September 11, 2003 – Applied Materials, Santa Clara, CA, and Agilent Technologies, Palo Alto, CA, have developed new benchmarks for testing copper and low-k materials used in advanced interconnects, a process that normally takes place after packaging. The project was conducted at Applied’s Maydan Technology Center using Agilent’s Parallel Parametric Reliability test system, which Applied uses for 90nm and 65nm processes.