Detecting groups of defects in semiconductor feature space
First Claim
1. A computer program stored on a computer-readable medium for analyzing data associated with defects on a substrate detected during production of semiconductor wafers, wherein for a region of interest on said substrate said data includes a quantitative number and density of defects and other characteristics of each of said defects, said computer program comprising:
- instructions for calculating a minimum number of defects in said region to be included in a cluster of defects using said quantitative number of defects in said region of interest;
instructions for calculating a first maximum threshold of a first of said characteristics of said defects included in said defect data in said region to be included in a cluster of defects using said defect density in said region of interest; and
instructions for generating a cluster of defects having at least said calculated minimum number of defects and each included defect having said first of said characteristics that does not exceed said first maximum threshold.
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Abstract
Techniques for improving manufacturing process control based on inspection of manufactured items at intermediate process steps, based on clustering and binning of defect data. Additionally, the using the defect data produced by inspection machines to improve manufacturing process control specifically relating to semiconductor manufacturing process control. Examples described here relate specifically to semiconductor wafers, but may be generalized to any manufacturing process.
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Citations
42 Claims
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1. A computer program stored on a computer-readable medium for analyzing data associated with defects on a substrate detected during production of semiconductor wafers, wherein for a region of interest on said substrate said data includes a quantitative number and density of defects and other characteristics of each of said defects, said computer program comprising:
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instructions for calculating a minimum number of defects in said region to be included in a cluster of defects using said quantitative number of defects in said region of interest; instructions for calculating a first maximum threshold of a first of said characteristics of said defects included in said defect data in said region to be included in a cluster of defects using said defect density in said region of interest; and instructions for generating a cluster of defects having at least said calculated minimum number of defects and each included defect having said first of said characteristics that does not exceed said first maximum threshold. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10)
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11. A computer program stored on a computer-readable medium for analyzing data associated with defects on a plurality of substrates simultaneously processed in a stack with each substrate spaced-apart from the next adjacent substrates during production of semiconductor wafers, wherein for a three dimensional region of interest defined relative to said stack that includes at least a portion of at least two substrates of said plurality of substrates, said data includes a quantitative number and density of defects, an identifier for each of said plurality of substrates relative to the stack position of the corresponding substrate, and other characteristics of each of said defects in said region, said computer program comprising:
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instructions for calculating a minimum number of defects in said region to be included in a cluster of defects using said quantitative number of defects in said region of interest with said region including at least a portion of at least two substrates of said plurality of substrates; instructions for calculating a first maximum threshold of a first of said characteristics of said defects included in said defect data of defects in said region to be included in a cluster of defects using said defect density in said region of interest with said region including at least a portion of at least two substrates of said plurality of substrates; and instructions for generating a cluster of defects having at least said calculated minimum number of defects and each included defect having said first of said characteristics that does not exceed said first maximum threshold with said region including at least a portion of at least two substrates of said plurality of substrates. - View Dependent Claims (12, 13, 14)
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15. A computer program stored on a computer-readable medium for analyzing data associated with defects on a plurality of substrates simultaneously processed as a stack of said plurality of substrates each spaced-apart from the next adjacent ones of said plurality of substrates when in said stack during production of semiconductor wafers, said data includes a quantitative number and density of defects, an identifier for each of said plurality of substrates relative to the stack position of the corresponding substrate, location information of each defect on the corresponding substrate, and other characteristics of each of said defects in a region, said computer program comprising:
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instructions for generating a defect map having a selected two dimensional sized and shaped region that corresponds to adjacent regions on each of said plurality of substrates when in said stack, with all of the defects from at least two of said plurality of substrates from the corresponding region on said substrates mapped onto said defect map with the same location in said selected two dimensional region as in said corresponding regions of said at least two substrates; instructions for calculating a minimum number of defects in said defect map to be included in a cluster of defects using said quantitative number of defects in said defect map; instructions for calculating a maximum threshold of one of said characteristics of said defects included in said defect data of defects in said defect map to be included in a cluster of defects using said defect density in said defect map; and instructions for generating a cluster of defects having at least said minimum number of defects and each included defect having said one characteristic that does not exceed said maximum threshold from said defect map.
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16. A computer program stored on a computer-readable medium for analyzing data associated with defects in a plurality of reticle fields on a substrate produced using the same reticle for each of said plurality of reticle fields on said substrate during production of semiconductor wafers, said data includes a quantitative number and density of defects in each of said reticle fields on said substrate, location information of each defect within each of said plurality of reticle fields on said substrate, and other characteristics of each of said defects on said substrate, said computer program comprising:
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instructions for generating a reticle field defect map having a two dimensional size and shape that corresponds to a size of a reticle of interest that was used a plurality of times in processing of said substrate, with all of the defects from each of selected ones of said plurality of reticle fields on said substrate mapped onto said reticle field defect map with the same location in said reticle field defect map as in said corresponding reticle field of said substrate; instructions for calculating a minimum number of defects in said reticle field defect map to be included in a cluster of defects using said quantitative number of defects in said reticle field defect map; instructions for calculating a maximum threshold of one of said characteristics of said defects included in said defect data of defects in said reticle field defect map to be included in a cluster of defects using said defect density in said reticle field defect map; and instructions for generating a cluster of defects having at least said calculated minimum number of defects and each included defect having said one of said characteristics that does not exceed said maximum threshold from said reticle field defect map.
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17. A computer program stored on a computer-readable medium for analyzing data associated with defects in a plurality of reticle fields on each of a multiplicity of substrates produced using the same reticle for each of said plurality of reticle fields on each of said multiplicity of substrates during the production of semiconductor wafers, said data includes a quantitative number and density of defects in each of said reticle fields on each of said substrates, location information of each defect within each of said plurality of reticle fields on each of said substrates, identifying information as to which of said substrates each defect is located, and other characteristics of each of said defects on each of said substrates, said computer program comprising:
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instructions for generating a reticle field defect map having a two dimensional size and shape that corresponds to a size of a reticle of interest that was used a plurality of times in the processing of said substrates, with all of the defects from each of selected ones of said plurality of reticle fields on each of said substrates mapped onto said reticle field defect map with the same location in said reticle field defect map as in said corresponding reticle field of said corresponding substrate; instructions for calculating a minimum number of defects in said reticle field defect map to be included in a cluster of defects using said quantitative number of defects in said reticle field defect map; instructions for calculating a maximum threshold of one of said characteristics of said defects included in said defect data in said reticle field defect map to be included in a cluster of defects using said defect density in said reticle field defect map; and instructions for generating a cluster of defects having at least said minimum number of defects and each included defect having said one of said characteristics that does not exceed said maximum threshold from said reticle field defect map.
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18. A computer program stored on a computer-readable medium for analyzing data associated with defects in a plurality of die fields on a substrate, said data includes a quantitative number and density of defects in each of said die fields on said substrate during production of semiconductor wafers, location information of each defect within each of said plurality of die fields on said substrate, and other characteristics of each of said defects on said substrate, said computer program comprising:
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instructions for generating a die field defect map having a two dimensional size and shape that corresponds to a size of a die of interest to be produced when processing of said substrate is complete, with all of the defects from each of selected ones of said plurality of die fields on said substrate mapped onto said die field defect map with the same location in said die field defect map as in said corresponding die field on said substrate; instructions for calculating a minimum number of defects in said die field defect map to be included in a cluster of defects using said quantitative number of defects in said die field defect map; instructions for calculating a maximum threshold of one of said characteristics of said defects included in said defect data in said die field defect map to be included in a cluster of defects using said defect density in said die field defect map; and instructions for generating a cluster of defects having at least said minimum number of defects and each included defect having said one of said characteristics that does not exceed said maximum threshold from said die field defect map.
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19. A computer program stored on a computer-readable medium for analyzing data associated with defects in a plurality of die fields on each of a multiplicity of substrates simultaneously processed as a stack of said multiplicity of substrates each spaced-apart from the next adjacent ones of said multiplicity of substrates when in said stack, said data includes a quantitative number and density of defects in each of said plurality of die fields on each of said multiplicity of substrates during production of semiconductor wafers, location information of each defect within each of said plurality of die fields on each of said multiplicity of substrates, identifying information as to which of said multiplicity of substrates each defect is located, and other characteristics of each of said defects on each of said multiplicity of substrates, said computer program comprising:
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instructions for generating a die field defect map having a two dimensional size and shape that corresponds to a size of a die of interest to be produced when processing of said substrates is complete, with all of the defects from each of said plurality of die fields on each of said multiplicity of substrates mapped onto said die field defect map with the same location in said die field defect map as in said corresponding die field of said corresponding substrate; instructions for calculating a minimum number of defects in said die field defect map to be included in a cluster of defects using said quantitative number of defects in said die field defect map; instructions for calculating a maximum threshold of one of said characteristics of said defects included in said defect data in said die field defect map to be included in a cluster of defects using said defect density in said die field defect map; and instructions for generating a cluster of defects having at least said minimum number of defects and each included defect having said one of said characteristics that does not exceed said maximum threshold from said die field defect map.
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20. A computer program stored on a computer-readable medium for analyzing data associated with defects located on a region of a substrate during production of semiconductor wafers, said data includes a quantitative number and density of defects in said region of said substrate, location information of each defect in said region, and other characteristics of each of said defects in said region, said computer program comprising:
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a. instructions for generating at least one cluster of defects from said data associated with defects located in said region by one of spatial clustering of defects, feature space clustering of defects, reticle field clustering of defects in several reticle fields in said region, and die field clustering of defects in several die fields in said region; b. instructions for deleting individual defects included within each of said at least one cluster of defects generated in instructions a. from said data associated with defects located in said region to create a reduced data set and list of defects associated therewith; and c. instructions for repeating instructions a. if there is data remaining in said reduced data set from instructions b. until there is no longer any data remaining in said reduced data set from instructions b. or until no additional clusters of defects are generated in instructions a. by any of the clustering techniques on the last reduced data set from instructions b.; wherein no defect is a member of more than one cluster, each cluster of defects is likely to have resulted from a single causation, and any defect data remaining in said reduced data set after the completion of instructions c. represents randomly occurring defects.
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21. A computer program stored on a computer-readable medium for analyzing data associated with defects located on a plurality of substrates simultaneously processed as a stack of said plurality of substrates each spaced-apart from the next adjacent ones of said plurality of substrates when in said stack during production of semiconductor wafers, said data includes a quantitative number and density of defects on each of said plurality of substrates, location information of each defect on a corresponding one of said plurality of substrates, identifying information as to which of said plurality of substrates each defect is located on, and other characteristics of each of said defects on each of said plurality of substrates, said computer program comprising:
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a. instructions for generating at least one cluster of defects from said data associated with defects located on a multiplicity of substrates each spaced-apart from the next adjacent ones of said multiplicity of substrates when in said stack by one of spatial clustering of defects on a single substrate, spatial clustering of defects on multiple substrates of said plurality of substrates, feature space clustering of defects on a single substrate, feature space clustering of defects on multiple substrates of said plurality of substrates, wafer stack clustering of defects on multiple substrates of said plurality of substrates, reticle field clustering of defects in several reticle fields on a single substrate, reticle field clustering of defects in several reticle fields on multiple substrates of said plurality of substrates, die field clustering of defects in several die fields on a single substrate, and die field clustering of defects in several die fields on multiple substrates of said plurality of substrates; b. instructions for deleting individual defects included within each of said at least one cluster of defects generated in instructions a. from said data associated with defects located on a plurality of substrates to create a reduced data set and list of defects associated therewith; c. instructions for repeating instructions a. if there is data remaining in said reduced data set from instructions b. until there is no longer any data remaining in said reduced data set from instructions b. or until no additional clusters of defects are generated in instructions a. by any of the clustering techniques on the last reduced data set from instructions b.; wherein no defect is a member of more than one cluster, each cluster of defects is likely to have resulted from a single causation, and any terminal data remaining after the completion of instructions c. represents randomly occurring defects.
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22. A method for analyzing data associated with defects on a substrate during production of semiconductor wafers, wherein for a region of interest on said substrate said data includes a quantitative number and density of defects and other characteristics of each of said defects, said method comprising the steps of:
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calculating a minimum number of defects in said region to be included in a cluster of defects using said quantitative number of defects in said region of interest; calculating a first maximum threshold of a first of said characteristics of said defects included in said defect data in said region to be included in a cluster of defects using said defect density in said region of interest; and generating a cluster of defects having at least said minimum number of defects and each included defect having said first of said characteristics that does not exceed said first maximum threshold. - View Dependent Claims (23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31)
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32. A method for analyzing data associated with defects on a plurality of substrates simultaneously processed in a stack with each substrate spaced-apart from the next adjacent substrates during processing, wherein for a three dimensional region of interest defined relative to said stack that includes at least a portion of at least two substrates of said plurality of substrates during production of semiconductor wafers, said data includes a quantitative number and density of defects, an identifier for each of said plurality of substrates relative to the stack position of the corresponding substrate, and other characteristics of each of said defects in said region, said method comprising the steps of:
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calculating a minimum number of defects in said region to be included in a cluster of defects using said quantitative number of defects in said region of interest with said region including at least a portion of at least two substrates of said plurality of substrates; calculating a first maximum threshold of a first of said characteristics of said defects included in said defect data of defects in said region to be included in a cluster of defects using said defect density in said region of interest with said region including at least a portion of at least two substrates of said plurality of substrates; and generating a cluster of defects having at least said minimum number of defects and each included defect having said first of said characteristics that does not exceed said first maximum threshold with said region including at least a portion of at least two substrates of said plurality of substrates. - View Dependent Claims (33, 34, 35)
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36. A method for analyzing data associated with defects on a plurality of substrates simultaneously processed as a stack of said plurality of substrates each spaced-apart from the next adjacent ones of said plurality of substrates when in said stack during production of semiconductor wafers, said data includes a quantitative number and density of defects, an identifier for each of said plurality of substrates relative to the stack position of the corresponding substrate, location information of each defect on the corresponding substrate, and other characteristics of each of said defects in a region, said method comprising the steps of:
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generating a defect map having a selected two dimensional sized and shaped region that corresponds to adjacent regions on each of said plurality of substrates when in said stack, with all of the defects from at least two of said plurality of substrates from the corresponding region on said substrates mapped onto said defect map with the same location in said selected two dimensional region as in said corresponding regions of said at least two substrates; calculating a minimum number of defects in said defect map to be included in a cluster of defects using said quantitative number of defects in said defect map; calculating a maximum threshold of one of said characteristics of said defects included in said defect data of defects in said defect map to be included in a cluster of defects using said defect density in said defect map; and generating a cluster of defects having at least said minimum number of defects and each included defect having said one characteristic that does not exceed said maximum threshold from said defect map.
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37. A method for analyzing data associated with defects in a plurality of reticle fields on a substrate produced using the same reticle for each of said plurality of reticle fields on said substrate during production of semiconductor wafers, said data includes a quantitative number and density of defects in each of said reticle fields on said substrate, location information of each defect within each of said plurality of reticle fields on said substrate, and other characteristics of each of said defects on said substrate, said method comprising the steps of:
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generating a reticle field defect map having a two dimensional size and shape that corresponds to a size of a reticle of interest that was used a plurality of times in processing of said substrate, with all of the defects from each of selected ones of said plurality of reticle fields on said substrate mapped onto said reticle field defect map with the same location in said reticle field defect map as in said corresponding reticle field of said substrate; calculating a minimum number of defects in said reticle field defect map to be included in a cluster of defects using said quantitative number of defects in said reticle field defect map; calculating a maximum threshold of one of said characteristics of said defects included in said defect data of defects in said reticle field defect map to be included in a cluster of defects using said defect density in said reticle field defect map; and generating a cluster of defects having at least said minimum number of defects and each included defect having said one of said characteristics that does not exceed said maximum threshold from said reticle field defect map.
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38. A method for analyzing data associated with defects in a plurality of reticle fields on each of a multiplicity of substrates produced using the same reticle for each of said plurality of reticle fields on each of said multiplicity of substrates during production of semiconductor wafers, said data includes a quantitative number and density of defects in each of said reticle fields on each of said substrates, location information of each defect within each of said plurality of reticle fields on each of said substrates, identifying information as to which of said substrates each defect is located, and other characteristics of each of said defects on each of said substrates, said method comprising the steps of:
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generating a reticle field defect map having a two dimensional size and shape that corresponds to a size of a reticle of interest that was used a plurality of times in the processing of said substrates, with all of the defects from each of selected ones of said plurality of reticle fields on each of said substrates mapped onto said reticle field defect map with the same location in said reticle field defect map as in said corresponding reticle field of said corresponding substrate; calculating a minimum number of defects in said reticle field defect map to be included in a cluster of defects using said quantitative number of defects in said reticle field defect map; calculating a maximum threshold of one of said characteristics of said defects included in said defect data in said reticle field defect map to be included in a cluster of defects using said defect density in said reticle field defect map; and generating a cluster of defects having at least said minimum number of defects and each included defect having said one of said characteristics that does not exceed said maximum threshold from said reticle field defect map.
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39. A method for analyzing data associated with defects in a plurality of die fields on a substrate during production of semiconductor wafers, said data includes a quantitative number and density of defects in each of said die fields on said substrate, location information of each defect within each of said plurality of die fields on said substrate, and other characteristics of each of said defects on said substrate, said method comprising the steps of:
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generating a die field defect map having a two dimensional size and shape that corresponds to a size of a die of interest to be produced when processing of said substrate is complete, with all of the defects from each of selected ones of said plurality of die fields on said substrate mapped onto said die field defect map with the same location in said die field defect map as in said corresponding die field on said substrate; calculating a minimum number of defects in said die field defect map to be included in a cluster of defects using said quantitative number of defects in said die field defect map; calculating a maximum threshold of one of said characteristics of said defects included in said defect data in said die field defect map to be included in a cluster of defects using said defect density in said die field defect map; and generating a cluster of defects having at least said minimum number of defects and each included defect having said one of said characteristics that does not exceed said maximum threshold from said die field defect map.
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40. A method for analyzing data associated with defects in a plurality of die fields on each of a multiplicity of substrates simultaneously processed as a stack of said multiplicity of substrates each spaced-apart from the next adjacent ones of said multiplicity of substrates when in said stack during production of semiconductor wafers, said data includes a quantitative number and density of defects in each of said plurality of die fields on each of said multiplicity of substrates, location information of each defect within each of said plurality of die fields on each of said multiplicity of substrates, identifying information as to which of said multiplicity of substrates each defect is located, and other characteristics of each of said defects on each of said multiplicity of substrates, said method comprising the steps of:
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generating a die field defect map having a two dimensional size and shape that corresponds to a size of a die of interest to be produced when processing of said substrates is complete, with all of the defects from each of said plurality of die fields on each of said multiplicity substrates mapped onto said die field defect map with the same location in said die field defect map as in said corresponding die field of said corresponding substrate; calculating a minimum number of defects in said die field defect map to be included in a cluster of defects using said quantitative number of defects in said die field defect map; calculating a maximum threshold of one of said characteristics of said defects included in said defect data in said die field defect map to be included in a cluster of defects using said defect density in said die field defect map; and generating a cluster of defects having at least said minimum number of defects and each included defect having said one of said characteristics that does not exceed said maximum threshold from said die field defect map.
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41. A method for analyzing data associated with defects located on a region of a substrate during production of semiconductor wafers, said data includes a quantitative number and density of defects in said region of said substrate, location information of each defect in said region, and other characteristics of each of said defects in said region, said method comprising the steps of:
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a. generating at least one cluster of defects from said data associated with defects located in said region by one of spatial clustering of defects, feature space clustering of defects, reticle field clustering of defects in several reticle fields in said region, and die field clustering of defects in several die fields in said region; b. deleting individual defects included within each of said at least one cluster of defects generated in step a. from said data associated with defects located in said region to create a reduced data set and list of defects associated therewith; and c. repeating step a. if there is data remaining in said reduced data set from step b. until there is no longer any data remaining in said reduced data set from step b. or until no additional clusters of defects are generated in step a. by any of the clustering techniques on the last reduced data set from step b.; wherein no defect is a member of more than one cluster, each cluster of defects is likely to have resulted from a single causation, and any defect data remaining in said reduced data set after the completion of step c. represents randomly occurring defects.
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42. A method for analyzing data associated with defects located on a plurality of substrates simultaneously processed as a stack of said plurality of substrates each spaced-apart from the next adjacent ones of said plurality of substrates when in said stack during production of semiconductor wafers, said data includes a quantitative number and density of defects on each of said plurality of substrates, location information of each defect on a corresponding one of said plurality of substrates, identifying information as to which of said plurality of substrates each defect is located on, and other characteristics of each of said defects on each of said plurality of substrates, said method comprising the steps of:
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a. generating at least one cluster of defects from said data associated with defects located on a multiplicity of substrates each spaced-apart from the next adjacent ones of said multiplicity of substrates when in said stack by one of spatial clustering of defects on a single substrate, spatial clustering of defects on multiple substrates of said plurality of substrates, feature space clustering of defects on a single substrate, feature space clustering of defects on multiple substrates of said plurality of substrates, wafer stack clustering of defects on multiple substrates of said plurality of substrates, reticle field clustering of defects in several reticle fields on a single substrate, reticle field clustering of defects in several reticle fields on multiple substrates of said plurality of substrates, die field clustering of defects in several die fields on a single substrate, and die field clustering of defects in several die fields on multiple substrates of said plurality of substrates; b. deleting individual defects included within each of said at least one cluster of defects generated in step a. from said data associated with defects located on a plurality of substrates to create a reduced data set and list of defects associated therewith; c. repeating step a. if there is data remaining in said reduced data set from step b. until there is no longer any data remaining in said reduced data set from step b. or until no additional clusters of defects are generated in step a. by any of the clustering techniques on the last reduced data set from step b.; wherein no defect is a member of more than one cluster, each cluster of defects is likely to have resulted from a single causation, and any terminal data remaining after the completion of step c. represents randomly occurring defects.
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Specification