Zenpire  Products 
  iFAB-Defect
  iFAB-Test   
  iFAB-Setup    
  iFAB-Bit 
  iFAB-Pixel
  iFAB-Utilities   
  iFAB-Central 
  iFAB-FA         

iFAB-Defect is the first of the iFAB modules to be released from Zenpire. The purpose of iFAB-Defect is to parse, view, modify, and store files coming from various defect inspection stations from KLA-Tencor, ADE, Inspex, TSK, Applied Materials (Orbot), and August Technology. Each of these vendor's inspectors are capable of creating defect results files in the TFF (Tencor File Format) or KLARF (KLA Results File) file formats which are also able to be read and written by iFAB-Defect module. (Refer to supported file formats here)

iFAB-Defect displays all the pertinent information in the TFF and KLARF files in a neatly organized and windowed display. Defect locations and sizes are displayed with their inspection regions on a colorful wafer map that can be zoomed in and out very easily. Once zoomed in, defect distances can be measured using a handy ruler tool. To zoom in on an inspection region, all the user has to do is double-click within the boundaries of that region and another window pops up showing all the defects within that region. The "region" view can also be magnified and the distances can be measured. Within this die view, the defect map can be saved as a layer in a GDS-II file for import into any chip design software package supporting GDS-II import. All wafer and region displays can be saved to a variety of graphics files (refer to supported file formats here). To assist in locating defects on a wafer, the current position of the cursor on the wafer is updated on the wafer map as the cursor is moved. Several layers or wafers can be displayed at the same time using different colors.

Unlike other similar tools, the TFF and KLARF data can be edited. Defect positions can be shifted in the X or Y direction or rotated around the center or another point within the wafer. Why do this? Inspectors are not perfect and alignment inconsistency is frequent especially when different machines, layers, and recipes are involved, To get data to overlay, "conditioning" of the defect data is required for some layers. Defects can be added or deleted using the user interface. Defect sizes and scattering intensities can also be scaled. Lot infomation can also be edited, very useful for binary TFF files.

Additionally, iFAB-Defect can convert KLARFs to TFFs and TFFs to KLARFs. It seems that most sites prefer one format to the other. Some inspectors are isolated from the other equipment because they do not output the approved file type. iFAB-Defect can remedy this.

Like all iFAB modules, iFAB-Defect can run on most popular computer platforms (Windows 95,98,NT; Solaris; HP-UX; Linux; Apple). iFAB-Defect is also bundled with the iFAB-Utilities, most notably the FTP client and the word processor. Using the FTP client, files can be retrieved anywhere on the site's network and loaded into iFAB-Defect. The bundled word processor allows the user to view and edit text files such as the KLARF, without calling up another application.

• Runs on all major platforms
• Reads AND writes KLARF and TFF defect files
• Converts TFF to KLARF
• Creates defect maps with a graphical interface
• Can modify contents of TFF files
• Complete package to peruse the site's network to collect defect file and loaded them into the application
• Provides quick, remote access to newly created inspection files
• No need for database to view lots worth of data together
• Easy to use interface (engineers AND operators can use)

If defect files are to be displayed immediately after inspection,up until now the options were: (1) take up valuable inspector time and look at the wafer maps on the machine, (2) wait for the data to be loaded into the database and query the database, (3) look at the printout from the inspector. In each case time is wasted: either the engineer's or the inspector's. With iFAB-Defect, defect files can read on any machine that is networked to the inspector (Windows 95,98,NT; Solaris; HP-UX; Linux; Apple). By mounting the iFAB machine to the inspector (easy to do) files can be loaded off-line and anywhere in the fab immediately after the inspection.. Defect map viewing can benefit from all the added features iFAB-Defect has over printouts and the inspector's software package, such as magnification, overlay from previous layers and other wafers,and other measurement tools.

Because iFAB-Defect can output an inspections regions worth of defects to a GDS-II layer and this GDS-II layer can be imported as a layer with any CAD tool, defects can be overlaid to the devices as designed onto the chip. Much like viewing the overlay of poly to metal lines using the CAD tools from Cadence and Tanner, this "defect" layer can be displayed over FOX, Poly, contact,etch layers looking for any sensitivities and commonalties.