Electroglas Adds Q-YIELD Module to its Knights Technology Product Line; New data mining software for YieldManager accelerates problem solving

Business Wire, Oct 14, 1997

SANTA CLARA, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Oct. 14, 1997-- Electroglas, Inc. (NASDAQ:EGLS), a market-leading supplier of expert wafer probing, information management and software-based manufacturing and yield enhancement products to the global semiconductor industry, today announced it has added Q-YIELD(TM), the industry's only stand-alone data mining software module, to Knights Technology's comprehensive line of proactive yield management software solutions. Electroglas reports the Q-YIELD module, exclusive to Knights, will add unparalleled data mining capabilities to its YieldManager(R).

Integrating directly with Knights' YieldManager software through structured query language (SQL), Q-YIELD uses intelligent searching algorithms to discover complex correlations that link critical process yield information -- upstream measurements to downstream tests. Ankush Oberai, Knights' vice president of sales and marketing, said, "Q-YIELD provides yield engineers with previously uncorrelated relational process data. Detecting these relationships earlier and faster helps to accelerate process problem solving, thereby driving up yields and profits."

Q-YIELD works with YieldManager by performing a fast heuristic search on a given specification of a set of records for an expression. Using basic statistical tests and thresholds, the module is able to reject terms in an expression that are not statistically significant and expressions or rules that do not describe the given target set. This helps yield engineers determine which process variables are influencing yield, whether a complex parametric interaction is negatively impacting sort yields and other factors that are affecting yield. Shawn Smith, Knights' product manager, explained, "For example, in a data set with significant lot-to-lot variation in sort yields, the module can search through equipment variables, dates and times to determine what specifically makes high-yield lots different from low-yield lots."

Q-YIELD's proactive method of helping engineers identify critical variables which affect yield-enabling quicker and more thorough decisions relating to yield management -- is provided through the following capabilities: -0-

-- Finds complex relationships to both non-linear and interaction

effects

-- Handles large data files with no limitations on file size

-- Analyzes hundreds of variables in minutes on a PC

-- Provides non-parametric analysis and makes no data

distribution assumptions

-- Works with all data types (numeric, non-numeric and date

variables)

-- Works with noisy, non-normal data, even under missing value

and outline formats

Q-YIELD's powerful and focused data mining capability enhances Knights' software toolset for yield improvement, problem solving, hypotheses verification, process variable understanding and resource data utilization.

Knights will be displaying Q-YIELD at its booth, No. 1914, at the SEMICON/Southwest exposition and conference, October 14-15, at the Austin Convention Center in Austin, Texas.

About Knights: Knights Technology offers software solutions for semiconductor manufacturing, including yield enhancement, CAD navigation and failure analysis. Leveraging its industry experience with Merlin's Framework(TM) -- the recognized industry standard in CAD navigation for IC design, failure analysis, defect review and prototype debugging -- Knights has become an industry leader in yield enhancement solutions for IC manufacturing. Its YieldManager(R) yield enhancement software integrates data from process, inspection, test and metrology equipment and provides sophisticated, graphical analysis tools to convert the data into useful information for yield-related decision making. YieldManager software has been purchased by top fabs worldwide. Knights' homepage on the World Wide Web is located at http://www.knights.com .

About Electroglas: Founded in 1960, Electroglas, Inc. is a world-leading supplier of the expert wafer-probing products and information management products that semiconductor manufacturers rely on to sort and classify integrated circuits. The company's products position semiconductor devices that are still in wafer form under contact probes to facilitate accurate, rapid, reliable testing, and manage information collected during the testing process. In May 1997, Electroglas acquired Knights Technology Inc. Knights Technology is now a wholly owned subsidiary of Electroglas. Electroglas' common stock is traded on the Nasdaq National Market under the trading symbol EGLS. Electroglas' home page on the World Wide Web is located at http://www.electroglas.com . -0-

Note to Editors: Q-YIELD is a registered trademark of Quadrillion Corp.

CONTACT: Electroglas, Inc.

Maria Apodaca or Yolanda Ruiz, 408/727-6500

or

MCA Inc.

Vincent Mayeda, 650/968-8900