Defect detection process in a semiconductor manufacturing environment

A process for detecting foreign particle and scratch defects on a plurality of semiconductor products comprising:

• (a) detecting foreign particle and scratch defects on the plurality of semiconductor products;
• (b) transferring the plurality of semiconductor products to a wafer carrier;
• (c) docking the wafer carrier to a load port of a multi-port semiconductor processing tool;
• (d) opening a door of the wafer carrier;
• (e) transferring the plurality of semiconductor products from the wafer carrier through the load port to an interior of the multi-port semiconductor processing tool;
• (f) moving the semiconductor products through the interior of the multi-port processing tool without performing a processing operation on the semiconductor products that alters the semiconductor products to another load port of the multi-port semiconductor processing tool;
• (g) transferring the plurality of semiconductor products from the another load port to another wafer carrier;
• (h) closing a door of the another wafer carrier;
• (i) undocking the another wafer carrier from the another load port;
• (j) docking the another wafer carrier to the another load;
• (k) repeating the processes of (e) to (j) until the semiconductor products have been moved to any remaining load ports of the multi-port semiconductor processing tool and transferred to an remaining wafer carriers corresponding to the remaining load ports;
• and
• (l) detecting foreign particle and scratch defects on the semiconductor products and comparing to the foreign particle defects on the semiconductor products prior to placing the plurality of semiconductor products in the first wafer carrier.

A computer program product for detecting foreign particle and scratch defects on a plurality of semiconductor products, the computer program product comprising:

• a computer readable storage medium having computer readable program code embodied therewith, the computer readable program code comprising:
• (a) computer readable program code configured to detect foreign particle and scratch defects on the plurality of semiconductor products;
• (b) computer readable program code configured to transfer the plurality of semiconductor products to a wafer carrier;
• (c) computer readable program code configured to dock the wafer carrier to a load port of a multi-port semiconductor processing tool;
• (d) computer readable program code configured to open a door of the wafer carrier;
• (e) computer readable program code configured to transfer the plurality of semiconductor products from the wafer carrier through the load port to an interior of the multi-port semiconductor processing tool;
• (f) computer readable program code configured to move the semiconductor products through the interior of the multi-port processing tool without performing a processing operation on the semiconductor products that alters the semiconductor products to another load port of the multi-port semiconductor processing tool;
• (g) computer readable program code configured to transfer the plurality of semiconductor products from the another load port to another wafer carrier;
• (h) computer readable program code configured to close a door of the another wafer carrier;
• (i) computer readable program code configured to undock the another wafer carrier from the another load port;
• (j) computer readable program code configured to dock the another wafer carrier to the another load;
• (k) computer readable program code configured to repeat the processes of (e) to (j) until the semiconductor products have been moved to any remaining load ports of the multi-port semiconductor processing tool and transferred to an remaining wafer carriers corresponding to the remaining load ports;
• and
• (l) computer readable program code configured to detect foreign particle and scratch defects on the semiconductor products and compare to the foreign particle defects on the semiconductor products prior to placing the plurality of semiconductor products in the wafer carrier.