Patent ID: 7519885

Claim:
A method of monitoring a monolayer deposition (MLD) system using a Built-In Self Test (BIST) table comprising: positioning one or more wafers at different heights in a thermal processing chamber; reducing pressure in the thermal processing chamber; performing a first precursor process, wherein a first precursor-containing gas is flowed into the thermal processing chamber, and the first precursor-containing gas includes a first reactant; monitoring data for the first precursor process using a first set of nonlinear differential equations {dot over (x)} 1 and a first output equation y 1 , wherein {dot over (x)} 1 =ƒ( x 1 , p 1 ,u 1 ) y 1 =g ( x 1 , p 1 , u 1 ) and x 1 , P 1 and u 1 are first precursor process parameters in which the first vector x 1 comprises a first state vector for the first precursor process, the first vector p 1 comprises one or more modeling parameters for the first precursor process, the vector u 1 comprises one or more inputs applied to the first precursor process; calculating a first dynamic estimation error for the first precursor process using the monitored data for the first precursor process; comparing the first dynamic estimation error to a first operational limit established by one or more BIST rules in the BIST table for the first precursor process; continuing the first precursor process when the first dynamic estimation error is within the first operational limit; and comparing the first dynamic estimation error to a first warning limit established for the first precursor process when the first dynamic estimation error is not within the first operational limit, and either sending a warning message identifying a potential problem with the first precursor process and/or MLD system and continuing the first precursor process when the first dynamic estimation error is within the first warning limit, or sending a fault message identifying a known problem with the first precursor process and/or MLD system when the first dynamic estimation error is not within the first warning limit.