Estimating the Reliability of Virtual Metrology Predictions in Semiconductor Manufacturing : A Novelty Detection-based Approach

The purpose of virtual metrology (VM) in semiconductor manufacturing is to predict every wafer's metrological values based on its process equipment data without an actual metrology. In this paper, we propose novelty detection-based reliability estimation models for VM in order to support flexible utilization of VM results. Because the proposed model can not only estimate the reliability of VM, but also identify suspicious process variables lowering the reliability, quality control actions can be taken selectively based on the reliance level and its causes. Based on the preliminary experimental results with actual semiconductor manufacturing process data, our models can successfully give a high reliance level to the wafers with small prediction errors and a low reliance level to the wafers with large prediction errors. In addition, our proposed model can give more detailed information by identifying the critical process variables and their relative impacts on the low reliability.