Seiko Instruments Inc.

On September 1, 2004 our company name in Japanese
was changed from Seikô Insutsurumentsu to Seikô
Insutsuru (romanized form of the Japanese; the English
name remains unchanged as Seiko Instruments Inc.).
Insutsuru is derived from the Latin word instruere,
meaning to prepare, provide, or build. This wordembodies our desire to build a new value in society by
preparing and providing products and services that
anticipate any new era. It is also our wish that, byadopting a unique name, we can cultivate a business thatis easy to remember and familiar to everyone. We lookforward to your continued patronage.
The following is a description of the microtechnologies in which Seiko Instruments is engaged.

Yoshinobu Hirata
Vice President

operate well when submerged. Accordingly, we produced
a self-sensing cantilever that incorporates a displacement
sensing function in the cantilever. Fig. 1 is aphotomicrograph of the self-sensing cantilever.
Our recent endeavors in nanotechnology that haveattracted attention are the development and sales ofscanning probe microscopes with sufficient resolution toobserve atoms and molecules and focused ion beamsystems enabling measurement and processing on theorder of several nanometers. These devices are primarily
employed in advanced nanotechnology research, but may
also be used in semiconductor fabs.

1. Micro-technology and nano-technology
Seiko Instruments was established as a watch
manufacturer in 1937. Using several of its originaltechnologies, we produced what could be called the firstcommercialized micromachine, a mechanical watch that
achieved unparalleled precision. During a subsequent
process to develop a quartz watch with even higher
precision, we worked with such components assemiconductors, quartz oscillators, batteries, and liquid
crystals display. We have since applied these technologies
fostered through watch manufacturing to other products
for which compactness and efficiency have become anobsession.
Seiko Instruments began working on micromachines
in a recent project on micromachine research. We
participated in the technological development of a
microfactory in an effort to conserve energy, space, andresources in production equipment and produced a trial
manufacturing system for micromachining and assemblyin a joint project involving seven companies. During thisproject, we uncovered much information regarding
various issues and advantages in producing compact
production equipment. With this trial production system
we succeeded in performing electrochemical
micromachining at the micron-level.
Seiko Instruments has conducted R&D on a scanningprobe for use in an atomic force microscope (AFM), onecommercialized product using MEMS technology. An
AFM normally employs a highly sensitive optical lever for
detecting displacement of a cantilever. This isdisadvantageous in that the displacement sensing system
must be large in order to ensure a sufficiently long optical
path for the optical lever system, and the system does not

2. Future Endeavors
By pursuing compactness and efficiency, Seiko
Instruments continues to create useful products that areunique in the world. We are developing products througha combination of MEMS and machining technology, which
we developed when manufacturing watches to form
micro-parts, and creating devices through the fusion ofMEMS and nanotechnology. We are also working actively
to produce more compact manufacturing equipment andto achieve innovations in manufacturing and production
technology.

(****) Cantilever
Enlarged photographof the probe region(****) Tempemperature-compensating device

Fig. 1 Photomicrograph of an AFM cantilever7