Electroglas Introduces Prober for Ultra-thin or Diced Wafers; 4090f improves production quality of SmartCard and telecommunication devices.

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SAN JOSE, Calif.--April 5, 2000--Electroglas, Inc. (Nasdaq:EGLS), a leading supplier of essential process management tools for the semiconductor industry, today introduces the 4090f Film-Frame Wafer Prober.

The tool greatly eases the identification of faulty semiconductor devices fabricated for advanced packages -- including SmartCard, telecommunications and computing devices -- prior to their final assembly, thereby reducing manufacturing expense and improving production quality.

"Many new semiconductor devices are being fabricated on extremely thin wafers that are very difficult to handle," said Curt Wozniak, Electroglas chairman and CEO. "The industry needs a reliable way to weed out defective integrated circuits fabricated on thin wafers before they reach the final device assembly stage and that is the great value -- and unique benefit -- of the 4090f, which is based upon our production-proven 4090 platform."

The fabrication of die for smart cards, stacked-chip packages, some wafer-level chip-scale packaging, accelerometers and other MEMs, and other advanced applications entails the thinning of wafers to as little as 80-(mu)m thickness. Instead of testing die before backgrinding or etching processes to thin wafers are performed, many manufacturers would like to test after these operations, which often damage working die. However, no prober until now has been able to safely handle and position ultra-thin wafers, which are very flexible and susceptible to damage. The new Electroglas prober manipulates such delicate wafers by means of adhesive, film-based frames that carry them from thinning operations, to probe, and through dicing. The prober accepts the film frames in cassettes, extracts and transfers them to the probe chuck with a special electromagnetic arm, secures them on the chuck by electromagnetic grippers, precisely steps them for probing, then returns them to the cassette, without injury to the die.

Micromachined accelerometers and other die that require special processing can be prone to damage by dicing. In those cases, wafer probing can be postponed, thanks to the new 4090f, until after dicing with the individuated die adhered to the film frame. The prober's software automatically compensates for the slight spread of the separated chips. The ability to probe after dicing also facilitates the delivery of KGD (Known Good Die) from various CSP (Chip Scale Package) and Chip on Board processes.

Another application for the new 4090f film-frame prober is in the communication device area. Many devices for cellular telephones and other microwave communications are fabricated in gallium arsenide. GaAs wafers are brittle, expensive and mechanically vulnerable. Moving to the 4090f film frame prober will help manufacturers of those devices avoid physical stress on finished wafers during testing, thereby contributing to better product yields.

The 4090f is available now. For pricing or more information contact Electroglas sales at 408/528-3000 or email [e-mail].

About Electroglas, Inc.

Electroglas delivers essential tools for process management designed to enhance semiconductor companies' profitability. The company's wafer probers, inspection systems and software solutions server as data collection, management and analysis tools that semiconductor manufacturers depend upon to improve their productivity and process control by optimizing sort-floor efficiency. Electroglas has been a leading supplier of wafer probers for more than 40 years and has an installed base of more than 10,000 systems. The company's stock trades on the NASDAQ National Market under the symbol "EGLS." The company's World Wide Web site is located at http://www.electroglas.com

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