Early development of a database of fail signatures for systematic defects in integrated circuit (ic) chips

Abstract

Disclosed are embodiments of a method that provides for pre-production run development of a fail signature database, which stores fail signatures for systematic defects and corresponding root causes. The fail signatures in the database is subsequently accessed and used for a variety of purposes. For example, the fail signatures are evaluated and, based on the results of the evaluation, actions are taken to prevent specific systematic defects from occurring during production runs and/or to allow for early detection of specific systematic defects during production runs. In some embodiments, following production runs, new fail signatures from failing production chips are developed and compared against the fail signatures in the fail signature database. In some embodiments, when a signature match indicates that a particular production chip has a same systematic defect with a same root cause as a particular prototype chip in-line advanced process control (APC) is performed.