SpotMe effective co-optimization of design and defect inspection for fast yield ramp

A fast, production-ready yield learning methodology to identify and score critical hotspot patterns in an integrated circuit (IC) design is presented. The methodology, named SpotMe, correlates simulation-based design hotspots with inline defect inspection and enables co-optimization of process simulation models and defect inspection methods. The methodology is demonstrated on a 28nm GLOBALFOUNDRIES testchip and is validated using volume diagnosis results.