Cost and Yield Estimation-A New TCAD Component

A methodology to include cost and yield estimation in a comprehensive TCAD model of semiconductor processing is presented. The underlying idea is that a process recipe used to drive TCAD simulators contains a complete set of information about the process. If it is combined with empirical equipment data, a set of models can be constructed to describe cost as a function of the process recipe and equipment data. This paper presents a user-configurable cost modeling tool tightly integrated with TCAD simulators, enabling the user to study related and important questions of cost and yield not covered by traditional TCAD tools.