Patent ID: 8615724

Claim:
A method comprising: identifying a design specification for a circuit assembly comprising a plurality of circuit components, each circuit component being populated in the circuit assembly according to the design specification; for each of the plurality of circuit components: identifying a set of component attributes corresponding to the circuit component according to an attribute database; assigning a set of possible defects as a function of its respective set of component attributes, each of the set of possible defects being associated with a predicted frequency of occurrence, the predicted frequency of occurrence of at least one defect being a function of spacing or placement of the circuit component; determining, according to the design specification, a predicted spacing or placement of the circuit component with respect to each of a plurality of form factors for the circuit assembly; calculating a first predicted defect frequency of occurrence for the circuit component as a function of a first form factor for the circuit assembly; and calculating a second predicted defect frequency of occurrence for the circuit component as a function of a second form factor for the circuit assembly; calculating, using a processor, a first yield prediction for the circuit assembly corresponding to the first form factor as a function of the first predicted defect frequency of occurrence for each of the plurality of circuit components; and calculating, using the processor, a second yield prediction for the circuit assembly corresponding to the second form factor as a function of the second predicted defect frequency of occurrence for each of the plurality of circuit components.