Nanolayer deposition patents sold

The Tegal Corp., Petaluma, Calif., last week sold its nanolayer deposition (NLD) patent portfolio to multiple bidders for about $3.6 million, a company news release reported.

The company sold more than 30 patents from NLD portfolio, which had included more than 35 U.S. and international patents in the areas of pulsed-chemical vapor deposition, plasma-enhanced atomic-layer deposition and NLD.

NLD portfolio PDF.

Tegal describes NLD as "a process technology that bridges the gap between high throughput, non-conformal chemical vapor deposition and lower throughput, highly conformal atomic layer deposition."

Tegal is in the process of divesting its semiconductor capital equipment assets.