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SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION
Washington, D.C. 20549
FORM 8-K
CURRENT REPORT
Pursuant to Section 13 or 15(d) of the
Securities Exchange Act of 1934
Date of Report (Date of earliest event reported):
March 18, 1997
ETEC SYSTEMS, INC.
(Exact name of registrant as specified in its charter)
Nevada 0-26968 94-3094580
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(State or other (Commission File (I.R.S. Employer
jurisdiction of Number) Identification Number)
incorporation)
26460 Corporate Avenue
Hayward, California 94545
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Address of principal executive offices (Zip Code)
Registrant's telephone number, including area code:
(510) 783-9210
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Item 5. Other Events.
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Registrant's press release dated March 18, 1997 attached hereto as Exhibit
99.1, is incorporated herein by reference and made a part of this Current Report
on Form 8-K.
Item 7. Financial Statements and Exhibits.
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(c) Exhibits.
99.1 Press Release of the Registrant dated March 18, 1997.
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SIGNATURE
Pursuant to the requirements of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934,
the Registrant has duly caused this report to be signed on its behalf by the
undersigned hereunto duly authorized.
Dated: March 21, 1997.
ETEC SYSTEMS, INC.
By: /s/ Philip J. Koen, Jr.
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Philip J. Koen, Jr.
Vice President and
Chief Financial Officer
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EXHIBIT INDEX
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Sequentially
Exhibit No. Description Numbered Page
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99.1 Press Release dated
March 18, 1997.
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EXHIBIT 99.1
[ETEC LOGO]
NEWS RELEASE
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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE FOR MORE INFORMATION, CONTACT:
David Miller Rae Anne Chalmers
Marketing Communications Mgr. Manager, Investor Relations
ph: 510.780.3710 ph. 510.887.3578
fax: 510.887.2870 fax: 510.732.1469
ETEC SYSTEMS INC. ACQUIRES EBETECH GMBH
Manufacturer of Electron Beam Test Equipment
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HAYWARD, Calif., March 18, 1997--Etec Systems, Inc. (Nasdaq:ETEC), a leader in
pattern generation (PG) equipment for the worldwide semiconductor and
electronics industries, today announced that in a cash transaction it has
acquired all of the shares of Munich, Germany based Ebetech Electron-Beam
Technology GmbH, from VCB, the Venture Capital Company of Siemens AG, MRS
Technology, Inc. (NASDAQ:MRSI) and a group of founding employees. Ebetech is
engaged in the development and production of focused electron-beam test systems
for flat panel displays (FPDs) and related circuits on glass electronics
components such as printed circuit boards (PCBs) and multichip modules (MCMs).
Etec also announced that it has completed its preliminary evaluation of the
allocation of the purchase price to the assets acquired. Under the purchase
accounting method, a one-time charge to Etec's earnings (approximately 15 to
20 cents per share) will be recorded in the third quarter ending April 30, 1997
for in-process research and development.
The new subsidiary will employ current Ebetech personnel and will maintain a
Munich location. Financial terms of the agreement were not disclosed.
A Complement to the Etec Technology Strategy
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Commenting on the acquisition, Steve Cooper, Chairman, President and CEO of Etec
Systems, Inc. stated, "Ebetech brings yet another exciting dimension to
Etec--their technologies complement both our current product offerings and those
we plan to offer in the future. Ebetech has developed, and is gearing up to
manufacture, electron-beam test equipment for markets we are serving with the
Etec Polyscan systems. As Etec is already building the worldwide infrastructure
to sell to and service these industries, Ebetech makes a logical addition. The
acquisition brings diversity in emerging market areas, but at the same time
offers a product line based on electron-beam technology, an area in which Etec
has a great reputation for leadership and innovation."
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Etec Systems, Inc. 26460 Corporate Avenue
510-783-9210 Hayward, California 94545
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In addition to producing its current product, the Ebetech PanelTester 2000,
Ebetech will serve as a European center for advanced electron-beam research and
development. This provides Etec access to electron-beam technologists in Europe.
About Ebetech
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Ebetech started as a research project with Siemens in 1984 to develop an
electron-beam tester for MCMs to support mainframe computer production within
Siemens. In 1993 the technology was transferred to Integrated Circuit Testing
Gmbh, and for two years the company entered a research and development phase. In
1996 Ebetech Electron-Beam Technology GmbH was created and spun out of ICT. The
first Ebetech system to test FPDs was sold to a division of Bosch AG in October
of 1996.
The Ebetech FPD product uses a focused electron beam which, as it tests a panel,
injects a charge individually onto each pixel of the display matrix and then
measures the voltage response to characterize the electrical performance of
each pixel. This allows the system to identify defects such as shorts, open
circuits and defective circuit elements in electronic microstructures that
might, for example, impair display quality on an FPD. The detection of
electrical defects before cell assembly saves the cost of materials that would
otherwise be added to a defective part and is becoming increasingly important to
manufacturers interested in reducing costs and lost time from defects.
Panel testing is increasing and the electron-beam test technique for FPDs has a
number of advantages over its competition, including flexibility in addressing
multiple display technologies and the ability to test integrated electronics. An
important advantage of the Ebetech technology is its lack of high precision
moving parts. It offers more complete testing of matrix transistors in active
matrix liquid crystal displays (AMLCDs), better transistor response
characteristics and the usual open and short tests.
Applied to MCM and PCB testing,the Ebetech tool potentially could test high
density substrates with much smaller pitches, much higher pin counts and higher
numbers of chips per unit area than competitive devices. Ebetech technology
eliminates expensive test fixtures and time consuming setup required by pin grid
array testers, as well as eliminating the high precision mechanical systems of
flying probe testers.
Reached in Munich, Ebetech managing director Dr. Matthias Brunner stated, "We
are proud to join a company with Etec's name and reputation in electron-beam
research and development. With similar corporate cultures, I think we will
quickly be up to speed and working together. Etec has a strong presence in the
Far East, which is expected to be the largest market for our products, and
Etec's worldwide sales and service organization will allow us to present our
product to the marketplace more
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rapidly." Dr. Brunner is well known worldwide for his electron-beam research and
has published a number of papers on the subject.
Safe Harbor statement under the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of
1995: Except for historical information, the matters discussed in this news
release are forward-looking statements that are subject to certain risks and
uncertainties that could cause the actual results to differ materially from
those projected, including the timely development and acceptance of new
products, finalization of the acquisition, reliance on key personnel and other
risks detailed from time to time in the Company's SEC reports. The Company
assumes no obligation to update the information in this release.
About Etec: Etec Systems, Inc. is a leader in pattern generation (PG) equipment
for the worldwide semiconductor and electronics industries. Its products include
electron- and laser-beam systems that produce high-precision masks, used to
print circuit patterns onto semiconductor wafers and high-speed, large-area
laser direct imaging systems for electronic interconnect production
applications. Etec Polyscan, Inc. is a subsidiary of Etec Systems based in
Tucson, Arizona. Etec's stock is traded on the Nasdaq under the symbol ETEC. The
company's World Wide Web site can be accessed at http://www.etec.com.
