Semiconductor process and yield analysis integrated real-time management method

• US 7,099,729 B2
• Filed: 02/20/2004
• Issued: 08/29/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 02/20/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Powerchip Semiconductor Manufacturing Corp. (Powerchip Technology Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Powerchip Semiconductor Corporation (Powerchip Technology Corporation)
• Inventors: Chen, Chien-Chung, Wang, Sheng-Jen, Tai, Hung-En
• Primary Examiner(s): Picard, Leo
• Assistant Examiner(s): Garland, Steven R.
• Application Number:
  US10/708,277
• Publication Number:
  US 20050187648A1
• Time in Patent Office: 921 Days
• Field of Search: 700/110, 700/121, 700/109, 702/35, 702/81, 702/84, 257/E21.525, 716/4
• US Class Current: 700/110
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 2219/32191 Real time statistical process monitoring
• CPC Class Codes: H01L 22/20 Sequence of activities consisting of a plurality of measurements, corrections, marking or sorting steps
• CPC Class Codes: Y02P 90/02 Total factory control, e.g. smart factories, flexible manufacturing systems [FMS] or integrated manufacturing systems [IMS]

Abstract

A semiconductor process and yield analysis integrated real-time management method comprises inspecting a plurality of semiconductor products with a plurality of items to generate and record a plurality of inspecting results during semiconductor process, classifying the semiconductor products as a plurality of groups with a default rule to generate and record an initial data in a database, indexing a plurality of semiconductor product groups and the corresponding initial data from the database by a default product rule and parameter to calculate a corresponding analysis result, and displaying the analysis result according to the indexed semiconductor product groups and the initial data.

Claims

1. A semiconductor process and yield analysis integrated real-time management method, comprising:

inspecting a plurality of semiconductor products with a plurality of items during semiconductor process, and recording a plurality of inspecting results of each semiconductor product;

classifying the semiconductor products as a plurality of groups with a predetermined rule, generating a raw data according to the inspecting results of each group, and recording the raw data and the corresponding groups in a database;

indexing a plurality of semiconductor product groups from the database by a predetermined product rule, indexing the corresponding raw data of each semiconductor product group by a predetermined parameter, and calculating a corresponding analysis result from the indexed semiconductor product groups and raw data with an analysis module, wherein each of the semiconductor products are chips situated on different positions of a wafer, indexing the semiconductor product groups is performed by gathering statics of the inspecting results according to their positions; and

displaying the analysis result according to the indexed semiconductor product groups and the raw data and displaying the inspecting results of each chip according to its position on the wafer.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein the semiconductor products are from different kinds or lots of wafers, indexing the semiconductor product groups is performed by gathering statistics of the inspecting results according to the kinds, lots or manufacturing dates of wafers, and displaying the inspecting results is performed according to the kind, lot, and manufacturing date of each wafer.

3. The method of claim 1 wherein inspecting results and statistics of the semiconductor products are indexed and displayed according to a predetermined period in which the semiconductor products are produced.

4. The method of claim 1 wherein each semiconductor product is a wafer processed by different processes, the inspecting results are the results of defect inspection of the wafer in the manufacturing process, indexing the results of defect inspection, and displaying the results of defect inspection is performed according to a kind and date of the processes.

5. The method of claim 1 wherein each semiconductor product is a wafer processed by different processes, indexing and gathering statistics are performed by examining time trends of the inspecting results of the processes, and trend charts are displayed according to kinds and dates of the processes.

6. The method of claim 1 wherein each semiconductor product is a wafer processed by different manufacturing processes, indexing and gathering statistics are performed by indexing and gathering inspecting results within a predetermined period, and the corresponding inspecting results are displayed according to the predetermined period.

7. The method of claim 1 further comprising recording the analysis results of different periods, comparing the similarity of the analysis results, and displaying the similar analysis results.

8. The method of claim 7 wherein the analysis results in the different periods are recorded as a plurality of corresponding modules of analysis results according to an experimental value, and after comparing an analysis result with another previous analysis result, the method further comprises updating the experimental value to build a new module of analysis results if the analysis result is not similar to the previous analysis results, or recording the analysis result as a module of analysis results if the analysis result is similar to the previous analysis result.

9. The method of claim 1 wherein the analysis result is displayed with a visual interface of a computer.

10. The method of claim 9 wherein each indexed semiconductor product group is listed with the visual interface, and users can find the corresponding raw data and corresponding analysis results according to the indexed semiconductor product groups in the cross reference way.

11. The method of claim 1 wherein the raw data are listed with a visual interface, and users can find the corresponding semiconductor product groups and the corresponding analysis results according to the indexed raw data in a cross reference way.

12. The method of claim 1 further comprising an in-line yield inspection of semiconductor processes.

13. The method of claim 1 further comprising a sample test of semiconductor wafer.

14. The method of claim 1 further comprising a wafer test.

15. The method of claim 1 further comprising a final test.

16. The method of claim 1 wherein transferring or querying data provides the analysis results, and the displaying is performed by showing an in-line quality control (in-line QC) of each semiconductor product, a root case analysis (RCA) of each process, and a quality control and yield improvement of different kinds of processes being displayed.

17. The method of claim 1 wherein the analysis module is a T-test, a one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA), a two-way analysis of variance, or box plots.

18. The method of claim 1 wherein displaying the analysis result further comprises:

setting a customized displaying mode by a user for recording ways to display analysis results; and

displaying the analysis results to the user according to the customized displaying mode.

19. The method of claim 18 wherein displaying the analysis result further comprises:

providing a plurality of default displaying modes with each default displaying mode recording a predetermined way of displaying analysis results, such that the user sets the customized data displaying mode by selecting a default displaying mode to be the customized displaying mode.