Method and system for automated die yield prediction in semiconductor manufacturing

• US 5,777,901 A
• Filed: 09/29/1995
• Issued: 07/07/1998
• Est. Priority Date: 09/29/1995
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc.
• Inventors: Berezin, Alan, Quintanilla, Reuben
• Primary Examiner(s): Teska, Kevin J.
• Assistant Examiner(s): McNair, Herbert
• Application Number:
  US08/536,830
• Time in Patent Office: 1,012 Days
• Field of Search: 395/500, 395/916, 364/578, 364/488-491, 364/480, 364/579, 364/468.17, 364/237, 364/221.9, 364/468.28, 364/551.01, 371/27, 371/15.1, 371/16.1, 371/20.1, 371/21.1, 371/22.4, 371/22.1, 371/25.1, 371/26, 324/537, 356/237, 356/394
• US Class Current: 716/56
• CPC Class Codes: G01N 21/9501 Semiconductor wafers manufacturing processes per se of semiconductor devices implementing a measuring step H01L22/10
• CPC Class Codes: H01L 22/20 Sequence of activities consisting of a plurality of measurements, corrections, marking or sorting steps

Abstract

Method and a system for performing die yield prediction in cooperation with wafer scanning tools. A program analyzes data associated with defects on a wafer substrate, the substrate including multiple layers and multiple die. Files are read that contain defect data for selected layers of the substrate. The defect data includes defect type and defect size information. The defect data is then stacked to identify the layer of first occurrence of each defect and the number, i.e., count, of layers upon which it was redetected. A kill factor is then assigned to each of the defects according to a set of rules, each such rule specifying defect parameters that include layer of first occurrence, redetect count, defect size, and defect type. Failure probabilities, indicative of yield, are then computed for the defects according to the assigned kill factors. The failure probabilites are utilized to calculate the estimated die loss for selected wafers by layer and defect type.

Claims

1. A computer program for analyzing data associated with defects on a substrate, the substrate including multiple layers and multiple die, the computer program stored on a computer-readable medium, comprising:

instructions for reading files containing defect data for selected layers of said substrate, said defect data including defect type and defect size information;

instructions for stacking said defect data to identify a layer of first occurrence of each defect and a count of layers upon which each defect is redetected, said defect data pertaining to occurrences on layers other than said layer of first occurrence being discarded;

instructions for assigning a kill factor to each defect that remains after stacking, according to a set of rules, each said rule specifying defect parameters that include layer of first occurrence, redetect count, defect size, and defect type; and

instructions for determining failure probabilities of the die according to kill factors assigned to said defects.

2. The computer program of claim 1 further comprising instructions for determining from failure probabilities of the die, an estimated total die loss for said substrate.

3. The computer program of claim 1 further comprising instructions for determining from failure probabilities of the die, an estimated die loss for selected layers of said substrate.

4. The computer program of claim 1 further comprising instructions for determining from failure probabilities of the die, an estimated die loss for selected defect types of substrate.

5. The computer program of claim 1 wherein said instructions for assigning a kill factor include reading data generated by manual identification of killer defects.

6. The computer program of claim 1 wherein said instructions for assigning a kill factor include instructions for comparing said defect data resulting from stacking to test bit map data.

7. The computer program of claim 1 wherein said instructions for assigning a kill factor comprises instructions for:

comparing said defect data resulting from stacking to test bit map data to generate a map of data indicating which defects caused electrical failures and which defects did not cause electrical failures;

assigning a bit value of 1 to defects that caused electrical failures and assigning a bit value of 0 to defects that did not cause electrical failures; and

for each rule, identifying defects having defect data that satisfy said rule, determining an average of bit values of identified defects, and establishing said average as said kill factor for said rule.

8. The computer program of claim 1 further comprising instructions for generating from failure probabilities of the die, a table indicating estimated die loss of selected layers of said substrate and estimated die loss for selected defect types of said substrate.

9. The computer program of claim 1 further comprising instructions for generating from failure probabilities of the die, substrate maps indicating estimated die loss for selected layers of said substrate.

10. The computer program of claim 1 further comprising instructions for generating warnings when failure probabilities of the die exceed predetermined limits.

11. A method for analyzing data associated with defects on a substrate, the substrate including multiple layers and multiple die, comprising the steps of:

reading files containing defect data for selected layers of said substrate, said defect data including defect type and defect size information;

stacking said defect data to identify a layer of first occurrence of each defect and a count of layers upon which each defectis redetected, said defect data pertaining to occurrences on layers other than said layer of first occurrence being discarded;

assigning a kill factor to each defect that remains after stacking, according to a set of rules, each said rule specifying defect parameters that include layer of first occurrence, redetect count, defect size, and defect type; and

determining failure probabilities of the die according to kill factors assigned to said defects.

12. The method of claim 11 further comprising the step of determining from failure probabilities of the die, an estimated total die loss for said substrate.

13. The method of claim 11 further comprising the step determining from failure probabilities of the die, an estimated die loss for selected layers of said substrate.

14. The method of claim 11 further comprising the step of determining from failure probabilities of the die, an estimated die loss for selected defect types of said substrate.

15. The method of claim 11 wherein said step of assigning a kill factor includes the step of manually identifying killer defects.

16. The method of claim 11 wherein said step of assigning a kill factor includes the step of comparing said defect data from said stacking step to test bit map data.

17. The method of claim 11 wherein said assigning step includes the steps of:

comparing said defect data resulting from stacking to test bit map data to generate a map of data indicating which defects caused electrical failures and which defects did not cause electrical failures;

assigning a bit value of 1 to defects that caused electrical failures and assigning a bit value of 0 to defects that did not cause electrical failures; and

for each rule, identifying defects having defect data that satisfy said rule, determining an average of bit values of identified defects, and establishing said average as said kill factor for said rule.

18. The method of claim 11 further comprising the step of generating from failure probabilities of the die, a table indicating estimated die loss for selected layers of said substrate and an estimated die loss for selected defect types of substrate.

19. The method of claim 11 further comprising the step of generating from failure probabilities of the die, substrate maps indicating an estimated die loss for selected layers of said substrate.

20. The method of claim 11 further comprising the step of generating warnings when failure probabilities of the die exceed predetermined limits.

21. A computer program for analyzing data associated with defects on a substrate, the substrate including multiple layers and multiple die, the computer program stored on a computer-readable medium, comprising:

instructions for reading files containing defect data for selected layers of said substrate, said defect data including defect type and defect size information;

instructions for estimating, from said defect data, defect type codes for unclassified ones of said defects on said substrate, extrapolated from classified ones of said defects on said substrate;

instructions for stacking said defect data to identify a layer of first occurrence of each defect and a count of layers upon which each defect is redetected, said defect data pertaining to occurrences on layers other than said layer of first occurrence being discarded;

instructions for assigning a kill factor to each that remains after stacking, according to a set of rules, each said rule specifying defect parameters that include layer of first occurrence, redetect count, defect size, and defect type;

instructions for determining failure probabilities of the die according to kill factors assigned to said defects; and

instructions for determining from said failure probabilities the estimated die loss for said substrate.

22. The computer program of claim 21 further comprising instructions for determining from failure probabilities of the die, an estimated die loss for selected layers of said substrate.

23. The computer program of claim 21 further comprising instructions for determining from failure probabilities of the die, an estimated die loss for selected defect types of substrate.

24. The computer program of claim 21 wherein said instructions for assigning include, instructions for:

comparing said defect data resulting from stacking to test bit map data to generate a map of data indicating which defects caused electrical failures and which defects did not cause electrical failures;

assigning a bit value of 1 to defects that caused electrical failures and assigning a bit value of 0 to defects that did not cause electrical failures; and

for each rule, identifying defects that satisfy said rule, determining an average of bit values of identified defects, and establishing said average as said kill factor for said rule.

25. The computer program of claim 21 further comprising instructions for generating from failure probabilities of the die, a table indicating estimated die loss for selected layers of said substrate and a estimated die loss for selected defect types of substrate.

26. The computer program of claim 21 further comprising instructions for generating from failure probabilities of the die, substrate maps indicating an estimated die loss for selected layers of said substrate.

27. The computer program of claim 21 further comprising instructions for generating warnings when failure probabilities of the die exceed predetermined limits.