What is a Photomask? Photomasks are the templates of how we live our lives today. All around us, every day, we rely on complex electronics. From home PCs and televisions to critical medical equipment, from mobile telephones to aircraft systems, we are surrounded by technologies that depend on semiconductors, optoelectronics or MEMS (MicroElectroMechanical Systems). And all of these technologies are dependent on photomasks. Take semiconductors as an example. A photomask provides the template for a semiconductor, the ubiquitous element in almost all modern electronics. It is a plate made from the highest quality quartz or glass and it holds a highly detailed, precise image of integrated circuits. Intense light is shone through the photomask onto a thin wafer. This wafer is the 'foundation' of a semiconductor and it is coated in a photo-sensitive material that reacts to the light shone through the photomask. In this way, a highly detailed 'map' of the semiconductor's circuits is etched onto the wafer. This process is repeated, wafer by wafer, creating the multi-layer semiconductor. It is a process that demands absolute precision and quality. A process that is essential for our customers to shape innovative technologies and advanced products.