DPPM is the acronym for Defective Parts per Million. DPPM is the total number of defective parts produced for every 1 million parts produced. It is a commonly used parameter to determine the yield of a design. Lower DPPM directly translates into higher gross margins for semiconductor companies and therefore it is desirable to have DPPM as low as possible, especially for life-critical applications like air bag in automobiles or biomedical electronics. It is not uncommon to have DPPM of the order of 1-5 for such critical applications.
