Methods and apparatus for obtaining diagnostic information relating to an industrial process
First Claim
1. A diagnostic apparatus for use in relation to an industrial process, the apparatus comprising a data processing apparatus programmed to:
- receive object data for a set of physical product units that have been subjected nominally to the same industrial process, the object data for each product unit representing one or more parameters measured on the product unit at points spatially distributed across the product unit;
define a multidimensional space in which the object data for each of the product units can be represented as a vector;
perform a multivariate analysis on the object data to obtain one or more component vectors in the multidimensional space;
extract diagnostic information about the industrial process at least partly using certain one or more product units identified out of the set of product units based on the position of the respective vector of the identified one or more product units when projected onto one or more of the component vectors; and
based on the diagnostic information, output electronic data for configuration or modification of the industrial process or of a measurement process of product units subjected to the industrial process.
1 Assignment
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
In a lithographic process, product units such as semiconductor wafers are subjected to lithographic patterning operations and chemical and physical processing operations. Alignment data or other measurements are made at stages during the performance of the process to obtain object data representing positional deviation or other parameters measured at points spatially distributed across each unit. This object data is used to obtain diagnostic information by performing a multivariate analysis to decompose a set of vectors representing the units in said multidimensional space into one or more component vectors. Diagnostic information about the industrial process is extracted using the component vectors. The performance of the industrial process for subsequent product units can be controlled based on the extracted diagnostic information.
-
Citations
20 Claims
-
1. A diagnostic apparatus for use in relation to an industrial process, the apparatus comprising a data processing apparatus programmed to:
-
receive object data for a set of physical product units that have been subjected nominally to the same industrial process, the object data for each product unit representing one or more parameters measured on the product unit at points spatially distributed across the product unit; define a multidimensional space in which the object data for each of the product units can be represented as a vector; perform a multivariate analysis on the object data to obtain one or more component vectors in the multidimensional space; extract diagnostic information about the industrial process at least partly using certain one or more product units identified out of the set of product units based on the position of the respective vector of the identified one or more product units when projected onto one or more of the component vectors; and based on the diagnostic information, output electronic data for configuration or modification of the industrial process or of a measurement process of product units subjected to the industrial process. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13)
-
-
14. A method of obtaining diagnostic information relating to an industrial process, the method comprising:
-
obtaining object data for a set of physical product units that have been subjected nominally to the same industrial process, the object data for each product unit representing a residual resulting from one or more parameters measured on the product unit at points spatially distributed across the product unit being subjected to a correction obtainable in the industrial process; defining a multidimensional space in which the object data for each of the product units can be represented as a vector; performing, by a hardware computer, a multivariate analysis on the object data to obtain one or more component vectors in the multidimensional space; extracting diagnostic information about the industrial process using the component vectors; and based on the diagnostic information, outputting electronic data for configuration or modification of the industrial process or of a measurement process of product units subjected to the industrial process. - View Dependent Claims (15, 16, 17, 18)
-
-
19. A non-transitory computer program product comprising machine readable instructions for causing a general purpose data processing apparatus to:
-
receive object data for a set of physical product units that have been subjected nominally to a same industrial process, the object data for each product unit representing one or more parameters measured on the product unit at points spatially distributed across the product unit; define a multidimensional space in which the object data for each of the product units can be represented as a vector; perform a multivariate analysis on the object data to obtain one or more component vectors in the multidimensional space; extract diagnostic information about the industrial process at least partly using certain one or more product units identified out of the set of product units based on the position of the respective vector of the identified one or more product units when projected onto one or more of the component vectors; and based on the diagnostic information, output electronic data for configuration or modification of the industrial process or of a measurement process of product units subjected to the industrial process. - View Dependent Claims (20)
-
Specification