System for identification of defects on circuits or other arrayed products
First Claim
1. A method comprising:
- obtaining circuit design data for at least one mask level;
correlating design shapes of the circuit design data to the at least one mask level;
from the correlated design shapes, generating a risk map for the at least one mask level that identifies risk factors specific to locations of the design shapes;
defining a statistical model that determines, for any individual defect, a probability that the individual defect will render a chip inoperable as a function of defect parameters and value of a risk factor of the risk map corresponding to a location of the individual defect;
measuring defects and their parameters and locations on the at least one mask level of selected chips;
measuring operability of the selected chips;
fitting the statistical model to the measured defect parameters, corresponding values of risk factors of the risk map, and measured chip operability;
from the fitted statistical model, determining a probability of a chip made from the circuit design data to be rendered inoperable; and
based on the determined probability, taking corrective action on the chip or its fabrication process.
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Accused Products
Abstract
A system and method is disclosed for assessing a probability of failure of operation of a semiconductor wafer. The method includes inputting risk factor data into a memory and inputting a plurality of wafers into a semiconductor fabrication manufacturing process. A subset of wafers is selected to obtain a sample population and at least one region of each wafer of the sample population is inspected. Circuit design data associated with each wafer of the sample population is obtained and one or more defects that present an increased risk to the operation of a particular wafer are identified. The identification is a function of the risk factor data, the inspecting step and the circuit design data. A probability of semiconductor wafer failure is calculated.
37 Citations
22 Claims
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1. A method comprising:
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obtaining circuit design data for at least one mask level; correlating design shapes of the circuit design data to the at least one mask level; from the correlated design shapes, generating a risk map for the at least one mask level that identifies risk factors specific to locations of the design shapes; defining a statistical model that determines, for any individual defect, a probability that the individual defect will render a chip inoperable as a function of defect parameters and value of a risk factor of the risk map corresponding to a location of the individual defect; measuring defects and their parameters and locations on the at least one mask level of selected chips; measuring operability of the selected chips; fitting the statistical model to the measured defect parameters, corresponding values of risk factors of the risk map, and measured chip operability; from the fitted statistical model, determining a probability of a chip made from the circuit design data to be rendered inoperable; and based on the determined probability, taking corrective action on the chip or its fabrication process. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11)
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12. A computer readable medium embodying a computer program adapted to execute actions for evaluating a chip, the actions comprising:
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receiving circuit design data for at least one mask level; correlating design shapes of the circuit design data to the at least one mask level; from the correlated design shapes, generating a risk map for the at least one mask level that identifies risk factors specific to locations of the design shapes; defining a statistical model that determines, for any individual defect, a probability that the individual defect will render a chip inoperable as a function of defect parameters and value of a risk factor of the risk map corresponding to a location of the individual defect; using measured defects and their parameters and locations on selected chips, fitting the statistical model to the measured defect parameters, corresponding values of the risk factors of the risk map, and measured operability of the selected chips; from the fitted statistical model, determining a probability of a chip made from the circuit design data to be rendered inoperable; and based on the determined probability, outputting a list of corrective action to be taken on the chip or on its fabrication process. - View Dependent Claims (13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22)
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Specification