SANTA CLARA, Calif.--Applied Materials Inc. here and PDF Solutions Inc. in San Jose today announced a partnership to combine wafer inspection systems with process/design characterization methodologies for a "comprehensive approach" to yield improvements in chip manufacturing.

The new yield enhancement program uses inspections systems from Applied Materials and process-design characterization techniques from PDF Solutions to improve a chip manufacturer's ability to locate random and systematic problems in products, including electrical defects.

"As chip makers move toward the nanometer chip era, they are experiencing increased yield loss due to design and electrical issues that often can't be detected by inspection systems alone," said Russell Ellwanger, vice president and general manager of the Factory Productivity Solutions Business Group at Applied Materials. He said the new collaboration between the two companies takes advantage of Applied's broad capabilities in chip fabrication and process diagnostics and PDF Solutions' know-how in process characterization and yield analysis.

The yield improvement program starts with customers qualifying and characterizing production processes and devices. The program uses Applied Materials' patterned wafer inspection tools, automatic defect review and classification systems, and defect source identification software. PDF Solutions' CV test chips are tailored for a customer's processes and optimized with Applied's systems for maximum sensitivity and efficiency, according to the two companies.

"Previously, it has been difficult for manufacturers to evaluate yield loss resulting from the interaction of chip design and process until the product was in production," said John Kibarian, president and CEO of PDF Solutions in San Jose. "Working together, PDF Solutions and Applied Materials can more quickly isolate the root causes before production and validate that subsequent changes will result in a more robust process window."

Applied Materials said it is also working with PDF Solutions to fully characterize several of its multiple-system process modules. The goal is to provide equipment customers with yield-related electrical data for finished wafers from a process module, Applied said.