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New Product: Straatum upgrades FDC software to virtual metrology status |
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Sep 18, 2006 at 03:38 PM |
 Product Briefing Outline: Straatum Processware has made further important upgrades to its real-time fault detection and classification (FDC) software for semiconductor manufacturing. ‘Imprint MX3,' is a powerful, new version of its knowledge-based system for FDC with expanded advanced process control (APC) applications.
Problem: Increasing pressures on chipmakers to maximize equipment run
time and improve wafer yields, especially during the migration to 300mm
production and sub-100nm geometries, has meant that immediate reporting
of a tool or process failure is a key requirement. Without it, product
wafer loss through mis-processing is inevitable. Reducing the
dependence on test wafers for process monitoring in volume production
environments can improve cost of ownership.
Solution: Imprint
MX3 extends the platform's capabilities beyond FDC. The system now
enables expanded APC applications and is a platform for virtual
metrology, which further boosts chipmakers' ROI. The new system
processes data from multiple advanced sensors, including broadband
radio-frequency (RF) and broadband optical sensors, as if the data came
from one "super" sensor. This capability significantly heightens
sensitivity to yield-impacting excursions and drift that can affect
semiconductor tools. For example, Imprint MX3 enables gas-drift
sensitivity as low as 3 percent, compared to 10 percent with only RF
sensors. It also offers the capability of transferring fault libraries
across multiple tools or chambers running the same process, either at
the same site or between sites.
Applications: high-volume
manufacturing of logic, DRAM and flash devices, where real-time
detection and prevention of problems can result in substantial economic
benefits.
Platform: The product brings together advanced
pattern-recognition and statistical mathematical techniques with
best-of-breed sensor technology to provide robust real-time FDC. In
knowledge-based fault detection and classification (FDC), a
multi-dimensional sensor-space fingerprint of the process-state is
constructed. A comparison is made, in real-time, between the current
sensor-space fingerprint and a known good baseline state. Deviations
can be reported in two ways, determined by the user. Firstly, any
statistical deviation from the baseline condition can be flagged as a
warning, requiring interdiction or further investigation. Secondly, the
fingerprint is also compared, in real-time, with a set of know fault
condition fingerprints, stored in the FDC ‘Fault Library.' Both
indicators are multiplexed to the ‘Process Index,' the real-time
process state indicator. A match with a known fault condition offers
immediate fault classification.
Availability: July 2006 onwards.
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Product Briefings 
