IN-LINE DEFECT SAMPLING METHODOLOGY IN YIELD MANAGEMENT - AN INTEGRATED FRAMEWORK

In this paper we provide an integrated framework for designing the opt imal defect sampling strategy for wafer inspection, which is crucial i n yield management of state-of-the-art technologies, We present a comp rehensive cost-based methodology which allows us to achieve the trade- off between the cost of inspection and the cost of yield impact of the undetected defects, We illustrate the effectiveness of our methodolog y using data from several leading fablines across the world, We demons trate that this work has already caused a significant change in the sa mpling practices in these fablines especially in the area of defect da ta preprocessing (declustering), in-line defect based yield prediction , and optimization of wafer inspection equipment allocation.