An Unsupervised Machine Learning-based Framework for Wafer Scale Variability Analysis and Performance Prediction of Ferroelectric Hf0.5Zr0.5O2 Thin Film Capacitors

Fuente: arXiv
Enregistré dans:
Détails bibliographiques
Auteurs principaux: Anu, Anika, Majumdar, Sayani
Format: Preprint
Publié: 2026
Sujets:
Accès en ligne:
Tags: Ajouter un tag
Pas de tags, Soyez le premier à ajouter un tag!
_version_ 1866915972349165568
author Anu, Anika
Majumdar, Sayani
author_facet Anu, Anika
Majumdar, Sayani
contents Fabrication process-induced performance variability remains a formidable barrier in the high-volume manufacturing of semiconductor chips. With skyrocketing Artificial Intelligence (AI) workload, demand for non-volatile and computational memories is growing exponentially. As embedded non-volatile memory, ferroelectric Hf0.5Zr0.5O2 emerged as a strong candidate due to their CMOS back-end-of-line (BEOL) compatibility, scalability and high performance. However, their sensitive crystallization kinetics leads to significant device-to-device (D2D) non-uniformity leading to unpredictability of performance over wafer scale. In this work, we demonstrate unsupervised machine learning can analyze intra-die D2D variations and predict performance of "unseen" dies efficiently. We present a framework utilizing Principal Component Analysis (PCA) and K-Means clustering to analyze D2D performance variations in HZO capacitors and building on data from multiple dies, we move beyond traditional descriptive statistics to a predictive "Virtual Metrology" approach that separates performance categories, defined by key parameters like remanent polarization (Pr) and coercive voltage (Vc). The analysis further extends to comparing uniformity across different dies across the wafer showing the proposed methodology can accurately predict device performance on untested dies with a low Mean Absolute Percentage Error (MAPE) in the range of 5-10%, suggesting a robust path for accelerated yield improvement and reduced metrology overhead.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2605_00544
institution arXiv
publishDate 2026
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle An Unsupervised Machine Learning-based Framework for Wafer Scale Variability Analysis and Performance Prediction of Ferroelectric Hf0.5Zr0.5O2 Thin Film Capacitors
Anu, Anika
Majumdar, Sayani
Materials Science
Fabrication process-induced performance variability remains a formidable barrier in the high-volume manufacturing of semiconductor chips. With skyrocketing Artificial Intelligence (AI) workload, demand for non-volatile and computational memories is growing exponentially. As embedded non-volatile memory, ferroelectric Hf0.5Zr0.5O2 emerged as a strong candidate due to their CMOS back-end-of-line (BEOL) compatibility, scalability and high performance. However, their sensitive crystallization kinetics leads to significant device-to-device (D2D) non-uniformity leading to unpredictability of performance over wafer scale. In this work, we demonstrate unsupervised machine learning can analyze intra-die D2D variations and predict performance of "unseen" dies efficiently. We present a framework utilizing Principal Component Analysis (PCA) and K-Means clustering to analyze D2D performance variations in HZO capacitors and building on data from multiple dies, we move beyond traditional descriptive statistics to a predictive "Virtual Metrology" approach that separates performance categories, defined by key parameters like remanent polarization (Pr) and coercive voltage (Vc). The analysis further extends to comparing uniformity across different dies across the wafer showing the proposed methodology can accurately predict device performance on untested dies with a low Mean Absolute Percentage Error (MAPE) in the range of 5-10%, suggesting a robust path for accelerated yield improvement and reduced metrology overhead.
title An Unsupervised Machine Learning-based Framework for Wafer Scale Variability Analysis and Performance Prediction of Ferroelectric Hf0.5Zr0.5O2 Thin Film Capacitors
topic Materials Science
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2605.00544