FLANDERS, NJ — (MARKET WIRE) — 04/05/2005 — Rudolph Technologies, Inc., a leading provider of process control equipment for thin film measurement and macrodefect inspection during integrated circuit (IC) manufacturing, introduces the latest version of YieldView — the yield management component of its WaferView Team for macrodefect inspection. YieldView provides fab-wide integration and analysis of the defect data generated by WaferView standalone and integrated i-MOD ADI inspection tools. It allows manufacturers to improve process yield by discovering more defects sooner and identifying root causes faster.
The new YieldView 2.9 supports all advanced capabilities of the WaferView Team for tracking macro and microscale defects on the front, back, and edge of a wafer. Also new to YieldView is a web-based client for added accessibility and flexibility. As part of the WaferView Team, YieldView allows engineers to quickly determine where and when in the process a defect first appears, what other wafers have similar defects, and which processes or tools are the greatest contributors to yield loss. YieldView also acts as a central database for recipes, defect classes, and alarm rules to ensure consistent, high-confidence performance from all Team members across the fab.
“The economics of 300 mm wafer processing has driven manufacturers to automated inspection of every surface of every wafer at numerous points throughout the process, especially at stages where a detected defect can be recovered through rework,” said Christopher Morath, director of marketing. “While the WaferView Team provides high throughput inspection, it also generates a tremendous amount of data. YieldView allows our customers to extract, quickly and confidently, just the information they need to optimize their yields.”
The new YieldView web client allows engineers to access inspection data, manage recipes, modify defect classifications, edit alarm rules, and control almost every aspect of WaferView Team operations from any PC with a web browser and appropriate network clearance. The user interface is specifically designed to facilitate lot disposition with fast, easy access to lot inspection results sorted by time. Customers will also find it easy to use the web client to isolate tool problems using the many charting options specifically designed for this purpose.