NORTHFIELD, MN—November 28, 2000—Sheldahl, Inc. (Nasdaq: SHEL), one of the world’s leading manufacturers of high-density substrates for electronics use, today announced that a major international telecommunications equipment supplier has chosen Sheldahl’s ComClad High Frequency Laminate for use in the telco’s digital, wireless local-loop network solution. The application—a laminated flat antenna which is being built into both the network’s base stations and end-user transceivers—is just the latest example of how Sheldahl substrates are being used in the fast-moving and demanding telecom industry.

"For years Sheldahl has been a critical supplier to the automotive, data communications, and aerospace markets," said Greg Closser, VP/Interconnect and Materials at Sheldahl. "In the past year, however, we’ve been working with an increasing number of telcos who find our laminates and substrates to be valuable alternatives that lower unit costs in broadband and microwave subassemblies while providing adequate performance."

Sheldahl’s ComClad, a high frequency circuit material, employs a commercial plastic as the base dielectric, and has excellent electrical performance in microwave and RF applications. It is especially attractive with its Dk of 2.6, df of .0025, and its commodity pricing. ComClad can be formed, molded, bent, and even over insert-molded via conventional plastic injection processes.

In this new application, ComClad will be used as an 8.5" square, 0.020" thick antenna in a wireless local-loop end-user system. The base station antennas will be larger with a different configuration but will retain the use of 0.020" thick ComClad. This opportunity is well suited for Sheldahl as they not only provide the ComClad base material, but also provide the initial fabrication of the finished antenna circuits. With decades of high-volume fabrication experience on film based laminates, Sheldahl can assure customers a smooth and timely product launch with the opportunity to second-source fabrication as needed.

Sheldahl (www.sheldahl.com) has several interconnect and substrate materials which are finding new homes in telecommunications applications, including NovaFlexÒ HD flexible circuits, for use in cell phones and pagers, standard interconnect product in antennas, and ViaThinÔ substrates for semiconductor packaging. The company is a member of the International Wireless Packaging Consortium (www.iwpc.org), a U.S.-based trade organization whose mission is to reduce the packaging knowledge gap between wireless and RF OEMs and their suppliers.

Sheldahl, Inc. is a leading producer of high-density substrates, high-quality flexible printed circuitry, and flexible laminates primarily for sale to the automotive, electronics, and data communications markets. The company, which is headquartered in Northfield, Minnesota, has operations in Northfield; Longmont, Colorado; Detroit, Michigan; South Dakota; Toronto, Ontario, Canada; and Chihuahua, Chihuahua, Mexico. Its sales offices are located in Hong Kong, China; Singapore; U.K.; France, and Germany. Sheldahl’s common stock trades on the Nasdaq National Market tier of the Nasdaq Stock Market under the symbol: SHEL. For more information contact Sheldahl at 507/663-8000 or visit www.sheldahl.com.