How GCE helped keep legacy KLA 8100 systems viable for the next decade through a modern computer upgrade

The customer was managing a fleet of tools with aging computer hardware that would lock up or throw errors frequently, resulting in extended, costly tool downtime for fab operations.

GCE's upgrade was a brand-new, customized PC configured for the customer's KLA CD-SEM platform, engineered to replace the failing hardware while preserving full compatibility with the legacy tool architecture.

GCE's value-add was the upgrade work itself: configuring the replacement computer around the legacy KLA architecture, preserving critical existing boards and the dongle, performing on-tool testing before shipment, and supporting a broader upgrade path across the customer's installed base of CD-SEM configurations.

GCE installed the first upgrade at the customer's site, completed all calibration and data-transfer work, and released the tool to production. The upgrade delivered significantly higher uptime and a 25% improvement in tool throughput. After a few months of monitoring those results, the customer allocated capital to upgrade their entire fleet of KLA CD-SEM tools — with the upgraded platform now expected to keep these legacy systems in production for the next decade.

A customer managing legacy KLA 8100-family CD-SEMs piloted GCE's computer upgrade on one tool, then funded the upgrade across their entire fleet after seeing the results.