ACCRETECH Supports New Technology that Reduces Number of Errors in Prober Alignment, Increasing Test Cell Uptime

LIVERMORE, Calif. – July 14, 2003 —FormFactor (Nasdaq: FORM), a leader in advanced wafer test probe cards, today announced the introduction of MicroLignTM technology, a new probe tip design method developed to optimize automated optical alignment during wafer probing. In addition, the company announced that ACCRETECH, a leading supplier of high performance automated probe systems, has agreed to support the MicroLign technology with a new automated alignment algorithm. The result of the companies’ collaborative project is a faster, more accurate optical alignment process, reducing instances of optical alignment errors by more than 80 percent during trials. MicroLign features, in combination with ACCRETECH’s new software, dramatically increase productive time in the test cell, driving greater manufacturing efficiencies for high volume wafer test operations.

FormFactor’s new MicroLign technology includes a set of standard features on its MicroSpringTM interconnect probe tips, enabling reliable alignment by ACCRETECH’s wafer prober optical alignment systems independent of chip and probe card design. The MicroLign features also enable the prober’s optical alignment system to accurately detect the probe tips even when the tips are partially obscured by aluminum debris, which routinely accumulates on probe tips during wafer probing. Working closely with FormFactor, ACCRETECH has developed a new standard optical alignment software option that recognizes MicroLign features on FormFactor’s MicroSpring contacts. The companies noted that the technology has been successfully field-tested and is immediately available upon request.

“Our goal is to maximize test cell uptime by reducing the need for manual intervention,” said Masakuni Matsuda, prober system group leader, ACCRETECH. “Through our work with FormFactor, ACCRETECH is taking the lead in optimizing automatic optical alignment, helping to streamline the semiconductor test process.”

“FormFactor actively seeks opportunities to collaborate with partners such as ACCRETECH to improve overall test cell performance and reduce total cost of test for our customers,” said Mark Brandemuehl, vice president of marketing for FormFactor, Inc. “The introduction of our MicroLign technology, in cooperation with ACCRETECH, will significantly reduce manual intervention in the wafer test process and enable our shared customers to realize even greater throughput from their wafer test cells.”

Providing mission-critical products for semiconductor wafer test, FormFactor is a technology leader in DRAM, flash and microprocessor wafer test. FormFactor’s MicroSpring interconnect technology combines superior accuracy, reliability, speed and signal integrity with the highest parallelism for the fewest touchdowns possible.

About ACCRETECH

ACCRETECH (Tokyo Seimitsu Co., Ltd.) is a leading manufacturer of wafer probing machine. In cooperation with its affiliated company, ACCRETECH Micro Technologies Co., Ltd., ACCRETECH moved into the optical wafer inspection business in 2000 and has been expanding its business activities rapidly.

ACCRETECH has also a variety of production lineup for Semiconductor manufacturing such as Wafer Dicing Machine, CMP, Back Grinding Machine and others.

The strength of ACCRETECH lies in their motto of “Win-win relationships create the world’s No. 1 products” including the strategic alliances to develop the competitive product within a short period.

For more information about ACCRETECH, please visit

www.accretech.jp/english/index.html .