Press Release

Advantest T2000 Incorporates GuideTech CTIA Technology to Enhance Performance

SEMICON WEST, San Jose, Calif. – July 12, 2004 – GuideTech, the leading innovator of precision timing and jitter analysis solutions, today announced that Advantest Corp. (TSE: 6857, NYSE: ATE) will support GuideTech’s Femto 2000™ precision timing analyzer on the Advantest T2000 Series of automated semiconductor test systems. The combination of the Femto 2000 and the T2000 test systems, built on the modular OPENSTAR™ architecture, will help ensure the seamless integration of the two products’ advanced test capabilities.

The Femto 2000 was developed in response to increasing test performance demands and cost pressures from customers developing system-on-chip (SoC) architecture for communication, graphics, cell phone and highly integrated multimedia devices. Acknowledging the price pressures chipmakers face with already low average selling prices (ASPs), Advantest will now provide its customers the power of GuideTech’s Continuous Time Interval Analyzer (CTIA) technology for top-speed validation of device performance at a price point well in line with the cost sensitivities of high-volume consumer devices.

"We have found GuideTech’s Femto 2000 to be a simple yet effective solution for meeting customers’ growing analog and asynchronous test requirements that will help boost performance of the T2000 even higher while contributing to our efforts to reduce the overall cost of test,” said Sergio Perez, vice president of business development at Advantest.

"Advantest’s success has been based on providing what customers need to break through significant hurdles in test. Proof of this is their steady capture of market share in the SoC test market. As the T2000 continues to gain acceptance into consumer, multimedia, and networking device applications where high throughput timing analysis is crucial, Advantest customers can now select GuideTech as their advanced timing resource,” says Gary D. Conley, GuideTech CEO. “Integration of the Femto 2000 with the Advantest T2000 is also our first step toward an integrated solution for the STC OPENSTAR platform.”

Both Advantest and GuideTech are members of the Semiconductor Test Consortium (STC), the non-profit industry association responsible for developing and implementing OPENSTAR (Open Semiconductor Test Architecture). Membership is open to all interested parties of the semiconductor test community, and includes end users, system and module vendors.
 

About Advantest
Advantest Corporation is one of the world’s leading automatic test equipment suppliers to the semiconductor industry, and is also a producer of electronic and optoelectronic instruments and systems. A global company, Advantest has long offered total ATE solutions, and serves the industry in every component of semiconductor test: tester, handler, mechanical and electrical interfaces, and software. Its logic, memory, mixed-signal and RF testers, and device handlers, are integrated into the most advanced semiconductor fabrication lines in the world. Founded in Tokyo in 1954, Advantest established its North American subsidiary in 1982. Advantest America, Inc. and Advantest America R&D Center, Inc. are based in Santa Clara, Calif. Advantest America Measuring Solutions, Inc., based in Edison, N.J., distributes Advantest electronic measuring instrument products in North America. More information is available at www.advantest.com.

About GuideTech
GuideTech is the leading innovator in high-performance timing measurement instrumentation, providing semiconductor manufacturers with the solutions they need to minimize timing-related component failure, along with dramatically reducing production test costs through test-time reduction and extended ATE lifecycles. Based on patented Continuous Time Interval Analyzer (CTIA) technology, the company’s family of multi-channel timing test systems accomplishes this by substantially improving test throughput via fast measurement rates, far greater accuracy, increased parallelism, and through critical, high-speed timing test coverage often lacking in ATE systems. Headquartered in Sunnyvale, CA, and founded in 1988, the company is the first to deliver cost-effective, advanced timing measurement solutions that easily integrate onto any ATE platform. For more information, please contact Tammy McClure at 408-731-8857 or tammy@guidetech.com. Visit the company’s Web site at http://www.guidetech.com

Media Contact:

John C. Tran
Media Relations for GuideTech
510-226-6780, x154
john_tran@e21corp.com