SANTA CLARA, California, September 14, 2004 - Stone Pillar Technologies Inc. today announced TestPlanManager, the newest product in its Silicon InsightTM family of products for developing semiconductor process technologies. TestPlanManager automates the creation of test routines for device characterization and provides capabilities for test library management.

Large technology development test chips require significant engineering effort in the implementation of test plans that are used to characterize dozens, or even hundreds, of devices present on a chip. Manually creating test plans for technology development test chips is a painstaking, error-prone, and labor-intensive task. By automating this process, TestPlanManager improves test plan readability, reduces errors, guarantees consistency between test plan documentation and executable, and reduces engineering effort by as much as 75%.

"Enabling engineers to automate and improve test plan management is the latest step in our development of a complete, integrated software system supporting technology development through manufacturing and yield management," said Lloyd Evans, founder and vice president of engineering for Stone Pillar. "By augmenting the capabilities of Silicon Insight with the TestPlanManager tool, we continue to reduce the amount of engineering effort it takes to develop a new semiconductor technology."

TestPlanManager automates the work of arcane test coding so that skilled engineers can focus on the creation of quality tests. Numerous aspects of test plan creation that would generally require direct inspection of source code -- such as test application, review, and variation -- are handled via TestPlanManager's graphical interface. Details about devices, test chips, test die, and wafer maps are all handled by interactive tools that store the complete test plan details in the structured Silicon Insight database.

The newest release of Silicon Insight, version 3.1, also includes enhanced capabilities in the ProcessFlowManager product, including support for a module utilization view that facilitates impact analysis for modifications to process modules that are used by multiple processes. For pricing or additional details, visit www.stonepillar.com or contact Stone Pillar Technologies at (408) 295-6487.

About Silicon Insight
Silicon Insight is a complete suite of products tailored to semiconductor process and device development. Silicon Insight products automate and optimize common tasks and dramatically improve engineering efficiency in semiconductor technology development. Products include intelligent, automated capabilities for design rule creation and documentation; test chip development, documentation, and revision; test plan creation; and complete data management and analysis for semiconductor technology development and monitoring.

Silicon Insight manages and interconnects data that characterize all aspects of a technology and make it easy to perform detailed analyses or generate reports that provide insight into improving performance or yield.

About Stone Pillar Technologies, Inc.
Stone Pillar Technologies, Inc. is the leading provider of complete data management systems for semiconductor process technology development. The company's Silicon Insight suite of products support technology development through manufacturing and yield improvement by pioneering new applications that reduce engineering time and cost, dramatically reduce errors, and create better documentation and traceability through all phases of technology development.

Stone Pillar products speed technology development from initial target setting, test chip generation, design rule creation, test plan creation, experiment setup, and data analysis through to process monitoring. The company's products enable engineers engaged in the integration, characterization, and testing of semiconductor processes to focus on drawing useful conclusions, rather than on the tedious and error-prone tasks of gathering and formatting data.

Stone Pillar software is in use by leading semiconductor vendors and at leading research institutions worldwide.

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