Data storage industry experiences dramatic growth despite current economic environment
FLANDERS, NJ (May 28, 2008) -- Rudolph Technologies, Inc. (NASDAQ: RTEC), a worldwide leader in high-performance process characterization systems for the semiconductor manufacturing industry, announced today that a major disk drive manufacturer has ordered a suite of inspection and metrology systems. The purchases were driven by the need to increase manufacturing capacity as the data storage industry strives to meet growing consumer demand and by the movement of macro inspection into new applications within the head manufacturing process.
The multi-million dollar orders include seven NSX® Inspection Systems for macro defect inspection, one MetaPULSE-II™ Metrology System for use in characterizing thin metal films and one PrecisionPoint™ VX3 Probe Card Inspection System. Shipments started in February 2008 and will continue through Q2 and Q3, with completion scheduled for Q4.
"The data storage industry has experienced dramatic growth despite the current economic environment," said Alex Oscilowski, chief operating officer at Rudolph. "This growth is being driven by storage requirements for a wide variety of consumer products, including digital/video cameras, home servers and removable storage devices, music and gaming products, as well as the increased storage requirements for automobiles."
Rudolph's process characterization systems include inspection, metrology and software that allow the data storage manufacturers to optimize their process yields and increase profitability. Oscilowski continued, "Interestingly, we are seeing growth driven not only by expanding capacity, but also by the migration of automated inspection to earlier stages in the manufacturing process."
Macro defect inspection has been traditionally used for outgoing quality assurance. Customers have found remarkable yield benefit by applying the same technology to monitor macro defects during the lithography process, where timely inspection permits rework of correctable defects. Rudolph's NSX macro defect inspection system delivers exceptional value for magnetic head manufacturing. Developed originally for back-end semiconductor processes, the NSX System is able to deliver the same sensitivity and throughput as Rudolph's front-end inspection tools without the cost burden of cleanroom compatibility.
The MetaPULSE-II, which uses Rudolph's patented picosecond ultrasonic laser sonar (PULSE®) Technology, is designed to provide accurate, low-noise measurements of the multilayer metal stacks used in head manufacturing. The VX3 probe card inspection tool is designed to provide critical information for testing and maintaining probe cards and optimizing the parameters of the probing process.
Rudolph Technologies is a worldwide leader in the design, development, manufacture and support of high-performance process control metrology, defect inspection and data analysis systems used by semiconductor device manufacturers. Rudolph provides a full-fab solution through its families of proprietary products that provide critical yield-enhancing information, enabling microelectronic device manufacturers to drive down costs and time to market. The company has enhanced the competitiveness of its products in the marketplace by anticipating and addressing many emerging trends driving the semiconductor industry's growth. Rudolph's strategy for continued technological and market leadership includes aggressive research and development of complementary metrology, inspection and analysis solutions. Headquartered in Flanders, New Jersey, Rudolph supports its customers with a worldwide sales and service organization. Additional information can be found on the company's web site at www.rudolphtech.com.
Safe Harbor Statement
This press release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 (the "Act"). In some cases, you can identify those so-called "forward-looking statements" by words such as "may," "will," "would," "should," "expects," "plans," "anticipates," "believes," "feels," "estimates," "predicts," "potential," or "continue," or the negative of those words and other comparable words. Rudolph wishes to take advantage of the "safe harbor" provided for by the Act and cautions that actual results may differ materially from those projected as a result of various factors, including risks and uncertainties, many of which are beyond Rudolph's control. Factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from the expectations expressed in such forward-looking statements, include, but are not limited to, the impact of the slowdown in the overall economy, the uncertainty of the current global political environment, the potential for terrorist attacks, the potential for business disruptions due to infectious diseases, changes in customer demands for our existing and new products, the timing, cancellation or delay of customer orders and shipments, the timing of revenue recognition of shipments, new product offerings from our competitors, changes in or an inability to execute Rudolph's business strategy, unanticipated manufacturing or supply problems and changes in tax rules. Rudolph cannot guarantee future results, levels of activity, performance, or achievements. The matters discussed in this press release also involve risks and uncertainties as summarized in Rudolph's Form 10-K report for the year ended December 31, 2007 and other filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission ("SEC"), which are available at http://www.sec.gov, the SEC's website, and at http://www.rudolphtech.com, the Rudolph website. While these factors may be updated from time to time through the filing of reports and registration statements with the SEC, Rudolph does not assume any obligation to update the forward-looking information contained in this press release.
For more information, please contact:
Investors:
Steven R. Roth
973.448.4302
steven.roth@rudolphtech.com
Trade Press:
Virginia Becker
952.259.1647
virginia.becker@rudolphtech.com