Speed up the collection and analysis of test data

Paul Boughton
Qualtera has unveiled Silicondash, an automated Decision Support System (DSS) for semiconductor test data analysis. Silicondash provides a complete solution to rapidly identify, analyse, and react to test, quality and yield issues. Compared to existing approaches Silicondash brings an exceptional improvement in engineering productivity. Silicondash is currently used in high-volume beta trials with major European semiconductor IDMs and is available now.

Qualtera has developed Silicondash as a solution for fabless companies, IDMs, foundries and test houses that need more relevant and timely information from the semiconductor manufacturing chain. This analytical data is then used to rapidly improve test efficiency, yield and quality.

Currently engineers need to compile test data from multiple sources and then add their own analysis, a process than can take hours or even days. By using Silicondash the analysis and reporting processes are to a large extent automated and can be completed in minutes. Very detailed statistical root cause analysis, as well as high-level aggregated summary reports are accessible in just a couple of clicks.[Page Break]

Designed to handle all types of test data regardless of product type, data source or volume, Silicondash provides a real-time, detailed overview of the entire manufactured volume, making it extremely easy to identify, analyse and act on quality or yield issues in manufacturing and test processes.

Implemented as a cloud-hosted service, Silicondash does not require software to be installed locally and allows engineers in multiple locations to securely access and share data in real-time, providing full transparency in the semiconductor manufacturing and test processes.[Page Break]

“To collect and extensively analyse manufacturing and test data can require days or even weeks from an entire team, slowing down decision processes and adding cost,” said Paul Simon, VP marketing and operations, and co-founder of Qualtera. “From our team’s background in semiconductor manufacturing, we could see that a different, more efficient, approach was needed; one that speeds up the process, simplifies the analysis, and reveals abnormalities instantly. Silicondash does this and more, by letting people in multiple locations access both the raw data and the statistical analysis results in real-time. Being cloud-based, it’s also much more cost-effective than existing solutions and only requires web access. By using Silicondash, our customers speed up their problem detection and improvement processes and thereby save significant time and money.”

Silicondash is designed for jobs of all sizes: From just a few wafers up to analysing test data for high volume chip manufacturing. To ensure users of Silicondash have easy access to the progress, daily, weekly or quarterly overview reports are generated and updated on a real time basis, providing easy drill-down features and custom feedback alerts set up for early problem detection.

For more information, visit www.qualtera.com