May 22, 2013
Based in Brookfield, CT, Photronics, Inc. (PLAB) is one of the largest original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) of photomasks to the semiconductor manufacturing industry. Semiconductor manufacturers use photomasks during the front-end process of fabricating integrated circuit (IC) devices on a silicon wafer. These photomasks are purchased from merchant suppliers such as PLAB or are internally created from the semiconductor manufacturers' captive photomask manufacturing operations. Photronics builds customized photomasks based on customer circuit designs at strategically located manufacturing facilities. Additionally, the company recently entered the flat panel market and is a major supplier of large area masks (LAMs) used in the construction of LCD panels or glass.
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