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Business Description
12 Months Ended
Dec. 31, 2018
Organization, Consolidation and Presentation of Financial Statements [Abstract]  
Business Description
1)

Business Description

MKS Instruments, Inc. (“MKS” or the “Company”) was founded in 1961 and is a global provider of instruments, subsystems and process control solutions that measure, monitor, deliver, analyze, power and control critical parameters of advanced manufacturing processes to improve process performance and productivity. The Company’s products are derived from its core competencies in pressure measurement and control, flow measurement and control, gas and vapor delivery, gas composition analysis, residual gas analysis, leak detection, control technology, ozone generation and delivery, power, reactive gas generation, vacuum technology, lasers, photonics, sub-micron positioning, vibration control, and optics. The primary served markets are manufacturers of capital equipment for semiconductor manufacturing, industrial technologies, life and health sciences, as well as research and defense. The Company groups its products into six product groups based upon the similarity of the product function, type of product and manufacturing processes. These six groups are: Analytical and Controls Solutions Products; Power, Plasma and Reactive Gas Solutions Products; Vacuum Solutions Products; Photonics Products; Optics Products; and Laser Products.

The Company has two reportable segments: Vacuum & Analysis and Light & Motion.