Rudolph has a long history of technology leadership in manufacturing highly accurate quality instruments that use polarized light as a measuring medium.

Rudolph introduced the industry's first production-oriented ellipsometer for thin-transparent film measurements in 1977 and has consistently led the industry through innovative product developments that surpass those of the competition.

In June 1996, Riverside Partners and Liberty Partners made major investments in Rudolph to support its expansion in the semiconductor metrology market. Coincident with the new partnership, Rudolph changed its name from Rudolph Research to Rudolph Technologies to reflect its new strategic focus and plans for metrology in the 21st century. In November 1999, Rudolph became a public company trading on the NASDAQ.

For opaque film characterization, Rudolph brought the revolutionary PULSE Technology™ to the fab floor. Since its introduction, over 200 systems have been sold to over 35 companies. PULSE™ has helped all of the top semiconductor manufacturers ramp copper processes quickly and keep production in control twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week.

In July of 2002, Rudolph acquired ISOA, a supplier of inspection and classification systems. A merger with August Technology was completed in February of 2006, and solidified Rudolph's position as a major player in macro defect detection and analysis.

Rudolph accelerated its efforts to be a more complete supplier of back-end equipment and software with the acquisition of the semiconductor business of Applied Precision, LLC, in December 2007, and the purchase of the Wafer Scanner product line from RVSI Inspection LLC. These acquisitions added precision wafer probe card metrology systems, wafer probe process management systems, and 2D/3D macro defect inspection to the companies' growing portfolio.

Most recently, Rudolph acquired Adventa Control Technologies, Inc. in 2009, broadening its process control software presence with a wide range of technologies including tool automation, run-to-run control, and fault detection and classification.