Fault detection and virtual sensor methods for tool fault monitoring

• Main Authors: REISS TERRY, LYMBEROPOULOS DIMITRIS P
• Format: Patent
• Language: English
• Published: 17.05.2005
• Edition: 7
• Subjects: BASIC ELECTRIC ELEMENTS; CLIMATE CHANGE MITIGATION TECHNOLOGIES IN THE PRODUCTION ORPROCESSING OF GOODS; CONTROL OR REGULATING SYSTEMS IN GENERAL; CONTROLLING; ELECTRIC SOLID STATE DEVICES NOT OTHERWISE PROVIDED FOR; ELECTRICITY; FUNCTIONAL ELEMENTS OF SUCH SYSTEMS; GENERAL TAGGING OF CROSS-SECTIONAL TECHNOLOGIES SPANNING OVER SEVERAL SECTIONS OF THE IPC; GENERAL TAGGING OF NEW TECHNOLOGICAL DEVELOPMENTS; MONITORING OR TESTING ARRANGEMENTS FOR SUCH SYSTEMS ORELEMENTS; PHYSICS; REGULATING; SEMICONDUCTOR DEVICES; TECHNICAL SUBJECTS COVERED BY FORMER USPC CROSS-REFERENCE ART COLLECTIONS [XRACs] AND DIGESTS; TECHNOLOGIES OR APPLICATIONS FOR MITIGATION OR ADAPTATION AGAINSTCLIMATE CHANGE

Fault detection of a semiconductor processing tool employs several techniques to improve accuracy. One technique is sensor grouping, wherein a fault detection index is calculated from a group of tool operational parameters that correlate with one another. Another technique is sensor ranking, wherein sensors are accorded different weights in calculating the fault detection index. Improved accuracy in fault detection may be accomplished by employing a variety of sensor types to predict behavior of the semiconductor processing tool. Examples of such sensor types include active sensors, cluster sensors, passive/inclusive sensors, and synthetic sensors.