Patent ID: 6627464
Filing Date: 2003-09-30
Classification: G05B

Abstract:
A method for characterizing a semiconductor plasma process, the method comprising the steps of:collecting input and output training data, the input training data being based on variables associated with electrical power used to control a plasma etching chamber and resulting from execution of the plasma process; discretizing an object space of the training data; generating the cluster locations based on the training data and a predetermined mountain function, the cluster locations being positioned within the object space; modifying the cluster locations until a predetermined threshold criteria is satisfied such that the modified cluster locations have cluster centers that match other data clusters in the object space; and generating fuzzy inference rules based on the cluster locations, where said fuzzy inference rules define fuzzy logic-based input and output membership functions, said membership functions enabling estimation of an output parameter value of the plasma process such that the membership functions characterize the plasma process with regard to the output parameter.