Semiconductor manufacturing – from CPU and memory chips to thin films and flat panel displays – consists of series of complicated production steps. Indeed, some of the most advanced processor chips available on the market today involve hundreds of such steps. A wide variety of machines (‘tools’) are employed to perform these steps. These tools must be monitored and closely controlled to minimize waste and maximize yield.

Using data analysis techniques developed by Umetrics, our semiconductor clients can monitor production data both off-line and on-line. A combination of SIMCA-P+ for general data analysis and model building and SIMCA-QP+, TOOLWeb or FabStat for real-time monitoring allows process upsets to be detected immediately and corrective action taken.