Patent ID: 7809459

Claim:
An advanced-process-control system, comprising: a database for receiving process data from a measurement tool for a plurality of process runs and for storing said process data; a lambda tuner for determining a tuned-lambda value corresponding to a process-capability-index value based on upper and lower process control limits and statistics derived from said process data; and a process-run controller for updating a recipe value based on said process data and said tuned-lambda value; wherein said lambda tuner further comprises: a run-to-run simulator for simulating process-equipment-output values, said run-to-run simulator applied to said process data, a process-equipment-output model, and process-equipment-model coefficients for simulating said process-equipment-output values, and for providing to said lambda tuner a plurality of lambda values and corresponding process-equipment-output values for a plurality of simulated process runs; wherein said lambda tuner further comprises: a tuned-lambda selector for selecting said tuned-lambda value, said tuned-lambda selector comprising: a process-capability-index calculator for calculating said statistics from said process-equipment-output values, and for calculating said process-capability-index value from said statistics as a function of said lambda value; and a moving-average, process-capability-index calculator for calculating moving-average, process-capability-index values from said process-capability-index values to smooth out variations in said process-capability-index values, said tuned-lambda selector for selecting as said tuned-lambda value a selected lambda value corresponding to a selected moving-average, process-capability-index value in a plurality of said moving-average, process-capability-index values.