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US 6,556,884 B1Granted
Method and apparatus for interfacing a statistical process control system with a manufacturing process control framework
AssigneeAdvanced Micro Devices, Inc.
InventorsMichael L. Miller, Anatasia L. Oshelski, William J. Campbell
Life of this patent
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Abstract
The present invention provides for a method and an apparatus for interfacing a statistical process control system with a manufacturing control system. A manufacturing model is defined. A processing run of semiconductor devices is processed in a manufacturing facility as defined by the manufacturing model. An advanced process control analysis is performed on the processed semiconductor devices. A statistical process control analysis is performed on the processed semiconductor devices. The manufacturing facility is modified in response to the advanced process control analysis and the statistical process control analysis.
Claims44
A method, comprising:
- defining a manufacturing model;
- processing semiconductor devices in a manufacturing facility as defined by said manufacturing model;
- performing a process control analysis on the processed semiconductor devices using a process controller, said process control analysis comprising acquiring metrology data relating to said processing of semiconductor devices;
- performing a statistical process control analysis on said processed semiconductor devices using an SPC controller;
- interfacing said process controller and said SPC controller;
- and
- modifying said manufacturing model in response to said process control analysis and said statistical process control analysis, during at least a portion of the time period when said semiconductor devices are processed.
4 more elements
A system, comprising:
- a processing controller;
- a processing tool coupled with said processing controller;
- a metrology tool interfaced with said processing tool;
- a communications interface coupled with said processing controller, said communications interface being capable of sending feedback signals to said processing controller;
- a control modification data calculation unit interfaced with said metrology and connected to said communications interface in a feedback manner for performing feedback adjustments;
- a predictor function interfaced with said processing controller;
- an statistical process control analysis unit interfaced with said predictor function and said processing tool;
- and
- a results versus prediction analysis unit interfaced with said statistical process control analysis unit and connected to said communications interface in a feedback manner for performing feedback adjustments.
6 more elements
An apparatus, comprising:
- a manufacturing facility capable of manufacturing semiconductor devices;
- an automatic process control manufacturing framework coupled with said manufacturing facility, said automatic process control manufacturing framework being capable of performing fine-tune adjustments to said manufacturing facility;
- a statistical process control manufacturing framework coupled with said manufacturing facility, said automatic process control manufacturing framework being capable of performing large scale adjustments to said manufacturing facility;
- and
- a communications interface coupled with said automatic process control manufacturing framework and said statistical process control manufacturing framework, wherein said communication interface facilitates communication between said automatic process control manufacturing framework and said statistical process control manufacturing framework.
2 more elements
An apparatus for monitoring controller performance using statistical process control analysis, comprising:
- means for defining a manufacturing model;
- means for processing semiconductor devices in a manufacturing facility as defined by said manufacturing model;
- means for performing a process control analysis on the processed semiconductor devices using a process controller, said process control analysis comprising acquiring metrology data relating to said processing of semiconductor devices;
- means for performing a statistical process control analysis on said processed semiconductor devices using an SPC controller;
- means for interfacing said process controller and said SPC controller;
- and
- means for modifying said manufacturing model in response to said process control analysis and said statistical process control analysis during at least a portion of the time period when said semiconductor devices are processed.
4 more elements
A computer readable program storage device encoded with instructions that, when executed by a computer, performs a method, comprising:
- defining a manufacturing model;
- processing semiconductor devices in a manufacturing facility as defined by said manufacturing model;
- performing a process control analysis on the processed semiconductor devices using a process controller, said process control analysis comprising acquiring metrology data relating to said processing of semiconductor devices;
- performing a statistical process control analysis on said processed semiconductor devices using an SPC controller;
- interfacing said process controller and said SPC controller;
- and
- modifying said manufacturing model in response to said process control analysis and said. statistical process control analysis, during at least a portion of the time period when said semiconductor devices are processed.
4 more elements
A method, comprising:
- providing a process controller to control processing of a semiconductor wafer;
- processing said semiconductor wafer;
- providing a Statistical Process Control (SPC) controller to perform a SPC analysis;
- interfacing said SPC controller with said process controller;
- and
- performing substantially concurrent fault detection and process control based upon said interfacing of said SPC controller and said process controller, during at least a portion of the time during processing of a semiconductor wafer.
3 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.