APC in the semiconductor industry, history and near term prognosis

This paper presents an abridged history of Advanced Process Control (APC), including both Fault Detection and Classification (FDC) and Model Based Process Control (MBPC), both within TI and in the semiconductor industry. While TI was an early leader in univariate fault detection in processing tools, other manufacturers have by now implemented such methodologies. For MBPC, the MMST program gave TI a lead, but others are now following that path. For TI and the semiconductor industry as a whole, the current thrust is to develop and implement multivariate APC methods into the manufacturing operations. This paper describes the complexity of the execution of these tasks, and lists some of the available tools that are requisite for implementing these plans.