Process Drift and Automatic Process Control

doi:10.1117/3.322162.ch7

Book: Lithography Process Control

Author(s): Harry J. Levinson

Published: 2009

https://doi.org/10.1117/3.322162.ch7

Author Affiliations +

Abstract

There are times when processes drift, and the best course of action is to make an adjustment. This situation occurs when overlay correctable parameters or focus offsets are changed. Every lithography operation should have controls to detect process drift. As discussed in Chapter 1, the Â±3Ï rule is not particularly sensitive to shifts in the process mean, compared to other Western Electric Rules. Consequently, it is advisable to include at least one additional Western Electric Rule to supplement the Â±3Ï rule to increase sensitivity to process drift. An alternative to the Shewhart control chart, with greater sensitivity to shifts in the process mean, is the exponentially-weighted moving average (EWMA) chart, discussed in the next section.