ST. PETERS, Mo., Feb. 23, 2000 (PRIMEZONE) -- MEMC Electronic Materials, Inc. (NYSE:WFR) announced today that in 1999 it was issued a record 62 patents worldwide, 31 of which were issued in United States. The patents cover all aspects of silicon materials technology, including areas such as crystal growth, wafer slicing, etching, polishing, and cleaning. Additionally, they included MEMC's initial patents on two of the Company's important new products - Perfect Silicon and Magic Denuded Zone(tm) (MDZ(tm)).
"The base patents for Perfect Silicon and Magic Denuded Zone(tm) (MDZ(tm)) are the first of many patents we expect to receive in each of these two areas of silicon development," stated Dr. John De Luca, Corporate Vice President of Technology. "The base patent provides very broad coverage of these new silicon products. Future patents will cover specifics on how to make the products and enhancements on both products and processes. Ultimately, we expect to have an extensive and all-encompassing patent domain on Perfect Silicon and MDZ(tm)."
Worldwide patents increased 24% and United States patents increased 15% from 1998. Worldwide patents have grown more than 400% and United States patents have grown about 300% since 1995, when MEMC first began emphasizing its patent portfolio.
"MEMC continues to make significant strides year after year in developing and expanding our patent portfolio," continued Dr. De Luca. "As the silicon industry matures, we expect to see greater emphasis on the use of patents to protect technology. One of MEMC's goals is to be an electronic materials technology leader, and building our patent portfolio is one of the tools to accomplish this."
MEMC is a leading global producer of polysilicon and silicon wafers. The silicon wafer is the fundamental building block of semiconductors, which, in turn, are found in every type of microelectronics application, including computer systems, telecommunications equipment, automobiles, consumer electronics products, industrial automation and control systems. Headquartered in St. Peters, Missouri, MEMC operates manufacturing facilities directly or through joint ventures in Italy, Japan, Malaysia, South Korea, Taiwan and the United States.