News Details

Veeco Launches the "Veeco Labs Research Grant Program"

July 1, 2008

PLAINVIEW, N.Y.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--July 1, 2008--Veeco Instruments Inc. (Nasdaq: VECO), a leading provider of instrumentation to the nanoscience community, today introduced the Veeco Labs Research Grant Program, designed to stimulate the generation of new scientific investigation for researchers in the atomic force microscopy community. This grant program will sponsor selected early adopters of current and future Veeco technologies in a variety of ways to enable the realization of their proposed work.

The first of the Veeco Labs grants will solicit proposals utilizing the recently-released HarmoniX(TM) Nanoscale Material Property Mapping Mode, which enables AFM users to simultaneously, and in real time, acquire high-resolution images as well as high-resolution, quantitative material property maps. These proposals, due by October 1, 2008, will be judged on creativity, scientific merit and applicability to real-world applications challenges. The five best submissions will be awarded a Veeco HarmoniX Kit, to be used with any Veeco system operating on the latest NanoScope(R) V Controller. This combination will enable the full-treatment HarmoniX Mode to be used to further investigate the proposed science and for other materials research.

David Rossi, Vice President, General Manager of Veeco's Nano-Bio AFM Business, stated Our desire is to stimulate groundbreaking studies enabled by Veeco's AFM technology advances in various materials fields. Through this grant program, we will continue to help our customers advance the science that is done with SPMs, and make it even easier to deliver new technology to the front lines of emerging applications.

Dr. Bede Pittenger, Sr. Development Scientist and leader of the HarmoniX effort inside of Veeco, commented, Our first experiences with customer use of this system showed a great deal of promise for enabling new research and has generated excitement throughout the AFM user community, as all of the data is the first of its kind, with new information never before accessible in this way. I think it will be very interesting and gratifying to see the results and impact of the first five grant winners.

The winners of this competition will also received an expense-paid trip to the Seeing at the NanoScale VII AFM Conference in Santa Barbara, CA, in the summer of 2009.

About HarmoniX

Veeco's NanoScope V Microscope Controller and proprietary probes provide the speed, signal levels, and processing power necessary to render high-resolution data never before seen in real time. HarmoniX acquires real-time force curves by measuring the cantilever's torsional and flexural motion each time the AFM tip interacts with the surface in TappingMode(TM). Proprietary algorithms instantly calculate the force curves that occur when the tip taps the surface, and analyze them to obtain multiple sample characteristics. These material properties are then rendered in image maps that correlate to the sample topography image. These maps are quantitative and directly traceable to the Elastic Modulus of the sample being imaged. To learn more about HarmoniX, and to see a video of how it works, visit http://www.veeco.com/library/HarmoniX_Materials_Mapping/index.aspx.

About Veeco

Veeco Instruments Inc. manufactures enabling solutions for customers in the HB-LED, solar, data storage, semiconductor, scientific research and industrial markets. We have leading technology positions in our three businesses: LED & Solar Process Equipment, Data Storage Process Equipment, and Metrology Instruments. Veeco's manufacturing and engineering facilities are located in New York, New Jersey, California, Colorado, Arizona, Minnesota and Massachusetts. Global sales and service offices are located throughout the U.S., Europe, Japan and APAC. http://www.veeco.com/

To the extent that this news release discusses expectations or otherwise makes statements about the future, such statements are forward-looking and are subject to a number of risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from the statements made. These factors include the risks discussed in the Business Description and Management's Discussion and Analysis sections of Veeco's Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2007 and in our subsequent quarterly reports on Form 10-Q, current reports on Form 8-K and press releases. Veeco does not undertake any obligation to update any forward-looking statements to reflect future events or circumstances after the date of such statements.

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             Karen Gertz, 805-967-2700 x2412

    SOURCE: Veeco Instruments Inc.