The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Jan. 18, 2000
Filed:
Aug. 28, 1997
Yoko Miyazaki, Tokyo, JP;
Nobuyoshi Hattori, Tokyo, JP;
Junko Izumitani, Tokyo, JP;
Masahiko Ikeno, Tokyo, JP;
Mitsubishi Denki Kabushiki Kaisha, Tokyo, JP;
Abstract
An ordinary user can easily learn a step at which a problem occurs during semiconductor manufacturing processes and improve the yield of manufacturing products and the quality of the products. At a certain in-line inspection step, a CPU (3) stores data signals (V1) taken by an inspection apparatus (1) into a memory (2), and reads a result (V6) obtained at a precedent step and stores the same in the memory (2). The CPU (3) reads stored data signals (V2) from the memory (2), performs comparison or referral on data about defects which are detected at a current step and the result (V6) regarding the precedent step, and generates a defect data analysis processing result signal (V5) regarding the current step. The result (V5) consists of disappeared defect data, common defect data, new defect data to which a label of a current step number is assigned, and reappeared defect data. The CPU (3) performs the processing above for each in-line inspection step, edits resultant data, and generates histogram data which provide the number of detected defects and the number of disappeared defects for each step.