Molecular Imprints' Semiconductor Business To Be Acquired By Canon

Molecular Imprints' SemiconductorMolecular Imprints' Semiconductor Business To Be Acquired By Canon PR Newswire AUSTIN, Texas, Feb. 13, 2014 -- Merger creates an independent spin out company that will focus on developing nanotechnology market opportunities Molecular Imprints Inc. (MII), the market and technology leader for nanopatterning systems and solutions, today announced it has signed an agreement to sell its semiconductor imprint lithography equipment business to Canon Inc. of Tokyo, Japan. Canon currently manufactures and markets KrF excimer and i-line illumination optical lithography platforms. Canon began conducting research into nanoimprint technology in 2004 to enter the market for lithography equipment for leading-edge high-resolution patterning. Since 2009, the Company has been carrying out joint development with MII and a major semiconductor manufacturer for mass production using MII's Jet and Flash™ Imprint Lithography (J-FIL™) technology. "After establishing a business alliance with Canon four years ago to provide a technologically enabled low cost nanolithography solution to the semiconductor industry, I'm very pleased to acknowledge the tremendous progress we have achieved in the pursuit of this goal. Based on this success, the merger was a natural next step for our companies," stated Mark Melliar-Smith, CEO of Molecular Imprints.