# **PRESS RELEASE**

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# Contact: Joanne Vliet, Director of the Silicon Valley U.S. Export Assistance Center

Tel: (408) 351-3384

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# **For Immediate Release**

### Deputy Assistant Secretary Colleen Litkenhaus Honors

###  Local Manufacturer for Export Achievement

***Applied MicroStructures, Inc. Recognized for Sales to Europe and
Asia***

Deputy Assistant Secretary for Domestic Operations for the U.S. &
Foreign Commercial Service, Colleen Litkenhaus, and JoAnn Yamani,
Congressional Assistant, Cong. Zoe Lofgren, CA-16, presented the U.S.
Commerce Department's Export Achievement Certificate to Applied
MicroStructures, Inc. (www.appliedmst.com) of San Jose, California on
August 23, 2006. The award recognizes U.S. businesses that benefited
from the export services of the Department's Commercial Service to make
their first export sale or open new foreign markets.

Applied MicroStructures, based in San Jose, CA, produces equipment that
applies Nano-Scale coatings of just several atoms thick (1/10,000 of a
human hair and 50 times smaller than the critical dimensions of most
current integrated circuits). Proprietary molecular vapor deposition
processes are applied to Nano-Devices and Micro-Sensors such as car
airbag accelerometers and cell phone microphones to dramatically improve
performance and extend operating life in many critical applications.

"Applied MicroStructures is an outstanding Silicon Valley example of
what small businesses can achieve in the global marketplace,\" said
Joanne Vliet, Director of the Commercial Service Export Assistance
Center in San Jose. \"The Commercial Service plays a vital role in
helping these firms increase their exports, which supports jobs in the
United States."

Aiming to penetrate Europe and Asia's burgeoning semiconductor,
microsystems, and nanotechnology markets, Applied MicroStructures
leveraged the export promotion expertise of the federal government in
Spring of 2004. Through the help of Commercial Service offices in San
Jose and the U.S. Embassy in Germany, Applied MicroStructures vetted a
German partner. Follow-on assistance included help with export
compliance, market research, product standards, customs, and tariff and
tax information for Japan, Belgium, Denmark, Norway, and China that led
to more than \$1.5 million in export sales. These orders contributed to
the company's growth by helping support new hires at Applied
MicroStructures' manufacturing facility in San Jose. "We sincerely
appreciate the Commercial Service's help and guidance. It has
significantly reduced the time taken for us to gain recognition and
orders in off-shore markets,\" said Jeff Chinn, Applied MicroStructures'
President and CEO.

The U.S. Commercial Service is a U.S. Commerce Department agency that
helps U.S. businesses sell their products and services globally. The
Commercial Service has 108 Export Assistance Centers throughout the
United States and more than 150 international offices in over 80
countries. For more information on the U.S. Commercial Service, please
visit www.export.gov.

For more information on the U.S. Commercial Service, call the U.S.
Export Assistance Center in San Jose, California at (408) 351-3390 or
visit www.buyusa.gov/siliconvalley.

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