Optics

Schott acquires Primoceler, a Finnish laser glass-bonding specialist

July 25, 2018

Part of a wider strategy to strengthen Schott’s global position via acquisition of complementary glass companies.

Primoceler's glass micro bonding technology is additive free.

Schott (Mainz, Germany) is acquiring Primoceler Oy (Tampere, Finland), a Finnish pioneer in glass micro bonding. This step is part of a wider strategy towards strengthening Schott’s global position via acquisition of companies whose activities are complementary to its own.

Schott says that it recognized the value of Primoceler Oy’s hermetic packaging technology to create new possibilities for the protection of sensitive electronics in medical implants, MEMS devices, and other reliability-critical applications. With this acquisition, Schott strategically enhances its longstanding core competence in the field of hermetic packaging and expects to complete the deal before the end of 2018.

Primoceler has developed a “glass-only” micro bonding method based on laser technology that can be completed without any heat or added materials. This bonding process allows for the manufacture of vacuum-tight, ultra-miniature electronic or optical devices with superior reliability. Even electronics with extreme heat sensitivities can be safely encapsulated. Glass micro bonding enables entirely new packaging concepts for devices that demand high reliability including medical implants, aerospace, automotive, optical devices and micro-electro-mechanical systems (MEMS) for the Internet of Things.

The company will conduct its business activities under the new name SCHOTT Primoceler Oy. Schott’s Electronic Packaging division, to which Primoceler Oy will belong, is among a very few companies worldwide offering a complete range of hermetic packaging technologies to protect sensitive electronics in automotive, aerospace, medical, and energy applications.

Source: Schott

About the Author

Conard Holton | Editor at Large

Conard Holton has 25 years of science and technology editing and writing experience. He was formerly a staff member and consultant for government agencies such as the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority and the International Atomic Energy Agency, and engineering companies such as Bechtel. He joined Laser Focus World in 1997 as senior editor, becoming editor in chief of WDM Solutions, which he founded in 1999. In 2003 he joined Vision Systems Design as editor in chief, while continuing as contributing editor at Laser Focus World. Conard became editor in chief of Laser Focus World in August 2011, a role in which he served through August 2018. He then served as Editor at Large for Laser Focus World and Co-Chair of the Lasers & Photonics Marketplace Seminar from August 2018 through January 2022. He received his B.A. from the University of Pennsylvania, with additional studies at the Colorado School of Mines and Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern University.