The core technology that supports Lasertec's creation of cutting-edge products is "applied optical technology."

Lasertec engineers not only take on product development but also look after all aspects of each product in its lifecycle including planning, element technology research, prototyping, designing, manufacturing, delivery, installation, and maintenance. Thanks to this wide-range experience, the engineers can address problems with a multifaceted approach offering lots of unique ideas. This helps them find a good solution even if they face a difficult challenge from the customer.

Our engineers try to grasp new market needs through daily communication with customers. We address these new needs and potential applications collected in the field using the venue of Design Review where management also participates for quick decision making. We also encourage engineers with the same functional responsibility from different departments to get together to engage in inter-departmental sharing of knowledge and experience. As seen in these examples, we keep a flat and flexible organization that promotes knowledge sharing to enable rapid product development.

We recognize the importance of IP rights. We protect our intellectual property by making patent applications and other filings promptly and, at the same time, prevent the infringement of other people's IP rights in a systematic approach. We focus the task of setting up and managing an IP database on a single department, which also takes care of the administration of patent filings. We conduct internal IP training regularly and reward in-house inventors to promote patent applications. Because of these IP activities, we have received recognitions from outside authorities. For example, we were awarded the Commissioner of Japan Patent Office Award by the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry in 2013.

We have a track record of participation in joint research and development with universities, research institutions, consortiums and others in Japan and abroad to study and/or develop next-generation technologies. Most recently, we collaborated with EIDEC^*1 in the ABI^*2 project, which completed the development of a EUV mask blank inspection system in 2016. A new product named ABICS, which contributes to the realization of EUV lithography, was born from this project.

Lasertec has established a quality management system based on ISO9001 at its headquarters in Japan, providing customers with high-quality products and services to meet their demanding requirements.

We continuously pursue customer satisfaction and make improvements.

We are engaged in activities to increase quality, safety and reliability, with Quality Assurance Department playing a pivotal role, based on the seven principles of quality management system (1. Customer Focus, 2. Leadership, 3. Engagement of People, 4. Process Approach, 5. Improvement, 6. Evidence-based Decision Making, 7. Relationship Management).

We hold a Quality Conference every month. Senior management including the president and the general managers of technology departments attend the Conference. At this Conference, we review the status of operation of our products installed at customer sites, see if there are any significant troubles and quality issues, and discuss corrective actions to enhance product quality and reliability and to maximize customer satisfaction.

We provide high quality products and services that meet the demanding requirements of customers in the leading-edge technology areas. We are striving to increase customer satisfaction to establish a solid relationship built on trust by taking the following approach:

The majority of our products are used in semiconductor wafer fabs where 24/7 full-time operation is the norm for all the production equipment. Lasertec has established an infrastructure of local field support and emergency backup to achieve the customer's uptime requirements.