AVS 49th International Symposium
    Manufacturing Science and Technology Monday Sessions
       Session MS-MoA

Paper MS-MoA8
Data Handling in Semiconductor Manufacturing: Overall Approach to Correlate Yield, Process and Equipment Parameters

Monday, November 4, 2002, 4:20 pm, Room C-109

Session: Control Issues in Electronics Manufacturing
Presenter: F.H. Bell, Infineon Technologies AG, Germany
Authors: M. Horn, Infineon Technologies AG, Germany
H. Melzner, Infineon Technologies AG, Germany
D. Knobloch, Infineon Technologies AG, Germany
F.H. Bell, Infineon Technologies AG, Germany
Correspondent: Click to Email
Yield improvement in semiconductor manufacturing depends on several aspects. Major challenges are the robustness of design rules, improvement of the design for testability and stable manufacturing processes. For the later one, advanced process control (APC) featuring run-to-run control and Fault Detection and Classification (FDC) is seen as the most powerful technique to improve the in-line stability. However, correlation between yield (such as threshold voltage, saturation current, die functionality and reliability issues), process and equipment parameters suffer from economic handling of the huge amount of data. An overall approach from end-of-line electrical measurements to on-line process and equipment parameter detection is needed in order to simplify the data analysis. We show how the data analysis can be simplified using data extraction techniques, such as principal component analysis, that pre-selects the most significant yield related parameters and separates yield detractors with respect to sporadic and chronological events. These data can then be used to find possible root causes in process and equipment. Consequently, the APC parameters can then (1) be weighted towards yield significance and (2) be used to define the parameter set for run-to-run control and fault detection and classification. We will discuss examples that demonstrate how deviations in process and equipment parameters detracts yield, may cause reliability problems or does not influence yield and reliability at all. Examples are taken from aluminum metallization and EPI-Centura SiGe deposition processes.