The information provided by these tools is critical in developing new manufacturing processes, controlling and diagnosing problems in existing processes. The bottleneck in the feedback loop is often in the elaborate procedures required for sample preparation. With manufacturing facilities capable of producing millions of dollars worth of product per hour, every minute counts. SELA's automated systems can reduce sample preparation time from days to hours and from hours to minutes.

The economic benefits of automating sample preparation are immediately apparent to SELA customers. Over 210 SELA systems are currently in use worldwide. Many major semiconductor manufacturers, including Motorola, Texas Instruments, National , IBM, Samsung, Sony, Renesas, TSMC, UMC and ST Microelectronics use SELA systems to dramatically reduce defect analysis turnaround times in their research and development, process development, failure analysis, and manufacturing quality control analytical labs. More than 50 percent of SELA MC Series systems users have ordered additional systems. The SELA TEMpro TEM sample preparation system and the SELA MC200 Microcleaving system have been selected by Semiconductor International to receive its prestigious Editors' Choice Best Product Award.