National Semiconductor Reduces Engineering Effort for Test Flow Creation by 90% with Stone Pillar TestPlanManager
SANTA CLARA, California, May 23, 2005 - Stone Pillar Technologies Inc. today announced that National Semiconductor Corporation (Nasdaq: NSM) has adopted Stone Pillar TestPlanManager to speed test plan creation for parametric test chips.
One of the most time consuming tasks in the development of a semiconductor technology is test flow creation. The process of applying dozens of tests to hundreds of devices and creating test programs consumes costly engineering time. In the event that there is a last minute change to the test chip being analyzed, the entire test plan can potentially require re-tooling.
Prior to the availability of Stone Pillar TestPlanManager, this process has been largely unsupported by software tools. TestPlanManager provides intelligent automated test flow creation as part of the complete semiconductor technology development support within Stone Pillar Suite™ including algorithm library management, procedure scaling, and GUI-based capabilities for applying tests to test chips with the click of a mouse.
“At National Semiconductor, we are constantly seeking new ways to improve the level of automation used in developing our leading edge analog and mixed signal processes. We have benefited tremendously from the use of Stone Pillar's TestPlanManager in automating our test flow creation," said Mark Poulter, electrical test manager for National Semiconductor's Advanced Process Technology Development Group.
“With the automated capabilities provided by TestPlanManager, we have reduced the engineering effort for the creation of test flows that previously took a week down to a half day, a savings of 90 percent. TestPlanManager speeds the development of test flows and reduces errors by automating many of the steps that previously had to be painstakingly implemented by hand. Skilled test engineers can now focus on real technological challenges rather than on the administrative tasks of manual data entry that do not add value for technology development.”
In addition to automating the time-consuming aspects of test flow creation, TestPlanManager provides the flexibility to target multiple test systems from the same test plan information. This provides users of TestPlanManager with the ability to switch between targeted test equipment with minimal effort, a process that otherwise would require a complete re-work of the test algorithms, procedures, and flows.
For additional details, visit www.stonepillar.com or contact Stone Pillar Technologies at (408) 295-6487.
About Stone Pillar
Stone Pillar Technologies, Inc. is the leading provider of data management systems for semiconductor process technology development. Stone Pillar Suite enables semiconductor manufacturing and design engineers to gain valuable insight into design-for-manufacturability issues from early-stage technology development through yield improvement.
Stone Pillar Suite products automate and optimize tasks such as test chip development, documentation, and revision; test plan creation; design rule creation and documentation; and complete data management, analysis, and report generation. By facilitating detailed data analyses, Stone Pillar Suite reduces engineering costs and capital expenses and speeds the development of new process technologies.
Stone Pillar Suite is in use by leading semiconductor makers and at leading research institutions worldwide.
