Implant Center and Ion Implant Services Join Forces And Close $22 Million Financing Round

Company to be Renamed INNOViON Corporation

San Jose, CA. Implant Center, Inc. (IC) and Ion Implant Services, Inc. (IIS), the two largest providers of ion implantation service to the semiconductor business, today announced that they have joined forces and have adopted a new name for the combined operation, INNOViON Corporation (pronounced in-no -vee-on). The name change is subject to Shareholder consent and approval of the Secretary of State in California. Terms of the agreement are undisclosed. Raymond Krummen, President and CEO of Implant Center will continue in that role for INNOViON and Dr. Wesley Weisenberger, Founder of Ion Implant Service will become Vice Chairman of the new company.

Additionally, the new company announced that it has closed a financing round through Implant Center s investors in excess of $21 million. These funds complete INNOViON s new facilities in Gresham, Ore. and Phoenix, Ariz. and add liquidity to the new entity.

Today marks a new departure in the rapidly expanding field of contract ion implantation service for the semiconductor and related industries, said Ray Krummen who will be President of INNOViON. ``We are extremely pleased to see our two companies, which bring a combined 40 years of implant experience, join forces in the exciting market of ion implantation. The new corporate name speaks to the vision we hold for the combined entity, innovation in ion implantation. The concept of foundry ion implantation implies maximum tool utilization and resulting lowest possible cost for this key semiconductor manufacturing process.

The ion implantation process involves the injection of a quantity of ions (either as single atoms or molecules) into materials to alter the physical properties of the material. The most common applications effect the electrical properties of semiconductors such as silicon or gallium arsenide by controlling whether and under what conditions a region would be electrically conductive or insulating. Additionally, ion implantation may be used to affect crystallographic properties by establishing a plane along which a crystal can be cleaved or to change the chemical properties in a way that might bind undesirable contaminating atoms in a region isolated from the device. The high performance of modern semiconductor devices is made possible by (among other advances) the precise control of doping concentration and depth afforded by switching from chemical diffusions to ion implantation. New and more innovative applications are constantly appearing in technologies for both mainstream and niche markets and the quantity of ion implantation used in most technologies is increasing to satisfy the increasingly complex requirements. The concentration of technical expertise and tooling allows INNOViON to enable advances in technologies ranging from mainstream silicon, SOI (silicon on insulator), and Opto-Electric devices.

Dr. Weisenberger, who will be INNOViON s new Vice Chairman, points to the combined strengths of the new entity. ``INNOViON s charter is to become the major supplier of ion implantation in the semiconductor business. Recently, both companies embarked on ambitious plans to rethink the way in which semiconductor fab managers viewed the ion implantation process. Traditionally, implant was performed by the end user; the semiconductor manufacturer. In today s highly competitive market conditions, the need for the most cost effective manufacturing processes dictates maximum tool utilization. With INNOViON s commitment to build worldwide regional centers of excellence in ion implantation, we believe we can deliver cost effective, superior implant technology without impacting customers WIP or control issues.

Mr. Krummen further said that ``Implant Center has pursued a philosophy of outsourcing ion implantation, whereby partner/customer tool sets were physically removed from the partner s fab and relocated into a regional implant center. IIS has pursued an insource concept that called for the take over of operation of a partner s tool set in place. Clearly, there are compelling reasons for both scenarios.

Outsourcing works well in areas of high geographic concentrations of semiconductor manufacture while insourcing works well in areas where little synergies exist between potential partners. The beauty of outsourcing, Mr. Krummen continued, is that wafer fabs can recapture precious floor space in order to increase their wafer starts with the same brick and mortar already invested. Being able to start 40% more wafers per month in the same cleanroom space that is currently occupied by implanters represents a huge financial benefit to our partners. Higher tool utilization, made possible by multiple customers in the same geographic region insure the financial win for both sides.

The insource concept, while inherently more expensive, represents an alternative to customers that have particular market driven requirements or who do not fit the regional model that makes outsourcing successful. INNOViON is prepared to meet both model concepts as well as the traditional service business. INNOViON plans to expand its regional model to all major geographic semiconductor manufacturing areas, including its first international location in 2002. The new company can be contacted at 408/501-9100 or at their new web site http://www.innovion.cc.

Contact: INNOViON Corporation, San Jose Lisa Janello Tel: 408/501-9100 Ljanello@innovion.cc