ST Microelectronics Selects Tegal 903e for Oxide Etching of Semiconductors; Order Represents Second Purchase From Leading Chip Manufacturer in Three Months

Business Wire, Sept 28, 2000

Business/Technology Editors

PETALUMA, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Sept. 28, 2000

Tegal Corporation (Nasdaq: TGAL) today announced that ST Microlectronics (NYSE: STM) has placed an additional order for a refurbished Tegal 903e diode plasma etch tool. The tool will be installed in early October at ST Microelectronics' fab in Rennes, France and will be used for oxide etching of semiconductors for the communications and automotive industries.

"ST Microlectronics has been a valued Tegal customer for more than 15 years and has purchased more than 80 Tegal systems," said Jim McKibben, vice president, worldwide sales and marketing at Tegal. "Customers prefer to buy refurbished equipment from Tegal based on the reliability of Tegal equipment and our reputation for exemplary global after-sale support. As the OEM, we guarantee our customers that the equipment we refurbish will be of the highest quality and provide many years of reliable service in production."

Over the past three years, Tegal has repeatedly gained industry recognition for providing exceptional customer support and service. Among the commendations received is a recent announcement by VLSI Research that Tegal is among the list of companies voted "Best Customer Rated Companies in Taiwan." This accolade comes on the heels of the publication of VLSI's "Customer Satisfaction Report 2000" which identifies Tegal as a provider of outstanding quality of results and support after sales in etch.

Tegal's 903e is a production-proven plasma etch tool designed around a robust transport system that can accommodate 75-150 mm round silicon and gallium arsenide (GaAs) substrates. Typical applications include oxide etch, gallium arsenide etch, pad etch, passivation etch, contact/via etch, LDD spacer etch, polyimide ILD etch, and resist/SOG planarization.

About ST Microelectronics

ST Microelectronics is a worldwide leader in high performance RF, Digital Baseband and Mixed-Signal integrated circuits. The company develops and markets complete semiconductor solutions addressing all communication standards in the digital cellular phone, cordless phone and pager markets. For memories (Flash, Multiple Memory, EEPROM), Smartcard ICs, Integrated Passive and Active Devices (IPADs) and accessories, ST has developed a range of standard and dedicated products that are well adapted to cellular market needs. These silicon solutions are the answer for the optimum mobile phone autonomy (talk time and stand-by time), audio quality, hardware flexibility, reliability and value added features.

ST Microelectronics has created a business unit to develop integrated circuits and embedded software solutions for the emergent car multimedia market. A typical system will include circuits for GPS navigation, digital cellular phone, digital audio broadcasting, CD/DVD player, voice recognition, speech synthesis, audio amplification and audio signal processing.

About Tegal Corporation

Tegal Corporation, headquartered in Petaluma, Calif., is a leading designer and manufacturer of plasma etch systems used in the production of integrated circuits (ICs), opto-telecom devices and other related microelectronics devices. Tegal markets and services its systems in all major IC-producing regions of the world. Tegal was recently granted its fourth VLSI Research, Inc Ten BEST award in recognition of its superior customer support and service. More information is available on the Internet at www.tegal.com.