# US 10,372,114 B2 · Quantifying and reducing total measurement uncertainty

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- Number: US 10,372,114 B2
- Document ID: US10372114B2
- Status: Granted
- Kind: B2
- Application number: 15/299,616
- Filed: 2016-10-21
- Published: 2018-04-26
- Granted: 2019-08-06
- Earliest claimed: 2016-10-21
- Assignees: KLA-Tencor Corporation
- Applicants: KLA-Tencor Corporation
- Inventors: Karen Biagini; Bryant Stanford Mantiply; Ravichander Jayantha Rao; Gary Taan
- Web page: https://patentgrep.com/patent/US10372114B2

## CPC

- G05B 19/4184: {characterised by fault tolerance, reliability of production system}
- H10P 72/0604: {Process monitoring, e.g. flow or thickness monitoring}
- H10P 72/0616: {Monitoring of warpages, curvatures, damages, defects or the like}
- G05B 2219/37525: Mean, average values, statistical derived values
- H10P 74/23: {characterised by multiple measurements, corrections, marking or sorting processes}
- Y02P 90/02: Total factory control, e.g. smart factories, flexible manufacturing systems [FMS] or integrated manufacturing systems [IMS]
- G05B: CONTROL OR REGULATING SYSTEMS IN GENERAL; FUNCTIONAL ELEMENTS OF SUCH SYSTEMS; MONITORING OR TESTING ARRANGEMENTS FOR SUCH SYSTEMS OR ELEMENTS (systems for controlling or regulating non-electric variables G05D; systems for regulating electric or magnetic variables G05F; control devices or systems insofar as characterised by mechanical features only G05G)
- H10P: GENERIC PROCESSES OR APPARATUS FOR THE MANUFACTURE OR TREATMENT OF DEVICES COVERED BY CLASS H10
- Y02P: CLIMATE CHANGE MITIGATION TECHNOLOGIES IN THE PRODUCTION OR PROCESSING OF GOODS

## Abstract

A process control technique uses production data from multiple manufacturing tools and multiple inspection or metrology tools. Total measurement uncertainty (TMU) can be calculated on the production data, which can include measurements of one or more devices manufactured using the manufacturing tools. Manufacturing steps can be ranked or otherwise compared by TMU. All production modes and recipes can be continually monitored using production data.

## Claims

### Claim 1

A system comprising:
an interface in electronic communication with a plurality of manufacturing tools and a plurality of inspection or metrology tools; and
a process control unit in electronic communication with the interface, wherein the process control unit is configured to:
receive production data from the plurality of manufacturing tools and the plurality of inspection or metrology tools, wherein the production data includes measurements of one or more devices manufactured using the manufacturing tools;
perform variance components analysis on the production data, wherein the variance components analysis is configured to estimate tool-to-tool standard deviation and total standard deviation;
calculate total measurement uncertainty (TMU) on the production data;
compare manufacturing steps by TMU;
calculate TMU control limit impact (CLI) on the production data, wherein TMU CLI measures measurement uncertainty on control limit width based on total process standard deviation and measurement standard deviation;
compare manufacturing steps by TMU CLI;
determine a setting on at least one of the manufacturing tools or at least one of the inspection or metrology tools based on the comparison of the manufacturing steps by TMU and the comparison of the manufacturing steps by TMU CLI; and
send instructions to adjust the setting on at least one of the manufacturing tools or at least one of the inspection or metrology tools based on the comparison of the manufacturing steps by TMU and the comparison of the manufacturing steps by TMU CLI; and
wherein the process control unit comprises an electronic data storage unit configured to store a list of the manufacturing steps by TMU.

### Claim 2 (depends on 1)

The system of claim 1, wherein the process control unit includes a processor and a communication port in electronic communication with the processor and the electronic data storage unit.

### Claim 3 (depends on 1)

The system of claim 1, wherein the device is a semiconductor wafer.

### Claim 4 (depends on 1)

The system of claim 1, wherein the process control unit is further configured to:
receive measurement data for a test vehicle from one of the manufacturing tools or one of the inspection or metrology tools;
perform variance components analysis on the measurement data, wherein the variance components analysis estimates standard deviation of precision;
calculate TMU for precision, total TMU, TMU CLI precision, and total TMU CLI; and
compare results for the measurement data by TMU or TMU CLI.

### Claim 5 (depends on 4)

The system of claim 4, wherein the process control unit is further configured to adjust one of the manufacturing tools or one of the inspection or metrology tools based on the comparison of the results for the measurement data.

### Claim 6 (depends on 1)

The system of claim 1, wherein the interface is a secured server.

### Claim 7 (depends on 1)

The system of claim 1, wherein the process control unit is configured to continuously perform the variance components analysis, calculate the TMU, and compare the manufacturing steps.

### Claim 8 (depends on 1)

The system of claim 1, wherein the process control unit is further configured to adjust the setting on at least one of the manufacturing tools or at least one of the inspection or metrology tools based on the comparison of the manufacturing steps by TMU and the comparison of the manufacturing steps by TMU CLI.

### Claim 9

A method comprising:
receiving, at a processor, production data from a plurality of manufacturing tools and a plurality of inspection or metrology tools, wherein the production data includes measurements of one or more devices manufactured using the manufacturing tools;
performing, using the processor, variance components analysis on the production data, wherein the variance components analysis estimates tool-to-tool standard deviation and total standard deviation;
calculating, using the processor, total measurement uncertainty (TMU) on the production data;
comparing manufacturing steps by TMU using the processor;
calculating, using the processor, TMU control limit impact (CLI) on the production data, wherein TMU CLI measures measurement uncertainty on control limit width based on total process standard deviation and measurement standard deviation;
comparing manufacturing steps by TMU CLI using the processor;
determining, using the processor, a setting on at least one of the manufacturing tools or at least one of the inspection or metrology tools based on the comparison of the manufacturing steps by TMU and the comparison of the manufacturing steps by TMU CLI; and
sending instructions to adjust the setting on at least one of the manufacturing tools or at least one of the inspection or metrology tools using the processor based on comparing the manufacturing steps by TMU and based on comparing the manufacturing steps by TMU CLI.

### Claim 10 (depends on 9)

The method of claim 9, wherein the device is a semiconductor wafer.

### Claim 11 (depends on 9)

The method of claim 9, further comprising:
receiving, at the processor, measurement data for a test vehicle from one of the manufacturing tools or one of the inspection or metrology tools;
performing, using the processor, variance components analysis on the measurement data, wherein the variance components analysis estimates standard deviation of precision;
calculating, using the processor, TMU for precision, total TMU, TMU CLI precision, and total TMU CLI; and
comparing results for the measurement data by TMU or TMU CLI using the processor.

### Claim 12 (depends on 11)

The method of claim 11, further comprising adjusting one of the manufacturing tools or one of the inspection or metrology tools based on the comparing of the results for the measurement data.

### Claim 13 (depends on 9)

The method of claim 9, wherein performing the variance components analysis, calculating the TMU, and comparing the manufacturing steps are performed continuously.

### Claim 14 (depends on 9)

The method of claim 9, further comprising adjusting the setting on at least one of the manufacturing tools or at least one of the inspection or metrology tools using the processor based on comparing the manufacturing steps by TMU and based on comparing the manufacturing steps by TMU CLI.

### Claim 15

A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium, comprising one or more programs for executing the following steps on one or more computing devices:
performing variance components analysis on production data from a plurality of manufacturing tools and a plurality of inspection or metrology tools, wherein the production data includes measurements of one or more devices manufactured using the manufacturing tools, and wherein the variance components analysis estimates tool-to-tool standard deviation and total standard deviation;
calculating total measurement uncertainty (TMU) on the production data;
comparing manufacturing steps by TMU;
calculating TMU control limit impact (CLI) on the production data, wherein TMU CLI measures measurement uncertainty on control limit width based on total process standard deviation and measurement standard deviation;
comparing manufacturing steps by TMU CU;
determining a setting on at least one of the manufacturing tools or at least one of the inspection or metrology tools based on the comparison of the manufacturing steps by TMU and the comparison of the manufacturing steps by TMU CLI; and
sending instructions to adjust the setting on at least one of the manufacturing tools or at least one of the inspection or metrology tools based on comparing the manufacturing steps by TMU and based on comparing the manufacturing steps by TMU CLI.

### Claim 16 (depends on 15)

The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 15, wherein the steps further comprise:
receiving measurement data for a test vehicle from one of the manufacturing tools or one of the inspection or metrology tools;
performing variance components analysis on the measurement data, wherein the variance components analysis estimates standard deviation of precision;
calculating TMU for precision, total TMU, TMU CLI precision, and total TMU CLI;
comparing results by TMU or TMU CLI for the measurement data; and
sending instructions to adjust a setting on at least one of the manufacturing tools or at least one of the inspection or metrology tools based on comparing the results.

### Claim 17 (depends on 15)

The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 15, wherein the steps further comprise adjusting the setting on at least one of the manufacturing tools or at least one of the inspection or metrology tools based on comparing the manufacturing steps by TMU and based on comparing the manufacturing steps by TMU CLI.