Asia PR News

SANTA CLARA, Calif., June 2/KYODO JBN/–

AKT, Inc., an Applied Materials company and the world’s leading supplier of
PECVD(1) systems to the flat panel display (FPD) industry, was honored with the
Advanced Display of the Year (ADY) 2005 Award for its AKT-40K PECVD system.
The award, which recognizes first-class manufacturers of FPD equipment, was
given to AKT at Finetech Japan, one of the world’s largest FPD exhibitions.
This is the second win for AKT in the award’s 10-year history.

The AKT-40K PECVD system was nominated by the ADY Awards Committee, headed by
Professor Shunsuke Kobayashi of Liquid Crystal Institute, Science University of
Tokyo in Yamaguchi. The AKT-40K was chosen because of its superior film
uniformity and significant throughput advantages for large-area TFT-LCD(2)
panel manufacturing.

Key to the AKT-40K system is its AKT-APX-L chamber technology integrated on the
proven AKT-PECVD platform. This chamber is a significant breakthrough in design
that enables display manufacturers to confidently increase substrate sizes to
Gen 7(3) and beyond with a cost-effective, extendible solution that delivers
optimal film uniformity. The APX-L chamber equalizes plasma density
distribution across the entire large-area substrate, enabling less than 10%
variation in film thickness over a Gen 7 substrate. Widening the process
regime, the AKT-APX-L chamber allows for higher deposition rate films that are
not limited by gas chemistry selection.

The AKT-APX-L PECVD chamber is the most significant process chamber design
development since AKT’s 1992 introduction of the AKT-1600 PECVD chamber, the
world’s first capacitively-coupled, parallel-plate, high deposition rate plasma
reactor in a cluster tool configuration. The AKT-APX-L PECVD chamber includes
AKT’s patented Remote Plasma Source cleaning technology, which reduces
contamination to the lowest levels in the industry, and dramatically extends
chamber lifetime and time between cleans.

The AKT-40K PECVD systems can deposit a range of single-layer or in-situ
multi-layer films of doped and undoped amorphous silicon (a-Si), silicon oxide
(SiOx), silicon oxynitride (SiON) and silicon nitride (SiNx).

According to Display Search, a market research firm, AKT was the market leader
in PECVD systems in 2004 and is expected to further grow its leadership
position in 2005.

AKT, Inc., a wholly-owned subsidiary of Applied Materials, Inc. (Nasdaq: AMAT),
is the largest supplier of PECVD products and services to the global TFT-LCD
industry. AKT has led the industry in bringing technical innovation, reduced
cost of ownership and continuous yield improvement with its products. Applied
Materials’ web site is www.appliedmaterials.com.

(1) PECVD: plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition
(2) TFT-LCD: thin film transistor liquid crystal display
(3) Gen 7: substrates of approx.1.8 meters x 2.2 meters

Source: AKT, Inc.

Contact:
Johnny Su
AKT
Tel: (03) 543-2568
Johnny_Su@amat.com.tw