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.

Date of Patent:
Sep. 03, 2002

Filed:

Feb. 18, 1999
Applicant:
Inventors:

Elfido Coss, Jr., Austin, TX (US);

Brian K. Cusson, Austin, TX (US);

Mike Simpson, Austin, TX (US);

Assignee:

Advanced Micro Devices, Inc., Sunnyvale, CA (US);

Attorney:
Primary Examiner:
Int. Cl.
CPC ...
G01N 3/700 ; G06F 1/900 ; G01L 1/500 ; G01M 1/900 ;
U.S. Cl.
CPC ...
G01N 3/700 ; G06F 1/900 ; G01L 1/500 ; G01M 1/900 ;
Abstract

A wafer fabrication system is presented including a measurement system which screens measurement data prior to dissemination. The measurement system may include an equipment interface computer coupled between a measurement tool and a work-in-process (WIP) server. The measurement tool may perform one of possibly several measurement procedures (i.e., “recipes”) upon one or more semiconductor wafers processed as a lot, thereby producing measurement data. The WIP server may select the measurement recipe and store the measurement data. The equipment interface computer may receive the measurement data produced by the measurement tool and compare the measurement data to a predetermined range of acceptable values in order to determine if the measurement data is within the range of acceptable values. The equipment interface computer may display the measurement data upon a display device such that any portion of the measurement data not within the range of acceptable values is visually flagged (e.g., displayed in flashing type, in bold type, in a color which differs from surrounding text, with a background color which differs from surrounding text, etc.). The equipment interface computer may allow an operator to modify the measurement data, then generate a signal indicating acceptance of the measurement data. Upon receiving the signal indicating acceptance, the equipment interface computer may provide the measurement data to the WIP server. The equipment interface computer may also respond to the acceptance signal by providing the measurement data to an entity server and/or a statistical process control (SPC) server.


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