Tessera Introduces PYXIS� Packaging Technology - World's First Chip-Scale Packaging Solution for Highly Integrated RF Modules

San Jose, Calif. � April 14, 2003 � Signaling a new era in semiconductor packaging for cellular phones and wireless electronic products, Tessera, Inc., a premier developer of intellectual property and services for chip-scale and multi-chip packages (CSPs and MCPs), today unveiled the Pyxis� platform, the world�s first chip-scale packaging technology for highly integrated radio frequency (RF) modules. This breakthrough packaging technology integrates RF devices with their surrounding circuitry while delivering unprecedented cost, height, and area savings for more feature-rich, low-cost wireless electronic products.

The Pyxis solution employs a straightforward yet revolutionary concept: extend the reach of CSP technology to tackle the RF integration challenge. The Pyxis platform builds upon Tessera�s proven and globally adopted �BGA� technology and integrates various other technologies such as flip-chip, integrated passives in silicon and on polyimide, as well as novel EMI shielding techniques. Through the combination of these technologies, the platform overcomes the size, reliability, performance, thermal and noise isolation challenges currently impeding higher levels of RF integration. To provide a clear path to mainstream adoption, the Pyxis platform leverages existing CSP and flip-chip manufacturing processes and established infrastructure. Along with a new license for this technology, Tessera is also offering a full suite of RF services, design tools and libraries to further facilitate ease of adoption.

The Pyxis platform is designed to support and integrate a multitude of RF functions, such as power amplifiers, transceivers, filters and switches. The first implementation of the technology family, the Pyxis Power Amplifier (PA) platform, integrates tri-band GSM/GPRS power amplifiers with their surrounding passive components. By suppressing the need for expensive GaAs thermal vias and integrating inductors on low-cost polyimide tape and capacitors on a low-grade silicon chip, the Pyxis PA delivers significant size and cost advantages. When compared to competitive alternatives, such as ceramic and laminate modules, the Pyxis platform provides 50-percent cost, 60-percent height, and 75-percent area reductions. By freeing up premium printed circuit board space, Pyxis is designed to enable handset makers to quickly and easily incorporate new revenue-generating features�such as MP3, GPS, Wi-Fi, and digital imaging capability�into their products.

According to Mark Christensen, senior consultant at electronics industry consulting firm Prismark Partners LLC (Cold Spring Harbor, N.Y.), �Tessera's Pyxis packaging technology is a comprehensive RF module solution. The combination of low profile, small form factor �BGA packaging and thin film silicon integrated passive device technology, offered in a one-stop solution is very attractive to companies looking for a small, low cost RF module package. The package platform is very flexible and can provide an integration and miniaturization path for Radio-in-a-Package, 802.11, Bluetooth� and other complex RF modules.�

Jan Vardaman, founder of Austin, Texas-based advanced packaging consulting firm TechSearch International, said, �Tessera is entering a new market segment with a great idea. There is a definite need for further RF integration in wireless products such as cellular phones and wireless PDAs, and I expect that packaging will play a key role in bringing about added miniaturization and functionality. By building upon widely available �BGA manufacturing infrastructure, Pyxis has the potential to quickly and dramatically impact the RF landscape.�

�We believe the Pyxis family represents a quantum leap forward in RF packaging,� said Bruce McWilliams, Tessera chairman and CEO. �The essence and strength of Pyxis technology is that it delivers unmatched size and cost reductions using existing assembly processes and infrastructure. Customers and partners with whom we have shared specifics of the package�ranging from RF chipmakers to handset providers and manufacturing houses�view it as a disruptive technology with tremendous market value and potential. Companies looking for low-cost RF integration now have a powerful tool at their disposal.�

Licenses to Pyxis technology are available today. Tessera is also providing design, modeling, simulation, and prototyping services to aid customer-specific application and optimization. Production ramp-up technology, design kits/libraries, and associated assembly line support services will be widely available for transfer in mid-2003. Additional product information is available in the Pyxis online media kit at http://www.tessera.com.

About Tessera, Inc.

Tessera is the high-tech industry�s premier provider of intellectual property and services that enable the semiconductor industry to develop smaller, faster, and more reliable electronic products. The company holds several hundred patents worldwide covering chip-scale and multi-chip packages (CSPs and MCPs), nearly 2 billion of which have been integrated into leading wireless, communications, computing, and consumer electronic products. Tessera�s licensees include the world�s leading semiconductor and assembly manufacturers, such as AMD, Amkor, ChipPac, Hitachi, Hynix, Intel, Sharp, Siemens, Sony, STMicroelectronics, Texas Instruments and Toshiba. Founded in 1990 and headquartered in San Jose, Calif., Tessera can be found on the World Wide Web at http://www.tessera.com.

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