Patent Document ID: 20070032973
Application ID: 11200497
Patent Flag: 0

Claim One:
1. A method for manufacturing integrated circuit devices, the method comprising: providing a first group, the first group being characterized by at least a first design and a first set of processes; providing a second group, the second group being characterized by at least a first design and a first set of processes; identifying at least a first reliability characteristic associated with the first group and identifying at least a second reliability characteristic associated with the second group; determining a first reliability function R 1 (t) of the first group, the first reliability density function being associated with a time variable and the first reliability characteristic; determining second reliability function R 2 (t) of the second group, the second reliability density function being associated with the time variable and the second reliability characteristic; determining a failure probability density function associated with the first reliability function and the second reliability function; calculating a failure probability f(t) for the first group and the second group from the failure probability density function from an initial time period to an infinite time period; normalizing the failure probability for the first group and the second group; determining an index value using at least the normalized failure probability of the first group and the second group; determining the first reliability characteristic of the first group using at least the index associated with the failure probability of the first group and the second group; and determining the second reliability characteristic of the second group using at least the index associated with the failure probability of the first group and the second group.