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Rudolph Technologies has received multiple orders for its Discover Enterprise fab-wide process analysis software. The orders have come from several major Japanese IC manufacturers, which have not been named.

Discover Enterprise software is designed to aid chip manufacturers in improving yield and profitability in manufacturing lines. The technology integrates and analyzes data from all inspection, metrology and test systems in the fab to provide a complete report of fab-wide yield problems. Process engineers use this data to optimize manufacturing performance and quickly identify and correct the cause of yield excursions.

Shinji Yano, general manager of Rudolph's Japan operations said, "We are particularly gratified to receive these orders from our Japanese customers, because Rudolph has worked hard to build a local organization here. We are excited to be seeing the fruits of this investment now."

"The variety of applications represented by these purchases demonstrates the range and utility of the Discover Enterprise fab-wide approach," said Mike Plisinski, Rudolph's vice president and general manager, data analysis and review business unit.

Plisinski continues, "In one case, we have a device manufacturer at an advanced technology node using Discover Enterprise to correlate backside contamination with frontside defectivity in an immersion lithography application. Another customer is developing photoresist and color filter material where the intelligent sampling algorithms and the ability to efficiently integrate inspection and review tools was a primary value-add. In a third scenario, the fab, which produces liquid crystal drivers for flat panel displays, benefited immensely from the ability of Discover Enterprise to relate bin results to process data."
Discover Enterprise links to the process equipment from tools throughout the fab, correlates electrical and other test results to inspection information, and links into existing databases such as MES/WIP, sort, bitmap, and WET/WAT.