Micralign information

The Perkin-Elmer Micralign was a family of aligners introduced in 1973. Micralign was the first projection aligner, a concept that dramatically improved semiconductor fabrication. According to the Chip History Center, it "literally made the modern IC industry".^[1]

The Micralign addressed a significant problem in the early integrated circuit (IC) industry, that the vast majority of ICs printed contained defects that rendered them useless. On average, about 1 in 10 complex ICs produced would be operational, a 10% yield. The Micralign improved this to over 50%, and as great as 70% in many applications. In doing so, the price of microprocessors and dynamic RAM products fell about 10 times between 1974 and 1978, by which time the Micralign had become practically universal in the high-end market.

Initially predicting to sell perhaps 50 units, Perkin-Elmer eventually sold about 2,000,^[a] making them the by far largest vendor in the semiconductor fabrication equipment space through the second half of the 1970s and early 1980s. Formed into the Microlithography Division, by 1980 its income was the largest of Perkin-Elmer's divisions and provided the majority of the company's profits.

The company was slow to respond to the challenge of the stepper, which replaced the projection aligners in most roles starting in the mid-1980s. Their move to extreme ultraviolet as a response failed, as the technology was not mature. Another attempt, buying a European stepper company, did nothing to reverse their fortunes. In 1990, Perkin-Elmer sold the division to Silicon Valley Group, which is today part of ASML Holding.

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