Detecting Important Features and Predicting Yield from Defects Detected by SEM in Semiconductor Production

A key step to optimize the tests of semiconductors during the production process is to improve the prediction of the final yield from the defects detected on the wafers during the production process. This study investigates the link between the defects detected by a Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Umberto Amato, Anestis Antoniadis, Italia De Feis, Anastasiia Doinychko, Irène Gijbels, Antonino La Magna, Daniele Pagano, Francesco Piccinini, Easter Selvan Suviseshamuthu, Carlo Severgnini, Andres Torres, Patrizia Vasquez
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: MDPI AG 2025-07-01
Series:Sensors
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Online Access:https://www.mdpi.com/1424-8220/25/13/4218
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Summary:A key step to optimize the tests of semiconductors during the production process is to improve the prediction of the final yield from the defects detected on the wafers during the production process. This study investigates the link between the defects detected by a Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM) and the electrical failure of the final semiconductors, with two main objectives: (a) to identify the best layers to inspect by SEM; (b) to develop a model that predicts electrical failures of the semiconductors from the detected defects. The first objective has been reached by a model based on Odds Ratio that gave a (ranked) list of the layers that best predict the final yield. This allows process engineers to concentrate inspections on a few important layers. For the second objective, a regression/classification model based on Gradient Boosting has been developed. As a by-product, this latter model confirmed the results obtained by Odds Ratio analysis. Both models take account of the high lacunarity of the data and have been validated on two distinct datasets from STMicroelectronics.
ISSN:1424-8220