Methods and apparatus for obtaining diagnostic information relating to an industrial process
US11385550B2 · kind B2 · utility
Assignee
Inventors
Key dates
| Filing date | May 1, 2020 |
| Grant date | Jul 12, 2022 |
| Priority date | — |
| Expiry date | Jul 9, 2040 |
Classification
- Technology area (CPC G)Physics
- CPC primaryG06F16/26
- WIPO fieldOptics
- WIPO sectorInstruments
Abstract
In a lithographic process, product units such as semiconductor wafers are subjected to lithographic patterning operations and chemical and physical processing operations. Alignment data or other measurements are made at stages during the performance of the process to obtain object data representing positional deviation or other parameters measured at points spatially distributed across each unit. This object data is used to obtain diagnostic information by performing a multivariate analysis to decompose a set of vectors representing the units in the multidimensional space into one or more component vectors. Diagnostic information about the industrial process is extracted using the component vectors. The performance of the industrial process for subsequent product units can be controlled based on the extracted diagnostic information.
Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.