(Agilent Technologies Inc.: Santa Clara, California) --Agilent Technologies Inc. and Multiprobe Inc. will expand the their strategic partnership. As a result, Multiprobe’s Multiscan Atomic Force Prober (AFP), the world’s highest-resolution nanoprober, will be sold and supported by Agilent to customers in Asia and Japan.

The Multiscan AFP allows users to quickly and repeatedly probe and characterize the electrical parameters of transistors and other structures at 65nm and below. The Multiscan AFP uses multiple, specialized atomic force microscope heads to locate a failing transistor and contact extremely close-spaced terminals. Its software allows the user to place probes easily, making previously expensive, time-consuming measurements routine. This also saves time and greatly facilitates the debug process.

“At 65nm and below, semiconductor manufacturers face tremendous challenges in failure analysis, including the probing of extremely small line widths and the measurement of very small voltages and currents,” says Minoru Ebihara, vice president and general manager of Agilent Hachioji Semiconductor Test Division. “By expanding our relationship with Multiprobe, we are now planning to offer our customers in Asia access to a comprehensive solution available for nanoscale probing for failure analysis.”

For more information, visit www.agilent.com/about/newsroom/presrel/2007/03dec-em07177.html