Enabling DFM and APC strategies at the 32 nm technology node

Most semiconductor manufacturers expect 193 nm immersion lithography to remain the dominant patterning technology through the 32 nm technology node. Even now, the interaction of more complex designs with shrinking process windows is severely limiting parametric yield. The industry is responding with strategies based upon design for manufacturability (DFM) and multivariate advanced process control (APC). The primary goal of DFM is to enlarge the process yield window, while the primary goal of APC is to keep the manufacturing process in that yield window. In this work, we discuss new and innovative process metrics, including virtual metrology, that will be needed for yield at the 32 nm technology node.