam Deposition technology is used for deposition of the multi-layer EUV reflective coating. Veeco’s Ion Beam technology is also under evaluation for deposition of low resistivity metals for 300mm front end applications.
Veeco’s Advanced Packaging technologies include a portfolio of wafer-level assembly technologies that enable improved performance of electronic products, such as smartphones, high-end servers, and graphical processors. Demand for higher performance, smaller form factors, and lower power consumption in applications such as artificial intelligence, mobile devices, consumer electronics, and high-performance computing is driving the adoption of advanced packaging technologies. Veeco serves the advanced packaging market with lithography as well as wet processing equipment.
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Compound Semiconductor
The Compound Semiconductor market includes Power Electronics, Photonics, RF Filters and Amplifiers, and Solar power applications.
Power Electronics refers to semiconductor devices used in the control and conversion of electric power in growing applications such as wireless charging of consumer electronics and automotive applications. The power electronics market has historically been dominated by silicon devices. However, demand has been rapidly growing for applications in automotive driven by adoption of electric vehicles (“EV”), energy and industrial end-markets which require compound semiconductor devices such as those made from gallium nitride and silicon carbide to address higher voltages and higher power requirements.
Photonics refers to light source technologies and laser-based solutions for 3D sensing, datacom and telecom applications. This includes micro-LED, laser diodes, edge emitting lasers and vertical cavity surface emitting lasers (“VCSELs”).
Micro-LEDs may be used for next generation advanced displays. A micro-LED display is a self-emissive display that offers improved resolution, contrast, and brightness versus conventional technologies. Micro-LEDs will be used in a number of applications from televisions, smartwatches, to augmented reality headsets.
RF power amplifiers and filters (including surface acoustic wave (“SAW”) and bulk acoustic wave (“BAW”) filters) are used in 5G communications infrastructure, smartphones, tablets, and mobile devices. They make use of radio waves for wireless broadcasting and/or communications.
Solar power or photovoltaic technology refers to power obtained by harnessing the energy of the sun through the use of compound semiconductor devices such as photovoltaics.
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Gallium Nitride (“GaN”) MOCVD
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Arsenides/ Phosphides (“As/P”) MOCVD
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Wet Processing
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MBE
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ALD
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IBE
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SiC Chemical Vapor Deposition (“CVD”)
Data Storage
Data Storage refers to the Hard Disk Drives (“HDD”) market which provides significant value for mass storage and is an important part of large capacity storage applications such as Data Centers. Our systems enable customers to manufacture the magnetic heads for hard disk drives.
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IBD
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IBE
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Physical Vapor Deposition
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Mechanical (Lapping and Dicing)
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Diamond Like Carbon Deposition
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Wet Processing
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Scientific & Other
Scientific & Other refers to advanced materials and device research such as quantum computing, and a range of manufacturing applications including optical devices (lasers, mirrors, optical filters, and anti-reflective coatings).
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Ion Beam Sputtering for optical coatings
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MBE for specialized laser and sensor devices
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Wet Processing for sensors
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ALD for a variety of applications
System Products
Laser Annealing Systems
Our laser annealing systems meet the industry demand for ultra-short time-scale “millisecond” annealing, heating the wafer up to temperatures just below the silicon melting point, enabling thermal annealing solutions at the most advanced semiconductor process nodes. This unique annealing technology provides a solution to the difficult challenge of fabricating ultra-shallow junctions and highly activated source/drain contacts at advanced logic nodes. In addition, our proprietary hardware design enables outstanding temperature uniformity across the wafer and die, by minimizing the pattern-density effect, thus reducing absorption variations.
Our next generation nanosecond annealing technology targets annealing advanced logic devices and memory devices at advanced nodes. As devices scale, achieving performance targets has become a challenge. To continue the roadmap, the industry is looking at new materials and the use of thermal processes that require nanosecond time-scale thermal annealing with temperatures exceeding the melting point. We believe that our nanosecond annealing will be required to meet the device targets at future nodes and complements our millisecond annealing solutions.
Ion Beam Deposition and Etch Systems
Our NEXUS ® Ion Beam systems and IBD300 systems are used to deposit and etch thin film layers for multiple end applications in the Semiconductor, Data Storage, RF and other various emerging markets. Our NEXUS ® IBD system has a leading position in multiple markets including EUV mask blank manufacturing in which it enables our customers to deposit multilayers with high precision and ultra-low defects which is essential for EUV lithography. Our IBD300 system is being evaluated for 300mm front end semiconductor applications where low resistivity metals like tungsten, ruthenium and molybdenum are critical. The IBD systems are also critical in the manufacture of hard disk drive magnetic heads where they are used to deposit various magnetic and oxide layers and deliver best-in-class film properties. Our NEXUS ® IBE systems are used to precisely etch complex features on materials which are challenging to pattern by traditional reactive ion etching techniques. These systems are widely used in the data storage industry for patterning of magnetic and oxide materials and are essential for forming the precise shape of the magnetic head. The NEXUS ® systems may be included on our cluster system platform to allow either parallel or sequential deposition/etch processes.
Our SPECTOR ® Ion Beam Sputtering system was developed for high precision optical coatings and offers manufacturers state of the art optical thickness monitoring, improved productivity, and target material utilization, for cutting-edge optical interference coating applications. We also provide a broad array of ion beam sources.
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Advanced Packaging Lithography
Our lithography equipment is used in the Advanced Packaging market for applications such as FOWLP, Flip Chip (including Copper Pillar), Fan In Wafer Lever Packaging, 3D stacking, interposers and embedded die. The Advanced Packaging market is driven by the need for improved performance, reduced power consumption, and the ability to image smaller geometries for mobile and automotive applications. These applications continue to demand increasingly complex packaging techniques and heterogeneous device integration from integrated device manufacturers (“IDMs,”), Foundries, and outsourced semiconductor assembly and test (“OSAT”) companies. Our Advanced Packaging tools are designed to optimize productivity for leading-edge 200mm and 300mm Advanced Packaging applications by delivering proven reliability and low cost of ownership in high-volume manufacturing environments. Our products are known for best-in-class yield coupled with outstanding resolution and depth of focus.
Single Wafer Wet Processing
We offer single wafer wet processing, and surface preparation systems which target growth opportunities in advanced packaging applications in the Semiconductor market as well as RF filters and amplifiers in the Compound Semiconductor market. The WaferStorm ® platform is based on our unique ImmJET™ technology, which provides improved performance at a lower cost of ownership than conventional wet bench-only or spray-only approaches. This highly flexible platform targets solvent-based cleaning applications that require a significant level of process control and flexibility. The WaferEtch ® platform provides highly uniform, selective etching with onboard end-point detection for improved process control and yield in bumping applications. In addition, we have developed a state-of-the-art solution with the WaferEtch ® platform to address the requirements of wafer thinning.
Metal Organic Chemical Vapor Deposition Systems and Chemical Vapor Deposition Systems
MOCVD production systems are used to make GaN and As/P-based devices for applications including power electronics, RF devices, specialty LED, display, and many other photonics applications. Our proven TurboDisc ® technology is at the heart of our MOCVD systems and is the key to enabling best-in-class deposition uniformity, yield performance and cost per wafer savings for our customers with a combined advantage of high operating uptime and low maintenance costs. Our Lumina ® platform is used for As/P deposition, and features long campaigns and low defectivity for exceptional yield and flexibility. Our Propel ® series enables the development of highly-efficient GaN-based power electronics, RF devices and advanced GaN-on-silicon micro-LEDs. The Propel ® system offers 200mm and fully-automated 300mm technology and incorporates single-wafer reactor technology for outstanding film uniformity, yield, and device performance. Our SiC CVD system has a base single wafer reactor concept based on a time-tested industry validated architecture and is used for SiC power electronics applications primarily driven by adoption of electric vehicles.
Molecular Beam Epitaxy Systems
MBE is the process of precisely depositing atomically-thin epitaxial crystalline layers, or epilayers, of elemental materials onto a substrate in an ultra-high vacuum environment. We are a leading supplier of MBE systems worldwide.
Our MBE systems, sources, and components are used to develop and manufacture compound semiconductor devices in a wide variety of applications such as quantum computing, high-power fiber lasers, infrared detectors, mobile phones, radar systems, high efficiency solar cells, and advanced materials science research in academic, governmental, and industrial organizations. The GENxplor ® MBE system creates high quality epitaxial layers and is ideal for cutting-edge research on a wide variety of materials including III-V GaAs, nitride, and oxide, materials on substrates up to 3” diameter.
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Atomic Layer Deposition Systems
ALD is a thin-film deposition method in which a film is deposited on a substrate uniformly with precise control down to the atomic scale. Veeco offers a full suite of ALD systems for non-semiconductor front-end production applications across a wide range of markets and applications such as Quantum Computing, optical, electronics, micro-electro mechanical systems (“MEMS”), nanostructures, and biomedical.
Other Systems
We have other deposition systems including Physical Vapor Deposition, Diamond-Like Carbon Deposition, and Chemical Vapor Deposition Systems primarily sold to the data storage market. In addition, we have mechanical systems such as saws and lappers for the data storage industry as well as the power semiconductor market. Finally, we have Gas-mixing systems primarily sold to the semiconductor market. We also continue to focus on penetrating adjacent markets with organically developed and acquired technology.
Sales and Service
We sell our products and services worldwide through various strategically located facilities in the United States, Europe, and the Asia-Pacific region. We believe that our customer service organization is a significant factor in our success. We provide service and support on a warranty, service contract, and an individual service-call basis. We believe that offering timely support creates stronger relationships with customers. Revenue from the sales of parts, upgrades, service, and support represented approximately 22%, 24%, and 28% of our net sales for the years ended December 31, 2023, 2022, and 2021, respectively. Parts and upgrade sales represented approximately 17%, 18%, and 21% of our net sales for those years, respectively, and service and support sales were 5%, 6%, and 7% respectively.
Customers
We sell our products to many of the world’s semiconductor IDMs and Foundries, OSAT, HDD, and photonics manufacturers, as well as research centers and universities. We rely on certain principal customers for a significant portion of our sales. If these principal customers discontinue their relationships with us or suffer economic difficulties, our business prospects, financial condition, and operating results could be materially and adversely affected.
Research and Development
Our research and development functions are focused on the timely creation of new products and enhancements to existing products, both of which are necessary to maintain our competitive position. We collaborate with our customers to align our technology and product roadmaps to customer requirements. Our research and development activities take place at our facilities in San Jose, California; Plainview, New York; Horsham, Pennsylvania; Somerset, New Jersey; St. Paul, Minnesota; Waltham, Massachusetts; and Solvegatan, Sweden.
Suppliers
We outsource certain functions to third parties, including the manufacture of several of our systems. While we rely on our outsourcing partners to perform their contracted functions, we maintain some level of internal manufacturing capability for these systems. Refer to Item 1A, “Risk Factors,” for a description of risks associated with our reliance on suppliers and outsourcing partners.
Backlog
Our backlog consists of orders for which we received a firm purchase order, a customer-confirmed shipment date generally within twelve months, and a deposit, when required. Our backlog was $490.7 million and $499.9 million at December 31, 2023 and 2022, respectively.
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Competition
In each of the markets that we serve, we face competition from established competitors, some of which have greater financial, engineering, and marketing resources than we do, as well as from smaller competitors. In addition, many of our products face competition from alternative technologies, some of which are more established than those used in our products. Significant factors for customer selection of our tools include system performance, accuracy, repeatability, ease of use, reliability, cost of ownership, and technical service and support. None of our competitors compete with us across all of our product lines.
Our principal competitors include: Aixtron; Applied Materials; Canon; Grand Plastics Technology; Mattson; Screen Semiconductor Solutions; Shanghai Micro Electronics Equipment; and Suss MicroTec.
Intellectual Property
Our success depends, in part, on our proprietary technology, and we have over 350 patents in the United States and other countries.
We have patents and exclusive and non-exclusive licenses to patents owned by others covering certain of our products, which we believe provide us with a competitive advantage. We have a policy of seeking patents on inventions concerning new products and improvements as part of our ongoing research, development, and manufacturing activities. We believe that there is no single patent or exclusive or non-exclusive license to patents owned by others that is critical to our operations, as the success of our business depends primarily on the technical expertise, innovation, customer satisfaction, and experience of our employees. Refer to Item 1A, “Risk Factors,” for a description of risks associated with intellectual property.
Human Capital Resources
Veeco’s global workforce spans twelve countries around the world. At the end of 2023, we had 1,215 employees with 267 located in the Asia-Pacific region, 58 in the EMEA region, and 890 in the United States. Approximately 25% of our employees are involved in research and development; 56% in operations, manufacturing, service, and quality assurance; and 19% in sales, order administration, marketing, finance, information technology, general management, and other administrative functions. Our success depends on our ability to attract, retain, and motivate employees. We compete for talent with other companies and organizations. We consider our relations with the Veeco United Team to be favorable. We are subject to various federal, state, and local regulations, and regularly monitor all key employment activities, such as hiring, termination, pay and working practices to ensure compliance with such regulations. In addition, we may supplement the Veeco United Team with contractors and other temporary workers.
Our Core Values
All Veeco employees are expected to honor our Core Values, which define the way we conduct our business in everyday actions and choices and form the foundation of our culture:
● We will always put our CUSTOMERS first
● We will never compromise on SAFETY
● We will always demonstrate RESPECT
● We will never stop IMPROVING
● We will always be ACCOUNTABLE
● We will never forget that DIVERSITY and INCLUSION makes us stronger
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Employment, Recruitment and Development
Our recruitment programs are regionally focused. Hiring is done at a local level to ensure compliance with applicable regulations. We advertise job openings and source candidates broadly to attract a diverse candidate pool. As a leader in our industry, we can attract a strong candidate pool and have successfully filled vacancies. In fiscal 2023, we hired 106 employees, 74 within the United States, 13 in the Asia-Pacific region, and 19 in the EMEA region.
We track and report key talent metrics, including workforce demographics, talent pipeline and diversity. We invest in professional development programs to provide opportunities for individuals to advance their careers in either technical/individual contributor or leadership tracks. We offer many of our training and development programs virtually to benefit employees worldwide. We emphasize the development of future leaders and utilize a talent review process to assess high-potential and high-performing employees for future leadership roles as part of our succession management process. We monitor turnover statistics carefully since turnover is an essential indicator of employee satisfaction. Our 12-month rolling average for voluntary turnover on December 31, 2023 was approximately 7.2%. Our employee average tenure is more than 8 years.
Employee Engagement
The engagement and satisfaction of the Veeco United Team are critical to our culture and our success. In 2019, we conducted a formal employee survey designed to assess global employee engagement, leadership, work environment and culture. Over 90% of our employees participated in the survey, itself an indicator of high employee engagement. Participants provided over 2,000 responses to open-ended questions. The findings from this survey established an agenda for various initiatives designed to strengthen our Company. In 2021, we conducted a second formal employee survey using the same survey instrument. Approximately 90% of employees again participated in the survey and, again, nearly 2,000 responses were provided to open-ended questions. We saw significant improvements across all survey areas. In 2023, we conducted our third formal employee survey using the same survey instrument. Even with a much larger employee population, we maintained a high participation rate of 90% and over 2,000 responses to open-ended questions. Overall survey results were similar to 2021 results. We remain committed to working with employees to strengthen the Company’s culture. Our executives conduct regular meetings with our global workforce, providing employees with opportunities to engage with senior leaders and ask questions in open Q&A sessions. Finally, we maintain and regularly remind our employees about our confidential third-party hotline service that can be utilized to share their concerns.
Compensation Philosophy
Our compensation philosophy is targeted to support our employees’ financial, physical, and mental health and well-being. We utilize independent surveys to ensure that our total compensation packages are competitive. We help employees share in the Company’s success through various programs, including profit sharing and bonus plans, equity awards, and an Employee Stock Purchase Plan (“ESPP”). In addition to providing our employees with competitive compensation packages, we offer benefits designed to meet the needs of employees and their families, including paid time off, medical, dental and vision coverage, disability income protection, life insurance, retirement savings contributions, and more. Veeco pays the majority or all of the costs for many of these benefits.
Diversity and Inclusion
We are committed to building and sustaining a culture of diversity and inclusion where our people can be their authentic selves and are encouraged to reach their full potential. Our Veeco team, like the technologies we enable, is a rich combination of diverse individuals coming together as Veeco United to make a material difference for our people, our customers, and the world. As a global technology company, we recognize that a diverse employee population makes Veeco stronger, more innovative, and a more engaging place to work. We are always striving to attract talented individuals from a global candidate pool.
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In the second quarter of 2021, Veeco established a Diversity and Inclusion Council. The Council, composed of Veeco colleagues from many different parts of the Company, represents Veeco’s ongoing commitment to inclusion of all genders, sexual orientations, races, ethnic origins, religions, and diversity of thought. The team recently established Veeco’s Diversity and Inclusion Mission Statement and Charter. The charter affirms our commitment to building awareness, enhancing community partnerships, addressing diversity in our recruiting and hiring practices, empowering employees to promote D&I initiatives, and identifying opportunities to have meaningful engagements with peers and the leadership team. We are excited to continue developing initiatives to promote and celebrate diversity at Veeco.
Employee Health and Safety, Pandemic Response
We are committed to providing a safe and healthy workplace for all employees. We accomplish this through strict compliance with applicable laws and regulations regarding workplace safety, including recognition and control of workplace hazards, tracking injury and illness rates, utilizing a global travel health program, and maintaining detailed emergency and disaster recovery plans.
Our highest priorities throughout the pandemic were, and continue to be, the health and well-being of our employees, customers, suppliers, and stakeholders. From the beginning of the pandemic, through the recent challenges posed by the acceleration of coronavirus variants, we have taken precautions to protect employees, visitors, and customers while minimizing disruption to our business. Our facilities remained operational as an “essential business” throughout the pandemic. To keep our teams safe and the Company strong, we implemented rigorous health and safety protocols at our manufacturing facilities, including extensively and frequently disinfecting our facilities, limiting access to our facilities, checking temperatures of individuals entering our facilities, staggering shifts to minimize employee overlap in gowning areas, and providing protective equipment to minimize the risks to our employees. In addition, we required many of our employees to work from home wherever possible. We protected employees, customers, and stakeholders by providing remote meetings, demos, and service, whenever possible. While the COVID-19 public health emergency has ended, our Veeco United Team remains flexible and responsive to potential health risks and has developed robust response capability through this experience. We continue to carefully monitor and respond to local, state, and federal public health guidance. We continue to use our COVID-19 Pledge to describe all the measures we implemented in our facilities to keep employees working on-site safe throughout the pandemic and beyond.
Available Information
Our corporate website address is www.veeco.com. All filings we make with the Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”), including our Annual Report on Form 10-K, our Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q, our Current Reports on Form 8-K, our proxy statements and any amendments thereto filed or furnished pursuant to Section 13(a) or 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, are available for free in the Investor Relations section of our website as soon as reasonably practicable after they are filed with or furnished to the SEC. The reference to our website address does not constitute inclusion or incorporation by reference of the information contained on our website in this Form 10-K or other filings with the SEC, and the information contained on our website is not part of this document.