Patent ID: 7165011
Filing Date: 2007-01-16
Classification: G05B,H01L

Abstract:
1. A method of monitoring a thermal processing system in real-time using a built-in self test (BIST) table, comprising: positioning a plurality of wafers at different heights in a processing chamber in the thermal processing system; creating a measured dynamic pre-processing process response while subjecting the plurality of wafers to a pre-processing process, wherein at least one first process parameter is changed from a first value to a second value within operating limits established for the pre-processing process; executing a pre-processing real-time dynamic model to generate a predicted dynamic pre-processing process response for the plurality of wafers when the at least one first process parameter is changed from the first value to the second value; determining a pre-processing dynamic estimation error for the pre-processing process using a difference between the predicted dynamic pre-processing process response and the measured dynamic pre-processing process response; comparing the pre-processing dynamic estimation error to one or more first operational thresholds established by one or more first rules in the BIST table; continuing the pre-processing process when the pre-processing dynamic estimation error is within the first operational thresholds; and pausing the pre-processing process when the pre-processing dynamic estimation error is not within the one or more first operational thresholds.