Advanced Micro Devices Inc (AMD)

[spokeshave]

Elmer: Re: While Barton may be a new version of the design, the defect density doesn't know what product is being produced on a wafer so for a mature process the yield is more a function of the process, not the design.

Somehow this statement does not at all jibe with your claims to be a process expert. I am far from a process expert myself, but I do know how remarkably wrong this statement is. There are a large number of defect types that are directly related to the design. There are current-layer and previous-layer defects that depend on the number of layers. There are bridging and open defects, coloring and staining defects, as well as missing pattern and extra pattern defects that are directly a result of lithography and depend on mask and lithography technique. There are literally dozens of defect types that are directly related to design or deployment of a new design. You seem to think that defects are only the result of intrinsic wafer defect, and that is patently incorrect.