Actionable Insight Accelerator (AIx™)
Semiconductor chip manufacturing requires hundreds to several thousands of process steps conducted in series. To achieve ideal results, each process step requires a specific recipe, created from hundreds of equipment parameters, that can vary across the duration of that recipe. Engineers now have thousands of process variables to choose from, with only a handful of elusive correlations providing the key to recipe optimization.
AIx™, which stands for Actionable Insight Accelerator, enables engineers to see into semiconductor processes in real-time, take millions of measurements across wafers and individual chips, and optimize thousands of process variables to improve semiconductor performance, power, area, cost and time to market (PPACt™). The AIx platform works across all Applied Materials process equipment, eBeam™ metrology systems and inspection systems, and is extendable from lab to fab. By providing engineers with the ability to fingerprint innovative recipes during R&D, AIx accelerates their transfer and ramp into high-volume manufacturing (HVM). AIx is already in use today, improving the PPACt of both logic and memory chips.
The AIx platform includes:
ChamberAI®technology: New sensors and machine learning algorithms for Applied Materials process chambers with real-time analytics of variables
On-board metrology: Unique in-vacuum metrology that enables new films to be measured as they are being deposited, with angstrom-level precision
Inline metrology: Unique algorithms based on Applied eBeam metrology which can provide a 100-fold increase in measurement speed with 50 percent higher resolution
AppliedPRO® software: Process Recipe Optimizer generates digital process maps that accelerate materials and recipe development, reduce variability, and widen process windows
Digital twins: The AIx platform includes digital twin models of select Applied Materials chambers and systems that enable virtual experiments as well as on-demand energy and chemical consumption of semiconductor manufacturing equipment through our EcoTwin efficiency software
Computing: The AIx platform includes the computing resources needed to store and analyze massive data using machine learning and AI algorithms
