Built-in self test for a thermal processing system
AssigneeTokyo Electron Limited
InventorsSanjeev Kaushal, Pradeep Pandey, Kenji Sugishima
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Abstract
A method of creating and/or modifying a built-in self test (BIST) table for monitoring a thermal processing system in real-time that includes positioning a plurality of wafers in a processing chamber in the thermal processing system; executing a real-time dynamic model to generate a predicted dynamic process response; creating a measured dynamic process response; determining a dynamic estimation error; determining if the determined dynamic estimation error can be associated with a pre-existing BIST rule in the BIST table; creating a new BIST rule when the dynamic estimation error cannot be associated with any pre-existing BIST rule in the BIST table; and stopping the process when a new BIST rule cannot be created.
Claims29
A method of creating and/or modifying a built-in self test (BIST) table for monitoring a thermal processing system in real-time, comprising:
- positioning a plurality of wafers at different heights in a processing chamber in the thermal processing system;
- creating a measured dynamic pre-processing process response while subjecting the plurality of wafers to a pre-processing process, wherein at least one first process parameter is changed from a first value to a second value within operating limits established for the pre-processing process;
- executing a pre-processing real-time dynamic model to generate a predicted dynamic pre-processing process response for the plurality of wafers when the at least one first process parameter is changed from the first value to the second value;
- determining a pre-processing dynamic estimation error for the pre-processing process using a difference between the predicted dynamic pre-processing process response and the measured dynamic pre-processing process response;
- and
- determining if the pre-processing dynamic estimation error can be associated with a pre-existing first BIST rule in the BIST table having one or more pre-existing first operational thresholds and first warning thresholds, and when the pre-processing dynamic estimation error cannot be associated with any pre-existing first BIST rule in the BIST table, either
- creating a new first BIST rule for the pre-processing process, or
- stopping the pre-processing process when a new first BIST rule cannot be created.
A computer-readable medium containing computer-executable instructions executable by a controller for:
- positioning a plurality of wafers at different heights in a processing chamber in the thermal processing system;
- creating a measured dynamic pre-processing process response while subjecting the plurality of wafers to a pre-processing process, wherein at least one first process parameter is changed from a first value to a second value within operating limits established for the pre-processing process;
- executing a pre-processing real-time dynamic model to generate a predicted dynamic pre-processing process response for the plurality of wafers when the at least one first process parameter is changed from the first value to the second value;
- determining a pre-processing dynamic estimation error for the pre-processing process using a difference between the predicted dynamic pre-processing process response and the measured dynamic pre-processing process response;
- and
- determining if the pre-processing dynamic estimation error can be associated with a pre-existing first BIST rule in the BIST table having one or more pre-existing first operational thresholds and first warning thresholds, and when the pre-processing dynamic estimation error cannot be associated with any pre-existing first BIST rule in the BIST table, either
- creating a new first BIST rule for the pre-processing process, or
- stopping the pre-processing process when a new first BIST rule cannot be created.
A method of operating a controller in a thermal processing system configured to process a substrate, the method comprising the steps of:
- instructing the thermal processing system to position a plurality of wafers at different heights in a processing chamber in the thermal processing system;
- instructing the thermal processing system to create a measured dynamic pre-processing process response while subjecting the plurality of wafers to a pre-processing process, wherein at least one first process parameter is changed from a first value to a second value within operating limits established for the pre-processing process;
- instructing the thermal processing system to execute a pre-processing real-time dynamic model to generate a predicted dynamic pre-processing process response for the plurality of wafers when the at least one first process parameter is changed from the first value to the second value;
- instructing the thermal processing system to determine a pre-processing dynamic estimation error for the pre-processing process using a difference between the predicted dynamic pre-processing process response and the measured dynamic pre-processing process response;
- instructing the processing system to determine if the pre-processing dynamic estimation error can be associated with a pre-existing first BIST rule in the BIST table having one or more pre-existing first operational thresholds and first warning thresholds, and when the pre-processing dynamic estimation error cannot be associated with any pre-existing first BIST rule in the BIST table, either
- instructing the processing system to create a new first BIST rule for the pre-processing process, or
- instructing the processing system to stop the pre-processing process when a new first BIST rule cannot be created.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.