WOODBURY, N.Y. -- Veeco Instruments Inc. (Nasdaq: VECO), a leading supplier of instrumentation to the nanoscience community, announced today that it will host the International Conference on Nanoscience and Technology (ICN&T), to be held in Basel, Switzerland on July 30-Aug 4. The conference will commemorate the invention and development of scanning probe microscopy (SPM) -- 25 years of scanning tunneling microscopy (STM) and 20 years of atomic force microscopy (AFM) and related techniques -- and their impact on sciences.

According to Professor Dr. Christoph Gerber, Director of Scientific Communication, National Center of Competence for Nanoscience, Institute of Physics University of Basel, "We believe that this conference will have significant impact not only on the scientific community, but also with far-reaching new developments to follow in emerging technologies. In addition, the conference is focused on the expansion of nanoscience in general and its potential to unleash future technologies. It is quite fitting that Veeco, the world's leading supplier of atomic and scanning probe microscopes and the developer and inventor of so many important AFM advances, will be a significant sponsor of this event."

Heinrich Rohrer and Gerd Binnig, winners of the Nobel Prize for Physics for the invention of STM technology, are an important part of the conference's scientific/technical committee. Over 100 scientific speakers are scheduled to present and conference organizers currently expect up to 1,000 participants. Further information on the conference is available at www.icnt2006.ch.

Don Kania, Ph.D., Veeco's President and Chief Operating Officer, commented, "AFMs are essential tools for nanoscience in all fields of research -- materials, molecular electronics, quantum computing, biology and more. Veeco, as the world's largest supplier of AFMs with a long track record of commercial innovation, is excited to support ICN&T, which will give the scientific community a view to these advances on a worldwide basis."

About Veeco

Veeco Instruments Inc. provides solutions for nanoscale applications in the worldwide semiconductor, data storage, HB-LED/wireless and scientific research markets. Our Metrology products are used to measure at the nanoscale and our Process Equipment tools help create nanoscale devices. Veeco's manufacturing and engineering facilities are located in New York, New Jersey, California, Colorado, Arizona and Minnesota. Global sales and service offices are located throughout the United States, Europe, Japan and Asia Pacific. Additional information on Veeco can be found at http://www.veeco.com/.