KLA Corporation and its majority-owned subsidiaries (KLA) operate as a supplier of industry-leading equipment and services that enables innovation throughout the electronics industry.
The company provides advanced process control and process-enabling solutions for manufacturing wafers, reticles/masks, chemicals/materials, integrated circuits (IC or chip), packaged ICs and printed circuit boards (PCB), as well as comprehensive support and services across its installed base. The company's suite o...
KLA Corporation and its majority-owned subsidiaries (KLA) operate as a supplier of industry-leading equipment and services that enables innovation throughout the electronics industry.
The company provides advanced process control and process-enabling solutions for manufacturing wafers, reticles/masks, chemicals/materials, integrated circuits (IC or chip), packaged ICs and printed circuit boards (PCB), as well as comprehensive support and services across its installed base. The company's suite of advanced products, coupled with its unique process control software and services, allow it to deliver the solutions its customers need to achieve their technology advancement and high volume production goals by significantly improving yields, while simultaneously reducing waste, risks and costs.
Segments
The company operates through three segments: Semiconductor Process Control; Specialty Semiconductor Process; and PCB and Component Inspection.
Within the Semiconductor Process Control segment, the company's comprehensive portfolio of inspection, metrology and software products, as well as related services, help IC, wafer, reticle/mask and chemical/materials manufacturers achieve target yields throughout the entire fabrication process, from R&D to high volume production. These products and services are designed to provide comprehensive solutions to help customers accelerate development and production ramp cycles, achieve higher and more stable product yields and improve their overall profitability.
Within the Specialty Semiconductor Process segment, the company develops and sells advanced vacuum deposition and etch process tools, which are used by a broad range of specialty semiconductor customers, including manufacturers of microelectromechanical systems (MEMS), radio frequency (RF) communication semiconductors, and power semiconductors for automotive and industrial applications.
Within the PCB and Component Inspection segment, the company sells products and services that enable electronic device manufacturers to inspect, test and measure PCBs, IC substrates and packaged ICs to verify their quality, pattern the desired electronic circuitry on the relevant substrate and perform three-dimensional shaping of metalized circuits on multiple surfaces.
Customers
The company counts among its largest customers the leading semiconductor, semiconductor-related and electronic device manufacturers in Asia, the U.S. and Europe.
For the fiscal year ended June 30, 2024, the company's customers accounted for more than 10% of total revenues, primarily in the Semiconductor Process Control segment, which include Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company Limited.
Sales, Service and Marketing
The company's sales, service and marketing efforts aim to build deep long-term relationships with its customers. The company focuses on providing comprehensive resources for the full breadth of process control, process-enabling and yield management solutions for manufacturing and testing wafers and reticles, a wide variety of ICs, PCBs, IC substrates and packaging as well as general materials research. The company's revenues are derived primarily from product sales and related service contracts, mostly through its direct sales force.
The company has direct sales forces in Asia, the U.S. and Europe. The company maintains an export compliance program designed to meet the requirements of Commerce and the U.S. Department of State and the trade regulations of the international jurisdictions in which the company operates.
In addition to sales and service offices in the U.S., the company conducts sales, marketing and services out of subsidiaries or branches in many regions; some of the largest include China, Germany, Israel, Japan, Korea, Singapore, Taiwan and the United Kingdom.
Products and Services
KLA develops industry-leading process control and yield management solutions and services that enable innovation throughout the semiconductor and related electronics industries. The company provides advanced process control and process-enabling solutions for manufacturing wafers, reticles, ICs, packaging, PCBs, IC substrates and flat and flexible panel displays. In March 2024, the company made the decision to exit its business of manufacturing flat and flexible panel displays (Display) by announcing the end of manufacturing of most Display products by December 31, 2024, but it will continue to provide services to the installed base of Display products for existing customers.
The Semiconductor Process Control segment offers a comprehensive portfolio of inspection, metrology, chemistry process control and software products and related services, which support the semiconductor ecosystem from research and development (R&D) to final volume production. For IC manufacturing, the company's systems support the production of all chip types, including advanced logic, DRAM, 3D NAND, power devices, MEMS, legacy design node chips and more. The company's substrate manufacturing systems support the production of a broad range of wafer types and sizes including silicon, prime silicon silicon on insulator (SOI), sapphire, glass, wide bandgap substrates (e.g., SiC, GaN) and more. The company's reticle systems support quality control during the manufacturing of optical and EUV reticle types. The company also makes products that support chemical/materials quality control, and process tool development and qualification. The company's products and services for chip, wafer, reticle, packaging, solar, hard disk drive, original equipment manufacturer (OEM) and chemical/materials manufacturing are designed to provide comprehensive solutions that help its customers accelerate development and production ramp cycles, achieve higher and more stable product yields and improve their overall profitability. The Semiconductor Process Control segment offers a variety of solutions and products, including:
Chip Manufacturing: Defect Inspection and Review: Inspection and review tools are used to identify, locate, characterize, review, and analyze defects on various surfaces of patterned and unpatterned wafers. Products include 39xx Series, 29xx Series, C30x Series, eSL10, Voyager Series, 8 Series, Puma Series, CIRCL Series, Surfscan Series, Surfscan SP Ax Series, eDR Series.
Chip Manufacturing: Metrology: Metrology systems are used to measure pattern dimensions, film thickness(es), film stress, layer-to-layer alignment, pattern placement, surface topography and electro-optical properties for wafers. Products include Archer Series, ATL Series, Axion Series, SpectraShape Series, SpectraFilm Series, Aleris Series, PWG Series, Therma-Probe Series, OmniMap RS-xxx Series, MicroSense product family, CAPRES product family.
Chip Manufacturing: Chemistry Process Control: Chemical process control equipment qualifies incoming supplies, manages tool inputs, adjusts chamber/bath conditions and monitors process waste. Products include QualiSurf Series, Quali-Line Quanta Series, Quali-Line Prima Series, QualiLab Elite Series.
Chip Manufacturing: In Situ Process Management: Wired and wireless sensor wafers and reticles provide comprehensive data used to visualize, diagnose and control process conditions in the equipment used to manufacture chips and reticles. Additional wafer diagnostic solutions help troubleshoot and monitor materials handling to help detect and predict mechanical behaviors that may cause wafer damage. Products include SensArray product family.
Wafer Manufacturing: Defect Inspection and Review, Metrology, and In Situ Process Management: Wafer defect inspection, review and metrology systems are used to help wafer/substrate manufacturers manage quality throughout the wafer fabrication process by detecting defects, characterizing surface quality and assessing wafer geometry. Products include Surfscan Series, Surfscan SP Ax Series, eDR Series, WaferSight Series, MicroSense wafer geometry product family, SensArray product family, Candela Series, QualiSurf Series.
Reticle Manufacturing: Defect Inspection, Metrology and In Situ Process Management: Reticle inspection and metrology systems help reticle blank, patterned optical reticle, patterned EUV reticle, and chip manufacturers identify defects, pattern placement errors, and process issues during reticle manufacturing. In addition to reducing yield risk during production, these systems also support outgoing and incoming reticle quality control. Products include Teron SL6xx Series, Teron 6xx Series, TeraScan 5xx Series, X5.x Series, FlashScan Series, LMS IPRO Series, SensArray product family.
Packaging Manufacturing: Wafer Inspection and Metrology, Chemistry Process Control, In Situ Process Management: Wafer inspection and metrology systems for advanced wafer-level packaging help packaging manufacturers detect, resolve and monitor excursions to provide greater control of quality for improved device performance. Chemistry process monitoring systems analyze and monitor wet chemicals used in wafer-level packaging (WLP), panel-level packaging (PLP), and IC substrates. Products include Kronos Series, CIRCL-AP, irArcher Series, PWG5 with XT Option, QualiSurf Series, Quali-Fill Libra Series, QualiLab Elite Series, Quali-Dose, SensArray product family.
Semiconductor Software Solutions: Software solutions centralize and analyze the data produced by inspection, metrology and process systems for chip, wafer, reticle and packaging manufacturing. These solutions provide run-time process control, defect excursion identification, process corrections and defect classification to accelerate yield learning rates and reduce production risk. Patterning simulation software allows researchers to evaluate advanced patterning technologies, such as EUV lithography and multiple patterning techniques. Products include Klarity product family, 5D Analyzer, OVALiS, aiSIGHT, Anchor product family, RDC, FabVision Series, ProDATA, PROLITH, I-PAT, SPOT.
KLA Pro Systems: Certified and Remanufactured Products: Inspection and metrology systems support manufacture of larger design node chips and less than or equal to 200mm wafer manufacturing. Products include Surfscan Series, 2835, 2367, ASET-F5x Pro, Archer Series.
General Purpose/Lab Application: Specialty Semiconductor Manufacturing, Benchtop Metrology, Surface Characterization, Material Strength Characterization and Electrical Property Measurement. Products include Candela Series, HRP -260, Zeta Series, Tencor P Series, Nano Indenter Series, Alpha-Step Series, Filmetrics F Series, Filmetrics R Series, iMicro, iNano, Filmetrics Profilm3D Series, T150 UTM, NanoFlip, InSEM HT.
The Specialty Semiconductor Process segment develops and sells advanced vacuum deposition and etching process tools, which are used by a broad range of specialty semiconductor customers, including manufacturers of microelectromechanical systems (MEMS), RF communication chips and power semiconductors for automotive and industrial applications. The Specialty Semiconductor Process segment offers a variety of solutions and products, including:
Specialty Semiconductor Manufacturing: Etch, plasma dicing, deposition and other wafer processing technologies and solutions for the semiconductor and microelectronics industry. Products include SPTS Omega Series, SPTS Sigma Series, SPTS Delta Series, Primaxx Series, Xactix Series, SPTS Mosaic Series, MVD Series.
The PCB and Component Inspection segment enables electronic device manufacturers to inspect, test and measure PCBs, IC substrates, flat panel displays (FPD) and packaged ICs to verify their quality, pattern the desired electronic circuitry on the relevant substrate and perform three-dimensional shaping of metalized circuits on multiple surfaces. The PCB and Component Inspection segment offers a variety of solutions and products, including:
PCB: Direct imaging, inspection, optical shaping, inkjet and additive printing, UV laser drilling as well as computer-aided manufacturing and engineering solutions for the PCB and IC substrate market. Products include Orbotech Corus Series, Orbotech Infinitum Series, Orbotech Nuvogo Fine/ Nuvogo Series, Orbotech Diamond Series, Orbotech Ultra Dimension Series, Orbotech Ultra Fusion/ Fusion Series, Orbotech Discovery II Series, Orbotech Precise Series, Orbotech Ultra PerFix/ PerFix Series, Orbotech Neos Series, Orbotech Sprint Series, Orbotech Magna Series, Orbotech Jetext Series, Orbotech Apeiron Series, Frontline product family.
Display: Inspection and electrical testing systems to identify and classify defects, as well as systems to repair defects for the display market. Products include Castor, Orbotech Sirius Series, Orbotech Flare Series, Orbotech Array Checker Series, Orbotech Ignite Series, Orbotech Prism Series, Orbotech OASIS.
Component: Inspection and metrology systems for quality control and yield improvement in advanced and traditional semiconductor packaging markets. Products include ICOS F26x, ICOS Tx Series, Zeta-5xx/6xx.
Services
The company's service programs enable its customers in all business sectors to maintain the high performance and productivity of its products through a flexible array of service options. Whether a manufacturing site is producing wafers, reticles, ICs, FPD or PCB products, the company's highly trained service teams collaborate with customers to determine the best products and services to meet technology and business requirements.
Competition
In each of its product markets, the company has many competitors, including companies, such as Applied Materials, Inc.; ASML Holding N.V.; Hitachi High-Technologies Corporation; Onto Innovation, Inc.; and Lasertec, Inc.
History
The company was founded in 1975. It was incorporated in 1975. The company was formerly known as KLA-Tencor Corporation and changed its name to KLA Corporation in 2019.