System method and computer program product for automatically assessing experiment results

• US 6,615,157 B1
• Filed: 03/15/2000
• Issued: 09/02/2003
• Est. Priority Date: 02/25/2000
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Mosel Vitelic Incorporated, ProMOS Technologies, Inc., Siemens AG
• Original Assignee: Mosel Vitelic Incorporated, ProMOS Technologies, Inc., Siemens AG
• Inventors: Tsai, Yuchuan
• Primary Examiner(s): Hoff, Marc S.
• Assistant Examiner(s): Raymond, Edward
• Application Number:
  US09/525,555
• Time in Patent Office: 1,266 Days
• Field of Search: 702/179, 702/22, 702/27, 702/30, 702/31, 702/32, 702/182, 738/630.1, 700/9, 700/19, 700/20, 700/30, 700/34, 700/83, 700/169, 700/173, 700/244, 707/102, 714/21, 714/25, 714/26, 714/39, 714/54, 716/4, 716/5
• US Class Current: 702/179
• CPC Class Codes: H01L 22/20 Sequence of activities consisting of a plurality of measurements, corrections, marking or sorting steps

Abstract

Systems, methods, and computer program products for analyzing experiment results obtained in a process are provided. The process is conducted separately in a first and second state of a control variable to generate a first and second plurality of experiment data, respectively. The experiment data corresponds to a plurality of attributes of the process. A processor is included in the systems for comparing the first and second plurality of experiment data, and identifying attributes having a statistically significant difference in their corresponding experiment data obtained in the first and second state of the process. The identified attributes are then compared with attributes expected to be affected by changes in the control variable, which are contained in a know-how database, in order to create a conformity database and a non-conformity database.

Claims

1. A system for analyzing a plurality of attributes representing experiment results of a process, said process having a control variable that when changed, alters at least one of the attributes, said system comprising:

a memory device for storing a know-how database, said database listing attributes that are expected to be affected by changes in said control variable of said process; and

a processor in communication with said memory device, wherein said processor

determines which of the plurality of attributes were altered by the change in the control variable;

compares the altered attributes with the attributes listed in the know-how database;

identifies the altered attributes that are not listed in the know-how database; and

stores in a non-conformity database those altered attributes that were not listed in the know-how database.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein said experiment results comprises a first plurality of experiment data generated in said process conducted in a first state of said control variable and a second plurality of experiment data generated in said process conducted in a second state of said control variable, said first and second pluralities of experiment data corresponding to a plurality of attributes of said process, and wherein said processor compares the first and second pluralities of experiment data to generate an assessment database and compares said assessment database with said know-how database.

3. The system of claim 2, wherein said assessment database contains identified attributes having a statistically significant difference in their corresponding experiment data obtained in said process conducted in said first and second state of said control variable.

4. The system of claim 1, wherein said know-how database further contains attributes expected to be affected by changes in a second control variable.

5. The system of claim 1, wherein the know-how database stored in said memory device has electrical attributes, processing attributes, and product attributes.

6. A system according to claim 1, wherein said processor further identifies attributes listed in the know-how database that were not determined by said processor to be altered by the change in the control variable and stores these identified attributes in the non-conformity database.

7. A system according to claim 1, wherein the process comprises a plurality of stations each performing at least one function of the process and having associated therewith at least one control variable, wherein the state of only one variable of one of said stations is changed while the variables of the other stations remain unchanged and said processor determines which of the plurality of attributes were altered by the change in the control variable.

8. A method for analyzing a plurality of attributes representing experiment results obtained in a manufacturing process, said process having a control variable that when changed, alters at least one attribute of the experimental results, said method comprising:

storing a know-how database listing attributes that are expected to be affected by changes in said control variable of said process;

conducting the process in a first state of said control variable to obtain a first plurality of experiment data corresponding to a plurality of attributes of said process;

conducting the process in a second state of said control variable to obtain a second plurality of experiment data corresponding to said plurality of attributes;

comparing said first and second plurality of experiment data to generate an assessment database;

determining which of the plurality of attributes in the assessment database were altered by the change in the control variable;

comparing said assessment database with the know-how database;

identifying altered attributes in the assessment database that are not listed in the know-how database; and

storing in a non-conformity database those altered attributes that were not listed in the know-how database.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein the plurality of attributes include electrical attributes, fabrication attributes and product attributes.

10. The method of claim 8, wherein said know-how database further contains attributes expected to be affected by changes in a second control variable.

11. The method of claim 8, wherein comparing said first and second plurality of experiment data comprises identifying attributes having a statistically significant difference in their corresponding experiment data obtained in the process conducted in said first and second states.

12. A method according to claim 8, wherein the process comprises a plurality of stations each performing at least one function of the process and having associated therewith at least one control variable, wherein said conducting the process in a first state and conducting the process in a second state steps conduct the process by altering the state of only one control variable of only one station, while the control variables for each of the other stations remains unchanged.

13. A method for analyzing a plurality of attributes representing experiment results of a process, said process having a control variable that when changed, alters at least one of the attributes, said method comprising:

storing a know-how database listing attributes that are expected to be affected by changes in said control variable of said process;

determining which of the plurality of attributes of the experiment results were altered by the change in the control variable;

comparing the altered attributes with the attributes listed in the know-how database;

identifying the altered attributes that are not listed in the know-how database; and

storing in a non-conformity database those altered attributes that were not listed in the know-how database.

14. The computer program product of claim 13, wherein said know-how database further contains attributes expected to be affected by changes in a second control variable.

15. The computer program product of claim 13, wherein said experiment results comprises a first plurality of experiment data generated in said process conducted in a first state of said first control variable and a second plurality of experiment data generated in said process conducted in a second state of said first control variable, said first and second pluralities of experiment data corresponding to a plurality of attributes of said process, and wherein said first computer instruction means compares the first and second pluralities of experiment data to generate an assessment database and said second computer instruction means compares said assessment database with said know-how database.

16. The computer program product of claim 15, wherein said assessment database contains identified attributes having a statistically significant difference in their corresponding experiment data obtained in said process conducted in said first and second state of said control variable.

17. The computer program product of claim 15, further comprising fifth computer instruction means for collecting said first and second pluralities of experiment data.

18. The computer program product of claim 15, wherein said computer instruction means for comparing the first and second plurality of experiment data comprises computer instruction means for identifying attributes having a statistically significant difference in their corresponding experiment data in said first and second plurality of experiment data.

19. A method according to claim 13, wherein said identifying identifies attributes listed in the know-how database that were not determined to be altered by the change in the control variable and said storing stores these identified attributes in the non-conformity database.

20. A method according to claim 13, wherein the process comprises a plurality of stations each performing at least one function of the process and having associated therewith at least one control variable, said method further comprising altering the state of only one variable of one of said stations while the variables of the other stations remain unchanged and said determining step determines which of the plurality of attributes were altered by the change in the control variable.

21. A computer program product for analyzing a plurality of attributes representing experiment results of a process, said process having a control variable that when changed, alters at least one of the attributes, comprising:

a computer readable storage medium having;

a know-how database embodied in said medium listing attributes that are expected to be affected by changes in said control variable of said process; and

computer readable program code means embodied in said medium, said computer readable program code means including;

first computer instruction means for determining which of the plurality of attributes were altered by the change in the control variable;

second computer instruction means comparing the altered attributes with the attributes listed in the know-how database;

third computer instructions means for identifying the altered attributes that are not listed in the know-how database; and

fourth computer instructions means for storing in a non-conformity database those altered attributes that were not listed in the know-how database.

22. A computer program product according to claim 21, wherein said third computer instruction means further identifies attributes listed in the know-how database that were not determined to be altered by the change in the control variable and stores these identified attributes in the non-conformity database.

23. A computer program product according to claim 21, wherein the process comprises a plurality of stations each performing at least one function of the process and having associated therewith at least one control variable, said computer readable program code means further comprising fifth computer instruction means for altering the state of only one variable of one of said stations while the variables of the other stations remain unchanged and said first computer instruction means determines which of the plurality of attributes were altered by the change in the control variable.