US 12,423,486 B2
System and method for process window optimization in a virtual semiconductor device fabrication environment
William J. Egan, Framingham, MA (US); Anshuman Kunwar, Jamaica Plain, MA (US); Kenneth B. Greiner, Arlington, MA (US); and David M. Fried, South Salem, NY (US)
Assigned to Coventor, Inc., Cary, NC (US)
Filed by Coventor, Inc., Cary, NC (US)
Filed on May 8, 2020, as Appl. No. 16/870,518.
Claims priority of provisional application 62/846,402, filed on May 10, 2019.
Prior Publication US 2020/0356711 A1, Nov. 12, 2020
Int. Cl. G06F 30/20 (2020.01); G06F 111/08 (2020.01); G06F 119/22 (2020.01)
CPC G06F 30/20 (2020.01) [G06F 2111/08 (2020.01); G06F 2119/22 (2020.01)] 22 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. A non-transitory computer-readable medium holding computing device-executable instructions for performing process window optimization in a virtual fabrication environment for semiconductor device fabrication, the instructions when executed causing at least one computing device equipped with one or more processors to:
receive, for a Design of Experiment (DOE) for a semiconductor device structure to be virtually fabricated in a computing device-generated virtual fabrication environment, a selected deck of 2D design data and a process sequence that includes a plurality of process steps;
receive one or more input factors for one or more selected variable parameters for one or more of the plurality of process steps in the DOE;
perform, based on the DOE, a simulation with a uniform or approximately even type of distribution in the virtual fabrication environment, the simulation including a plurality of virtual fabrication runs, the plurality of virtual fabrication runs building a plurality of 3D models of the semiconductor device structure;
receive, via a user interface in the virtual fabrication environment, a user selection of one or more virtual metrology optimization targets, each selection of the one or more virtual metrology optimization targets accompanied by a minimum and maximum virtual metrology value;
identify in the virtual fabrication environment an optimized result indicating a yield associated with each of the one or more selected variable parameters by limiting a search space to results satisfying the minimum and maximum virtual metrology values for the virtual metrology optimization targets, wherein the yield is determined based on a percentage of the plurality of virtual fabrication runs that result in corresponding 3D models satisfying the minimum and maximum virtual metrology values; and
display or export the optimized result associated with each of the one or more selected variable parameters, wherein the displayed or exported optimized result includes an indication of a sensitivity of the yield to each of the one or more selected variable parameters and a sensitivity of the yield to a width of an input window used for selecting values of each of the one or more selected variable parameters in the plurality of virtual fabrication runs, the input window centered on a nominal value for the one or more selected variable parameters and the width of the input window indicative of an acceptable variability of the one or more selected variable parameters.