PRESS RELEASES

News Release
For Immediate Release: May 6, 2008

TAMAR TECHNOLOGY AWARDED PHASE TWO FUNDING BY THE NATIONAL SCIENCE FOUNDATION

NEWBURY PARK, CALIF.--Tamar Technology was awarded Phase II grant  from the National Science Foundation to continue its research into a new technology for measuring the thickness of semi-conductor silicon wafers and the depth of deep, narrow, etched trenches. 

The Phase II funding is focusing on the development and commercialization of an infrared-based confocal sensor. "These sensors will support single point thickness measurements of silicon wafers with a small measurement region in a fraction of a second," says David Grant, president of Tamar Technology. "This will allow the fast mapping of wafer thickness and shape at the same time.”

Measurement of deep and narrow etched trenches will also be improved. Currently, destructive measurements or expensive equipment such as transmission electron microscopes are used. Destructive testing involves cutting the sample across the trench so that the trench profile can be viewed from the side through a microscope. "This process is expensive, wasteful, and time consuming," says Grant. "Our research will produce the first cost effective, nondestructive testing method for measuring trenches directly." Tamar expects this new sensor to allow customers to increase the number of wafers inspected and improve both yields and process control by giving near real time process feedback.

The National Science Foundation is an independent federal agency created by Congress in 1950 to promote the progress of science. It funds approximately 20 percent of all federally supported basic research conducted by America's colleges and universities and is a major source of federal backing in the mathematics, computer science and the social sciences.

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News Release
For Immediate Release: January 20, 2007

TAMAR TECHNOLOGY AWARDED NATIONAL SCIENCE FOUNDATION GRANT

NEWBURY PARK, CALIF.--Tamar Technology was awarded a National Science Foundation grant to research new ways of measuring the thickness of semi-conductor silicon wafers and the depth of deep, narrow, etched trenches.

"Technology is enabling silicon wafers to become thinner and thinner to improve heat dissipation," says David Grant, president of Tamar Technology. "Our research will seek to create a simple and commercially viable system that will measure the thickness of silicon wafers for process and production quality control purposes. With the use of a sensor, we want to be able to take direct thickness measurements from one point, instead of measuring a reference surface. The result should be a more effective measuring system. By using more accurate and efficient measuring techniques, companies will be able to significantly improve yields and improve process control. The economic benefits can be significant."
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The same technology will enable the measurement of deep and narrow etched trenches. Currently, the only existing methods for directly measuring these trenches involve destructive testing or the use of expensive equipment such as transmission electron microscopes. Destructive testing involves cutting the sample across the trench so that the trench profile can be viewed from the side through a microscope.

"Destructive testing is not only wasteful and expensive, but it is time consuming because of the required sample preparation," says Grant. "It is clearly not ideal for process or production quality control. This research will provide the first nondestructive testing method for measuring trenches."

The National Science Foundation is an independent federal agency created by Congress in 1950 to promote the progress of science. It funds approximately 20 percent of all federally supported basic research conducted by America's colleges and universities and is a major source of federal backing in the mathematics, computer science and the social sciences.

Tamar Technology, based in Newbury Park, California, is a metrology company specializing in precision metrology systems for the semiconductor, hard disk drive and medical device industries.

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For more information, contact Russ Dudley, Vice President, Sales and Marketing, at (805) 480-3358, rdudley@tamartechnology.com.

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News Release
For Release: November 10, 2005

Contact: Russ Dudley
Tamar Technology
805-480-3358
www.tamartechnology.com

TAMAR TECHNOLOGY SOLVES WAFER THICKNESS, BOW AND WARP METROLOGY CHALLENGES WITH THE WAFERSCAN

NEWBURY PARK, CALIF. –Tamar Technology introduces the WaferScan, the new generation of substrate metrology tools. WaferScan is designed to measure mechanical properties of MEMS, standard and “ultra-thin” wafers, LCD and Flat panel displays, ceramics and other types of substrates. It offers an improvement on the performance and capability of traditional capacitance probes, interferometers, and laser triangulation solutions in terms of resolution and throughput.

WaferScan uses Tamar Technology’s proprietary non-contact, optical stylus profiler that provides thickness, bow, and warp measurements quickly and cost effectively. A 3D map is generated to clearly display top surface, bottom surface, and thickness profiles. WaferScan can be supplied as a turnkey tool or as an OEM measurement probe for integration into existing equipment or in-process applications.

The WaferScan accepts wafers with nominal thickness from 10 microns – 100 mm. WaferScan is offered with two different measurement ranges for bow and warp+/- 500 microns and +/- 100 microns. The corresponding resolutions are .1 micron and .05 micron. Its simplicity in operation makes the WaferScan ideal for both the R&D environment as well as the production floor.

Tamar Technology is a machine vision company specializing in precision metrology systems for the semiconductor, hard disk drive, and medical device industries. For more information, contact Russ Dudley, Vice President, Sales and Marketing, at (805) 480-3358, rdudley@tamartechnology.com.

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For more information, contact Russ Dudley, Vice President, Sales and Marketing, at (805) 480-3358, rdudley@tamartechnology.com.

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Tamar Technology solves profilometry challenges with the HRT 3000™

November 15, 2004 ­ Newbury Park, CA – Tamar Technology introduces the HRT 3000™, the new generation of optical stylus profiler tools. Designed for MEMS, semiconductor, LCD Flat panel display, and medical device test and manufacturing applications, the HRT 3000™ is designed to offer an improvement on the performance and capability of traditional stylus profilers, interferometers, and laser triangulation probes.

HRT 3000™ is a non-contact, optical stylus profiler that provides Z-data in real time. The HRT 3000™ also features a traditional microscope for conventional X, Y metrology, yielding a true three-axis non-contact profilometer. Tamar’s proprietary advanced signal processing software technology accurately measures high aspect ratio wafer isolation and MEMS trenches, panel or substrate flatness, wafer bumps, bumped and thin wafer thickness, as well as critical dimensions. HRT 3000™ can be supplied as a turnkey tool or as an OEM measurement probe for existing equipment or in-process applications.

The HRT 3000™ features a flexible extended scan range from 50 – 2000 microns, with resolutions from 0.03 microns – 1.0 micron. Range and resolution can be changed with the simple exchange of a standard microscope objective lens. Its simplicity in operation makes the HRT 3000™ ideal for both the R&D environment as well as the production floor.

Tamar Technology’s engineering team has extensive experience and expertise in vision metrology, optical inspection, defect detection, and interferometry systems. Tamar Technology clients include OEM’s, system integrators, R&D departments, and production environments. For more information, contact Russ Dudley, Vice President, Sales and Marketing, at (805) 480-3358, rdudley@tamartechnology.com.

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News Release

TAMAR TECHNOLOGY SOLVES SEMICONDUCTOR PROCESS PROBLEMS WITH CDMEASURE™ and WAFERINSPECT™

THOUSAND OAKS, CALIF.–Tamar Technology is introducing two new metrology and inspection tools. Designed for the semiconductor R&D, test and manufacturing marketplace, CDMeasure^TM and WaferInspect^TM are designed to improve the performance and capability of the semiconductor process at a lower cost than competitive systems.

CDMeasure^TM uses Tamar’s proprietary advanced signal processing technology to accurately measure critical dimensions on semiconductor wafers and similar devices. CDMeasure^TM can retrofit a customer’s existing Critical Dimension tool, or can be used with an existing compound microscope. Autofocus and programmable staging are options.

WaferInspect^TM simplifies the automatic inspection of wafers for defects and contamination. WaferInspect^TM provides inspection capability for recognizing metallization errors, stains, scratches, probe marks, and ink dot size and placement. It also features an optional manual/automatic inking option for marking bad dies.

Tamar Technology’s engineering team has extensive experience and expertise in application- specific vision metrology, optical inspection and defect detection, and interferometry systems. These solutions feature Tamar’s proprietary signal processing algorithms for high quality resolution and six-sigma reproducibility. Tamar Technology clients include OEM’s, system integrators, R&D departments, and production environments. For more information, contact Russ Dudley, vice president, sales and marketing, at (805) 480-3358, rdudley@tamartechnology.com.

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News Release

Tamar Technology revolutionizes traditional microscopy with the patented EtherGlow Illuminator

April 24, 2002 ­ Thousand Oaks, CA ­Tamar Technology announces the introduction of the EtherGlow transmitted light illuminator, to the microscopy and imaging marketplace. EtherGlow utilizes a patented technology to produce an light source that results in a flat plate illuminator, which replaces Kohler transmitted illumination. This results in an illumination source that provides instant and perfect matching of condenser and objective, elimination of Fresnel diffraction rings, improved contrast, and a shortened depth of focus, similar to a confocal microscope at a fraction of the cost.

The capability of the EtherGlow to provide natural matching of the numerical aperture of any microscope objective allows the complete elimination of substage condensers, illumination paths, and lamp houses; and lowers costs while improving reliability. This is a major benefit to the system integrator who is building an automated tool ­ there is no need to duplicate the transmitted Kohler optical path of a compound microscope ­ EtherGlow, the objective lens, and eyepiece or video/digital camera becomes a complete imaging system.

Also soon to be released are a series of reflected light EtherGlow Illuminators, for use with macro- and micro- optical systems. Testing has proven to eliminate glare and reflection, improve contrast, and yield a significant image quality improvement overall. These benefits are also critical to machine vision and image processing applications. A version is also in development to replace the condenser in older Nikon Optiphot compound microscopes, which have a lamp socket that is no longer commercially available.

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News Release

Tamar Technology advances Video Metrology with the ATMeasure™ digital field of view metrology tool for microscopes

April 24, 2002 ­ Thousand Oaks, CA ­ Tamar Technology is pleased to introduce the ATMeasure Video Metrology tool, to the microscopy and metrology marketplaces. ATMeasure is an advanced field of view measurement tool that features edge detection for outstanding repeatability and sub-pixel resolution, at the price and ease of use of a traditional video caliper. ATMeasure is capable of measuring line widths, radius / circumference, angles, and MOP ­ Multiple Object Processor and measurement within a field of view.

Unlike traditional video caliper characteristics that feature plus or minus one pixel resolution and repeatability, the ATMeasure is able to attain up to 1/25 pixel resolution and sub-micron repeatability (dependent upon optics), the benefit of Tamar¹s advanced image processing software. Tolerances can be entered and the screen will display a "PASS" or "FAIL" message. Advanced edge detection algorithms assure repeatable measurements on many types of features for many applications, including but not limited to Aerospace, Automotive, Optical Communication products, Fiber Optics, Microelectronics, MEMS, Materials Sciences, Medical Manufacturing, Semiconductor, and many more.

An additional benefit of ATMeasure is the ability to review multiple measurement data, and the operator can choose to display basic statistics (average, mean, standard deviation). The data can then be printed or exported for further analysis or record keeping. ATMeasure operates on a Windows 2000 operating system.

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