Veeco Receives Ion Beam Etch Order From a Major Manufacturer of Surface Acoustic Wave -SAW- Devices.

Business & Technology Editors

WOODBURY, N.Y.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--July 22, 2002

Veeco Instruments Inc. (NASDAQ: VECO) today announced that it has recently received an order for its NEXUS(TM) Ion Beam Etching system from a major manufacturer of Surface Acoustic Wave (SAW) devices.

SAW filters have been an available technology for some years and are now seeing extended applicability in the next-generation wireless market. Not only does Veeco's etch and deposition process equipment enable SAW device manufacturers to meet these extended demands, it is also being used by these manufacturers to develop new devices for wireless modules, such as advanced resonators, precision resistors, and inductive coils. SAW filters are wireless radio frequency bandpass filters that operate in the megahertz to low gigahertz range. They are similar to optical telecommunications DWDM filters that operate at higher level frequencies.

"Veeco's production-proven ion beam etching and deposition technology is now becoming critical to wireless device manufacturers," commented Robert Valentine, President of Veeco's Process Equipment Group. "The NEXUS Ion Beam Etching system was selected for both its ability to provide increased manufacturing capacity, as well as producing controlled feature definition in materials that cannot be processed with other dry etching techniques. This order supports Veeco's leading position as a process solutions provider to the telecommunications industry."

Veeco's NEXUS Ion Beam Etching technology offers customers fine feature control through advanced rotation control, and the ability to etch any material and multi-level material stacks that SAW manufacturers require. Precise temperatures and maximum rate control for thin films results in the highest possible yields while maintaining critical dimensions. Mr. Valentine added "The plug and play modularity of this cluster system provides the flexibility to develop processes on the same system in the laboratory as in the fabrication plant, resulting in a much faster time-to-ramp."

Veeco Instruments Inc. is a worldwide leader in process equipment and metrology tools for the optical telecommunications/wireless, data storage, semiconductor and research markets. Manufacturing and engineering facilities are located in New York, California, Colorado, Arizona and Minnesota. Global sales and service offices are located throughout the United States, Europe, Japan and Asia Pacific. Additional information on Veeco can be found at http://www.veeco.com.

To the extent that this news release discusses expectations about market conditions or about market acceptance and future sales of Veeco's products, or otherwise makes statements about the future, such statements are forward-looking and are subject to a number of risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from the statements made. These factors include the cyclical nature of the optical telecommunications, data storage and semiconductor industries, risks associated with the acceptance of new products by individual customers and by the marketplace, and other factors discussed in the Business Description and Management's Discussion and Analysis sections of Veeco's Report on Form 10-K and Annual Report to Shareholders.