Provided measured data and a calibration mechanism exists for a tool, single simulation tools can be tuned to model the actual behavior of fabrication processes and devices in a given fabrication setting. Figure 2.2 shows this approach for a sequence of three tools, each being calibrated separately.
Figure 2.2:
Local tool calibration. The parameter
settings are used to select corresponding measurement data during
calibration.
In principle, the individual calibration of each simulator is most desirable, because in this fashion, tools can be defined that can be used at any position of the process flow as well as in different contexts. Unfortunately, process interdependencies as well as lack of sufficient experimental data make this strategy rather cumbersome.