October, 2018
Ball Wave Inc.

Ball Wave to Begin Accepting Orders for the FalconTrace mini (FT-300WT) Highspeed Portable Trace-Moisture Analyzer
World’s first sensor for accurate monitoring of fluctuating trace-moisture content in
manufacturing environments boasts unprecedented temporal resolution of single seconds or
lessBall Wave Inc., headquartered in the city of Sendai in Japan’s Miyagi Prefecture and led by
CEO Shingo Akao, will begin accepting orders for its new FalconTrace mini (FT-300WT),
a portable trace-moisture analyzer capable of high-sensitivity detection of high-purity
industrial gases and ultra-minute quantities of water in manufacturing environments. The
unprecedented operating speed of the FalconTrace mini—unrivaled by any existing tracemoisture analyzer—allows real-time in situ monitoring, with astonishing temporal resolution
on the order of single seconds or less, of fluctuating concentrations of water molecules ingases used in manufacturing processes.
In the semiconductor-device industry—because of the rapid progress in miniaturization andhigh integration—the residual water content of the gases used in manufacturing processes
must now be controlled to levels of 1 ppm or below. However, to date, the only existing
trace-moisture analyzers with the sensitivity required to detect such minuscule water
concentrations have been large, expensive optical instruments, which are too unwieldy to beinstalled in production lines. Moreover, the response speeds of existing trace-moisture
analyzers are not sufficient to allow their use in the control of production lines.
Similarly, the manufacturing process for lithium-ion batteries involves a procedure in which
the battery material is wet-coated on a substrate film, which is then dried and roll-pressed forincorporation into cells. Because the presence of any residual water during this process candramatically degrade the performance or lifetime of the final battery, the procedure is carriedout in an ultra-dry environment known as a super-dry room. A key limitation of existing
trace-moisture analyzers is that their response times are too slow to be useful for controllingsuper-dry rooms.
The revolutionary speed and accuracy of the FalconTrace mini derive from the remarkableproperties of ball-SAW sensors, a core technology developed by Ball Wave Inc. Ball-SAWsensors are high-speed, high-sensitivity gas sensors that exploit a phenomenon that seems todefy the laws of physics: long-distance propagation of surface acoustic waves (SAWs) on a

spherical object. Because the sensor itself is just a tiny crystal ball—only 3.3 mm indiameter—the FalconTrace mini is easy to install in-situ for accurate monitoring ofsemiconductor process lines, production lines for lithium-ion batteries, and in other industrialenvironments. Moreover, the rapid response time of the sensor unit and the small volume ofthe sensor cell allow accurate monitoring of moisture-content fluctuations with a hightemporal resolution on the order of single seconds or below.
In addition to trace-moisture analyzers for industrial applications, Ball Wave is also
developing high-sensitivity miniature hydrogen-gas sensors, palm-sized portable gas
chromatographs, and other innovative gas-measurement technologies that will usher in thehydrogen-based society of the future and protect the Earth’s environment.

【FalconTrace mini (FT-300WT)】
Shipping to begin: November 2018
See the pamphlet for product specifications and other information.

About Ball Wave Inc.
President & CEO: Shingo Akao
Head Office: Tohoku University Business Incubator T-Biz 501, 6-6-40, Aza Aoba, Aramaki,Aoba, Sendai, Miyagi 980-8579, JAPAN
Phone: +81-22-302-6659
FAX: +81-22-302-6709
Tokyo Office: 45th floor, Sunshine 60 Building, 3-1-1 Ikebukuro, Toshima-Ku, Tokyo 1706045 JAPAN
Phone: +81-3-5979-2357
Website: http://ballwave.jp/english/index.html
For questions concerning this press release, contact:
Kenichi Suzuki
Sales Department
Ball Wave, Inc.
Phone: +81-3- 5979-2357