INNOVATION IN YIELD IMPROVEMENT

Abstract

This report is regarding my industrial attachment at Systems on Silicon Manufacturing Co. Pte. Ltd. from July 2008 to December 2008. Methodology to solve low yield problems was presented. Then, innovative step-by-step methods for yield improvement for both systematic and "unknown" failures were evaluated. SWLY and SLLY were employed to enhance the yield for systematic failures. For "unknown" yield loss, bitmapping was used for SRAM wafers to isolate the specific faulty areas of circuitry under tests. Failure analysis was performed for wafers with defects. Ways to reduce yield loss were suggested, and as a result, yield enhancement has been realized. This means that our analytical models have been successful in solving low yield problems. Besides, Excel VBA programming skill has been learned and several macros were written to automate the time consuming Excel tasks.