Methods and apparatus for obtaining diagnostic information relating to an industrial process
First Claim
1. A method comprising:
- obtaining object data for a set of physical product units that have been subjected nominally to a same device manufacturing process;
obtaining performance data representing one or more performance parameters measured for each product unit of the set of product units;
performing, by a hardware computer system, a multivariate analysis on the object data to decompose the object data into one or more fingerprints;
correlating, by the hardware computer system, the performance data to the one or more obtained fingerprints;
determining, by the hardware computer system, a correction based on the correlation between the performance data and the one or more obtained fingerprints; and
based on the determined correction, output electronic data for configuration or modification of the device manufacturing process or of a measurement process of physical product units subjected to the device manufacturing process.
1 Assignment
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Accused Products
Abstract
In a lithographic process, product units such as semiconductor wafers are subjected to lithographic patterning operations and chemical and physical processing operations. Alignment data or other measurements are made at stages during the performance of the process to obtain object data representing positional deviation or other parameters measured at points spatially distributed across each unit. This object data is used to obtain diagnostic information by performing a multivariate analysis to decompose a set of vectors representing the units in said multidimensional space into one or more component vectors. Diagnostic information about the industrial process is extracted using the component vectors. The performance of the industrial process for subsequent product units can be controlled based on the extracted diagnostic information.
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Citations
20 Claims
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1. A method comprising:
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obtaining object data for a set of physical product units that have been subjected nominally to a same device manufacturing process; obtaining performance data representing one or more performance parameters measured for each product unit of the set of product units; performing, by a hardware computer system, a multivariate analysis on the object data to decompose the object data into one or more fingerprints; correlating, by the hardware computer system, the performance data to the one or more obtained fingerprints; determining, by the hardware computer system, a correction based on the correlation between the performance data and the one or more obtained fingerprints; and based on the determined correction, output electronic data for configuration or modification of the device manufacturing process or of a measurement process of physical product units subjected to the device manufacturing process. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8)
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9. An apparatus configured to at least:
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collect object data for a set of physical product units that have been subjected nominally to a same device manufacturing process; perform a multivariate analysis on the object data to decompose the object data into one or more fingerprints; visualize the one or more fingerprints; determine a labeling of the one or more fingerprints; estimate a performance impact of the one or more fingerprints; and based on the estimated performance impact, output electronic data for configuration or modification of the device manufacturing process or of a measurement process of physical product units subjected to the device manufacturing process. - View Dependent Claims (10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16)
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17. A non-transitory computer program product comprising machine readable instructions configured to cause a computer system to at least:
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obtain object data for a set of physical product units that have been subjected nominally to a same device manufacturing process; obtain performance data representing one or more performance parameters measured for each product unit of the set of product units; perform a multivariate analysis on the object data to decompose the object data into one or more fingerprints; correlate the performance data to the one or more obtained fingerprints; determine a correction based on the correlation between the performance data and the one or more obtained fingerprints; and based on the determined correction, output electronic data for configuration or modification of the device manufacturing process or of a measurement process of physical product units subjected to the device manufacturing process. - View Dependent Claims (18)
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19. A non-transitory computer program product comprising machine readable instructions configured to cause a computer system to at least:
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collect object data for a set of physical product units that have been subjected nominally to a same device manufacturing process; perform a multivariate analysis on the object data to decompose the object data into one or more fingerprints; visualize the one or more fingerprints; determine a labeling of the one or more fingerprints; estimate a performance impact of the one or more fingerprints; and based on the estimated performance impact, output electronic data for configuration or modification of the device manufacturing process or of a measurement process of physical product units subjected to the device manufacturing process. - View Dependent Claims (20)
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Specification