A new methodology for the design centering of IC fabrication processes

The authors describe a practical methodology that can be applied to optimize the process yield of IC fabrication lines. The yield maximization problem is first reformulated into a deterministic design centering problem. Macromodeling and problem decomposition are then applied to solve the design centering problem efficiently. The effectiveness of this methodology is illustrate through a simulation example involving a CMOS process adopted from an industrial line.>