SEMICONDUCTOR MANUFACTURING PROCESS MONITORING

• Main Authors: GILFFORD JEFFREY PAUL, MENSER, JR. CLAYTON DAVID
• Format: Patent
• Language: English
• Published: 29.01.2009
• Subjects: CALCULATING; CLIMATE CHANGE MITIGATION TECHNOLOGIES IN THE PRODUCTION ORPROCESSING OF GOODS; COMPUTING; CONTROL OR REGULATING SYSTEMS IN GENERAL; CONTROLLING; COUNTING; ELECTRIC DIGITAL DATA PROCESSING; 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; TECHNICAL SUBJECTS COVERED BY FORMER USPC CROSS-REFERENCE ART COLLECTIONS [XRACs] AND DIGESTS; TECHNOLOGIES OR APPLICATIONS FOR MITIGATION OR ADAPTATION AGAINSTCLIMATE CHANGE

A system and method for monitoring a semiconductor manufacturing process is disclosed. The system communicates with one or more process tools, and monitors each tool during a predetermined process window time. Errors and warnings are provided to users, allowing corrective action to be taken. Additionally, the system of the present invention can initiate automatic adjustment of the process tools to maintain an efficient manufacturing operation.