Modeling equipment functional behavior to track and match performance by fingerprinting

The modeling of the functional behavior of equipment to monitor, track, and address process performance requires data that represents the equipment process capability and enables systematic data analysis. The definitions and specifications of events for collecting data that represent equipment functional capability are difficult to identify from the supplier documentation because the data and events are listed in separate tables hiding their correlation. ISMI has demonstrated the importance of modeling production equipment by hierarchically organizing the equipment into functional components (e.g., coater, hotplate, loadlock, electrostatic chuck, etc.). The data and events associated with these functional components are then used to construct functional data models that are called fingerprints. Fingerprinting is the process by which the user collects production data to further characterize the behavior of equipment according to a fingerprint model that uses specific constants and process recipe settings. The goal of fingerprinting is to return the tool to its previous specified functional condition or to match it to a best performing tool after a maintenance event or before it is accepted into production.