MENT Mentor Graphics Corp.

Agilent Technologies Inc. (NYSE:A) and Mentor Graphics Corp. (Nasdaq:MENT) today announced an integrated solution enabling high-volume diagnosis for logical and physical failure analysis in the semiconductor manufacturing test flow. The seamless integration between Agilent's industry-leading 93000 Pin Scale test system and the Mentor Graphics YieldAssist diagnostics software enables fast online data collection in high-volume manufacturing. Using this solution, manufacturers working at 90nm and below will now have integrated online diagnostic capabilities to shorten the time to production yield, with enhanced initial design debug, ongoing yield improvement, process control and quality assurance throughout the manufacturing process. Working with a mutual customer, a leading communications semiconductor manufacturer, Agilent and Mentor Graphics have demonstrated and validated the solution on the 93000 Pin Scale tester using the Mentor Graphics YieldAssist product. The unique test-processor-per-pin architecture of the 93000 Pin Scale system enables per-pin result and failure capture capabilities, allowing diagnostic data to be filtered for relevance and captured without an increase in test time. Agilent's powerful, high-throughput data log feature, available on current Agilent 93000 releases, combined with Mentor's YieldAssist software, delivers a solution that speeds the data collection and analysis process and enables diagnosis, yield monitoring and data mining directly from production test data. "As manufacturers go into volume production with 90nm designs and below, the initial yield ramp and the detection and isolation of design-specific systematic defects is a key challenge," said Robert Hum, vice president and general manager for the Design Verification and Test division at Mentor Graphics. "The open third-party interface of the 93000 Pin Scale system enabled smooth collaboration based on a standardized exchange format." "This seamless solution will enhance the critical yield diagnostics capabilities needed at 90nm and below," said Pascal Ronde, vice president of Agilent's Automated Test Group. "Our efforts with Mentor Graphics are part of our ongoing work to address our customers' need for greater integration between design and manufacturing." About Mentor Graphics Yield Assist(TM) The overall yield learning/monitoring strategy that YieldAssist facilitates addresses the three key areas needed for a complete solution; high quality test, effective defect isolation and rapid high-volume diagnosis. The high quality manufacturing tests created with the TestKompress(R) or FastScan(TM) automatic test program generation (ATPG) tools provide the foundation for improving defect detection and diagnosis. Using the failure data from manufacturing test, YieldAssist is able to isolate the cause of the failure and map it to defect suspects. A link to Mentor's Calibre(R) results viewing environment (RVE) allows users to view suspected defects in the physical design layout view to further isolate problems down to a physical feature. More information is available at www.mentor.com. About the Agilent 93000 The Agilent 93000 is the industry's fastest-growing scalable platform architecture for testing systems-on-chips (SOCs) and systems-in-packages (SIPs). With more than 1,000 installed systems worldwide, the Agilent 93000 is the system of choice for subcontract manufacturers, integrated device manufacturers and fabless companies. The Agilent 93000 meets the industry's demanding performance and cost challenges, whether at-speed device characterization or high-volume production. The test system provides massive multisite capabilities, enables data rates up to 10 Gb/s and supports a full range of digital, mixed-signal and RF applications. The flexibility and performance of the Agilent 93000 provide faster time-to-market, better yields and lower overall cost-of-test. More information on the Agilent 93000 is available at www.agilent.com/see/soctest. 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 about $700 million and employs approximately 3,950 people worldwide. Corporate headquarters are located at 8005 S.W. Boeckman Road, Wilsonville, Oregon 97070-7777. World Wide Web site: www.mentor.com. About Agilent Technologies Agilent Technologies Inc. (NYSE:A) is the world's premier measurement company and a technology leader in communications, electronics, life sciences and chemical analysis. The company's 28,000 employees serve customers in more than 110 countries. Agilent had net revenue of $7.2 billion in fiscal year 2004. Information about Agilent is available on the Web at www.agilent.com. NOTE TO EDITORS: Further technology, corporate citizenship and executive news is available on the Agilent news site at www.agilent.com/go/news.