Tokyo, Japan and Oberkochen, Germany – NanoTechnology, a Seiko Instruments subsidiary, and Carl Zeiss Nano Technology Systems, a division of Carl Zeiss SMT, have announced a global strategic alliance for electron and ion beam systems. The companies will jointly market systems for nanotechnology and semiconductor process control and will combine their scanning and transmission electron microscopes, focused ion beam and x-ray fluorescent systems for nanoscopic imaging, analysis and measurement. “This global strategic alliance boosts us on our path to jointly becoming the global number one in system solutions for nanotechnology and is the bold implementation of our company vision ‘Enabling the Nano-Age World’. The combination of our high performing GEMINI SEM technology with the world leading FIB technology of SIINT creates significant value for customers,” said Dr. Dirk Stenkamp, head of Carl Zeiss SMT´s Process Control Solutions Segment including NTS. SIINT President and CEO Dr. Hiroyuki Funamoto commented, “Our own strength and excellent customer intimacy in Asia and especially Japan combined with the established and very strong sales network of Carl Zeiss NTS in Europe and the Americas will strongly support the aggressive growth strategy of both partners.”