Device scaling vs. process control scaling: Advanced sensorization closes the gap — Alan Weber

The rapid pace of device scaling in recent years has outrun the ability of today's generation of equipment control systems to keep up. New device architectures and the materials and processes used to realize them create sources of variability that require better techniques for real-time sensing, filtering, detection, and response. This is not simply a question of faster data collection of the existing equipment variables. In many cases, the data needed to accurately determine the real-time process conditions are not even available in the equipment, so the traditional time-based techniques and endpoint detection methods for controlling recipe execution are not sufficients rather, these advanced processes are effectively “flying blind.” GLOBALFOUNDRIES, a long-time leader in equipment automation and process control, has addressed these issues by integrating specialty sensors into the broader control environment, and shares highlights of their experience for a number of specific process areas in this presentation. It also covers techniques for leveraging today's data collection standards to streamline the integration process, and concludes with a list of suggestions for future equipment control design that deliver the required capabilities more effectively to support the next stages of process evolution.