ONTO INNOVATION INC

Our Compensation Philosophy And Principles

Our compensation philosophy, which serves as the framework for the Company’s executive officer compensation program, is defined by two key tenets: (1) rewarding continuous improvement in financial and operating results and (2) creation of stockholder value. The Compensation Committee acts on behalf of the Board and, by extension, on behalf of our stockholders, to establish, implement, and continually monitor adherence to our compensation philosophy. Accordingly, the Compensation Committee has developed a set of core objectives and principles that it has used to develop the executive officer compensation program. The specific objectives of our executive officer compensation program are to:

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attract and retain executive officer talent;

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motivate executive officers to achieve the Company’s short- and long-term business strategies and objectives; and

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align the interests of executive officers with those of stockholders.

Consistent with the foregoing, the Compensation Committee believes that the most effective executive officer compensation program is one that rewards the achievement of specific strategic and operating goals of the Company on both an annual and a long-term basis, and that incentivizes executive officers to create value for stockholders. The Compensation Committee evaluates both performance and compensation to ensure that the Company maintains its ability to attract and retain superior employees in key positions. Based on that evaluation, the Compensation Committee designs the compensation provided to executive officers to remain competitive with the compensation paid to similarly situated executive officers at peer group companies. The Compensation Committee believes executive officer compensation packages provided by the Company to its executive officers, including the NEOs, should include base salary, annual cash incentive opportunities, and long-term stock-based compensation, including equity incentive opportunities that reward performance as measured against pre-established goals.

The following principles support the objectives and design of the compensation program:

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The compensation program is designed to be fair and competitive, from an internal and external perspective, taking into account each executive officer’s unique qualifications, role, responsibilities, individual performance, and measurable contribution to the Company’s profitability.

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A substantial portion of an executive officer’s compensation is designed to be at risk and linked to the achievement of both corporate and individual financial, management or other performance goals and changes in stockholder value.

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All compensation program elements taken as a whole are designed to help focus executive officers on achieving the Company’s financial and strategic goals while supporting our culture and core values.

To underscore the importance of “pay-for-performance” in our compensation philosophy, the Compensation Committee has developed incentive arrangements based on performance standards that the Compensation Committee believes, at target achievement, will incentivize our executive officers to meet or exceed industry performance.

The Company also strives to promote an ownership mentality among its key leadership, in part through the guidelines described below under the heading “Stock Ownership/Retention Guidelines.” To that end, the CEO is required to maintain ownership of Common Stock equal in value to at least three times the CEO’s year-end base salary. The other executive officers are required to maintain a minimum share ownership level equal in value to their current year-end base salary. In further support of this approach, the Company prohibits pledges of Company securities as collateral, as well as short sales, derivative and hedging transactions involving Company securities, to ensure that personal interests relating to the stock holdings of officers and directors do not conflict with their duties to the Company.