Patent Document ID: 20100004775
Application ID: 12258786
Patent Status: 0

Claim One:
1. A method for identifying one or more sources for possible causing manufacturing detects in integrated circuits, the method comprising: providing a plurality of semiconductor substrates; processing the plurality of semiconductor substrates in a plurality of processing steps using a plurality of processing tools; providing a database, the database including data associated with the processing of the plurality of semiconductor substrates; testing the plurality of semiconductor wafers after the processing of the plurality of semiconductor substrates; detecting at least one defect characteristic associated with the plurality of the semiconductor substrates that have been processed; identifying a set of processing steps, the set of processing step being possibly associated with the defect characteristic; identifying a set of processing tools based on the data, the set of processing tools being possibly associated with the set of processing steps and the defect characteristics, the set of processing steps being a subset of the plurality of processing steps, the set of processing tools being a subset of the plurality of processing tools; determining a Kruskal-Wallis value, the Kruskal-Wallis value being associated with the set of processing steps and the set of processing tools; and identifying a likely source for the at least one defect characteristic based on the Kruskal-Wallis value.