BusinessWire -- July 12, 2006

Emerging leaders in DFM technologies cooperate in yield-driven routing

Pyxis Technology and Ponte Solutions today announced an alliance to bridge the gap between design and manufacturing by bringing together the design for manufacturability (DFM) routing technology from Pyxis and yield sensitivity analysis from Ponte. This alliance will provide a streamlined physical design flow with yield incorporated into the routing phase. Users of Ponte can bring its deep analysis of yield killers into the Pyxis routing environment for fixing critical yield issues while maintaining design closure with respect to other design goals such as area, timing and power.

"Yield sensitivity can make designs at 65 nanometers and below prohibitive. Designers need a way to both analyze as well as optimize full-chip integrated circuit designs. This alliance provides a solid foundation for a new paradigm in yield-driven design methodology for sub-100nanometer designs," said Nitin Deo, senior vice president of marketing for Ponte Solutions.

Ponte’s technology identifies both random and systematic yield issues as hot spots for full-chip integrated circuit (IC) design layouts. The intensity of a hot spot varies depending on physical design pattern. The Pyxis router can view the yield hot spots and correct the layout, accounting for timing and yield.

"Yield and manufacturability issues now permeate all layers of sub-100 nanometer designs. A new DFM solution is required that analyzes and fixes full-chip IC designs at the interconnect level. Pyxis’ architecture is uniquely suited to take advantage of the analysis that Ponte provides. Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company Ltd. (TSMC) has certified Ponte’s software models, which it makes it very attractive for us to work with them on developing a true DFM solution," said Naeem Zafar, president and CEO of Pyxis Technology.

Pyxis will be demonstrating its technology at booth 2323 at the 43rd Design Automation Conference (DAC 2006) at San Francisco’s Moscone Center from July 24 through 27, 2006. Ponte will be exhibiting at DAC in booth 2204.

CEOs from both companies also will be Ponte and Pyxis page 1 of 2 participating in a panel discussion on return on investment from new DFM techniques on Thursday, July 27th from 4:30 to 6:00pm.

About Ponte Solutions
Ponte Solutions, Inc., the design-for-yield company, manufactures and delivers unique, full-chip, model-based software products for semiconductor yield analysis and prediction, enabling designers to perform design-stage yield optimization. Ponte’s customers include leading semiconductor manufacturers, foundries and design houses worldwide. Founded in 2002, the company has received funding from US Venture Partners, Incubic LLC, Silicon Ventures LLC and private individuals. The company has offices in Mountain View, California; Grenoble, France; Tokyo, Japan; and Yerevan, Armenia. More information about the companycan be found at www.pontesolutions.com.