SiGlaz Announces the Release of SiGlaz Defect Navigator

Inotera Accepts SiGlaz Intelligent Defect Analysis Software

Winbond Accepts SiGlaz Intelligent Defect Analysis Software

SiGlaz Integrates Spatial Signature Analysis software with MES

SiGlaz recognized by Microsoft as a Certified Partner

SiGlaz IDA Software Release 8.4 improves accuracy and ease-of-use

SiGlaz’s Intelligent Defect Analysis for Spatial Signature Analysis Adopted by UMC

SiGlaz Signs Rep Agreement with Scientech

SiGlaz offers a low-cost application for analysis of wafer defect data; the software targets companies with low-to-medium production volumes

SANTA CLARA, CA, July 23, 2010 – SiGlaz, a leading provider of spatial signature analysis software to the semiconductor and hard disk drive industry, announced the release of a new software product that meets the defect and yield analysis needs of semiconductor fabs with low-to-medium production volumes. SiGlaz Defect Navigator, Professional Edition (SDN – P), provides the yield engineer with a range of functions to review and display standard data files generated by inline inspection and review systems.

In targeting the data analysis needs of smaller companies, John Poreda, SiGlaz Vice President of Sales and Marketing, said “Many companies have been relying upon in-house software tools with limited functionality to manage and analyze their inspection data. SDN now gives these companies an economical way to upgrade their data management and analysis capability.”

SiGlaz Defect Navigator operates on a Windows-based PC (Windows XP or Windows 7), using .NET Framework 3.5. It contains an internal SQL ExpressTM database that allows the user to store up to 4 GBytes of defect inspection data. The software will continuously monitor a designated folder for incoming data files and automatically load the new files to the database. The user may query the database by multiple attributes from the inspection file (e.g., Lot ID, Device ID and Step ID) to create a data set.

SDN allows the user to configure the user interface to optimally view the data output. The user may simultaneously display multiple windows containing a stacked wafer map, a histogram, a thumbnail wafer gallery, a defect list or other important information. Stacked wafer map analysis provides a wafer map display containing all defects in the selected data set. The defects are color coded by various user-defined attributes and synchronized with the histogram. SDN drill down and drill across analysis functions allow the user to graphically select any bar on the histogram and create a new chart comprised of only the selected data. Defect Adder Analysis (DAA) allows the user to analyze and display how successive processing steps add or remove defects from the data set.

Poreda also noted that SiGlaz plans to continue to expand the functionality of SDN, adding optional plug-in modules; for example a scratch analyzer, a zonal analyzer and a repeater analyzer. He also noted that SDN could be customized to add work-in-process data (e.g., equipment process chamber) to the wafer record in the database so that the root cause process issues could be identified more easily.

At Inotera, IDA is playing a key role in process optimization and yield improvement. With the Defect Signature Analyzer application, Inotera engineers can develop custom signature libraries, as well as analysis and reporting recipes that will characterize a targeted production process step. As changes are made to the process, IDA will automatically monitor the results and precisely identify the number of occurrences of each signature type. As the process is improved, the number of signatures occurrences decreases.

Inotera has found that the flexibility of IDA to create new signature types is a major advantage over other SSA products. According to Daniel Chen, Department Manager of the Inotera Defect Team, ¡°We are very happy with the ease with which we can create new signatures. The speed and accuracy of IDA signature recognition is very high so it makes the defect engineer much more productive, and allows us to optimize the process more quickly.¡± IDA is configured to communicate directly with Inotera¡¯s MES System.

SiGlaz IDA software automatically classifies defects associated with a spatial signature. When the performance of the software is compared to a human expert, the average performance of classification has been above 90%.

Victor Luu, SiGlaz President and CEO said, ¡°We are very pleased to have an opportunity to work with Inotera to incorporate our SSA during the process optimization phase of the yield ramp. It allows us to experience a wide range of permutations for each signature type so that the signature libraries can be optimized, as well as the process. When the process is transferred to production, the signature libraries will be very well established and very accurate. When a defect signature is recognized, IDA will point the customer directly to the root cause.¡±

About SiGlaz

SiGlaz is a privately held corporation that provides manufacturers of ICs, flat panel displays and other high precision products with intelligent software to increase productivity and yield. SiGlaz provides advanced image processing products and spatial signature analysis (SSA) software products that automatically analyze the large volumes of data that generated by inspection and metrology tools to determine the root cause of manufacturing problems in seconds.

About Inotera

Inotera Memories, Inc. was incorporated on January 23rd, 2003. Inotera is a joint venture between Qimonda AG and Nanya Technology Corporation. Inotera's production facilities have been designed to manufacture high-density and high-performance commodity DRAM ¨Dynamic Random Access Memory products using state-of-the-art trench technology. The combination of Qimonda's (the former Memory Products Group of Infineon Technologies) world leading technology and Nanya's cost-efficiency in mass production has resulted in an innovative company that is highly productive, highly competitive and at the leading edge in the DRAM industry.

SANTA CLARA, Calif. – March 26, 2008 – SiGlaz, a world leader in defect spatial signature analysis (SSA) software, today announced that its initial installation of Intelligent Defect Analysis (IDA) Enterprise Edition has been accepted by Winbond Electronics Corporation, a leading semiconductor manufacturer based in Taiwan. IDA software automatically analyzes the spatial distribution of defects on the wafer, using its patented algorithms, and notifies the user when it recognizes a signature. Defect spatial signatures may result from process excursions or from failures in process equipment.

IDA Enterprise Edition, which operates on a Microsoft Windows-based server with .NET framework and web service architecture, is compatible with all leading database software, including Microsoft SQL Server. It provides a fab-wide repository for signature analysis results and the ability to access those results in real time and from remote locations. A new IDA module, called Real Time Process Monitor, allows the user to run concurrent process control rules and generate alarms, refreshing the data hourly, daily or weekly. Another new module, called IDA Navigator, provides trend analysis capability and ad hoc queries of analysis results, and it allows the user to build, set and save process control rules and alarms.

“The Enterprise Edition of IDA provides a major benefit to our fab, in terms of analyzing large volumes of production defect data,” according to a Winbond spokesperson. “Not only does IDA notify the engineer when it identifies a defect signature, the engineer can quickly access the IDA database from any location and view all of the data in the affected lots. In addition, IDA Auto-Learn capability and Layer Repeater Analysis enable us to identify new signatures that were not previously trained into the signature library.”

SiGlaz IDA software automatically classifies defects associated with a spatial signature. When the performance of the software is compared to a human expert, the average performance of classification has been above 90%.

Victor Luu, SiGlaz President and CEO said, “We are very excited about our new software platform. IDA Enterprise Edition provides an upgrade path for our users to expand the utility and application of SSA in the fab. This new platform will be the foundation for other new SiGlaz products in the development pipeline that will soon allow users to correlate defect signatures with electrical test results, and then with other metrology data.”

About SiGlaz

SiGlaz is a privately held corporation that provides manufacturers of ICs, flat panel displays and other high precision products with intelligent software to increase productivity and yield. SiGlaz provides advanced image processing products and spatial signature analysis (SSA) software products that automatically analyze the large volumes of data that generated by inspection and metrology tools to determine the root cause of manufacturing problems in seconds.

About Winbond

Winbond Electronics Corp. was founded in 1987 in Hsinchu Science Park, Taiwan. The company owns the capabilities of both IC design and manufacturing and provides entire solutions to the customers. Winbond focuses on the development of four main product lines, including µC & µC-based Consumer IC, Computer Logic IC, Mobile RAM, and Flash Memory, and it has built a solid foundation and a strong reputation in the semiconductor industry.

Winbond has over 4,000 employees worldwide and operates one 150mm wafer fab and one 300mm wafer fab. Winbond owns more than 2,500 patents worldwide and has subsidiaries in the USA, China, Israel, and Japan. For more information, please visit: http://www.winbond.com

Santa Clara, CA (August 24, 2007) – SiGlaz, a leading provider of spatial signature analysis software to the semiconductor industry, announced today that it has integrated its Intelligent Defect Analysis (IDA) with the Manufacturing Execution System (MES) at the Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corporation (SMIC) in Shanghai.

SiGlaz IDA software automatically classifies defects associated with a known spatial signature. When the performance of the software is compared to a human expert, the average performance of classification at SMIC has been above 90%.

“We appreciate the confidence that SMIC has shown in SiGlaz software. Whenever a customer allows an automated analysis tool to make production decisions, it’s a strong indicator of the confidence he has in the accuracy of the analysis,” said Victor Luu, President of SiGlaz. “It also shows that the SiGlaz software can be integrated with disparate environments. In this case, the customer is using software from BEA Systems.”

After a defect analysis recipe has been optimized, SMIC deploys the recipe to run in continuous monitoring mode within the Fab in a 24 by 7 mode. The recipe automatically connects to MES and sends it messages when a yield loss situation is encountered.

According to a spokesperson for SMIC, “We initially selected SiGlaz IDA software because of its accuracy and flexibility. The performance results to date and the ability to integrate it with MES confirm that we made a good decision.”

SMIC has been successful in implementing SiGlaz spatial signature analysis software to automatically identify and classify of defect signatures on semiconductor wafers in a manufacturing environment. SiGlaz’ IDA has been running continuously and processing thousands of wafer maps per day for three manufacturing fabs in the Shanghai area. All maps are processed within the prescribed two minutes to hold a lot.

About SiGlaz

SiGlaz is a privately held corporation that provides manufacturers of ICs, flat panel displays and other high precision products with intelligent software to increase productivity and yield. SiGlaz provides advanced image processing products and spatial signature analysis (SSA) software products that automatically analyze the large volumes of data that generated by inspection and metrology tools to determine the root cause of manufacturing problems in seconds.

Santa Clara, CA (August 22, 2007) – SiGlaz, a leading provider of spatial signature analysis software to the semiconductor industry, announced today that it has been accepted by the Microsoft Partner Program as a Certified Partner. This level of certification recognizes SiGlaz technical competence in key areas of software development and system integration, including database management, business intelligence, and business process and integration solutions. The Microsoft Partner program awards points to its development partners, based in large part upon the results obtained in survey taken by the partner’s customers.

“We are very pleased to be recognized as a Microsoft Certified Partner,” said Victor Luu, President of SiGlaz. “It provides a level of technical credibility when a small company like SiGlaz can achieve this type of recognition, especially when it is based upon feedback from its customers.”

SiGlaz’ Intelligent Defect Analysis (IDA) software, which is based on Microsoft .NET framework, can be easily integrated into the fab’s information system that handles defect inspection results. The IDA software automatically acquires inspection results files from the production database and notifies fab personnel when it identifies a defect spatial signature. IDA analysis results are stored into a data base and available for report generation or trend analysis. SiGlaz has also worked with customers to customize solutions to integrate IDA to the customer’s MES software and to report analysis results on a web portal.

In addition, the company has recently started marketing software engineering services to semiconductor equipment companies on an outsourcing basis and believes that achieving Microsoft Certified Partner status will significantly help it to increase revenues in this area. SiGlaz specializes in image processing and automated data analysis.

About SiGlaz

SiGlaz is a privately held corporation that provides manufacturers of ICs, flat panel displays and other high precision products with intelligent software to increase productivity and yield. SiGlaz provides advanced image processing products and spatial signature analysis (SSA) software products that automatically analyze the large volumes of data that generated by inspection and metrology tools to determine the root cause of manufacturing problems in seconds.

Advanced Signature Analyzer feature provides significant improvements in object recognition.

SANTA CLARA, CA, March 02, 2007 - SiGlaz, a leading provider of spatial signature analysis software to the semiconductor industry, announced the release of version 8.4 of its Intelligent Defect Analysis (IDA) software. SiGlaz IDA software provides a number of signature recognition methodologies that can be customized and optimized for a particular signature and inspection step. The latest release of the software includes an Advanced Signature Analyzer function that builds on the previous IDA object analyzer, adding new functionality to improve both accuracy and ease-of-use.

"Customers who have evaluated the IDA Advanced Signature Analyzer have found immediate applications for the new functions," said John Poreda, SiGlaz Vice President of Sales and Marketing. "The new software features, like Robust Line Function, Super Objects and Pattern Matching, significantly extend the flexibility of the object analyzer. The new step-by-step user interface, which includes a "Preview" button, makes it much easier for the user to generate the rules for the signature library."

IDA software defines an object as a group of defects that lie within a defined spatial proximity. Each object may be characterized by attributes that describe its size, shape, orientation and location. An object signature is an object whose attributes match a set of rules defined by the user. When the defect signature is characterized by a distinctive shape, it is usually well-suited for object signature analysis. A white paper describing the SiGlaz Advanced Signature Analyzer may be downloaded from the SiGlaz web site.

IDA provides several algorithms for recognizing spatial signatures, including pattern matching, zonal analysis, repeater analysis and object analysis. The Advanced Signature Analyzer may be used in conjunction with other these IDA recognition algorithms to provide very high levels of accuracy and purity.

About SiGlaz

SiGlaz is a privately held corporation that provides manufacturers of ICs, flat panel displays and other high precision products with intelligent software to increase productivity and yield. SiGlaz provides advanced image processing products and spatial signature analysis (SSA) software products that automatically analyze the large volumes of data that generated by inspection and metrology tools to determine the root cause of manufacturing problems in seconds.

Ease of deployment and improved yield noted as key benefits

SANTA CLARA, Calif. – June 26, 2006 – SiGlaz, a world leader in defect spatial signature analysis (SSA) software, today announced that its Intelligent Defect Analysis (IDA) software to improve defect learning and root cause analysis has been deployed by UMC (NYSE: UMC, TSE: 2303), a leading global semiconductor foundry.

Defect spatial signatures may result from process excursions or from failures in process equipment. The large volumes of inspection data generated by advanced semiconductor fabs make it virtually impossible to manually review all of the data in an efficient manner. SiGlaz IDA software automatically analyzes the spatial distribution of defects on the wafer and notifies the user when it recognizes a signature. Early identification of a process excursion can translate to yield improvement and cost reduction.

“The SiGlaz IDA software has integrated easily into our production environment and is proving to be a useful tool,” said Mr. Sean Lee, Manager for UMC Fab 8D. “As SiGlaz’s software is designed to notify engineering personnel shortly after a problem occurs, IDA can reduce the time required to address any potential issues and in turn help increase productivity and yield.”

SiGlaz IDA software may be used to identify many types of spatial signatures, such as scratches (curved or linear), rings and blobs on single wafers. Multiple wafers levels may be stacked to enhance faint signatures; multiple levels may also be analyzed for layer-to-layer repeaters.

"UMC provides a unique environment for identifying signatures because of the large number of device types and great varieties of processes that flow through their facility,” said SiGlaz President Victor Luu. “We have worked closely with them to qualify our software tools for use in production. We’re very pleased with the role our product plays in UMC’s yield optimization strategy, and for their vote of confidence to deploy our product.”

Note From UMC Concerning Forward-Looking Statements

Some of the statements in the foregoing announcement are forward looking within the meaning of the U.S. Federal Securities laws, including statements about future outsourcing, wafer capacity, technologies, business relationships and market conditions. Investors are cautioned that actual events and results could differ materially from these statements as a result of a variety of factors, including conditions in the overall semiconductor market and economy; acceptance and demand for products from UMC; and technological and development risks.

About SiGlaz

SiGlaz is a privately held corporation that provides manufacturers of ICs, flat panel displays and other high precision products with intelligent software to increase productivity and yield. SiGlaz provides advanced image processing products and spatial signature analysis (SSA) software products that automatically analyze the large volumes of data that generated by inspection and metrology tools to determine the root cause of manufacturing problems in seconds.

About UMC

UMC (NYSE: UMC, TSE: 2303) is a leading global semiconductor foundry that manufactures advanced process ICs for applications spanning every major sector of the semiconductor industry. UMC delivers cutting-edge foundry technologies that enable sophisticated system-on-chip (SoC) designs, including volume production 90nm, industry-leading 65nm, and mixed signal/RFCMOS. UMC’s 10 wafer manufacturing facilities include two advanced 300mm fabs; Fab 12A in Taiwan and Singapore-based Fab 12i are both in volume production for a variety of customer products. The company employs approximately 12,000 people worldwide and has offices in Taiwan, Japan, Singapore, Europe, and the United States. UMC can be found on the web at http://www.umc.com.