Patent ID: 7337033

Claim:
A method of determining the quality of performance of tool units wherein a tool unit comprises a unit selected from the group consisting of an individual tool and a tool chamber in a multichamber tool in a manufacturing system, where multiple similar tool units are provided at each of a series of tool stations used in repetitive cycles of processing objects through a production line until completion of manufacturing thereof by said manufacturing system, comprising the steps as follows: processing objects through said tool stations in said production line repetitively with one of a plurality of tool units at each station being allocated to process one of said objects with one of said tool units on a random basis on each cycle of progress of said object through said production line; storing process data including tool identification and object identification from each of said tool units which processes one of said objects at a said tool station for each one of a plurality of individual processes for a processed object in a process database, collecting functional test data from manufactured objects at the completion of processing thereof and passing said functional test data for each object to an object yield data processor; calculating object yield data for each individual ones of said objects based upon said functional test data; data mining to develop statistics for similar tool units by associating said object yield data with each of said similar tool units; generating yield numbers for each group of said similar tool units based upon said statistics; and identifying well performing tools and poorly performing tools by using said yield numbers.