System, apparatus, and method for spectral filtering

An apparatus for processing spectral data, comprising:

• a memory having operating instructions corresponding to an algorithm for identifying one or more anomalous signals;
• and
• one or more processors configured to perform one or more operations according to the operating instructions, including:
• receiving temporally separated spectral data samples;
• and
• identifying the one or more anomalous signals in an intermediate one of the temporally separated spectral data samples based on at least one preceding and at least one subsequent ones of the spectral data samples, wherein the identifying includes comparing a difference, which is between elements of the intermediate one of the temporally separated spectral data sample and a mean of corresponding elements of the at least one preceding and at least one subsequent ones of the spectral data samples, to an intensity threshold value corresponding to a number of counts.

A system for identifying anomalous signals, comprising:

• a processing tool;
• and
• an apparatus that receives optical data from a semiconductor process performed within the processing tool and converts the optical data to spectral data, the apparatus including:
• a memory having operating instructions corresponding to an algorithm for identifying one or more anomalous signals;
• and
• one or more processors configured to perform one or more operations according to the operating instructions, including:
• receiving temporally separated spectral data samples;
• and
• identifying the one or more anomalous signals in an intermediate one of the temporally separated spectral data samples based on at least one preceding and at least one subsequent ones of the spectral data samples, wherein the identifying includes comparing a difference, which is between elements of the intermediate one of the temporally separated spectral data sample and a mean of corresponding elements of the at least one preceding and at least one subsequent ones of the spectral data samples, to an intensity threshold value corresponding to a number of counts.