Icos Vision Systems

Icos Vision Systems N.V., founded in 1987, was a Belgium-based developer and supplier of inspection equipment for the back-end semiconductor and electronics assembly markets. The company's core business involved the design and manufacturing of systems for the visual inspection of integrated circuits (ICs), printed circuit boards (PCBs), and other electronic components before their use in applications like personal computers and mobile phones. Icos provided both stand-alone inspection systems and inspection modules for integration, performing 2D and 3D inspection and metrology on components such as wafers, solar cells, and substrates.

As a 1987 spin-off from the Katholieke Universiteit Leuven's Image Processing Laboratory, Icos established a strong presence in the semiconductor and electronics industries in the United States, Japan, and Southeast Asia, serving major IC manufacturers. The company experienced significant growth, winning a 'Company of the Year' award in 1997 and subsequently listing on the NASDAQ and EASDAQ exchanges in 1998.

In February 2008, KLA-Tencor (now KLA Corporation) announced its intention to acquire Icos Vision Systems in a friendly tender offer. The acquisition, valued at approximately €317 million, was aimed at giving KLA-Tencor a significant presence in the semiconductor packaging inspection market and expanding its reach into growing markets like solar and LED lighting. The transaction was completed on June 26, 2008, with KLA-Tencor acquiring over 96% of Icos's outstanding shares, after which Icos became a subsidiary.

Keywords: semiconductor inspection, electronics assembly, vision systems, integrated circuit inspection, PCB inspection, wafer inspection, metrology systems, KLA acquisition, back-end semiconductor, 3D inspection, solar cell inspection, visual inspection equipment, machine vision, packaging inspection