Early detection for quality and reliability management

Early detection is important for the quality and reliability management in the industries to reduce the production cost, enhance quality control, improve product reliability, and shorten time-to-market. SPC (Statistical Process Control) is the major tool to realize early detection. A successful SPC pro gram requires management supports, a complete coverage, and the well maintained knowledge management system. In this paper, a general early detection methodology for semiconductor manufacturing was proposed and several practical cases were introduced to clarify the recommended approaches. These cases are involved in the definition and demonstration of early detection index (EDI), and the practice of early detection in raw materials management and reliability assessments. Some valuable concepts such as “PI”, “SI”, “QI”, “RI”, and “Rpk” were reported for the first time. These tools were applied in quality and reliability management and we found them extremely useful for early detections from both technical and managerial standpoints.