SiliconBeat

James Moniz (pictured), who previously served as chief financial officer at Nextest Systems until it was acquired in February 2008 and then became CFO at Photon Dynamics for six months until it was acquired in October, is now fulfilling that role at Nanometrics. The Milpitas company, which used to bill itself as a maker of process control equipment used by the semiconductor industry, has greened up its description to include customers in the solar energy and light-emitting diode industries as well. No wonder, since the chip industry and the makers of equipment for them are mired in the industy’s worst downturn ever.

“We are encouraged that we have a broad portfolio of products, some of which may appear esoteric in a strong market, but are certainly welcomed in our current environment,” said Nanometrics Chief Executive Tim Stultz last October in an earnings conference call. “In fact, nearly 25% of our product revenues came from high-brightness LED, solar photovoltaics, and compound semiconductor markets.”

What wasn’t clear was whether that was because of growth in its newer, greener business products or shrinkage of the old. In any case, the company had to write off the entire value of its goodwill in its fiscal 2008 third quarter because of the severity of the chip downturn and “significant decline” in Nanometrics stock price, which lost 88 percent of its value last year.

It could be a very good time to receive an option grant good for 100,000 Nanometric shares, as Moniz did as part of his hiring. He’ll make $300,000 in salary plus a $150,000 bonus if Nanometrics “meets certain milestones included in an operating plan” yet to be approved by the board.