Method for controlling a semiconductor manufacturing process by failure analysis feedback

Abstract

A method for controlling a semiconductor manufacturing process by failure analysis feedback compares a previous failure analysis result with current real-time process conditions. The method uses the steps of: a) establishing a monitoring data base with abnormal process condition data, the abnormal process condition data being obtained by a correlation between a yield for each manufactured lot and corresponding process conditions for semiconductor equipment when the yield is lowered or semiconductor equipment malfunctions have occurred; b) establishing an equipment data base by obtaining real-time process conditions for on-line semiconductor equipment; c) comparing the real-time process conditions for the on-line semiconductor equipment with the abnormal process conditions of the monitoring data base; and d) stopping the operation of the on-line semiconductor equipment when differences between the real-time and abnormal process conditions fall below a predetermined level.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.