Jenoptik and Alchimer Win Inaugural Best of West Award

Prestigious Panel Selects Innovations in TSV and Laser Dicing

SEMI today announced that Jenoptik and Alchimer are the recipients of the 2008 SEMI Best of West award, in recognition of their new products introduced at SEMICON West, the largest and most influential microelectronics exposition in North America. The Best of West finalists have been selected by a prestigious panel of journalists, members of the academic community, and industry leaders based on their engineering or scientific achievement, financial impact, and/or societal contribution.

"With over 200 new products introduced at this year's SEMICON West, to be singled out by this diverse panel of judges is an enormous achievement," said Tom Morrow, vice president of global expositions at SEMI. "As this year's winners attest, SEMICON West is the world's premier venue for new product introductions in the microelectronics industry."

Jenoptik Automatisierungstechnik GmbH (booth 8015 West Hall, Level 2) has won for the "JENOPTIK-VOTAN™ G Semi," a wafer dicing system that utilizes Thermal Laser Separation (TLS). The system was developed as an alternative to established mechanical dicing saws and other laser dicing technologies to deliver a highly precise cutting edge. It is especially well suited for applications with special demands on edge quality -- like optical devices or power devices with vertical current flow.

Alchimer (5787 North Hall) has won for the e GviaCoat™ for the electrografting of copper seed layers used for the metallization of Through Silicon Vias (TSVs). Alchimer's electrografting innovation uses a wet electrochemical process based on specific organic precursors to enable the initiation and growth of thin films on conducting and semiconducting surfaces. The process produces conformal, thin, uniform and adherent layers, even on resistive barriers.

SEMICON West 2008 features over 1100 exhibiting companies, representing 24 countries, and is the largest and most influential event of its kind in North America.

SEMI is the global industry association serving the manufacturing supply chains for the microelectronic, display and photovoltaic industries. SEMI member companies are the engine of the future, enabling smarter, faster and more economical products that improve our lives. Since 1970, SEMI has been committed to helping members grow more profitably, create new markets and meet common industry challenges. SEMI maintains offices in Austin, Beijing, Brussels, Hsinchu, Moscow, San Jose, Seoul, Shanghai, Singapore, Tokyo, and Washington, D.C. For more information, visit www.semi.org.