May 9, 2002 – San Jose, CA – Novellus Systems Inc. has opened a new manufacturing facility in Tualatin, OR.

Marking an expansion of the company’s engineering and manufacturing infrastructure, the new facility is designed to produce Novellus’ copper metallization and damascene dielectric deposition tools.

The 382,000-square-foot “copper campus” will supply semiconductor fabs and foundries around the world with the tools needed to produce ICs.

The facility will house the company’s Electrofill products business and the PECVD products business, and will produce the tools that deliver the core technologies required to fabricate the copper circuitry or interconnects.

The expansion move doubles the manufacturing capacity for the company’s PECVD products, VECTOR and SEQUEL Express, and provides expanded R&D space for its SABRE Electrofill product.

“This new, technology and manufacturing facility expands our long-standing business presence in the greater Portland area,” said Jeff Benzing, Novellus’ exec. VP for the deposition business group. “In fact, much of our early work developing our copper Electrofill products was accomplished at our Wilsonville, OR, plant, which opened in 1995.

“With semiconductor players such as Intel already well established in the region, the Portland metropolitan area offers Novellus and its employees numerous benefits in terms of affordable housing and quality of life, as well as a rich supply of technical talent. Especially significant is the close proximity to several major customers, which bolsters the potential for cutting-edge co-development activities. When it came time to expand our manufacturing infrastructure to satisfy the capacity needs of our global customers, Tualatin was the ideal choice.”