Systems and Methods For Manufacturing Microelectronic Devices
First Claim
1. A method comprising:
- obtaining wafer measurements of a characteristic of a semiconductor wafer at each of a plurality of process steps during a semiconductor wafer fabrication process, wherein each of the wafer measurements is associated with a spatial location on the semiconductor wafer from which the measurement is obtained;
creating a process step fingerprint from the obtained wafer measurements for each process step; and
correlating the process step fingerprint of one of the plurality of process steps to the process step fingerprint of another one of the plurality of process steps to produce a transfer function.
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Abstract
In one embodiment, a method includes obtaining wafer measurements of a characteristic of a semiconductor wafer at each of a plurality of process steps during a semiconductor wafer fabrication process, where each of the wafer measurements is associated with a spatial location on the semiconductor wafer from which the measurement is obtained. The method may further include creating a process step fingerprint from the obtained wafer measurements for each process step. The method may further include correlating the process step fingerprint of one of the plurality of process steps to the process step fingerprint of another one of the plurality of process steps to produce a transfer function.
4 Citations
20 Claims
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1. A method comprising:
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obtaining wafer measurements of a characteristic of a semiconductor wafer at each of a plurality of process steps during a semiconductor wafer fabrication process, wherein each of the wafer measurements is associated with a spatial location on the semiconductor wafer from which the measurement is obtained; creating a process step fingerprint from the obtained wafer measurements for each process step; and correlating the process step fingerprint of one of the plurality of process steps to the process step fingerprint of another one of the plurality of process steps to produce a transfer function. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9)
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10. A method comprising:
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having a fabrication process for manufacturing a plurality of semiconductor wafers, the fabrication process comprising a plurality of process steps, each of the plurality of process steps being associated with a set of process parameters; performing a first process step from the plurality of process steps on a first semiconductor wafer, the first process step having an associated first process parameter, the first process parameter having a first process parameter value when performing the first process step on the first semiconductor wafer; obtaining first measurements from the first semiconductor wafer, the first measurements comprising first characteristic values of a first characteristic at a first plurality of spatial locations on the first semiconductor wafer; generating a first process step fingerprint for the first process step from the first measurements; performing the first process step and a second process step from the plurality of process steps on a second semiconductor wafer, the second process step having an associated second process parameter, the second process parameter having a second process parameter value when performing the second process step on the second semiconductor wafer; obtaining second measurements from the second semiconductor wafer, the second measurements comprising second characteristic values of a second characteristic at a second plurality of spatial locations on the second semiconductor wafer; generating a second process step fingerprint for the second process step from the second measurements; and correlating the first process step fingerprint to the second process step fingerprint to produce a transfer function between the first process step and the second process step. - View Dependent Claims (11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17)
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18. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium comprising instructions that when executed cause a processor of a computing device to perform operations in coordination with a semiconductor wafer fabrication process, the semiconductor wafer fabrication process comprising a plurality of process steps, each of the plurality of process steps being associated with a set of process parameters, the operations comprising:
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performing a first process step from a plurality of process steps on a first semiconductor wafer, the first process step having an associated first process parameter, the first process parameter having a first process parameter value when performing the first process step on the first semiconductor wafer; obtaining first measurements from the first semiconductor wafer, the first measurements comprising first characteristic values of a first characteristic at a first plurality of spatial locations on the first semiconductor wafer; generating a first process step fingerprint for the first process step from the first measurements; performing the first process step and a second process step from the plurality of process steps on a second semiconductor wafer, the second process step having an associated second process parameter, the second process parameter having a second process parameter value when performing the second process step on the second semiconductor wafer; obtaining second measurements from the second semiconductor wafer, the second measurements comprising second characteristic values of a second characteristic at a second plurality of spatial locations on the second semiconductor wafer; generating a second process step fingerprint for the second process step from the second measurements; and correlating the first process step fingerprint to the second process step fingerprint to produce a transfer function between the first process step and the second process step. - View Dependent Claims (19, 20)
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Specification