Identifying a cause of a fault based on a process controller output

An apparatus, comprising:

• an interface adapted to receive operational data associated with processing a lot of semiconductor wafers;
• and
• a control unit communicatively coupled to the interface, the control unit adapted to:
• detect a fault based on the operational data;
• determining a plurality of possible causes of the detected fault;
• identifying a more likely possible cause out of the plurality of possible causes;
• and
• provide fault information associated with the identified more likely possible cause to a process controller that is capable of adjusting processing of a next lot of semiconductor wafers based on the fault information.

An apparatus, comprising:

• means for processing at least one workpiece under a control of a controller;
• means for detecting a fault associated with the processing of the at least one workpiece;
• means for determining a plurality of possible causes of the detected fault;
• means for identifying a more likely possible cause out of the plurality of possible causes;
• means for providing fault information associated the identified more likely possible cause to the controller;
• and
• means for adjusting the processing of at least one workpiece to be processed next based on the information provided to the controller.

An article comprising one or more machine-readable storage media containing instructions that when executed enable a processor to:

• detect a fault based on receiving operational data associated with processing of one or more wafers;
• determine a plurality of possible causes of the detected fault;
• identify a more likely possible cause out of the plurality of possible causes;
• and
• provide fault information associated with the identified more likely possible cause to a control unit that is capable of adjusting a processing of at least one of a next wafer based on the fault information.

A system, comprising:

• a processing tool adapted to provide operational data associated with a processing of one or more wafers;
• a fault detection and classification system adapted to:
• detect a fault based on the operational data;
• detect a plurality of possible fault causes of the detected fault;
• identify a more likely possible cause out of the plurality of possible causes;
• provide fault information associated with the identified more likely possible cause to the control unit;
• and
• a control unit adapted to adjust a processing of at least one wafer to be processed next based on at least one of the possible fault causes.