Patent ID: 7289865

Claim:
A method of optimizing semiconductor manufacturing equipment to minimize non-uniformity of a wafer processed in a semiconductor processing chamber, comprising: obtaining a plurality of measurements of a wafer parameter of a first wafer processed in the chamber comprising taking data from a linescan; weighting the plurality of measurements of the first wafer according to a radial distance from a center of the first wafer; adjusting at least one setting of the chamber; processing one test wafer for each setting adjusted; obtaining a plurality of measurements of the wafer parameter of each test wafer processed in the chamber for each setting adjusted, wherein the plurality of measurements comprise data from a linescan; creating a model relating each setting adjusted to a measure of non-uniformity of the wafer parameter using the plurality of measurements and weighted measurements; using the model to minimize the measure of non-uniformity to determine an optimal setting for the at least one setting; and adjusting the at least one setting of the chamber to the optimal setting.