The control of the final quality of products has become more stringent in recent years. For example, the control of dimensions after process patterning is becoming extremely stringent as downscaling progresses in the manufacturing of electronic devices such as semiconductor devices, etc.
Here, APC (Advanced Process Control) is known as a technology for controlling the final quality of the product in the mass production stage.
The final quality of the product can be uniform within a constant level by using APC to adjust the operation conditions of the manufacturing apparatuses.
However, generally, the effects (suppressing dimensional fluctuation, increasing the process capability, etc.) of APC are maximized when the production volume is high (e.g., in full production).
Therefore, conversely, there is a risk that the fluctuation of the final quality of the product may increase when the production volume is low (e.g., when starting mass production of a new product to change product generations, when reducing production of an old product to change product generations, etc.).
USPTO Backgrounds
USPTO Backgrounds