DANBURY, Conn., July 15, 2008 (PRIME NEWSWIRE) -- ATMI, Inc. (Nasdaq:ATMI) announced today it has been selected by one of the largest foundries in China, along with Kinik Company, Ltd., to provide outsourced test wafer reclaim services for the company's 300mm copper test wafers. ATMI, with its specially-developed RegenSi(tm) process, partnered with Kinik, a wafer reclamation company, to deliver improved outsourcing options for customers.
The foundry customer had been using ATMI's RegenSi solutions for its internal wafer reclaim needs for more than a year. When the company decided to outsource some of its reclaim operations, it looked to ATMI, and to others, to provide a recommendation. After evaluating several options, the ATMI/Kinik team was selected as offering the highest level of return in cost savings and minimized waste due to a combination of process performance and low silicon loss, meaning the test wafers can be reclaimed many more times than other reclaim operations allow.
"The ATMI/Kinik outsource model is now allowing the customer to extend the performance benefits they see from using RegenSi solutions internally to their external reclaim needs," said John Bubel, Director of Surface Preparation Technology at ATMI. "This combination of solutions has led to significant reductions in overall test wafer spending."
A long-time leader in providing materials and process efficiency to the semiconductor industry, ATMI developed its RegenSi solutions to remove the majority of commonly-used materials from test wafers without damaging or roughening the underlying silicon wafer surface. This can dramatically increase return wafer yields -- in addition to increasing the number of times each wafer can be used. Some customers have indicated greater than a four-fold improvement in return wafer yields resulting in millions of dollars saved per year.
Additional information on ATMI's RegenSi technology is available at http://atmi.com/semiconductor/solution_regensi.htm
About Kinik Company, Ltd.
Kinik Company Ltd. is one of the top 10 leading wafer reclaim companies in the world and the largest in Taiwan. Since starting in the wafer reclaim business in 1997, Kinik has maintained a technology leadership position in the test wafer reclaim market. More than 200,000 test wafers are processed at Kinik's state-of-the-art manufacturing center in Chubei, Taiwan.
About ATMI, Inc.
ATMI provides innovative materials and high-purity materials handling and process efficiency solutions designed to increase production yields, accelerate new product introductions, reduce capital expenditures, and mitigate risks for its global semiconductor, flat panel, and specialized process customers. As The Source of Process Efficiency(tm), ATMI draws upon its extensive materials expertise and the application of proprietary high productivity development techniques to rapidly identify and characterize new material technologies that reduce development cycle time and enable faster time-to-market for customers. By working collaboratively with customers to improve their process efficiencies, ATMI delivers measurable value and return on investment. For more information, please visit www.atmi.com or http://investor.atmi.com/releases.cfm
ATMI and RegenSi are trademarks or registered trademarks of Advanced Technology Materials Inc. in the United States, other countries are both.
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Statements contained herein that relate to ATMI's future performance, including, without limitation, statements with respect to ATMI's anticipated results of operations or level of business for 2008 or any other future period, are forward-looking statements within the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Such statements are based on current expectations only and are subject to certain risks, uncertainties, and assumptions, including, but not limited to, changes in semiconductor industry growth (including, without limitation, wafer starts) or ATMI's markets; competition, problems, or delays developing and commercializing new products; problems or delays in integrating acquired operations and businesses; and other factors described in ATMI's Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2007 and other subsequent filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Such risks and uncertainties may cause actual results to differ materially from those expressed in our forward-looking statements. ATMI undertakes no obligation to update any forward-looking statements.