Method of weighted combination specs for enhanced manufacturing yield

Abstract

Embodiments of the invention provide methods for enhancing the downstream product yield without significantly affecting the yield of components from which downstream products are made or enhancing yield of the components without significantly affecting the downstream product yield and performance. In one embodiment, a method comprises obtaining a failure rate of the downstream manufacturing process as a function of each of a plurality of component performance parameters of the current manufacturing process of the component; optimizing weighted factors based on correlation between the current manufacturing process of the component and the downstream product, the weight factors each corresponding to one of the plurality of component performance parameters; and calculating figure of merits (FOM) with respect to the plurality of component performance parameters of the current manufacturing process of the component, the FOM including the weighted factors.

Description

CROSS-REFERENCES TO RELATED APPLICATIONS [0001] NOT APPLICABLE BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION [0002] This invention relates generally to manufacturing processes and, more particularly, to improving the manufacturing yield using weighted combination specs. [0003] Improving the manufacturing yield has obvious economic benefits. In the context of recording devices such as magnetic hard disk drive apparatuses, HGA (Head Gimbal Assembly) disposition in DET (Dynamic Electrical Testing) is performed mostly via wall specs of individual test parameters. To ensure outgoing HGA quality and HDD (hard disk drive as downstream product with multiple HGAs) yield, it is necessary to have a tight wall spec of individual test parameters using this approach, which leads to lower HGA component yield. [0004] Efforts have been made to look into combining more than one DET parameters. There is, however, no systematic approach to address the interdependence of those spec parameters. As a result, the convention...

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

[0005] Embodiments of the present invention provide methods for enhancing downstream product yield without significantly affecting yield of components from which downstream products are made or enhancing yield of the components without significantly affecting the downstream product yield and performance. The technique involves using weighted factors to balance the contribution to the yield from individual parameters for the current manufacturing process of a component, and optimizing the weighted factors based on correlation between the current manufacturing process and the downstream products. One example involves a product flow from a wafer to a slider to an HGA to an HDD. The methodology is applied to enhance the downstream HDD product yield without significantly affecting the yield of the HGA component or enhance HGA yield without compromising HDD performance and yield. In another example involving semiconductor manufacturing, the system level testing performance is optimized without significantly sacrificing the chip level testing performance.

Problems solved by technology

To ensure outgoing HGA quality and HDD (hard disk drive as downstream product with multiple HGAs) yield, it is necessary to have a tight wall spec of individual test parameters using this approach, which leads to lower HGA component yield.

There is, however, no systematic approach to address the interdependence of those spec parameters.

As a result, the conventional approach of combining test parameters leads to undesired skew (weight) on some performance parameters over others.

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