As device geometries shrink, tolerances for critical dimension, focus, and overlay control decrease. For the stable
manufacture of semiconductor devices at (and beyond) the 65nm node, both performance variability and drift in
exposure tools are no longer negligible factors.
With EES (Equipment Engineering System) as a guidepost, hopes of improving productivity of semiconductor
manufacturing are growing.
We are developing a system, EESP (Equipment Engineering Support Program), based on the concept of EES. The
EESP system collects and stores large volumes of detailed data generated from Canon lithographic equipment while
product is being manufactured. It uses that data to monitor both equipment characteristics and process characteristics,
which cannot be examined without this system.
The goal of EESP is to maximize equipment capabilities, by feeding the result back to APC/FDC and the equipment
maintenance list.
This was a collaborative study of the system's effectiveness at the device maker's factories. We analyzed the
performance variability of exposure tools by using focus residual data. We also attempted to optimize tool performance
using the analyzed results.
The EESP system can make the optimum performance of exposure tools available to the device maker.
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