Applied Materials' New Opus AdvantEdge System Maximizes Flash and DRAM Etch Productivity

SANTA CLARA, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Dec. 5, 2006--Applied
Materials, Inc. today announced its new Applied Opus(TM)
AdvantEdge(TM) Metal Etch, the industry's fastest, most advanced
system for etching sub-70nm aluminum interconnects in leading-edge
Flash and DRAM memory devices. The system removes a critical etch
bottleneck for customers by employing a process-optimized 5-chamber
configuration (3 etch, 2 strip). Compared to standard 4-chamber metal
etchers, the Opus AdvantEdge delivers 50% better critical dimension
(CD) uniformity, a 2x faster strip rate with enhanced corrosion
resistance, and 50% higher throughput - while still maintaining a
standard etch bay footprint.

"The new Opus system combines our production-proven AdvantEdge
technology with an optimized platform to deliver industry-leading
on-wafer performance and productivity for metal etch, at approximately
20% lower cost of ownership," said Tom St. Dennis, senior vice
president and general manager of Applied Materials' Etch, Cleans,
Front End Products and Implant Group. "As the strong momentum of
aluminum interconnects continues for Flash and DRAM applications, the
Opus AdvantEdge system confirms Applied's commitment to providing
customers with the most advanced, cost-efficient etch technology to
enable their current and future-generation device designs."

Featuring proprietary wafer temperature tuning, a tunable RF
source and specialized etch chemistry, the Applied Opus AdvantEdge
metal etch system delivers less than 5nm, 3 sigma CD uniformity for
aluminum interconnects. In addition to dramatically reducing strip
time, the system's Axiom(TM) strip chamber achieves more than twice
the corrosion resistance of competitive systems.

Applied's Metron division provides unique, pre-qualified abatement
support for the Opus AdvantEdge system. A single Marathon 8600 system
can reduce cost of ownership for etch customers by more than 50% over
conventional abatement methods.

Applied has an installed base of over 60 AdvantEdge metal etch
process chambers being used in production at Flash and DRAM customer
fabs worldwide. To learn more about the Applied Opus AdvantEdge metal
etch system, please visit
http://www.appliedmaterials.com/products/opus_advantedge_metal_etch.
html. (Due to its length, this URL may need to be copied/pasted into
your Internet browser's address field. Remove the extra space if one
exists.)

Applied Materials, Inc. (Nasdaq: AMAT) is the global leader in
Nanomanufacturing Technology(TM) solutions with a broad portfolio of
innovative equipment, services and software products for the
fabrication of semiconductor chips, flat panels, solar photovoltaic
cells, flexible electronics and energy efficient glass. At Applied
Materials, we apply Nanomanufacturing Technology to improve the way
people live. Learn more at www.appliedmaterials.com.

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CONTACT: Applied Materials, Inc.

Betty Newboe, Editorial/Media, 408-563-0647

Randy Bane, Financial Community, 408-986-7977

SOURCE: Applied Materials, Inc.