History

1980
Founded as an engineering partner for the semiconductor industry (formally known as Electronic Visions) by the owner Erich Thallner and his wife Aya Maria Thallner, EV Group has grown into an internationally acclaimed manufacturer of highly innovative precision systems.

1985
EV Group created the world's first double-side mask aligner with bottom side microscope, an important milestone for the commercialization of MEMS products. Our design provided the advanced method required to successfully manufacture new products such as air bag sensors and electronic vehicle stabilizing systems. Thus allowing the automotive industry to make major advances in driving safety, improved motor management and fuel consumption reduction.

1990
The process separation between wafer alignment and wafer bonding developed by EV Group revolutionized wafer bonding technology and has since become a worldwide industry standard.

1992
The first high performance production wafer bonding systems for automated volume production of MEMS was developed. This provided economical, automated production for micromachined components. The double side aligner and process separation are only two of the numerous innovations that contributed to the establishment of EV Group as a technology leader.

1994
Founding of a wholly owned subsidiary in USA: EV Group Inc., Phoenix, Arizona, for sales and customer support. 
Installation of the first SOI wafer bonder, a fully automated tool for high-quality low cost SOI wafer production was implemented. This technology has proven to be critical for the production of components required for the latest generations of fast computers and state of the art products for telecommunications.
SOI Wafer Bonding System

1997
Headquarters building was reconstructed and manufacturing and cleanroom area was doubled.
Founding of a wholly owned subsidiary in Yokohama, Japan: EV Group Japan KK.
EV Group entered the nanotechnology market with the development of the first nanoimprinting system.

1998
EV Group developed the revolutionary OmniSpray® cavity coating technology for uniform photoresist layers on high topography surfaces.
OmniSpray® Coating System

1999
EV Group introduced the SmartView® wafer-to-wafer alignment system which incorporates a revolutionary face-to-face alignment technology for wafer-level packaging technologies and 3D interconnects for hyper-integration.
SmartView® Wafer-to-Wafer Alignment System

2000
Founding of second wholly owned subsidiary in USA: EV Group Inc., Cranston, Rhode Island, for sales and customer support.
Headquarters building and manufacturing floor expansion, doubling of total floor (to ~ 6500 m²).
Fully-automated and integrated production systems were introduced. They cover all essential process steps for wafer bonding and lithography, providing a maximum integration and automation level: GEMINI® – The ultimate production wafer bonding system with integration of all wafer bonding process steps.
GEMINI® Automated Production Wafer Bonding System


HERCULES® – Fully automated and integrated lithography track system for coat/bake-align/expose - develop processes. HERCULES® Lithography Track System

EV Group developed the first hot embossing system for emerging BioMEMS and microfluidics applications.

2001
Celebration of the 20-year anniversary event.
The first 300 mm automated SOI production bonder was designed and successfully installed. This tool integrates all the essential process steps to manufacture world-class, high-yield SOI bonded substrates. 
EV Group introduced the first temporary bonding and debonding systems which enable thin wafer processing in volume manufacturing and offer advanced capabilities for UltraThin® wafer processing.
EVG®850DB Automated Debonding System
EV Group entered the Chinese market with two new sales representations.
Introduction of company wide ERP Systems (Enterprise Resource Planning): SAP
70% headquarters building and manufacturing floor expansion (~to 11000 m²).

2002
The new 300 mm automated IQ Aligner®, which targets wafer level packaging and advanced MEMS applications, is another innovative highlight. It combines latest lithography and multiple reliable alignment techniques in one system. 
IQ Aligner® Automated Mask Alignment System
EV Group introduced the first 300 mm Production Wafer Bonding System and 300 mm SmartView® Wafer-to-Wafer Bond Aligner. 
Several further 300 mm tool sets (resist processing systems, wafer and mask cleaning systems, wafer bonding systems) were completed and introduced to the market.

2003
Founding of EVG-Jointech Corp. in Chung-Li, Taiwan.
EV Group announced LowTemp® Plasma Bonding which is available on any of EV Group’s wafer bonding system to achieve highest bond strength at lowest annealing temperature.
EVG®810LT LowTemp® Plasma Activation System

2004
Introduced Chip-to-Wafer bonding system for bonding a wafer with single devices.
EVG®540 Automated Wafer Bonding System
Large area spray coating system.
Dry film lamination system.
Launched new EVG®6200 Infinity Mask Aligner and NanoAlign® technology.
Developed the EVG®570PMI Nanoimprint Lithography (NIL) system for data storage applications.
Certification according to ISO 9001.

2005
Launch of new EVG®520IS Wafer Bonding System.
EVG®520IS Semi-automated Wafer Bonding System
Automated equipment for NewMEMS technology.
Relocation and opening of new EVG North America Headquarters.
EV Group announced Realtek Technologies Pty Ltd. as exclusive agent for Australia.

2006
New NanoSpray technology from EVG achieves uniform resist layers on wafers with extreme topography.
EVG Celebrates its 25th company anniversary and 15 years supplying high volume MEMS manufacturing equipment.
EV Group offers first online shop provided by a semiconductor process equipment manufacturer at www.EVGTshop.com

2007
Manufacturing systems for hot embossing.
EVG®750 Automated Hot Embossing System
Manufacturing systems for double-side UV-NIL.
Coating systems for flexible organic displays.
Expanded manufacturing area and worldwide cleanroom facilities.
Relocation milling center from Andorf to Headquarters.

2008
EVG®560 Automated Wafer Bonding System up to 300 mm for 3DIC and TSV.
Introduction of the ‘NT’ Series of aligners and measurement systems for 3D IC and other advanced semiconductor, MEMS and nanotechnology device manufacturing

EVG®560 Automated Wafer Bonding System
Founding of EV Group Korea Ltd.

2009
Launch of the GEMINI FB - fully-automated production fusion bonding system
with optical alignment for back side illuminated image sensors and 3D-IC
thumbnail-GEMINIFB

2010
Implementation and successful certification of an environmental management system according to ISO 14001.
Launch of the EVG560HBL, the industry´s first Fully Automated Wafer Bonding System. for High Brightness LED Manufacturing 

    EVG560

2011
Launch of the EVG620HBL Automated Mask Alignment System for HB-LED, delivering highest-in-class throughput and yield

      EVG620HBL-gesamt2

Introduction of the industry´s first Wafer Bonding System for 450 mm SOI semiconductor wafers: EVG850SOI/450 mm

    EVG850SOI-450mm

EVG Headquarters Expansion to more than double the company´s production floor space in light of very strong order intake

Launch of new flagship model with enhanced throughput and automation performance in the GEMINI FB family of Fusion Wafer Bonding Systems

GeminiFB_EFEM

Launch of new XT Frame equipment platform to boost High-Volume Manufacturing performance

EVG850TBDB XT Frame Produktbild