ICOS Vision Systems awarded $1.1 million R&D grant

JANUARY 2--ICOS Vision Systems corp. NV (Heverlee, Belgium; www.icos.be) has been awarded a grant of $1.1 million from IWT, a regional public institute for stimulating innovation by science and technology in Flanders, Belgium. The grant was awarded in connection with the development of next-generation 3-D inspection technology for which the company has already filed a patent application. The grant is the largest R&D grant that ICOS has received in its history and is expected to be paid in several parts throughout 2003 and 2004.

ICOS is a developer of machine vision and inspection solutions for use in the backend semiconductor-manufacturing and electronic-assembly industries. The company's inspection products are used worldwide to inspect integrated circuits at various stages of their manufacturing process and to align electronic components and printed-circuit boards.