Fab Fingerprint for Proactive Yield Management

The following paper presents a case study describing how to improve yield and fab productivity by implementing a frequent pattern database that utilizes Artificial Intelligence based Spatial Pattern Recognition (SPR) and wafer process history. This is important because associating spatial yield issues with process and tools is often performed as a reactive analysis, resulting in increased wafer scrap or die loss that could be prevented. The implementation of fab fingerprint technology proactively generates a pareto of high impacting process steps and tools based on a pattern score, enabling the production team to concentrate more efficiently on yield limiting events.