Brion Technologies Wins Multi-System Order From NEC Electronics; Production-Proven Tachyon(TM) RDI Platform Gives NEC Electronics the Power to Prevent Killer Defects in RET/OPC Designs at 65nm Node and Beyond.

SANTA CLARA, Calif. -- Brion Technologies has won a significant order for its Tachyon(TM) RDI 1100 lithography simulation and design inspection system from NEC Electronics Corporation, Japan's third largest chipmaker. Brion's model-based, full-chip verification technology was selected for its speed, model accuracy and ease of use, all of which enable faster time-to-production for NEC Electronics' 65nm process flows.

The company will use Brion's Tachyon RDI system for verification and inspection of resolution enhancement technique/optical proximity correction (RET/OPC) designs, a must-have capability as device feature sizes shrink to 65nm and below. The decision was based on a year-long evaluation, and the system has been installed at NEC Electronics' manufacturing facility in Sagamihara, Japan.

"The advantages that the Tachyon RDI system brings to our process flows are significant," said Hiroshi Sakuma, general manager, Design Engineering Division, NEC Electronics. "With Tachyon RDI, we have the ability to quickly and accurately verify the lithographic manufacturability of our device designs before wafer starts, which is a production-worthy method of preventing killer defects long before they become a costly and time-consuming problem in the fab."

"We are honored that a company of NEC Electronics' caliber has such confidence in Tachyon RDI technology," said Eric Chen, chief executive officer of Brion. "An order of this significance testifies to the strength of the Tachyon platform, which continues to see rapid adoption in Japan and around the globe."

Dedicated to the demanding tasks of lithography modeling and database handling, Tachyon represents a new and unprecedented approach to computational lithography simulation. Unlike conventional edge-based sampling methods, Tachyon uses a hybrid computational lithography architecture that combines image-based lithography process simulation and polygon-based data manipulation to simulate and inspect 100 percent of the chip area. The Tachyon platform delivers ultrafast throughput, accelerating time-to-market for chip manufacturers by enabling full-chip RET/OPC verification in a matter of hours (compared to days for competing systems). Thousands of production circuit layers have been processed by Tachyon systems at chip companies worldwide.

NEC Electronics is one of a growing list of companies in Japan to adopt Brion's Lithography-Driven Design & Manufacturing(TM) technologies. In response to this strong customer activity, Brion recently opened its first wholly-owned subsidiary in Japan, Brion Technologies KK, which enables the company to provide greater support to customers throughout the region.

About Brion Technologies

Brion Technologies, Inc. is the pioneer and leader in Lithography-Driven Design & Manufacturing(TM). Founded in 2002, the privately held company is headquartered in Santa Clara, California. Brion's Tachyon(TM) platform, a highly accurate and ultra-fast data and simulation engine, enables a unique set of capabilities that address the interrelated challenges of design, photomask making and wafer printing in semiconductor microlithography. The company leads the worldwide emerging market of optical proximity correction (OPC) verification and is expanding its product portfolio. For further information, visit Brion Technologies' Web site at www.brion.com or call [phone].

Lithography-Driven Design & Manufacturing and Tachyon are trademarks of Brion Technologies, Inc.