distribute it evenly across the wafer. Grooves are cut into the surface of the pad to facilitate distribution of the slurry. The CMP process is performed on a CMP polishing tool. During the CMP process, the wafer is held on a rotating carrier, which is pressed down against a CMP pad. The CMP pad is attached to a rotating polishing table that spins in a circular motion in the opposite direction from the rotating wafer carrier. A CMP slurry is continuously applied to the polishing pad to facilitate and enhance the polishing process. Hard disk drive and silicon wafer manufacturers use similar processes to smooth the surface of substrate disks before depositing magnetic media onto the disk. An effective CMP process is achieved through technical optimization of the CMP consumables in conjunction with an appropriately designed CMP process. Prior to introducing new or different CMP slurries or pads into its manufacturing process, an IC device manufacturer generally requires the product to be qualified in its processes through an extensive series of tests and evaluations. These qualifications are intended to ensure that the CMP consumable product will function properly within the customers’ overall manufacturing process. These tests and evaluations may require minor changes to the CMP process or the CMP slurry or pad. While this qualification process varies depending on numerous factors, it is generally quite costly and may take six months or longer to complete. IC device manufacturers usually take into account the cost, time required and impact on production when they consider implementing or switching to a new CMP slurry or pad. CMP enables IC device manufacturers to produce smaller, faster and more complex IC devices with a greater density of transistors and other electronic components than is possible without CMP. By enabling IC device manufacturers to make smaller IC devices, CMP also allows them to increase the number of IC devices that fit on a wafer. This increase in the number of IC devices per wafer in turn increases the throughput, or the number of IC devices that can be manufactured in a given time period, and thereby reduces the cost per device. CMP also helps reduce the number of defective or substandard IC devices produced, which increases the device yield. Improvements in throughput and yield reduce an IC device manufacturer’s unit production costs, and reducing costs is one of the highest priorities of a semiconductor manufacturer as the return on its significant investment in manufacturing capacity can be enhanced by lower unit costs. More broadly, sustained growth in the semiconductor industry traditionally has been fueled by enhanced performance and lower unit costs, making IC devices more affordable in an expanding range of applications. Precision Polishing Through our ESF business, we are applying our technical expertise in CMP consumables and polishing techniques developed for the semiconductor industry to demanding applications in other industries where shaping, enabling and enhancing the performance of surfaces is critical to success, such as for precision optics and electronic substrates, including silicon and silicon-carbide wafers. We have begun selling our CMP consumable products to major silicon wafer manufacturers and we anticipate future growth in this market. Many of the production processes currently used in precision machining and polishing have been based on traditional, labor-intensive techniques, which are being replaced by computer-controlled, deterministic processes. Our wholly-owned subsidiary, QED Technologies International, Inc. (QED), is a leading provider of deterministic finishing technology for the precision optics industry. We believe precision optics are pervasive, serving several existing large markets such as semiconductor equipment, aerospace, defense, security, biomedical and consumer imaging. Our Products CMP Consumables for IC Devices We develop, produce and sell CMP slurries for polishing a wide range of materials that conduct electrical signals, including tungsten, copper, tantalum (commonly referred to as “barrier” which is used in copper wiring applications) and aluminum. Slurries for polishing tungsten are used heavily in the production of advanced memory and logic devices for a multitude of end applications such as computers and servers, MP3 players, gaming devices, cell phones and digital cameras, and in mobile Internet devices such as smart phones and tablets, as well as in mature logic applications such as those used in automobiles and communication devices. Our most advanced slurries for tungsten polishing are designed to be customized to provide customers greater flexibility, improved performance and a reduced cost of ownership. Slurries for polishing copper and barrier materials are used in the production of advanced IC logic devices such as microprocessors for computers, and devices for graphic systems, gaming systems and communication devices, as well as in the production of advanced memory devices. These products include different slurries for polishing the copper film and the thin barrier layer used to separate copper from the adjacent insulating material. Slurries for polishing aluminum are relatively new in the CMP consumables market and are used in the most advanced transistor gate structures currently in production. We offer multiple products for each technology node to enable different integration schemes depending on specific customer needs. 4