Cascade Microtech Introduces Pyramid Accel(TM) for Rapid Production Test Program Development

BEAVERTON, OR--(Marketwire - October 27, 2008) - To address the increasingly complex ATE test programming challenges brought on by today's System-on-Chip (SoC) and RF devices, Cascade Microtech (NASDAQ: CSCD) today announced the new Pyramid Accel production test program debug fixture. Paired with the Pyramid Probe® card, the Pyramid Accel enables test engineers to develop and debug test programs without the need to probe wafers, freeing up probers for production testing, resulting in a significantly lower cost of test.

"This innovative product enables our customers to obtain 'Known-Good Test Program' status before their production wafers arrive," said Geoff Wild, CEO of Cascade Microtech, Inc. "We are focusing our efforts on increasing schedule predictably and reducing the overall cost of test, thus improving time-to-revenue, which is critical for our customers."

The Pyramid Accel approach facilitates better predictability by reducing the variables during test program debug procedures. Comprised of a PCB containing customer-supplied packaged parts mounted on the innovative Advanced Spring Interposer, the Pyramid Accel debug fixture is mounted directly on the Pyramid Probe card. The Pyramid Accel fixture delivers the added benefit of providing a "golden reference" to allow fast diagnosis of test program issues that arise, resulting in less production downtime.

"The Pyramid Accel has significantly reduced our overall test time and cost by eliminating the need to use wafer probers for the development and debug of our test program," said Kanchana Adhikari, Product Engineer, Freescale Semiconductor. "It used to take us three weeks. Now the whole process takes only seven days."

Pricing and Availability

The Pyramid Accel is available for order immediately. Standard delivery is four weeks upon design approval. Pricing varies with the signal capacity, number of devices, the I/O capacity, and Pyramid Probe frame. For customers who require more flexibility, the Pyramid Accel can also be configured with Cascade Microtech's unique Grypper™ socket technology, which can be mounted on the Pyramid Accel, eliminating the need for any special test socket footprint.

About Pyramid Probe Cards

Pyramid Probe cards are rugged, robust, and well suited for the rigors of high-performance production wafer sort. Pyramid's industry-leading signal integrity and mechanical alignment capabilities make these probe cards the perfect fit for multi-die testing for RF wireless, high-speed digital in SiPs, SoCs, and leading-edge parametric testing.

About Grypper BGA Test Sockets

The Grypper BGA test socket utilizes advanced manufacturing and contact technologies to achieve a very fine pitch with low inductance and low insertion loss beyond 15 GHz. The unique contact design provides excellent mechanical and electrical performance, with oxide-penetrating actions to achieve stable contact resistance for varying solder compositions. This provides excellent signal fidelity for today's high frequency applications such as advanced high-speed serial buses and wireless RF interfaces. The Grypper socket is uniquely suited for chips designed for mobile and consumer applications, where fine-pitch BGA devices can be socketed directly onto the actual production or evaluation RF circuit board without any additional PCB area overhead.

About Freescale Semiconductor

Freescale Semiconductor is a global leader in the design and manufacture of embedded semiconductors for the automotive, consumer, industrial, networking and wireless markets. The privately held company is based in Austin, Texas, and has design, research and development, manufacturing or sales operations in more than 30 countries. Freescale is one of the world's largest semiconductor companies with 2007 sales of $5.7 billion (USD). www.freescale.com

About Cascade Microtech

Cascade Microtech, Inc. (NASDAQ: CSCD) is a worldwide leader in the precise electrical measurement and test of integrated circuits (ICs) and other small structures. For technology businesses and scientific institutions that need to evaluate small structures, Cascade Microtech delivers access to, and extraction of, electrical data from wafers, integrated circuits (ICs), IC packages, circuit boards and modules, MEMS, biological structures, electro-optic devices and more. Cascade Microtech's leading-edge semiconductor production test consumables include unique probe cards and test sockets that reduce manufacturing costs of high-speed and high-density semiconductor chips. Information about Cascade Microtech can be found on the Web at www.cascademicrotech.com.

Contact Information: FOR MORE INFORMATION, CONTACT: Laurie A. Winton Cascade Microtech, Inc. (503) 601-1934