FabGuard Deployment of Analysis Server Fab-Wide

Dillon Gregory – Semiconductor Application Engineer, INFICON

Sheena Johnson – Semiconductor Application Engineer, INFICON

Dan Barad – Senior Semiconductor Application Engineer, INFICON

Project Highlights

With the support of the FabGuard Engineering team, a customer recently celebrated a major win, achieving factory-wide deployment of FabGuard Analysis Server (AS) with 100% FDC coverage ahead of schedule with the following goals:

• Augment the traditional/legacy FDC system to provide superior analysis capabilities
• Require minimal IT and factory resources
• Integrate with factory control systems to provide full tool interdiction and control

Project Motivation

INFICON was approached to augment the legacy FDC system. The move to FabGuard was driven by the following main concerns:

1. The legacy FDC system required a special FDC team to create and maintain monitoring. There was a strong desire to give the equipment and process teams the tools to configure and own their FDC monitoring.
2. Due to the configuration of the legacy FDC system, interpretation of the FDC results was confusing, often making it difficult to pinpoint specific problems with processes and equipment.
3. The false failure rate of the legacy FDC system increased the cost and level of difficulty of troubleshooting process and equipment problems. This was due to the high levels of noise in the FDC signals.
4. The fab required moving quickly to 100% FDC coverage with FabGuard analyses while still utilizing the legacy data collection in some cases.

FabGuard was selected based on the software's user-friendly navigation coupled with its advanced analyses. Equipment and process owners can precisely monitor each tool parameter, and compare the parameters across multiple tools and recipes. With rapid interpretation of results, first responders can quickly diagnose and correct process and equipment issues. The added capabilities allows for accurate tool and chamber matching.

Deployment Milestones

Early Project Challenges

The factory management required the solution be deployed quickly, and that all legacy FDC capable tools were converted rapidly. The deployment team developed a deployment plan that would ensure that full FDC coverage was provided to every tool according to the factory's FDC Control Plan.

Infrastructure Is Up and Running

The selection of FabGuard AS allowed the factory to retain much of their existing infrastructure for data acquisition and tool control, while significantly enhancing the quality, reach, and robustness of the FDC environment. Furthermore, FabGuard AS reduced the amount of hardware required, making it easier to manage with fewer points of failure within an already complex fab infrastructure. Extending the legacy FDC system only required 21 virtual servers and a single FabGuard Executive to support the entire fab-wide deployment of 650 tools (Figure 1.) This resulted in a low Cost of Ownership for the extended capabilities.

Data Analysis Goes Online

FabGuard AS augments the factory's existing data acquisition system by replacing the analysis portion of their legacy FDC system (Figure 2.) In this application, FabGuard AS:

1. Imports flat data files in XML format.
2. Performs analysis on the data using statistical process control (SPC) or using advanced modeling techniques.
3. If an excursion is detected, a message is sent to the existing tool control system to pause processing, hold lots, and halt tools.
4. Provides out-of-control action plans (OCAPs) to instruct technicians on how to troubleshoot specific tool issues.

100% FDC Coverage Ahead of Schedule

The factory and FabGuard Application team worked closely together to configure and deploy comprehensive analysis across the 650 tool fleet. This deployment achieved the factory goal of 100% FDC coverage ahead of schedule, and resulted in the fastest full factory deployment of FabGuard FDC to date. As part of the deployment, over 200 personnel received training on how to respond to alarms and Process Area leads received training on creating and maintaining the analyses.

Summary and Future Work

With the success of this project, the factory plans to additional tools utilizing FabGuard AS in the coming year. Further expansion of the FDC environment utilizing FabGuard Process Monitor for advanced sensor integration is also expected. For more information, visit FabGuard Analysis Server.