page_title: INFICON
section_title: History
hierarchical_section_title: INFICON / History
caption_attribution_description: English: History timeline image for INFICON until the year 2000.
context_page_description: INFICON is headquartered in Bad Ragaz and is engaged in the development, manufacture and supply of instruments, sensor technology and process control software for the semiconductor and vacuum-coating industries. They supply instruments for gas leak detection in refrigeration, air conditioning, the automotive industry and for the analysis and identification of toxic chemicals.
  INFICON has manufacturing facilities in Europe, the United States and China. INFICON has subsidiaries in China, Finland, France, Germany, India, Italy, Japan, Korea, Liechtenstein, Singapore, Sweden, Switzerland, Taiwan, the United Kingdom and the United States.
context_section_description: Inficon was founded in Syracuse, New York by a group of scientists and engineers from General Electric (GE) and Syracuse University (SU), who developed a halogen leak detector in December 1969.
  In January 1976, Inficon was acquired by Leybold-Heraeus GmbH a vacuum technology company. Due to this acquisition, Inficon became known as Inficon Leybold-Heraeus.
  In 1987, Leybold-Heraeus GmbH, the parent company of Inficon, was purchased by DeGussa AG, and the name was changed to Leybold AG. At this point, Inficon Leybold-Heraeus became Leybold Inficon, Inc.
  In 1993, Oerlikon-Bührle Holding AG (OBH), which owned Balzers AG, reached a deal to buy Leybold AG from DeGussa AG. Formed in 1994, Balzers and Leybold Holding AG became the world's largest vacuum and surface technology company as a result of this purchase. Leybold Inficon, Inc. of Syracuse with Balzers Instruments of Liechtenstein and two Leybold instrument groups of Germany then became Balzers and Leybold Instrumentation (BLI).
  In 1998, the Oerlikon-Bührle Group was split up and the core business was renamed Unaxis.
  In July 2000, Balzers AG and Leybold AG became a part of Unaxis and the instrument group was spun off forming INFICON Holding AG in Switzerland. Combined with Leybold Inficon, Inc. the three instrument groups then became INFICON. On November 9, 2000, INFICON joined the Nasdaq and SIX Swiss Exchange with a public offering under the ticker symbol "IFCN".
  In February 2005, INFICON delisted its stock from Nasdaq, but continues to trade on the SIX Swiss Exchange to this day.
caption: History Timeline for INFICON
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