Credence Appoints Pat Brady as Senior Vice President, Engineering

MILPITAS, Calif., April 19 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Credence Systems Corporation a leading provider of test solutions from design to production for the worldwide semiconductor industry, today announced the appointment of Patrick J. Brady to senior vice president, engineering. Brady will lead Credence's worldwide engineering organization, with implementation responsibility for all product lines. A 24-year veteran of the semiconductor and capital equipment industry, Brady will report to Lavi Lev, president and chief executive officer of Credence.

"Pat is a natural leader with a deep understanding of the semiconductor capital equipment technology and business," said Lev. "His distinguished leadership track record in building strong engineering teams and introducing multiple successful products to market, while meeting stringent delivery and quality requirements, makes him a natural fit for this role. In today's consumer-driven market, our customers are faced with the challenge of meeting increasingly shorter time to market and reduced cost pressures, without compromising product performance, quality, and reliability. As a result, we have to increase our focus on meeting our customers' specific requirements to enable their business success. I look forward to Pat's contributions as a key member of the Credence management team."

Previously, Brady was vice president and general manager of the Array Test Division at Photon Dynamics. Prior to that Brady was at KLA-Tencor for over six years. There, as vice president and general manager of several business units, he was instrumental in gaining successful market acceptance of many new products. Brady's distinguished career also spans senior management positions at Watkins-Johnson and ETEC. Brady holds a PhD in computer science from the University of Oklahoma and an MBA from St. Mary's College, California.

Credence also announced the grant of an employment inducement stock option award to Brady on April 16, 2007. Brady may purchase up to 200,000 shares of the Company's common stock at an exercise price of $3.47 per share pursuant to an inducement stock option. The shares subject to the stock option vest over a four-year period.

About Credence

Credence Systems Corporation is a leading provider of debug, characterization and ATE solutions for the global semiconductor industry. With a commitment to applying innovative technology to lower the cost-of-test, Credence delivers competitive cost and performance advantages to integrated device manufacturers (IDMs), wafer foundries, outsource assembly and test (OSAT) suppliers and fabless chip companies worldwide. A global, ISO 9001- certified company, Credence is headquartered in Milpitas, California. More information is available at http://www.credence.com/.

Company Contact: Uma Subramaniam Sr. Director, Corporate Communications Credence Systems Corporation Phone: [phone] Fax: [phone] E-mail: [e-mail]