Washington, D.C./March 26, 2002--Neocera Inc., a semiconductor failure analysis, metrology and advanced thin film materials company, announced today that it has raised $13.3 million in its second round of venture financing, bringing total funding to $20.3 million. This round was co-led by Digital Power Capital LLC and Tudor Investment Corporation with participation from FEI Company and Intel Capital.

"We are extremely pleased to have received funding from these leading companies given the current economic downturn," said Jim Fraine, Neocera's President and CEO. "This funding will further Neocera's mission to develop next generation thin film solutions and advanced systems that can help accelerate the introduction of our customers’ next generation semiconductor devices and packages.”

"Continued investment in failure analysis and thin film materials technologies is strategically important for the semiconductor industry and is one of the key reasons underlying this investment,” said Chuck Korstad, Director of the Corporate Quality Network and Vice President of the Technology Manufacturing Group at Intel. “Semiconductor package and electrical defect detection technologies, like Neocera’s, play important roles in helping semiconductor companies deliver next generation processors that maintain the pace of innovation driven by Moore’s Law.”

The proceeds from this round will be used to help develop next-generation products and expand sales channel and customer support capabilities for Neocera's failure analysis product, MAGMA C-10 and advanced thin film materials products, PED (Pulsed Energy Deposition). Neocera's products use magnetic field imaging and near field microwave microscopy to allow semiconductor manufacturers to evaluate electrical performance, device package performance and, eventually, new low-k dielectric performance.

"Neocera's value proposition is substantial for their customers", said Vahe' Sarkissian, FEI’s chairman, president and CEO. "This is a space synergistic to our own and it is growing rapidly.”

"The battle for increased performance in next generation Integrated Circuits is being waged on three fronts; the speed of execution (electrical), insulating properties (low-k dielectric) and packaging of devices" said Hans Kobler, Digital Power CEO. "With the MAGMA C-10 and a total of 12 years of experience in advanced thin film materials, Neocera is uniquely poised to fulfill the needs of semiconductor companies as they climb out of the 2001/2002 downturn through new chip technology introductions."
With this financing, Hans Kobler of Digital Power Capital LLC and Rick Ganong of Tudor Investment Corporation have joined Neocera's board of directors.