Semicon West 2005 – July 12, 2005 – FormFactor, Inc. (Nasdaq: FORM), a leading provider of advanced wafer probe cards, today announced shipment of the 500th FormFactor BladeRunnerTM175 (BR175) product, a 175-um pitch wafer probing solution for high-performance flip chip System-On-Chip (SoC) devices targeted to 90-, 65- and 45-nanometer process nodes. This significant milestone has been achieved by leveraging the production capability of FormFactor’s new advanced micro-electro mechanical systems (MEMS) manufacturing facility. The FormFactor BR175 Single-device-under- test (DUT) and Multi-DUT products have been running in wafer sort facilities worldwide.

“This milestone confirms the extraordinary value the BR175 product delivers to our customers as a high-performance SoC wafer test solution,” said Igor Khandros, founder and chief executive officer, FormFactor. “FormFactor is dedicated to delivering wafer test solutions that provide customers with the benefits of our proven technology and expertise. The ramp of our new manufacturing facility provides us with a solid foundation to meet our customers’ increasingly challenging wafer test needs.”

The key semiconductor test challenges for high-performance SoC wafer test include low- k dielectrics mechanical stability, the move to lead-free bumping technologies, and the continual drive to lower the cost of test. In addition to its MicroSpring® contact technonlogy, FormFactor’s BR175 product features the company’s proprietary MicroForceTM probing technology that combines low probe force with stable contact resistance. MicroForce probing technology provides one-tenth the probing force (~1g per contact) versus conventional probe solutions, reducing the risk of damage to both interconnect bumps and the low-k dielectrics that lie beneath them. The incorporation of these proprietery technologies has also enabled an efficient lead-free bump test solution, which has been a key driver for the fast adoption of the BR175 product line.

Introduced in May of this year, the FormFactor BR175 Multi-DUT wafer probe card for flip chip SoC is the company’s latest product in the BladeRunner family. It offers contact reliability and electrical performance well in excess of other products on the market, increasing semiconductor manufacturers’ wafer test capacity, maximizing throughput and reducing their total cost of test.