Methods, systems, and computer program products for product randomization and analysis in a manufacturing environment

A system for implementing product randomization and analysis in a manufacturing environment, comprising:

• a host system computer;
• and
• a product randomization application executing on the host system computer, the product randomization application implementing a method, comprising:
• processing products for a plurality of lots, at process equipment, using a randomization technique for selecting each product in the lots, the processing performed in accordance with a process recipe;
• generating an operation identification record for each operation in the process recipe, the generating including mapping, for each operation, a slot identifier associated with a randomly selected product to a process variable identifier, a process tool, and the operation;
• defining slot groupings using slot identifiers for a product carrier of each of the plurality of lots;
• identifying product yield patterns by analyzing historical yields for each of the slot groupings;
• and
• determining the frequency of occurrence of one or more product yield patterns for each operation in the process recipe by analyzing product yields from the operation identification records corresponding to the plurality of lots.

A computer program product for implementing product randomization and analysis in a manufacturing environment, the computer program product including instructions, the instructions, when executed by a computer, implement a method, comprising:

• processing products for a plurality of lots, at process equipment, using a randomization technique for selecting each product in the lots, the processing performed in accordance with a process recipe;
• generating an operation identification record for each operation in the process recipe, the generating including mapping, for each operation, a slot identifier associated with a randomly selected product to a process variable identifier, a process tool, and the operation;
• defining slot groupings using slot identifiers for a product carrier of each of the plurality of lots;
• identifying product yield patterns by analyzing historical yields for each of the slot groupings;
• and
• determining the frequency of occurrence of one or more product yield patterns for each operation in the process recipe by analyzing product yields from the operation identification records corresponding to the plurality of lots.