Generating risk inventory and common process window for adjustment of manufacturing tool

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10401837-B2
Application number	US-201715719680-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Sep 29, 2017
Priority date	Sep 29, 2017
Publication date	Sep 3, 2019
Grant date	Sep 3, 2019

Abstract

A method disclosed herein includes: converting an image of a manufactured circuit to a plurality of representative contours, the plurality of representative contours corresponding to printed features in the manufactured circuit; generating a risk inventory for the manufactured circuit based on the plurality of representative contours, the risk inventory being configured to identify at least one process sensitive geometry (PSG) in the manufactured circuit; generating a common process window (CPW) for the manufactured circuit based on the plurality of representative contours and the risk inventory, the CPW being indicative of manufacturing reliability of each feature in the manufactured circuit; and generating instructions to adjust a manufacturing tool for creating the manufactured circuit, based on the generated CPW.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method comprising:
converting an image of a manufactured circuit to a plurality of representative contours, the plurality of representative contours corresponding to printed features in the manufactured circuit, by actions including:
detecting a set of coarse edges within the image of the manufactured circuit,
calculating edge separation distances between the detected set of coarse edges within the image of the manufactured circuit, and
correlating the calculated edge separation distances with a specification of the manufactured circuit to yield the plurality of representative contours;

generating a risk inventory for the manufactured circuit based on the plurality of representative contours, the risk inventory being configured to identify at least one process sensitive geometry (PSG) in the manufactured circuit;
generating a common process window (CPW) for the manufactured circuit based on the plurality of representative contours and the risk inventory, the CPW being indicative of manufacturing reliability of each feature in the manufactured circuit; and
generating instructions to adjust a manufacturing tool for creating the manufactured circuit, based on the generated CPW.

2. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
adjusting the manufacturing tool with the generated instructions, wherein the manufacturing tool comprises one of an etching system and a lithography system.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the generating of the risk inventory for the manufactured circuit is further based on a set of predetermined manufacturing risks of the manufactured circuit.

4. The method of claim 3 , wherein the set of predetermined manufacturing risks includes a PSG identified from a specification for the manufactured circuit.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein the generating of the common process window (CPW) for the manufactured circuit based on the plurality of representative contours and the risk inventory includes:
selecting a pair of reference points corresponding to the at least one PSG in the risk inventory;
calculating a separation metric for the pair of reference points in the plurality of representative contours;
determining whether the separation metric violates a critical dimension (CD) for the manufactured circuit; and
generating the CPW for the manufactured circuit based on whether the separation metric for the at least one PSG violates the CD.

6. The method of claim 5 , wherein the calculating of the separation metric for the pair of reference points further includes:
converting the pair of reference points to a distribution zone having the pair of reference points therein;
calculating a group of separation distances for the at least one PSG across the distribution zone; and
converting the group of separation distances to the separation metric for the pair of reference points, wherein the separation metric includes one of a minimum separation distance in the distribution zone, a maximum separation distance in the distribution zone, or an average separation distance in the distribution zone.

7. A computer program product stored on a non-transitory computer readable medium, the computer program product comprising program code, which when being executed by at least one computing device, causes the at least one computing device to perform actions including:
converting an image of a manufactured circuit to a plurality of representative contours, the plurality of representative contours corresponding to printed features in the manufactured circuit, wherein the converting includes:
detecting a set of coarse edges within the image of the manufactured circuit,
calculating edge separation distances between the detected set of coarse edges within the image of the manufactured circuit, and
correlating the calculated edge separation distances with a specification of the manufactured circuit to yield the plurality of representative contours;

generating a risk inventory for the manufactured circuit based on the plurality of representative contours, the risk inventory being configured to identify at least one process sensitive geometry (PSG) in the manufactured circuit;
generating a common process window (CPW) for the manufactured circuit based on the plurality of representative contours and the risk inventory, the CPW being indicative of manufacturing reliability of each feature in the manufactured circuit; and
generating instructions to adjust a manufacturing tool for creating the manufactured circuit, based on the generated CPW.

8. The computer program product of claim 7 , further comprising program code for causing the at least one computing device to perform adjusting of the manufacturing tool with the generated instructions, wherein the manufacturing tool comprises one of an etching system and a lithography system.

9. The computer program product of claim 7 , wherein the generating of the risk inventory for the manufactured circuit is further based on a set of predetermined manufacturing risks of the manufactured circuit.

10. The computer program product of claim 7 , wherein the set of predetermined manufacturing risks includes a PSG identified from a specification for the manufactured circuit.

11. The computer program product of claim 7 , wherein the generating of the common process window (CPW) for the manufactured circuit based on the plurality of representative contours and the risk inventory includes:
selecting a pair of reference points corresponding to the at least one PSG in the risk inventory;
calculating a separation metric for the pair of reference points in the plurality of representative contours;
determining whether the separation metric violates a critical dimension (CD) for the manufactured circuit; and
generating the CPW for the manufactured circuit based on whether the separation metric for the at least one PSG violates the CD.

12. The computer program product of claim 11 , wherein the calculating of the separation metric for the pair of reference points further includes:
converting the pair of reference points to a distribution zone having the pair of reference points therein;
calculating a group of separation distances for the at least one PSG across the distribution zone; and
converting the group of separation distances to the separation metric for the pair of reference points, wherein the separation metric includes one of a minimum separation distance in the distribution zone, a maximum separation distance in the distribution zone, or an average separation distance in the distribution zone.

13. A system comprising at least one computing device configured to perform a method by performing actions including:
converting an image of a manufactured circuit to a plurality of representative contours, the plurality of representative contours corresponding to printed features in the manufactured circuit, wherein the converting includes:
detecting a set of coarse edges within the image of the manufactured circuit,
calculating edge separation distances between the detected set of coarse edges within the image of the manufactured circuit, and
correlating the calculated edge separation distances with a specification of the manufactured circuit to yield the plurality of representative contours;

generating a risk inventory for the manufactured circuit based on the plurality of representative contours, the risk inventory being configured to identify at least one process sensitive geometry (PSG) in the manufactured circuit;
generating a common process window (CPW) for the manufactured circuit based on the plurality of representative contours and the risk inventory, the CPW being indic

Assignees

• Globalfoundries Inc

Inventors

• Zhang Hongxin
• Gao Shaowen
• Chen Norman

Classifications

• G05B2219/45031

  Manufacturing semiconductor wafers · CPC title

• G05B2219/36089

  Machining parameters, modification during operation · CPC title

• G05B19/41845 Primary

  characterised by system universality, reconfigurability, modularity · CPC title

• Y02P90/02

  Total factory control, e.g. smart factories, flexible manufacturing systems [FMS] or integrated manufacturing systems [IMS] · CPC title