# US 2021/0242095 A1 · Semiconductor manufacturing equipment and semiconductor manufacturing method > Agents: this data is available as JSON from the patentgrep API and MCP server — see https://patentgrep.com/llms.txt - Number: US 2021/0242095 A1 - Document ID: US20210242095A1 - Status: Published application - Kind: A1 - Application number: 17/235,053 - Filed: 2021-04-20 - Published: 2021-08-05 - Earliest claimed: 2019-05-17 - Assignees: Mitsubishi Electric Corporation - Applicants: Mitsubishi Electric Corporation - Inventors: Hiroshi TANAKA - Web page: https://patentgrep.com/patent/US20210242095A1 ## CPC - H10P 74/203: {Structural properties, e.g. testing or measuring thicknesses, line widths, warpage, bond strengths or physical defects} - G01B 3/004: {Scales; Graduations} - H10P 72/0604: {Process monitoring, e.g. flow or thickness monitoring} - H10P: GENERIC PROCESSES OR APPARATUS FOR THE MANUFACTURE OR TREATMENT OF DEVICES COVERED BY CLASS H10 - G01B: MEASURING LENGTH, THICKNESS OR SIMILAR LINEAR DIMENSIONS; MEASURING ANGLES; MEASURING AREAS; MEASURING IRREGULARITIES OF SURFACES OR CONTOURS ## Abstract Semiconductor manufacturing equipment includes a thickness calculation function, the thickness calculation function including a measurement value acquisition unit configured to acquire a plurality of measurement values at different measurement positions of the wafer from a thickness measurement function configured to measure a thickness of the wafer, a histogram data creation unit configured to create histogram data based on the plurality of measurement values, and a grade group extraction unit configured to extract a grade group from the histogram data, the grade group including sequential grades having frequencies equal to or greater than a predetermined frequency, the thickness calculation function further including a representative value calculation unit configured to calculate a representative value of a thickness of a measurement region based on the grades included in the extracted grade group. ## Claims ### Claim 1 Semiconductor manufacturing equipment configured to perform processing for manufacturing a semiconductor on a wafer, the semiconductor manufacturing equipment comprising a thickness calculation function, the thickness calculation function including a measurement value acquisition unit configured to acquire a plurality of measurement values at different measurement positions of the wafer from a thickness measurement function configured to measure a thickness of the wafer or a thickness measurement object deposited on the wafer along a surface of the wafer, a histogram data creation unit configured to create histogram data based on the plurality of measurement values, and a grade group extraction unit configured to extract a grade group from the histogram data, the grade group including sequential grades having frequencies equal to or greater than a predetermined frequency, the thickness calculation function further including a representative value calculation unit configured to calculate a representative value of a thickness of a measurement region based on the grades included in the extracted grade group. ### Claim 2 (depends on 1) The semiconductor manufacturing equipment according to claim 1, wherein the representative value calculation unit is configured to calculate the representative value based on the grades included in the grade group including a largest grade. ### Claim 3 (depends on 1) The semiconductor manufacturing equipment according to claim 1, wherein the representative value calculation unit is configured to calculate the representative value based on the grades included in the grade group including a smallest grade. ### Claim 4 (depends on 1) The semiconductor manufacturing equipment according to claim 1, wherein the representative value calculation unit is configured to calculate the representative value based on the grades included in the grade group including a largest grade, and configured to calculate a value obtained by subtracting a predetermined thickness value from the calculated representative value as a substitute value of the representative value to be calculated based on the grade included in the grade group including a smallest grade. ### Claim 5 (depends on 1) The semiconductor manufacturing equipment according to claim 1, wherein the representative value calculation unit is configured to calculate the representative value based on the grades included in the grade group including a smallest grade, and configured to calculate a value obtained by adding a predetermined thickness value to the calculated representative value as a substitute value of the representative value to be calculated based on the grade included in the grade group including a largest grade. ### Claim 6 (depends on 1) The semiconductor manufacturing equipment according to claim 1, wherein the representative value calculation unit is configured to set the representation value by dividing a sum of values each obtained by multiplying a median of each grade in the grade group by the frequency of the grade by a sum of the frequencies included in the grade group. ### Claim 7 (depends on 1) The semiconductor manufacturing equipment according to claim 1, wherein the representative value calculation unit is configured to set an average value of a median of the largest grade and a median of the smallest grade as the representative value. ### Claim 8 (depends on 1) The semiconductor manufacturing equipment according to claim 1, wherein the representative value calculation unit is configured to set a median of the grade having a largest frequency as the representative value in the grade group. ### Claim 9 (depends on 1) The semiconductor manufacturing equipment according to claim 1, wherein, in the grade group including the largest grade, the representative value calculation unit is configured to set a median of the grade at the boundary where the frequencies change from increase to decrease from a larger grade side. ### Claim 10 (depends on 1) The semiconductor manufacturing equipment according to claim 1, wherein, in the grade group including the smallest grade, the representative value calculation unit is configured to set a median of the grade at the boundary where the frequencies change from increase to decrease from a smaller grade side. ### Claim 11 (depends on 1) The semiconductor manufacturing equipment according to claim 1, wherein the representative value calculation unit is configured to calculate the representative value based on a grade newly set from the largest grade included in the grade group to the smaller grade side, that is included in a grade range that is wide on a grade side smaller than the grade group. ### Claim 12 (depends on 1) The semiconductor manufacturing equipment according to claim 1, wherein the representative value calculation unit is configured to calculate the representative value based on a grade newly set from the smallest grade included in the grade group to the largest grade side, that is included in a grade range that is wide on a grade side larger than the grade group. ### Claim 13 (depends on 1) The semiconductor manufacturing equipment according to claim 1, wherein the representative value calculation unit is configured to calculate the representative value based on a grade newly set from the largest grade included in the grade group to the smaller grade side, that is included in a grade range that is narrow on a grade side smaller than the grade group. ### Claim 14 (depends on 1) The semiconductor manufacturing equipment according to claim 1, wherein, the representative value calculation unit is configured to calculate the representative value based on a grade newly set from the smallest grade included in the grade group to the larger grade side, that is included in a grade range that is narrow on a grade side larger than the grade group. ### Claim 15 (depends on 1) The semiconductor manufacturing equipment according to claim 1, wherein the thickness calculation function further includes an etching thickness determination unit, wherein the measurement value acquisition unit is configured to acquire a plurality of measurement values measured on the thickness measurement object before etching is performed thereon, wherein the measurement value acquisition unit is configured to acquire the plurality of measurement values measured on the thickness measurement object after the etching is performed thereon, wherein the representative value calculation unit is configured to calculate the representative values of the thickness measurement object for each before and after the etching based on the grade included in the grade group, and the etching thickness determination unit is configured to determine whether the thickness measurement object has been etched to a predetermined thickness based on the representative values of the thickness of the thickness measurement object before and after the etching. ### Claim 16 (depends on 1) The semiconductor manufacturing equipment according to claim 1, wherein the thickness calculation function further includes a film thickness determination unit, wherein the measurement value acquisition unit is configured to acquire the plurality of measurement values measured on the thickness measurement object before film deposition is performed, wherein the measurement value acquisition unit is configured to acquire the plurality of measurement values measured on the thickness measurement object after the film deposition is performed, wherein the representative value calculation unit is configured to calculate the representative values of the thickness measurement object for each before and after film deposition process based on the grade included in the grade group, and the film thickness determination unit is configured to determine whether the film deposition has been performed as predetermined based on the representative values of the thickness of the thickness measurement object before and after the film deposition process.