Raith – 40 years of success

When Hermann Raith founded Raith in Dortmund in 1980, he could never have imagined that four decades later his business would become a leading precision technology solution provider for nanofabrication.

The company started with special ancillary developments for scanning electron microscopes. Specifically, these were heating and cooling stages, probe modules for IC inspections, motor controls, and SEM (Scanning Electron Microscope) stages with an extra-large adjustment range. This product area was soon to become the core expertise of the company.

Picture of a 40

After the 1988 launch of ELPHY, an “electronic pencil” that could complement the imaging functionality of a scanning electron microscope (SEM) with a writing component, the first Raith Laser Interferometer Stage (LIS) was developed and became one of the company´s most important core competencies.

Photo of the first ELPHY manual
First ELPHY manual (1988)
Picture of a Raith LIS and ELPHY installed at a JEOL6600
Around 1994: Raith LIS and ELPHY installed at a JEOL6600 (Uni Duisburg); A very successful combination; most attractive and sold many times.
Photo of the first Raith EBl system RAITH150
1996: The first turnkey solution in the market, the first SEM based EBL system RAITH150

The first Raith turnkey solution came to the market in the mid-90s. The Raith150 was Raith´s first electron beam lithography system and marked an important milestone as the first EBL system in the million-$ category.

By providing the million-$ EBL category equipment to leading academic and industrial research labs such as IBM and Infineon, Raith built a worldwide reputation and grew the success of the company.

In parallel with this growth phase Raith continued to invest in internal resources, expertise, and infrastructure, extending its product range systematically to serve new, exciting applications and markets such as nanoengineering and focused ion beam nanofabrication.

Photo of the Brigitte Brüggemann working at Raith´s TRULY first FIB-SEM system
1992: Brigitte Brüggemann working at Raith´s TRULY first FIB-SEM system; Enabled Raith to place a very huge order.

Decades later, after a phase of internationalization and a 2013 merger with Vistec Gaussian Beam Lithography and its EBPG success story, the company has continued to focus on its profitable and sustainable growth strategy. Suddenly confronted with the exceptional and rapidly evolving coronavirus situation, Raith has taken this as an opportunity to strengthen its online support and training capabilities, while still remaining able to manage production and shipment of instruments on normal levels.

Thank you to everyone who has had a part to play in our 40-year history! We are grateful to each and every one of you and look forward to continuing these trustful relationships for many years to come!

Picture of the first Raith Infoletter
First Raith Infoletter, April 1980
Photo of the Raith team in 1994
The Raith team 1994, located “im Hauert 18”
Photo of the Raith team in 2003
Group picture around 2003 (Raith “family” left the company; new “Hannover Finanz” investor came in)