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FormFactor Qualifies Industry's First One-Touchdown 300-mm Wafer Probe Solution for DRAM Sort Test

^{Published on 2009-11-10 13:17:09 - Market Wire}
 

LIVERMORE, CA--(Marketwire - November 10, 2009) - FormFactor, Inc. (NASDAQ: [ FORM ]) today announced a major milestone for the semiconductor test industry -- production qualification of the industry's first one-touchdown probe card for 300-mm DRAM wafer sort testing. FormFactor achieved the milestone with its Harmony eXP full-wafer contact probe card employing advanced TRE™ technology to simultaneously test all die on the DRAM wafer. The proprietary technology allows the multiplication of existing tester resources; in this case to an industry-leading x11 parallelism (simultaneously testing 11 devices per tester channel). The advanced probe card also allows the testing of the entire wafer at two temperatures, enabling sort testing at both hot and cold extremes. This dual-temperature capability helps IC manufacturers meet their reliability and performance requirements at the lowest cost of test.

FormFactor shipped the first Harmony eXP one-touchdown sort card to Elpida Memory, Inc. for testing of leading-edge DRAM devices. Because FormFactor's proprietary TRE technology can amplify the number of die simultaneously tested with existing tester resources, device manufacturers can use FormFactor's Harmony eXP cards to leverage their existing test equipment to increase total available test capacity. In this way, not only does test cell throughput increase significantly, but Harmony eXP also allows memory manufacturers to reduce their need for capital investment.

"Our Harmony eXP probe card solution enables maximum throughput, which is critical to help our customers reduce their time-to-market," stated Stefan Zschiegner, senior vice president and general manager of FormFactor's DRAM Product Business Group. "FormFactor's long-standing commitment to R&D has allowed us to intercept the goal of one touchdown testing. We continue to push the limits of probe testing to ensure that both we and our customers remain on the cutting-edge of the test technology roadmap."

One-touchdown testing of the entire wafer is enabled by advanced electronics and FormFactor's proprietary MEMS MicroSpring® contactor, which is designed to withstand the rigors of production testing and minimize cleaning -- further increasing probe card availability and test cell productivity.

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 business momentum, demand for our products and solutions 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: customer adoption of the company's Harmony one-touchdown probe cards; the ability of the company's Harmony one touchdown cards to operate at dual temperature, to minimize necessary cleaning and increase probe card availability and test cell productivity, to enable device manufacturers to leverage their existing test equipment to increase total available test capacity, to increase manufacturers test cell throughput and to provide device manufacturers the flexibility to postpone new test equipment purchases thereby reducing their need for capital investment; and the ability of the company to remain on the cutting edge of test technology roadmaps. 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 June 27, 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, Harmony, Harmony eXP, TRE and MicroSpring are trademarks or registered trademarks of FormFactor, Inc.