US 12,112,107 B2
Virtual metrology for wafer result prediction
Jun Shinagawa, Fremont, CA (US); Megan Wooley, Austin, TX (US); Toshihiro Kitao, Austin, TX (US); and Carlos Fonseca, Austin, TX (US)
Assigned to Tokyo Electron Limited, Tokyo (JP)
Filed by Tokyo Electron Limited, Tokyo (JP)
Filed on Sep. 18, 2020, as Appl. No. 17/025,651.
Prior Publication US 2022/0092242 A1, Mar. 24, 2022
Int. Cl. G06F 30/33 (2020.01); G06F 111/10 (2020.01)
CPC G06F 30/33 (2020.01) [G06F 2111/10 (2020.01)] 12 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. A method for wafer result prediction and root cause analysis, comprising:
before a failure occurs, executing a plasma etching process;
collecting first data of the plasma etching process:
determining predictor parameters of the plasma etching process using domain knowledge including knowledge of the plasma etching process, a plasma etching tool associated with the plasma etching process, a metrology tool, and/or the wafer;
removing collinearity among the predictor parameters to obtain key predictor parameters;
collecting metrology data of the wafer using the metrology tool, the metrology data related to the plasma etching process;
selecting a subset of the key predictor parameters based on the metrology data of the wafer;
building a virtual metrology (VM) model on the subset of the key predictor parameters; and
predicting wafer results of the plasma etching process using the VM model,
wherein determining the predictor parameters comprises determining a first subgroup of predictor parameters using domain knowledge, the first subgroup of predictor parameters expected to affect wafer results; and determining a second subgroup of predictor parameters based on Design of Experiments (DOE) and domain knowledge, the second subgroup of predictor parameters being a subset of the first subgroup of predictor parameters and known to affect wafer results,
after the failure occurs, executing the plasma etching process; and
collecting second data of the plasma etching process;
identifying a parameter associated with a root cause of the failure using the VM model, the first data and the second data;
fixing the failure by adjusting the parameter; and
executing the plasma etching process using the parameter adjusted.