A New Methodology for the Design Centering of IC Fabrication Processes

Abstract

This paper describes a practical methodology that can be applied to optimize the process yield of IC fabrication lines. The yield maximization problem is first reformulated into a deterministic design centering problem. Macromodeling and problem decomposition are then applied to solve the design centering problem efficiently. The effectiveness of this methodology is illustrated through a simulation example involving a CMOS process adopted from an industrial line. © 1991 IEEE