Mentor Graphics YieldAssist Supports Automated,Server-based Use Model for Rapid Yield Learning

WILSONVILLE, Ore., October 23, 2006 – Mentor Graphics Corporation (Nasdaq: MENT) today announced that its YieldAssist™ tool now supports an automated, server-based use model for high volume diagnosis of wafer test failures. With the ability to quickly and accurately identify and isolate yield-limiting defects, the YieldAssist product represents a new era in the analysis of manufacturing failures, and enables a new source of yield learning. YieldAssist takes failure information directly from manufacturing scan test, and through advanced diagnostics, identifies failure causes.

With this new functionality, YieldAssist is now a fully automated diagnosis job server that monitors multiple directories for failure logs from Automatic Test Equipment (ATE) and manages the diagnosis runs and resources. The server dispatches jobs to machines running diagnosis, balancing the load for maximum throughput. Results are collected into a database for future analysis and reporting. The system is fault tolerant, restarting or removing diagnosis machines that have become unavailable, and marking the queue for easy stop and restart. Furthermore, volume diagnostics is architected in a way that ensures no loss in accuracy, whether processing one failing die or 10,000.

“With the improvements in the YieldAssist product, we have made it more efficient for users to get diagnosis results on large volumes of production test failures,” said Greg Aldrich, Director of Marketing, Design-for-Test product group, Mentor Graphics. “We are on the path to moving YieldAssist from a pure automated scan diagnosis solution to a powerful yield learning tool.”

About YieldAssist
YieldAssist allows users to quickly analyze devices that fail manufacturing test. It leverages production scan test patterns generated by the FastScan™ ATPG tool and the TestKompress® test pattern compression tool to rapidly and accurately identify and isolate yield-limiting defect areas. YieldAssist can be used during the manufacturing process or in the failure analysis lab, and is optimized to provide both accurate results and high throughput.

About Mentor Graphics
Mentor Graphics Corporation (Nasdaq: MENT) is a world leader in electronic hardware and software design solutions, providing products, consulting services and award-winning support for the world’s most successful electronics and semiconductor companies. Established in 1981, the company reported revenues over the last 12 months of over $725 million and employs approximately 4,050 people worldwide. Corporate headquarters are located at 8005 S.W. Boeckman Road, Wilsonville, Oregon 97070-7777. World Wide Web site: http://www.mentor.com/.

 

Mentor Graphics and TestKompress are registered trademarks; YieldAssist and FastScan are trademarks of Mentor Graphics Corporation. All other company or product names are the registered trademarks or trademarks of their respective owners.

For more information, please contact:
Carole Thurman
Mentor Graphics
503.685.4716
carole_thurman@mentor.com

Sonia Harrison
Mentor Graphics
503.685.1165
sonia_harrison@mentor.com