Patent ID: 7343583

Claim:
A system for searching for patterns of semiconductor wafer features for use in silicon manufacturing and device fabrication processes, comprising: a communications path; a data acquisition system capable of acquiring scan data from differing types of semiconductor wafer scanning tools, the data acquisition system being capable of communicating over the communications path; a buffer system for providing temporary storage for scan data transmitted over the communications path from the data acquisition system and for providing fault tolerance; a server system for providing storage for the scan data transmitted from the buffer system over the communications path, the server system converting the scan data into a format used by and stored in a database management system; and an analysis system client station including a display and communicating with the server system over the communications path, the analysis system and the server system providing scan data structuring and query operations and data transfer operations, wherein the analysis system comprises a multiple default wafer layout module which permits a user to designate a default layout from multiple wafer layouts; wherein the scan data structuring and query operations further comprise dataset parameters for selecting scan data to be used to create a dataset for pattern search purposes, so that scan data can be reused and selectively retained and retrieved from different types of wafer scanning tools; wherein the data transfer operation farther comprises a system for communicating and sharing scan data; and wherein the system for communicating and sharing scan data farther comprises a system for enabling a user to select scan data from at least two different wafer manufacturing and fabrication processes to search for patterns in scan data from the selected processes.