Abnormality cause specifying method, abnormality cause specifying system, and semiconductor device fabrication method

An abnormality cause specifying system comprising:

• a data acquisition unit which acquires, for each fabrication lot, a plurality of types of inspection data in a plurality of fabrication steps of a product fabrication process;
• a feature amount generator which generates a feature amount by standardizing the inspection data for each type;
• a trial data set generator which generates, for each fabrication lot, a trial data set by selecting the feature amount corresponding to the inspection data of a type on an adoption level for each trial experiment in a two-level orthogonal table, by using two levels of the two-level orthogonal table as the adoption level and a non-adoption level of a type of inspection data, and using a factor of the two-level orthogonal table as a type of inspection data;
• a trial similarity calculator which calculates, for the trial data set, a trial similarity representing a degree of similarity between the fabrication lots;
• a trial set generator which generates, for each fabrication lot, a trial set by extracting another fabrication lot whose trial similarity is not less than a threshold value;
• a step test value calculator which calculates, for each trial experiment and for each fabrication step, a step test value representing a degree of a causal relation of the fabrication lot forming the trial set to a plurality of fabrication apparatuses provided in a fabrication step, the step test value being a value indicating which fabrication apparatus of the plurality of fabrication apparatuses is used for the fabrication lot forming the test set;
• a maximum test value setting unit which sets, for each trial experiment, a step test value whose degree of a nominal-the-best characteristic is the largest of the trial set as a maximum test value;
• an optimum data set generator which generates, for each fabrication lot, an optimum data set including the feature amount corresponding to the type of inspection data for which the adoption level is selected, on the basis of a factorial effect diagram for optimizing the nominal-the-best characteristic of the maximum test value by using the adoption level and the non-adoption level of each type;
• an optimum similarity calculator which calculates, for the optimum data set, an optimum similarity representing a degree of similarity between the fabrication lots;
• an optimum set generator which generates, for each fabrication lot, an optimum set by extracting another fabrication lot whose optimum similarity is not less than a threshold value;
• an optimum test value calculator which calculates, for each fabrication step, an optimum test value representing a degree of a causal relation of the fabrication lot forming the optimum set to a plurality of fabrication apparatuses provided in the fabrication step, the optimum test value being a value indicating which fabrication apparatus of the plurality of fabrication apparatuses is used for the fabrication lot forming the optimum set;
• a determination unit which determines, for each optimum set, whether the causal relation of the optimum set to the fabrication apparatuses is significant, on the basis of the optimum test value;
• and
• an extractor which extracts, for each optimum set, the fabrication apparatus as an object of the causal relation found to be significant, as an abnormality cause.

A semiconductor device fabrication method comprising:

• fabricating a semiconductor device as a product;
• performing an abnormality cause specifying method for the semiconductor device, the abnormality cause specifying method comprising
• acquiring, for each fabrication lot, a plurality of types of inspection data in a plurality of fabrication steps of a product fabrication process,
• generating a feature amount by standardizing the inspection data for each type, generating, for each fabrication lot, a trial data set by selecting the feature amount corresponding to the inspection data of a type on an adoption level for each trial experiment in a two-level orthogonal table, by using two levels of the two-level orthogonal table as the adoption level and a non-adoption level of a type of inspection data, and using a factor of the two-level orthogonal table as a type of inspection data,
• calculating, for the trial data set, a trial similarity representing a degree of similarity between the fabrication lots,
• generating, for each fabrication lot, a trial set by extracting another fabrication lot whose trial similarity is not less than a threshold value,
• calculating, for each trial experiment and for each fabrication step, a step test value representing a degree of a causal relation of the fabrication lot forming the trial set to a plurality of fabrication apparatuses provided in a fabrication step, the step test value being a value indicating which fabrication apparatus of the plurality of fabrication apparatuses is used for the fabrication lot forming the test set,
• setting, for each trial experiment, a step test value whose degree of a nominal-the-best characteristic is the largest of the trial set as a trial experiment test value,
• generating, for each fabrication lot, an optimum data set including the feature amount corresponding to the type of inspection data for which the adoption level is selected, on the basis of a factorial effect diagram for optimizing the nominal-the-best characteristic of the trial experiment test value by using the adoption level and the non-adoption level of each type,
• calculating, for the optimum data set, an optimum similarity representing a degree of similarity between the fabrication lots,
• generating, for each fabrication lot, an optimum set by extracting another fabrication lot whose optimum similarity is not less than a threshold value,
• calculating, for each fabrication step, an optimum test value representing a degree of a causal relation of the fabrication lot forming the optimum set to a plurality of fabrication apparatuses provided in the fabrication step, the optimum test value being a value indicating which fabrication apparatus of the plurality of fabrication apparatuses is used for the fabrication lot forming the optimum set,
• determining, for each optimum set, whether the causal relation of the optimum set to the fabrication apparatuses is significant, on the basis of the optimum test value, and extracting, for each optimum set, the fabrication apparatus as an object of the causal relation found to be significant, as an abnormality cause;
• extracting, by an extractor, for each optimum set, the inspection data related to a fabrication step in which the fabrication apparatus as the abnormality cause is used, as abnormality data;
• and
• adjusting the fabrication apparatus extracted as the abnormality cause such that the abnormality data is corrected.