SEMICON Japan 2006

SEMICON Japan 2006 celebrates its 30th anniversary this year. This event is now the world's largest international exhibition for semiconductor- manufacturing equipment and materials. This year, the exhibition will see 1,600 companies from various countries and regions taking part in the exhibition and more than 4,450 booths, which is the largest ever. In 2005, 1,600 companies exhibited at SEMICON Japan, drawing about 100,000 people (108,300 people) from various countries and regions for the three-day event. Since introducing Japan's first IC stepper to the market in 1980, Nikon, as a leading manufacturer, has continuously researched and developed new stepper and scanner technology, polished our nanotechnology, and supported the production of ICs, the density of which is becoming rapidly higher. We will continue to develop ultra-precise machining technology to support the evolution of the increasingly sophisticated information society.

Nikon's theme for this year's SEMICON Japan will be "Total Output", integrating throughput, yield and uptime at the highest level. From the very inception of our unique lens design and manufacturing process, we have been committed to integrated technology, and it is through that concept that we would like to introduce our various products.

In this feature we will introduce SEMICON Japan 2006, which drew together the world's leading semiconductor-manufacturing equipment and material companies. We will also show the Nikon booth and our products that were on show at the exhibition.