Flanders, NJ and Bloomington, MN; Milpitas, CA -Rudolph Technologies has signed a definitive merger agreement with August Technology worth approximately $193 million. As a result, August Technology has terminated its merger agreement signed earlier this year with Nanometrics (see IBO 1/31/05, 2/15/05) and paid an $8.3 million termination fee. “As a combined entity, we are better positioned to offer our customers complete inspection and metrology solutions for front-end and back-end wafer processing,” said Rudolph Technologies Chairman and CEO Paul F. McLaughlin. The combined company would have had pro forma revenues for the year ended March 31 of $160 million and 600 employees. The merger is expected to be accretive to Rudolph’s earnings within the first year. Rudolph provides process control equipment for thin film measurement and macro defect inspection, and August supplies inspection and defect analysis solutions for the microelectronic industry. The merger is scheduled to close in the fourth quarter.