MONTEREY, CA — (MARKET WIRE) — 02/27/2006 — Globalpress — Akustica, a
pioneer in microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) technology, today announced
at the Globalpress Electronics Summit the availability of Akustica
Microphone Chips, the first single-chip microphones on the market. The
Akustica Microphone Chips are small, thin, light devices designed to replace
the Electret Condenser Microphone (ECM), a fifty-year-old technology that
has been used in billions of portable electronic devices — while remaining
fundamentally unchanged. The ECM, however, is limited by a number of
acoustic issues: From RF noise, environmental noise, and
mechanical/electromagnetic noise, the ECM cannot be used to easily eliminate
all this mechanical and ambient noise — creating a number of pain points
for millions of users of mobile phones, laptop computers and other digital
media devices. As a silicon microphone, Akustica’s Microphone Chips are not
prone to the same degree of noise from any of these sources — thereby
enabling superior acoustic environments.

Akustica’s Microphone Chips also offer numerous benefits to consumer
electronics manufacturers. Because of their small size and surface-mountable
design, Akustica’s Microphone Chips are ideally suited to space-constrained
consumer electronics devices that are manufactured in high volumes. As the
first MEMS devices manufactured using standard Complementary Metal Oxide
Semiconductor (CMOS) processes, Akustica’s Microphone Chips can be
manufactured in quantity, with guaranteed uniformity, by existing CMOS
foundries — rather than by dedicated MEMS foundries. Easier manufacturing
increases access to the chips, lowering costs.

“With the consumer electronics industry recognizing the demand for improved
voice input quality, our launch of the world’s first single-chip microphones
could not come at a better time,” said Jim Rock, co-founder and CEO,
Akustica, Inc. “On the one hand, we are mainstreaming MEMS devices with our
Microphone Chips for a broad consumer audience. On the other, we are helping
manufacturers of laptop PCs, mobile phones and other digital media devices
to overcome the acoustic problems that have seriously limited the widespread
adoption of VoIP and other voice-based applications in the past.”

Yole Développement, industry analysts closely following this market,
forecasts significant growth for the silicon microphone market, projecting
an increase from 100 million units in 2005 to a TAM of 800 million units by
2010. “The MEMS industry is changing: The winning companies are delivering
devices with embedded functionality. Featuring small size and easier
integration, these devices also leverage the benefits of the semiconductor
infrastructure in terms of manufacturing and cost structure. Companies such
as Akustica are using this model to pave the way to high-volume
applications,” said J-C Eloy, general manager of Yole Développement.

Akustica’s Microphone Chip: The AKU2000

Akustica’s first Microphone Chip is the first CMOS MEMS chip in the
industry. It is a surface-mountable, automatic pick-and-place compatible,
monolithic device that provides high-quality voice input for consumer
electronics applications. The AKU2000 is a digital-output silicon microphone
that is optimal for use in microphone array applications requiring a high of
degree noise immunity. The AKU2000 integrates an acoustic transducer, output
amplifier and a 4th order sigma-delta modulator on a single chip. The
AKU2000 is ideal for microphone array applications where multiple
microphones will be used together to perform noise cancellation and/or
beamforming. Additionally, the AKU2000 is suited for other portable
applications requiring RF/EM noise immunity and low power including cell
phones and digital cameras. The small form factor and surface-mount
capability of the AKU2000 allows placement of the microphone in very thin
profile end-user devices. The AKU2000 is sampling now and is priced at $3.87
per unit in 1,000 piece quantities.

Akustica’s Unique IP: CMOS MEMS

Akustica’s patented CMOS MEMS technology is an industry first in both the
new products it enables and the fabrication methods by which those products
are manufactured. Unlike other MEMS devices which must be fabricated by
special MEMS foundries, Akustica’s CMOS MEMS structures are composed of the
metal-dielectric structures within a standard CMOS wafer. Since they are
fabricated using the industry-standard CMOS processes and equipment
currently used to make integrated circuits, CMOS MEMS chips can be
manufactured in any CMOS foundry worldwide. In fact, CMOS MEMS device
fabrication has been proven in nine different foundries and eleven different
CMOS technologies, ranging from a 0.6um three-metal process to a 0.18um
copper interconnect process. The result is a technology that can be
mass-produced in extremely high volumes with the accompanying high yields
and repeatability associated with semiconductor manufacturing. This makes
Akustica’s CMOS MEMS extremely attractive from both a performance and a
manufacturing point of view.

Industry analysts commented on Akustica’s CMOS MEMS platform:

“Akustica’s ability to combine sensors and integrated circuits on a single
silicon die using a standard CMOS process is a huge step forward for MEMS
technologies,” said Marlene Bourne, MEMS industry analyst with Bourne
Research. “The use of an economical, high-volume fabrication process is
truly a turning point for the MEMS industry and one that will open new
doors. By taking the CMOS MEMS approach, Akustica’s Microphone Chips are
well positioned to fulfill a real market demand.”

“Akustica’s use of standard CMOS processes to produce MEMS allows it to take
advantage of Moore’s law, enabling MEMS to enter the consumer markets and go
mainstream at last,” stated Stephen Cullen, Contributing Analyst, InStat.