Contact Information: Investor Contact: FormFactor, Inc. Investor Relations (925) 290-4321 Trade Press Contact: David Viera Director of Corporate Communications (925) 290-4681
FormFactor Reaches Reliability Milestone With Takumi(TM) Parametric Probe Card
Parametric Test Technology Still in Service After More Than 15M Contact Cycles
| Source: FormFactor
LIVERMORE, CA--(Marketwire - August 11, 2009) - FormFactor, Inc. (NASDAQ : FORM ) today
announced it has reached a new reliability milestone for its Takumi™
wafer probe card -- an advanced probing solution used by IC manufacturers
for end-of-line and in-line parametric testing. Several Takumi cards in
production use for over two years at Elpida Memory, Inc. have performed
between 15 and 16 million contact cycles (or touch downs) on silicon
wafers, delivering product durability and reliability unmatched by
traditional parametric probing technologies.
"The Takumi probing technology is remarkably reliable and stable," stated
Masao Shimizu, Fab Process Group Engineer, Elpida Memory. "With the
confidence we have in Takumi, we have reduced the need to retest
significantly and virtually eliminated probe card-related fail data."
Takumi is now in use at seven of the top 10 (by revenue) integrated device
manufacturers (IDMs). Takumi extends FormFactor's advanced probing
technology further into the front end of the semiconductor manufacturing
process -- giving IC manufacturers earlier insight into opportunities to
validate their designs, verify process performance and achieve higher
yields.
"The use of wafer probing for parametric test plays an important role in
assuring the quality of our customers' manufacturing processes and the
durability and accuracy of our Takumi parametric products are proving to be
very valuable," stated Bruce Bolliger, VP and GM of FormFactor's SoC
product business unit. "Our Takumi products not only enable us to make
progress on today's test challenges and align with the next-generation
requirements of our customers' test roadmaps, but also deliver to our
customers a clear path for shrinking the test pads on their wafers to allow
more room for patterning devices."
As process margins in semiconductor manufacturing continue to shrink with
scaling design rules, the need to minimize deviations in device and process
performance becomes ever greater. Parametric testing on product wafers
with FormFactor's Takumi parametric probe cards provides rapid,
cost-effective parametric measurements that enable IC manufacturers to
quickly identify the source of process problems and minimize their impact
on production yields. Takumi allows low-current measurements down to the
femtoampere-level**, enabling its use for a wide variety of parametric test
applications.
Takumi probe cards incorporate FormFactor's proven 3-D MEMS-based
MicroSpring® contact technology, which in addition to its extremely
long-life, provides excellent contact precision to support test pad sizes
as small as 30x30 microns -- enabling its use for leading-edge parametric
test applications. Since the test pads that are required for wafer probing
are built into the scribe lines that separate each device on a wafer, wafer
probe card technology must be sufficiently scalable to make robust and
repeatable contact with smaller test pads without damaging adjacent die.
The scalability of FormFactor's MicroSpring technology allows IC
manufacturers to narrow their scribe lines and increase the number of die
that can be produced per wafer.
** Editor's Note: A femtoampere is 10(-15) amperes or 0.000000000000001
amperes.
Forward-Looking Statements
Statements in this press release that are not strictly historical in nature
are forward-looking statements within the meaning of the federal securities
laws, including statements regarding our products and solutions, demand for
our products and future growth. These forward-looking statements are based
on current information and expectations that are inherently subject to
change and involve a number of risks and uncertainties. Actual events or
results might differ materially from those in any forward-looking statement
due to various factors, including, but not limited to: the ability of the
company's Takumi parametric products to give IC manufacturers earlier
insight into opportunities to validate their designs, verify process
performance and achieve higher yields, to align with the next-generation
requirements of the company's customers' test roadmaps, and to deliver to
customers a clear path for shrinking the test pads on their wafers to allow
more room for patterning devices; the relative scalability of FormFactor's
MicroSpring technology and the ability of the technology to allow IC
manufacturers to narrow their scribe lines and increase the number of die
that can be produced per wafer; and ability of the Takumi parametric
product to consistently and reliably enable low-current measurements down
to the femtoampere-level for a wide variety of parametric test
applications. Additional information concerning factors that could cause
actual events or results to differ materially from those in any
forward-looking statement is contained in the company's Form 10-K for the
fiscal year ended December 27, 2008 and Form 10-Q for the fiscal quarter
ended March 28, 2009 as filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission
("SEC"), and subsequent SEC filings. Copies of the company's SEC filings
are available at http://investors.formfactor.com/edgar.cfm. The company
assumes no obligation to update the information in this press release, to
revise any forward-looking statements or to update the reasons actual
results could differ materially from those anticipated in forward-looking
statements.
About FormFactor
Founded in 1993, FormFactor, Inc. (NASDAQ : FORM ) is the leader in advanced
wafer probe cards, which are used by semiconductor manufacturers to
electrically test ICs. The company's wafer sort, burn-in and device
performance testing products move IC testing upstream from post-packaging
to the wafer level, enabling semiconductor manufacturers to lower their
overall production costs, improve yields, and bring next-generation devices
to market. FormFactor is headquartered in Livermore, California with
operations in Europe, Asia and North America. For more information, visit
the company's web site at www.formfactor.com.
FormFactor, Takumi and MicroSpring are trademarks or registered trademarks
of FormFactor, Inc.