Design dependent process monitoring for back-end manufacturing cost reduction

Abstract

Abstract-Short-loop process monitoring structures (usually simple device I − V , C − V measurements made after M1 fabrication) are commonly put in wafer scribe-lines. These test structures are almost always design independent and measured/monitored by the foundry to keep track of process deviations. We propose a design-dependent process monitoring strategy which can accurately predict design performance based on simple I ef f -based delay and I of f -based leakage power estimates. We show that our strategy works much better (0.99 correlation vs. 0.87) compared to conventional designindependent monitors. Further, we use the predicted delay and leakage power for early yield estimation for pruning bad wafers to save test and back-end manufacturing costs We show that wafer pruning based on our approach can achieve upto 98% of the maximum achievable benefit/profit. We design the measurement and prediction schemes so as to minimize data as well as computation that needs to be kept track of during wafer fabrication. Such design-dependent process monitoring can help target process control/optimization effort, enable quicker yield ramp besides saving test and manufacturing costs.

DDRO: A novel performance monitoring methodology based on design-dependent ring oscillators

“…In other words, monitoring methods in [4] [15] and [6] can be combined and extended for delay estimation.…”

“…TRC also requires costly calibrations to obtain configurations that correspond to different operating conditions. By coupling process parameters extracted from parametric monitors with a design-specific delay model, more accurate and design-dependent delay estimation can be obtained from generic test structures [4] [15] [6]. Such an approach is flexible because an arbitrary delay model can be used and calibrated post-manufacturing.…”

Accurate performance evaluation of VLSI designs with selected CMOS process parameters

“…For example, ring oscillators [1] are widely used for monitoring and deducing actual timing of a circuit [2, 3, 6]. Moreover, on‐chip process monitors help reduce the production cost on screening defective chips before sending them to packaging and testing [8].…”

Research on a Remote Network Monitoring Model for Large-Scale Materials Manufacturing

“…Network monitoring is widespread in the field of the materials manufacturing [1][2][3], and the field of the large-scale materials manufacturing adopts remote network monitoring relatively rarely [4][5][6]. But in some cases, remote network monitoring is very important for the large-scale materials manufacturing.…”