Scribe characterization vehicle test chip for ultra fast product wafer yield monitoring

Sub 100nm technology nodes face more wafer to wafer and lot to lot variability. 300mm wafer manufacturing also faces larger within wafer spatial trends. Monitoring those issues on a per layer basis as well as correlating them to the product yield is key for significant yield improvements. A novel characterization vehicle® (CV®) has been developed, which is being used in the scribe line of product wafers. The scribe CV test chip achieves an extremely efficient placement of defect sensitive test structures by arranging those in all layers underneath probing pads that are implemented in the top metal layer only. Placed next to product chips all scribe CV test chips on a wafer can be tested in less than 10 minutes per 300mm wafer. Data analysis unveils layer specific defect densities and fail rates, spatial wafer trends, excursion wafers, and more.