EGsoft Partners With International SEMATECH, Intel, and Texas A&M University to Develop a Rapid Diagnosis and Yield Ramp Solution for Logic Products

Business Wire, Sept 9, 2002

Business Editors/High-Tech Writers

SAN JOSE, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Sept. 9, 2002

Funding from International SEMATECH and initial testing by Intel support Electroglas' EGsoft Division in its efforts to speed fault to

defect mapping for logic devices

EGsoft, a division of Electroglas, Inc. (Nasdaq: EGLS), a leading supplier of process management tools for the semiconductor industry, today announced that it has developed a software solution that will expedite semiconductor manufacturers' ability to locate the physical origins of electrical faults in random-logic integrated circuit designs, in partnership with International SEMATECH, Intel, and Texas A&M University. The ultimate goal of the project, which was funded by International SEMATECH, the international consortium of semiconductor manufacturers, was to enable chipmakers to significantly reduce time-to-market for new product designs and improve yields.

The results of initial testing and certification performed by Intel in its Santa Clara, California, facility, showed a significant reduction in the time required to identify the physical cause of electrical failures, eliminating days of effort during yield excursions and weeks of effort during a ramp schedule.

"This project is essentially bringing the ability to efficiently find the root cause of failures in the non-memory area of the chip to enhance our manufacturing efficiency," said Kambiz Komeyli, simulation and failure analysis group leader at Intel. "From our experience these developments easily integrate with the products and processes semiconductor companies are currently using for failure characterization."

According to Fred Lakhani, the project manager and senior member of technical staff for the yield management group at International SEMATECH, "Fault to defect mapping on logic products has been considered a significant need by the International SEMATECH member companies for some time now. The fault localization research conducted by professor Hank Walker of Texas A&M University along with EGsoft's emphasis on fault to defect mapping capabilities, were combined to develop a solution that addresses those needs. The functionality of this solution has been tested for feasibility at Texas Instruments, Dallas and more recently beta tested at Intel, Santa Clara."

Ankush Oberai, vice president of customer operations for EGsoft, concluded, "The addition of this type of functionality to our existing suite of design-for-manufacturing toolset will enable chipmakers to correlate test, defect, and schematic data in order to trace electrical failure to a physical defect. We see this as an effective and cost-efficient way to bring design and manufacturing closer together to improve ramp and yields, and look forward to commercializing a product based on these developments that will do just that."

About EGsoft

EGsoft, the collaborative process management software division of Electroglas, provides a broad and encompassing portfolio of infrastructure products and application solutions, from design through test. EGsoft spans the manufacturing domain from interface to the EDA environment with our market leading design for manufacturing solutions, to our yield management system solutions in the fab, to our extensive suite of test floor solutions. EGsoft has operations in San Jose, California; Corvallis, Oregon; and Mumbai, India.

About Electroglas, Inc.

Electroglas delivers essential tools for process management to enhance the profitability of semiconductor manufacturers. The company's wafer probers, inspection systems and software solutions serve as data collection, management and analysis tools that semiconductor manufacturers depend upon to improve their productivity and process control by optimizing sort floor efficiency. Electroglas has been a leading supplier of wafer probers for over 40 years and has an installed base of more than 15,000 systems. The company's stock trades on the Nasdaq National Market under the symbol "EGLS." The company's Web site is located at www.electroglas.com.