KLA-Tencor's New Aleris 8500 Film Metrology System is Industry's Most Advanced Thickness...

KLA-Tencor's New Aleris 8500 Film Metrology System is Industry's Most Advanced Thickness and Composition Measurement Technology for 45nm and Beyond

SAN JOSE, Calif.--(Business Wire)--KLA-Tencor (NASDAQ:KLAC) today introduced the Aleris(TM) family of
films metrology systems, beginning with the Aleris 8500 which is the
industry's first system to combine production-worthy composition and
multi-layer film thickness metrology. Additional Aleris family systems
will be introduced in coming months in configurations to meet the
performance and CoO requirements for all film applications at the 45nm
node and below.

"With the flood of new materials and device structures that
dramatically impact device performance and reliability, our customers
need much more detailed knowledge of the physical and chemical
characteristics of their critical film layers," noted Ahmad Khan, vice
president and general manager of KLA-Tencor's Films and Scatterometry
Technologies division. "The Aleris 8500 system's advances in core
optical technology provide the most accurate thickness measurement
available. The system's new composition measurement capability now
enables leading edge customers to monitor gate and other critical
layers on product wafers, not just monitor wafers. The Aleris 8500
system is also available with significantly improved 2D stress
metrology capabilities to manage the increasing number of high-stress
layers."

Until now, chipmakers have normally purchased separate analytical
and traditional optical thickness metrology tools to provide thickness
and composition measurements. This mix-and-match method has meant
tolerating the inefficiencies of poor tool-tool matching, difficult
capacity backup and incompatible recipes. Having all of the advanced
critical films metrology applications available on a single Aleris
platform helps chipmakers improve cost of ownership and time to
results. The Aleris 8500 offers 3x higher throughput compared to
existing analytical techniques and its non-vacuum optical technology
overcomes traditional analytical tool reliability constraints. These
comprehensive productivity advantages make the Aleris 8500 the optimal
CoO solution for composition control.

The Aleris 8500 system builds on the company's industry-leading
SpectraFx 200 technology, featuring next generation Broadband
Spectroscopic Ellipsometry (BBSE(TM)) optics that provide a
significant improvement in precision, matching and stability. This
technology enables chipmakers to qualify and monitor advanced films,
including new materials, structures and engineered substrates. The
system's unique 150nm BBSE offers enhanced sensitivity to composition
measurement, making Aleris 8500 the industry's first single-tool
solution for production monitoring of critical gate applications on
product wafers. Aleris' StressMapper(TM) module provides higher
spatial resolution at higher throughput, for production monitoring of
2D stress in high-stress films.

Aleris 8500 systems have been shipped to several key customers
where they are being used for 65nm gate control production and
45nm/32nm development.

About KLA-Tencor: KLA-Tencor is the world leader in yield
management and process control solutions for semiconductor
manufacturing and related industries. Headquartered in San Jose,
California, the Company has sales and service offices around the
world. An S&P 500 company, KLA-Tencor is traded on the NASDAQ Global
Select Market under the symbol KLAC. Additional information about the
Company is available at www.kla-tencor.com.

KLA-Tencor
Charles Lewis, 408-875-9037
Director, Global Public Relations
charles.lewis@kla-tencor.com

Copyright Business Wire 2007