Applied Materials Hosts Interconnect Forum on ''Improving Yield and Reliability for 65nm and Beyond''

SANTA CLARA, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Oct. 14, 2004--Applied Materials, Inc. (Nasdaq:AMAT)

What:   Applied Materials Inc., the leader in interconnect
        process technology and services to the global semiconductor
        industry, is hosting a technical forum in conjunction with the
        Advanced Metallization Conference (AMC).

        The forum will bring together key industry experts from IBM
        and Stanford University to discuss critical yield and
        reliability challenges that must be addressed to extend
        Moore's Law to 65nm and beyond. These include debonding,
        microfractures, electromigration, stress migration and
        packaging challenges, as well as the need for new
        planarization techniques such as Ecmp (electro-chemical
        mechanical planarization) to enable advanced low k
        integration.

When:   Sunday, Oct. 17th, from 4:30pm to 6:00pm PST,
        reception to follow             

Where:  Del Mar Room, the Bahia Resort Hotel
        998 West Mission Bay Drive, San Diego  

Panel:  Sandra Malhotra, Ph.D., Advanced BEOL Metals Integration, 
         IBM Corporation
        Andrew Simon, Ph.D., Advanced BEOL Metals Integration, 
         IBM Corporation
        Reinhold Dauskardt, Ph.D., Department of Materials Science
         and Engineering,Stanford University

Details: "We value the opportunity to meet with customers and
        to share leading-edge research at these technical forums,"
        said Farhad Moghadam, senior vice president and general
        manager of Applied Materials' Thin Films Product Business
        Group. "By fostering greater insight and understanding of key
        issues, we can more effectively help drive manufacturing
        breakthroughs that give our customers the greatest competitive
        advantage."

        During the technical sessions at this year's AMC, Applied
        Materials will present multiple papers showcasing breakthrough
        interconnect solutions. A few of the topics covered will
        include direct plating of copper on ruthenium, ALD (atomic
        layer deposition), hermetic sealing of low k pores, and
        development of an electroless cobalt capping process.

For the complete program and to register, visit:
http://www.appliedmaterials.com/about/amat_interconnect_forum.html

Applied Materials, Inc. (Nasdaq:AMAT) is the largest supplier of
products and services to the global semiconductor industry. Applied
Materials' web site is www.appliedmaterials.com.

“We value the opportunity to meet with customers and to share leading-edge research at these technical forums”