Acquired in August 1998 by Philips, the firm is now known as Advanced Metrology Systems, Inc. (Philips AMS) a division of Philips Electronics, Inc.. The firm manufactured high-throughput, non-contact metal film thickness measurement tools for online monitoring of interconnect layers in advanced semiconductor processes. The firm was founded on technology licensed from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in August 1998. The company has as its core mission the development of copper/low-k interconnect metrology solutions