Cognex Corporation, the world's leading supplier of machine vision systems, announced today that Samsung Electronics, the world's leading manufacturer of advanced memory chips, will integrate Cognex's In-Sight 1700 wafer reader in all of its chip manufacturing plants in Hwasung, Korea.
The Cognex In-Sight 1700 is a machine vision system that reads 2-D matrix, alphanumeric and bar codes inscribed on silicon wafers. Samsung will retrofit their chip plants with the In-Sight 1700 systems in order to identify and track wafers as they go through various stages of manufacturing and testing.
"We are very excited that Samsung has selected Cognex's wafer reading technology," said Dr. Robert J. Shillman, Cognex's President, CEO and Chairman. "Samsung is our top In-Sight customer in 2002, which is a clear indication of the value that In-Sight can bring to manufacturers who are looking to identify and track wafers at all stages of the manufacturing process."
Dr. Shillman continued, "Fabrication plants are increasingly demanding wafer-level tracking in order to provide a fully traceable path for every wafer. In-Sight's compact size and its ability to reliably read codes from silicon wafers at any stage of the manufacturing process...irrespective of coatings and circuit patterns that degrade image quality...make this product the standard for the wafer tracking industry."
Cognex Corporation designs, develops, manufactures, and markets machine vision systems, or computers that can "see." Cognex is the world's leader in the machine vision industry, having shipped more than 150,000 machine vision systems, representing over $1 billion in cumulative revenue, since the company's founding in 1981. Cognex's Modular Vision Systems Division, headquartered in Natick, Massachusetts, specializes in machine vision systems which are used for automating the manufacture of a wide range of discrete items and for assuring their quality. Cognex's Surface Inspection Systems Division, headquartered in Alameda, California, specializes in machine vision systems which are used for inspecting the surfaces of products manufactured in a continuous fashion, such as metals, paper, plastics, and nonwovens. In addition to its corporate headquarters in Natick, Massachusetts, Cognex also has regional offices located throughout North America, Japan, Europe, and Southeast Asia.