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Politics : Formerly About Applied Materials -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Duker who wrote (25663)	10/23/1998 12:10:00 PM
From: Katherine Derbyshire	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 70976

Yield management is really a software thing. What do you do with the data--from sensors, from inspection tools, whatever--once you have it? The software attempts to dig relevant information out of the huge piles of data generated by the fab, in time to fix a potential problem before too many lots are ruined. KLAC's forte is in-line inspection tools, tied to powerful data analysis software. news.semiconductoronline.com news.semiconductoronline.com In-line inspection is good, but still doesn't give real-time feedback to the process. You run a cassette of wafers through the process tool, then through the inspection tool. Meanwhile, the process tool is chugging away with the next cassette. Since the process tool is generally much faster than the inspection tool, you could have an awful lot of product at risk before you figure out that anything's wrong. Enter in-situ metrology and in-situ sensors. news.semiconductoronline.com news.semiconductoronline.com These methods are generally less flexible than in-line inspection, because they have to fit inside the chamber, but they have the advantage of speed. They can detect a system problem immediately, minimizing the product at risk. Both approaches have advantages and disadvantages, discussed in more detail in the referenced articles. Overall, I'd say they complement each other, rather than compete with each other. Katherine