With increased computational capabilities, the importance of artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) in semiconductor manufacturing is ever growing.

While there are already many reported use cases of how AI can be applied in areas such as wafer scheduling and dispatching, unit process optimization and defect classification, the application of AI looks especially promising in the field of yield data analytics.

In order to analyze the vast amounts of data coming from the test equipment of semiconductor manufacturers, a premium, powerful software solution is required. High-performing software is a must as it enables fast and efficient processing of massive amounts of data.

As companies in the semiconductor industry strive to achieve manufacturing excellence, using yield analysis software allows test and yield engineers to improve yield and throughput, significantly increase productivity, save costs, reduce waste and reduce time-to-market.

The main stages in effective yield data analysis include: obtaining the data from semiconductor equipment, data integration, data analysis and obtaining the information needed for further actions. The knowledge gained results in the lifetime quality and reliability of the smart products that shape our lives.

Artificial Intelligence A deep learning framework based on neural networks (CNNs & GANs) and other intelligent algorithms.

Smart Pattern Recognition Profit from automatic pattern recognition and classification.

Intelligent Tool Analytics Analyze tool combinations and pinpoint process improvement possibilities.

Multidimensional View Improve your operation through multivariate data monitoring.

Deep Root Cause Analytics Smart root cause analysis enables immediate implementation of corrective measures.

Smart Decision Making Data driven decision-making leads to substantial productivity gains.

The multivariate monitoring feature of YWD^XI allows you to review individual parameters and detect issues that would otherwise not be visible. Fast processing and calculation times are ensured by deploying mechanisms such as dimension reduction. Built-in Principal Component Analysis enables you to set corrective measurements immediately.

About DRYIELD: DR YIELD is the provider of YieldWatchDog and YieldWatchDogXI – smart, powerful data analysis and AI solution specifically designed for the semiconductor industry. DR YIELD is headquartered in Austria, with a team of dedicated, experienced engineers providing outstanding customer support from demo to data integration, customization, license renewal and beyond.

DR YIELD’s YieldWatchDog (YWD) software allows one to quickly identify yield issues and correlate test results from WAT/PCM, Wafer/Die Sort and Final Assembly/test, all within one tool. Hundreds of world-wide customers use (YWD) to improve yields, reduce test times, and help to get products to market faster while improving the bottom line. Most importantly, performance does not get bogged down as the volume of data grows, so it remains fast at finding wafer signatures regardless of the number of wafers in the database.

At SEMICON West 2022, DR YIELD will present the importance of AI and machine learning in semiconductor manufacturing with a focus on yield data analytics.

CURRENT AI APPLICATIONS: Three AI applications currently being used in yield data analytics will be presented using actual recent fab data.

FUTURE OUTLOOK: The future outlook includes the technology roadmap for the application of AI for comprehensive semiconductor analytics to the end of the decade.

We look forward to hearing from you.

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With ISO 9001:2015 certified and SPC driven processes, AKT ensures all specifications are measured and recorded for every Ring manufactured. All AKT products include full traceability. Maintaining the highly precise process of machining CMP rings and parts, AKT has been able to extend the life of its rings beyond their competitors.

All machined Rings are created:

• Under an ISO certified process.
• All parts are of 100% quality and verified with video and reports on customer portal before product ships, each receiving the same CMM machine measurement, also available in the reports.
• Extensive lapping and surface roughness characterization capability is applied to all metal and plastic parts.

AKT strives to machine all manufactured products, not only to comply with the define specifications, but also with impeccable quality to meet or exceed their customers’ expectations for a defect-free product. The process also includes validation of all specifications, each measured and recorded in the quality reports available via the customer portal. Each product is also visually verified by video recording available on their customer portal.

All CMP components, plastic or metal, are machined with extreme precision and tested with the same effort using CMM tools and detailed machining processes.

Who is AKT Components: AKT Components is a distinguished CMP consumable parts solution provider and other high precision plastic and metal components, specializing in the design and manufacturing of CMP retaining rings which AKT prides themselves as the world’s number one.

With three locations in Malaysia, AKT Components has found their success to be driven by the extensive precision and testing they have undergone to achieve ISO certification and high customer marks. Each shipment receives testing reports and video validation available in their Customer Portal.

All CMP components, plastic or metal, are machined with extreme precision and tested with the same effort using CMM tools and detailed machining processes.

About AKT Components

✓Located in Penang, Malaysia

✓ Customers include the largest semiconductor companies and equipment manufacturers in the world.

✓Proven CMP Consumable parts, high precision plastic/metal components manufacturing and assembling

✓Achieving lead times by using three separate teams and factories in Penang, Malaysia along with an extensive supplier network.

✓Ensuring long term satisfaction of clients through the quality of products.

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SURAGUS are specialists in high frequency (HF) eddy current testing systems. A wide measurement frequency range from 10 kHz to 100 MHz enables the characterization of diverse materials ranging from thick metal films to highly resistive semiconductors; all with only a single system. Additionally, frequency modulation enables penetration depth variation, which provides insight into vertical resistivity profiles.

SURAGUS tools measure:

• metal thickness
• sheet resistance
• resistivity
• magnetic permeability (beta)

HF eddy current systems only require approximately 20 ms per measurement and operate in a non-contact mode; two characteristics which are combined in SURAGUS’ mapping tools to create sheet resistance map images with anywhere from 49 to 90,000 measurement points. These measurement points are captured in just a few seconds or minutes, with the point density high enough to enable imaging without point-point interpolation. In contrast to conventional 4PP tools, the measurement quality is independent of the surface characteristics.

Click here for details about Eddy Current Technology
Testing Setups and Tools Portfolio

For wafer types Si, SiC, GaAs, GaN, glass, ceramic etc and for sizes 1” to 12”, SURAGUS’ full product portfolio includes manual single point tools, automated imaging tools and sensor integration kits for tool integration into existing or new tools.

What is Important to SURAGUS: Their solutions contribute to a sustainable use of resources in various industries. SURAGUS solutions for process control and quality assurance support efficient production processes with highest product qualities at high throughput and low scrap rates. Moreover, it is important to them that they offer an inspiring, professional work environment to their staff, which provides freedom for self-actualization as well as security and flexibility for their families.

SURAGUS GmbH is a German company that is specialized in providing solutions for nondestructive material testing. They got their start over a decade ago as a spin-off of the Fraunhofer-Society, one of the largest German research organizations.They use new technical opportunities and the technical advances in microelectronics, manufacturing and miniaturization technologies and computer technology to develop eddy current testing solutions optimized for customer needs.

The applied eddy current testing technology features a wide frequency range that encompasses high frequencies. This range flexibility combined with advanced measuring procedures allows for fast testing of both very low and well conductive materials.

Their portfolio comprises portable hand-held devices, table-sized benchtop testing solutions, robot based systems and standard and customized inline-solutions.

Quality is top notch. All of their processes are certified to DIN EN ISO 9001:2015 and are continuously monitored and enhanced.

We look forward to testing your samples and engaging with your company about your metrology requirements.

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Advances in material quality and availability, device development and fabrication process maturity has pushed SiC MOSETs to the brink of adoption in a range of power electronics applications such as renewables/solar, transportation and aviation industries where size and weight reduction, increased functionality and reduced bill-of-materials cost are being realizable. While SiC MOSFET entitled performance benefits versus incumbent IGBTs have been widely reported, acceptance has been limited due to increased die cost and limited reliability data presented to date.

Tremendous progress has been made on SiC MOSFETs in the last few years. High voltage SiC devices offer the promise of efficient power conversion in areas that current silicon-based power semiconductors do not. System benefits such as improved efficiency, reduced part count, reduced size and weight will make this technology attractive for adoption in a variety of power conversion systems. In SiC MOSFETs, the intrinsic body diode may be used as the anti-parallel diode. When the diode is implemented in silicon, the reverse recovery of such diodes results in high switching losses. In applications utilizing IGBTs this has led to the use of SiC Schottky diodes in cases where performance outweighs cost. On the other hand the use of the SiC MOSFET body diode could provide significant cost and size benefits.

About GE Research: GE Research offers reliability testing of power semiconductor devices. Our in-depth expertise in high temperature and high voltage testing, environmental testing, failure analysis, root cause determination, and mitigation solutions enables us to fully characterize and analyze the performance of your parts. Due to our extensive industry experience with SiC, we also have significant know-how in SiC MOSFET reliability testing with equipment and tooling tailored for higher temperature SiC discrete and module packages.

Everyone needs to periodically collect reliability data on their WBG devices, but this can be quite expensive and labor intensive to do in-house. Many would be well served by contracting from an experienced supplier well versed in GaN and SiC devices. That’s where GE Research can help.

The team at GE Research and elsewhere have been developing semiconductors that can withstand high operating temperatures of 200 degrees Celsius and beyond. GE began developing SiC MOSFETs (metal-oxide semiconductor field-effect transistors) decades ago and achieved the strict standards required by the automotive industry. GE is a recognized leader in industrial applications and since 2015 GE Research has provided production SiC MOSFETs and power modules for GE Aviation products. In addition, the team has been expanding its application base to automotive, healthcare, renewable energy and the military.

Now, GE’s lab outside of Albany NY, and the technologists that run them, are open and available to take on the gamut of WBG reliability test requirements:

• Initial consultation, and reliability test planning to determine the scope of work
• Test execution
• Data analysis, consultation and reporting

About E Test Reps:

The mini-PS4L series of probe systems is an extension of SemiProbe’s popular and patented Probe System for Life (PS4L) family of probe systems. The mini-PS4L probe systems are kitted systems available in manual and semiautomatic versions. One of the best features of the mini-PS4L series is the perpetual field path.

Features of the mini-PS4L:

• Small Footprint & Lower Cost
• Manual and Semiautomatic Systems – 25mm to 100mm
• Kitted Configurations – DC, HF, OPTO
• 100% Credit for Upgrade

Automated vacuum testing with SemiProbe’s vacuum probers is helping drive down the cost of vacuum packaging in the manufacturing of MEMs devices by testing at the wafer level and under vacuum. Available in production applications to test wafers up to 300mm as well as trays of die, SemiProbe manufactures a family of vacuum probers which can be purchased and operated in fully, semi or manual mode at vacuum levels from 10-3 to 10-6 torr and temperature testing from -60C to 300C. A fully automatic prober can also be operated in semi automatic and manual modes if desired.

About SemiProbe: SemiProbe continues to expand our patented Probe System for Life (PS4L) family of probe systems, modules, and accessories. The PS4L probe system is the most modular in the world and is designed to reduce the cost of capital equipment. The systems are designed to provide a perpetual field upgrade path to address new applications and requirements.

Founded in Vermont in 2006, SemiProbe designs, manufactures and sells probing and inspection systems and accessories for manufacturers of semiconductor chips. Their customers include the world’s most advanced science and research institutions and many of the top semiconductor companies. The company’s founders are former SUSS MicroTec employees who believed they could build less expensive, more customizable test solutions in the $350M global analytical prober market than the other dozen competitors worldwide.

Fifteen years later, SemiProbe is a global supplier of test and inspection solutions for microelectronics, MEMS, high frequency, high power, nanotechnology, microfluidics, optoelectronics, photovoltaics and more. Their signature product, the Probe System for Life (PS4L) family of probing and inspection systems, embodies their patented adaptive architecture. All key building blocks are interchangeable. Because they’re easily customized, the PS4L systems enable customers to realize substantial time and cost savings over traditional probe systems when wafer size, levels of automation, or test requirements change. Customers can start with a system that meets their initial application and budget and then perpetually field upgrade it as their requirements change without having to purchase an entirely new system.

About E Test Reps:

Data is said to be the gold of the 21st century, and predictive data analytics can help industrial manufacturers improve their efficiencies, quality, output and yield by identifying production issues very early on.

Using YieldWatchDog software enables customers to:

• detect and contain problematic production material
• detect “early warings” of anomalies in production before they become a more serious issue
• avoid shipment of potentially quality-compromised parts to customers
• get deepinsights into production data and discoer hidden correlations
• save engineering time and costs by enabling fast and easy access to data

With monitoring rules, DRYEILD’s algorithms can predict failures based on early knowledge about deviations or anomalies in the data, essentially allowing manufacturers to act on early warning signs instead of re-acting to major manufacturing issues when it’s already too late – thereby avoiding costly production incidents. In addition, YieldWatchDog’s user-friendly data analysis capabilities provide further deep insights for production optimization.

By integrating all available data sources into one, highly-compressed database they create the basis for applying their statistical and artificial intelligence algorithms to detect outliers, anomalies and abnormal data. They can then warn their users about impending production problems. This can be a simple e-mail to the responsible engineer, or, with deeper integration with the production systems, they can also automatically stop certain equipment.

DR YIELD is a highly innovative company with a research quota of 27%. Over the past 16 years, they have developed data compression algorithms, statistical algorithms and pattern recognition methods to ensure the most thorough monitoring of production data in semiconductor and related high-tech, high-volume manufacturing, all with a very user-friendly and intuitive user interface.

Their yield management software was developed for the semiconductor industry but YieldWatchDog’s predictive data analysis may also uplift productivity in other industries that have similarly structured data. They know that the pharmaceutical, photovoltaics, automotive parts industries, and especially battery manufacturers all have data that are similarly structured to microchip manufacturing. DR Yield’s algorithms detect anomalies in all kinds of numerical data.

Thus, your high-volume manufacturing data contains valuable information that with their analysis software can predict failures and increase production efficiency. DR YIELD encourage’s you to keep digging for gold in your data!

About DRYIELD: DR YIELD software & solutions is a leading provider of yield management software in the silicon and compound semiconductor industry. With the smart solution YieldWatchDog and the latest addition YieldWatchDogXI DR YIELD offers a fast, flexible and innovative analytics software that can be perfectly integrated within the company’s manufacturing structures.

DR YIELD’s YieldWatchDog (YWD) software allows one to quickly identify yield issues and correlate test results from WAT/PCM, Wafer/Die Sort and Final Assembly/test, all within one tool. Hundreds of world-wide customers use (YWD) to improve yields, reduce test times, and help to get products to market faster while improving the bottom line. Most importantly, performance does not get bogged down as the volume of data grows, so it remains fast at finding wafer signatures regardless of the number of wafers in the database.

We welcome the chance to show how YWD works and addresses challenges like these in a cost effective fashion:

• Query efficiency and intelligent filtering of very large datasets
• Tracking and correlation by substrate lot and fab lot when they are not uniquely mapped
• Ability to quickly define and find wafer maps and test data signatures for failure mode tracking not tied to zonal regions

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