METHOD TO IDENTIFY MACHINES CAUSING EXCURSION IN SEMICONDUCTOR MANUFACTURING

The present invention discloses a method that recognizes and uses the grouping patterns of process material by different machines at different process steps to identify potential problem machines causing the excursion in semiconductor manufacturing. The excursion could be a yield problem at the final test or at any inline electrical testing, metrology measurement, or inspection at different process steps. The potential problematic machines are listed in order of most likely to be problematic.