n&k Technology, Inc. Expands Sales Organization and Manufacturing Facility; Increasing Demand for In-line Measurement Systems Spurs Company's Growth.

Business Editors/High Tech Writers

SEMICON West 2002

SANTA CLARA, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--June 24, 2002

n&k Technology, Inc., a pioneer in proven, production-worthy tools for reliable and accurate thin film characterization and metrology, optical properties measurements, and equipment for critical dimension measurements, today announced the expansion of its domestic and international sales force with the addition of two new managers. Glenn Evans joins the company as Worldwide Product Marketing Manager, and James Wilhelm as Southwest Regional Account Manager. In addition, n&k is moving its corporate headquarters to a larger facility, also in Santa Clara, to add much needed space for increased manufacturing capacity as well as additional room for the company's lab and offices.

"We're seeing tremendous growth in the market requirement for across-wafer measurements made on product features and this has stimulated the expansion of both our sales force and our manufacturing capability," said Dr. Iris Bloomer, the company's Executive Vice President and co-founder. "We're very pleased to bring on board two such highly experienced industry professionals who have the knowledge and insight to help our customers define their metrology needs and match those needs with our company's products."

"Our new, enlarged manufacturing facility will enable us to quickly ramp up our system production and testing capacity," added Evans. "We're seeing rapid development of new materials and applications in all the markets we serve, and we're positioning ourselves to be able to respond immediately to any film thickness or optical property measurement they can throw at us."

The new staff members bring to n&k many years of experience in semiconductor metrology and thin film characterization, adding to an already impressive team, several of whom have worked previously for industry leaders such as KLA-Tencor and Nanometrics. In fact, both Mr. Evans and Mr. Wilhelm come to n&k from Nanometrics, where Evans served as Product Marketing Manager for thin film measurement products, and Wilhelm worked at various levels within the sales and marketing department.

About n&k Technology, Inc.

n&k Technology, Inc. is a privately held company that is quickly gaining recognition as a pioneer and technological leader in reliable, accurate, and precise thin film characterization and metrology, optical properties measurements, and critical dimension measurements for a variety of markets including semiconductor, telecommunications, data storage, flat panel display, and optical and industrial coatings. Its cost-effective, easy to use instrumentation delivers "the true measure" with superior resolution, enabling users to characterize virtually any combination of thin films, substrates, and structures. n&k's products are also ideally suited for challenging integrated (in-situ) metrology. More information about n&k Technology can be found on the World Wide Web at www.nandk.com.

Editor's Note:

n&k Technology will be demonstrating the company's fully automated, production-worthy n&k 3000 TMS Analyzer at SEMICON West in San Francisco, California on July 22-24, 2002. The n&k 3000 TMS is a powerful, high-throughput sampling system that enables successful in-line process control of critical trench parameters, such as trench depth and width, trench-to-mesa width ratio, and trench bottom oxide thickness. Measurements take place directly on device features with unsurpassed repeatability, accuracy, and speed - no special periodic test structures are required. To schedule a private meeting with n&k company representatives at SEMICON West, please contact Judy Plummer, at [phone] or [e-mail].