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

Abstract

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.