Method for determining, tracking and/or controlling processing based upon silicon characteristics

A method, comprising:

• providing a group of wafers, each wafer having a plurality of wafer characteristics;
• identifying a semiconductor device type to be manufactured;
• providing said plurality of wafer characteristics and identified semiconductor device type to a controller that selects a plurality of wafers from said group of wafers based upon the semiconductor device type to be manufactured and at least one wafer characteristic of said plurality of wafer characteristics;
• and
• manufacturing a plurality of said identified semiconductor devices on said selected plurality of said wafers.

A method, comprising:

• providing a group of wafers, each wafer having an identification mark;
• performing a plurality of process operations on each of said wafers to form a plurality of integrated circuit devices thereabove;
• performing at least one metrology test at some point after at least one of said process operations have been performed to produce device metrology data;
• identifying wafers wherein said device metrology data lies outside of a preselected acceptable range;
• and
• identifying, based upon said wafer identification mark and said device metrology data, a source of said wafers wherein said device metrology data lies outside of said preselected acceptable range.

A method, comprising:

• providing a group of wafers, each wafer having an identification mark;
• performing a plurality of process operations on each of said wafers to form a plurality of integrated circuit devices thereabove;
• performing at least one metrology test at some point after at least one of said process operations have been performed to produce device metrology data;
• and
• providing said device metrology data and said wafer identification mark to a controller, said controller performing the steps of:
• identifying wafers wherein said device metrology data lies outside of a preselected acceptable range;
• and
• identifying, based upon said wafer identification mark and said device metrology data, a source of said wafers wherein said device metrology data lies outside of said preselected acceptable range.

A method, comprising:

• providing a plurality of wafers, said wafers having an identification mark and a plurality of wafer characteristics;
• storing said wafer identification marks and wafer characteristics associated with said wafer identification marks in a database;
• providing at least one of said wafers to a processing tool;
• accessing said database to determine at least one of said wafer characteristics of said at least one wafer provided to said processing tool;
• and
• determining at least one parameter of a process operation to be performed on said at least one wafer in said processing tool based upon said determined at least one wafer characteristic of said at least one wafer provided to said processing tool.

A method, comprising:

• providing a plurality of wafers, said wafers having an identification mark and a plurality of wafer characteristics;
• storing said wafer identification marks and wafer characteristics associated with said wafer identification marks in a database;
• providing at least one of said wafers to a processing tool;
• and
• providing a controller that performs the steps of:
• accessing said database to determine at least one of said wafer characteristics of said at least one wafer provided to said processing tool;
• and
• determining at least one parameter of a process operation to be performed on said at least one wafer in said processing tool based upon said determined at least one wafer characteristic of said at least one wafer provided to said processing tool.