International Business Machines Corporation

Rochester Institute of Technology

Gary Walter Behm

Yue J Li

Teresita Quitua Magtoto

Emily M Hwang

Malek Ben Salem

Richard E Von Mering

Derek C Stoll

Rajiv M Ranade

Alfred J Noll

Keith Howard Tabakman

William B Huber

Raul A Pelaez

Mark Jeremy

Brian Trager

Byron Behm

Shareef Ali

James V Iannucci

A system and method for enhancing communication between multiple parties includes a first user accessing a communication device; initiating a communication connection to a receiving communication device of a second user; and wherein at least one of the communication devices includes a list of enabled universal communication attributes of the user, utilizing one or more of the enabled communication attributes to complete the communication connection between the initiating and receiving communication devices. A user can select a desired communication attribute or multiple attributes which can be stored in the user's profile. The enabled attributes can be utilized by a network accessing the user's profile to complete the communication connection.

Method and system to enhance communication between multiple parties

A system and method for warning of emergency vehicles includes a computing device that receives location data from a transmitter associated with a first vehicle based on a warning system of the first vehicle being activated. The computing device transmits vehicle notification data to a second vehicle based on the location data.

Methods and systems for early warning detection of emergency vehicles

A method of sampling semiconductor wafers includes passing a lot of semiconductor wafers into a semiconductor processing tool, processing a first portion of the lot in one process chamber of the semiconductor processing tool and a second portion of the lot in another process chamber of the semiconductor processing tool to produce processed semiconductor wafers, and initiating a wafer sampling engine to select at least one of the processed semiconductor wafers for sampling. The wafer sampling engine computes a long term process capability index for the processing tool and a short term process performance index for at least one of the processing tool and process chamber, identifies at least one desired sampling measurement type, selects the at least one of the processed semiconductor wafers for sampling, and collects the desired measurement types from the at least one of the processed semiconductor wafers selected for sampling.

Manufacturing execution system (MES) including a wafer sampling engine (WSE) for a semiconductor manufacturing process

A method includes passing a lot through a production process and evaluating a statistical quality of the production process. Additionally, the method includes calculating an advanced process control (APC) recipe parameter adjustment (RPA) distribution value and determining if sampling is indicated. Furthermore, the method includes, if sampling is indicated, performing a measurement process of the lot.

Method for using real-time APC information for an enhanced lot sampling engine

An apparatus and a method for enhancing a field of vision of a user with a visual impairment to help the user to navigate safely in the surroundings. The apparatus includes a body, at least one video device coupled to the body for recording a visual image of a physical environment surrounding the user, at least one monitor coupled to the body, a processor which receives signals from the at least one video device and operatively controls the at least one monitor to display the visual image recorded by the at least one video device, and a tunnel vision finder to determine the user's actual vision size. The method includes the step of determining the user's actual vision size, acquiring a visual image of a physical environment surrounding the user, processing the visual image, and displaying the visual image in the user's actual vision.

Apparatus and method for enhancing field of vision of the visually impaired

An apparatus for providing information about a physical surrounding environment to a user includes an elongate body having first and second opposing ends and a mast, at least one sensor mountably coupled to the mast, at least one dual purpose, bi-directional haptic force feedback device including first and second haptic force feedback mechanisms and a vibrator, and a processor, which receives signals from the at least one sensor and operatively controls the at least one dual purpose, bi-directional haptic force feedback device.

Method and apparatus for tactile haptic device to guide user in real-time obstacle avoidance

Integration of factory level advanced process control (FL-APC) system and tool level advanced process control (TL-APC) system using selectable APC operation modes indicating different operational settings for the FL-APC system and at least one TL-APC system is disclosed. During operation, the FL-APC system controls operation of the TL-APC system. The invention allows a manufacturing execution system (MES) to have additional capability to run the process control functions at FL-APC system and/or TL-APC system, and allows integration of a variety of different tools with a TL-APC system. An implementation method, system and program product are also disclosed.

Factory level and tool level advanced process control systems integration implementation

A method of performing measurement sampling in a production process includes passing a lot through a manufacturing process, employing a set of combinational logistics to determine if sampling is indicated and, if sampling is indicated, establishing a sampling decision. The method further requires querying a set of lot sampling rules to evaluate the sampling decision, evaluating a statistical quality of the process if no lot sampling rules exist, and automatically determining whether the lot passing through the production process requires sampling based on the combinational logistics, statistical quality and lot sampling rules.

Method of performing measurement sampling of lots in a manufacturing process

An apparatus for providing information about a three-dimensional environment to a user includes; a handle, at least one sensor operatively coupled to the handle, a tactile pad disposed on the handle, a plurality of tactile buttons arrayed on the tactile pad, a plurality of actuators, wherein each actuator is operatively coupled to one of the plurality of tactile buttons to control a height thereof in relation to the tactile pad, and a processor which receives signals from the at least one sensor and controls positioning of the plurality of actuators to represent a physical environment sensed by the at least one sensor.

Apparatus and method for sensing of three-dimensional environmental information

A method and system for controlling a dimension of an etched feature. The method includes: measuring a mask feature formed on a top surface of a layer on a substrate to obtain a mask feature dimension value; and calculating a mask trim plasma etch time based on the mask feature dimension value, a mask feature dimension target value, a total of selected radio frequency power-on times of a plasma etch tool since an event occurring to a chamber or chambers of a plasma etch tool for plasma etching the layer, and an etch bias target for a layer feature to be formed from the layer where the layer is not protected by the mask feature during a plasma etch of the layer.

Method and system for line-dimension control of an etch process

A computer program product and system of providing a dynamic sampling plan for integrated metrology is disclosed. The computer program product may include a computer readable medium that includes a computer readable program, wherein the computer readable program when executed on a computer causes the computer to: model a sampling plan for use with a factory level advanced processing control (FL-APC) system; receive a request for a sampling plan; and send a recommended sampling plan, based upon the request and the modeling. The recommended sampling plan may be sent to an equipment interface (EI) and on to a tool for implementation in a manufacturing environment.

Providing a dynamic sampling plan for integrated metrology

A method and system for reducing the variation in film thickness on a plurality of semiconductor wafers having multiple deposition paths in a semiconductor manufacturing process is disclosed. A film of a varying input thickness is applied to semiconductor wafers moving through various film deposition paths. The deposition path of each of the semiconductor wafers is recorded. A subset of semiconductor wafers is measured and an average film input thickness corresponding to each of the film deposition paths is calculated. If semiconductor wafer in the specific film deposition path does not have measurement data, by default it uses historical measurement data. The average film input thickness of the deposition path corresponding to a given semiconductor wafer is then used to modify the recipe of a process tool, such as a Chemical Mechanical Planarization (CMP) Process Tool. An improved manufacturing process is achieved without the use of excess measurements.

Method and system for reducing the variation in film thickness on a plurality of semiconductor wafers having multiple deposition paths in a semiconductor manufacturing process

A method and system of providing a dynamic sampling plan for integrated metrology is disclosed. The method may include modeling a sampling plan for use with a factory level advanced processing control (FL-APC) system and sending a recommended sampling plan, in response to receiving a request for a sampling plan, wherein the recommended sampling plan is based upon the modeling and the request. The recommended sampling plan may be sent to an equipment interface (EI) and on to a tool for implementation in a manufacturing environment.

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Hopewell Junction, NY, United States of America

Gary Walter Behm