Effects of defect propagation/growth on in-line defect-based yield prediction

This paper presents the importance of understanding defect propagation/growth and its impact on in-line yield prediction. In order to improve the prediction accuracy, impact of defect propagation and growth phenomena needs to be modeled and incorporated into yield prediction system. We developed a new yield prediction model by taking into account defect carryover. The empirical results of interlayer and intralayer defect propagation analysis using actual fabline data are presented.