23rd ASEMEP National Technical Symposium

REAL-TIME SYSTEM FOR PREDICTION AND DETECTION OF ESD PARAMETRIC

FAILURES
Orville Grace C. Tiangco QA ESD
Merryl Mabias IT
Ray Nicanor M. Tag-at QA ESD
Ma. Venus Maceren-Gambito QA Reliability Lab

HGST Philippines Corp., SEPZ Laguna Technopark, Bian Laguna

orvillegrace.tiangco@hgst.com
merryl.mabias@hgst.com
raynicanor.tag-at@hgst.com
ma.venus.maceren@hgst.com

ABSTRACT is Field Induction Model (FIM). Based on physical FA, the

failure signature of the Slider exposed to extremely high
High ESD DPPM was observed at the incoming field charge is called Dielectric Breakdown. In Figure 2, the
slider electrical test at the customer. Suspected cause of the slider sensor is composed of shields (shield 1 and 2), hard
ESD failure is the Tape Bond Process located at the slider bias (HB), and the TMR sensor, which is the most ESD-
back-end process (Fab 2B). The tape used in these sensitive part. Between the shields (S1 and S2) and the HB
processes is highly chargeable. Current control has been in- is the spark gap.
placed, but ESD risk is still present. Rowbar Quasi Static
Testing (RBQST) and Slider Dynamic Electric Testing
(SDET) are performed before and after Tape Bond Process,
respectively. These are electrical tests that check the
performance of the sliders and are also used to check for
Low MR Resistance defect often attributed to ESD Slider Reader Image
failure. However, not all products, in this case the Sliders,
are tested 100%. This concept is called Skip DET test, Figure 2. Slider sensor image showing the shields, hard
wherein it uses the data of the DETtested lots to predict the bias, TMR, and the spark gaps.
yield of the non-DET tested neighboring lots. This Skip
DET test process is prone to shipping defective sliders In tape bond process (Fab 2B) at the slider back-
coming from Fab2B processes to the customer. In order to end, the sliders are placed on the tape ring. The tape used is
prevent shipping defective parts, the real-time 1ESD Delta highly chargeable, and once the sliders are exposed to the
Monitoring System was created. This concept uses the test field charge from the tape, the shields 1 and 2 are charged,
data from RBQST and SDET to analyze potential ESD see Figure 3.
failures through the change (delta) in the MR resistance. If
potential ESD failure is detected, the affected lots will be
routed to DET for 100% testing. The system will also allow
real-time FA analysis and traceability that will aide in line
investigation and ESD-source hunting. This would also
increase the yield of Slider DET since the incoming parts
from Fab2B would be guaranteed to be in good condition in
terms of electrical performance.

1.0 INTRODUCTION

1.1 ESD Failure Mode

Since the suspected cause of ESD failure is the Figure 3. Field induction mechanism of the tape to the
Tape used in tape bond processes, the ESD event identified slider.

1
US Patent Pending. Disclosure No. HSJ820120028
23rd ASEMEP National Technical Symposium
Charge (Q) at Shield1:
Charge (Q) at Shield2:
Since S1 and S2 have different areas, therefore: Q1 Q2
1) There is a potential difference between Shield1
(S1) and Shield2 (S2).
2) If the potential difference is very high, the Spark
Gap breaks down (air in the gap becomes
conductive), and ESD happens between Shield1
and Shield2 (see Figure 3).
3) If the ESD is large enough, the TMR sensor and
the Leads will be damaged, melted, blotted, or
burned (see Figure 4C).
Figure 4. Different ESD failure modes of the TMR.
1.2 Concept of Real-time ESD Delta Monitoring System
In slider backend processes, RBQST and SDET
testing are done between the Fab2 2B tape bond processes.
Prior to SDET testing, sorting or binning is being done from
the main job to child job bins. In Figure 5, bin D
undergoes slider DET test while bin S are skip DET. The
ESD Delta Monitoring System is used to analyze the DET
data of bin D in order to judge if bin S will be shipped
or will be routed to SDET for 100% testing.
Figure 5. Slider process flow from testing to binning.
Here are the general concepts for this project:
1) Utilize rowbar quasi and SDET data (using
Resistance parameter);
2) Utilize the SDET data together with other related
data for FA and investigations to pinpoint
dependency.
This will be identified by computing the difference
in resistance between RBQST and SDET of Bin D sliders:
RRBQST - RSDET = R
Where R should be within the specified
specification, otherwise it will be part of the high delta
sliders. Below is the calculation of R for SDET rerouting:
Total qty of sliders with high R
> N% = Reroute
Total qty of sliders teste
1.3 Comparison with the Current System Skip DET Bins
Current System New System
Figure 6. Comparison between the current and the new ESD
delta monitoring system.
On Figure 6 the current and proposed new flow are
illustrated. On the new flow, current procedure is retained
but an additional option for rerouting the remaining job
(Skip DET), with suspected ESD failure, for testing has
been added.
23rd ASEMEP National Technical Symposium
2.0 EXPERIMENTAL SECTION
2.1 Software Overview
In order to manage the effects of ESD risk in a
manufacturing process, software that is dedicated for this
project was developed and installed. This software can
manage these 4 components, with the entire procedure
shown in Figure 7:
1) Predict and detect ESD risk
2) Reroute product for further testing
3) Automatically generate a standard set of reports for
every event
4) Initiate and track corrective actions
Figure 7. Detailed procedures for the prediction and
detection of ESD risks using the ESD Delta Monitoring
System.
2.1.1 Rerouting of Product for Further Testing
Jobs that will skip SDET will wait at a decision
operation until one of the following happens:
1) The parent job status becomes REROUTE
2) The parent job status becomes ALERT or PASS
and any non-ESD Skip DET criteria for job release
are met.
3) The job has been held for an extended period and
the parent job results are not available.
There is an existing application that gives guidance
to the line operators on when to release the Skip or Bin S
jobs and how to release them do DET or skip DET. This
application must be modified to include the ESD Bin
judgment results. This will give the operator a single
application that instructs which jobs to release and how they
should be routed.
The status of the waiting jobs is reviewed very
often. The application presenting the information must be
able to display the required data for the entire job queue
within a few seconds. The results need to be available very
soon after the required DET data is collected to minimize
the lead time impact on the Bin S jobs.
2.1.2 Automatic Report Generation
The system will send an e-mail notification. This
will happen whenever a Reroute Job or Alert Job will
occur.
Figure 8. ESD monitoring and analysis system architecture.
The manufacturing environment is dynamic, with
process steps and testing procedures changing regularly.
The ESD tracking application must be implemented to allow
most of the common change types to be managed by the
application user community, and not require continual code
maintenance by the central IT group. The entire system
architecture is shown in Figure 8.
The paper will focus on preventing ESD escapes
along with providing tools to improve the early detection
and root cause analysis of ESD events. Failure judgment,
slider and job details, process traceability, delta values,
pattern maps, and parametric and other monitoring charts
will be packaged and made available as online reports. Each
event will be tracked with a report and closed after a
resolution is recorded by an analyst.
23rd ASEMEP National Technical Symposium
3.0 RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
3.1 Data Collection
The data collection point of the new real-time ESD
delta system will focus on the current testing process, the
RB Quasi (RBQST) and the Slider DET (SDET) in Figure
9. The current system is only monitoring the ESD DPPM of
Figure 9. Slider manufacturing process flow with test
processes for data collection.
3.1.1 Method
Process data (SDET and RB Quasi) is utilized. The
current system was only doing product sampling and testing.
3.1.2 Collection Point
The data is collected prior OBA, right after SDET
measurement. This is a proactive approach since detection
is made in-line, which drives down the OBA DPPM for
ESD.
3.1.3 Data Size
The data will be 100% of SDET jobs. This is
statistically much better compared to the current system at
OBA were only 100 samples per tray for 6% on Skip DET
parts.
3.1.5 Criteria and Out-of-Control Action Plan (OCAP)
1) Primary Criteria: Resistance delta of SDET
and RBQST > 50 ohms.
OCAP: Reroute Skip DET jobs to SDET
testing then do FA.
2) Secondary Criteria: Resistance delta of SDET
and RBQST > 50 ohms to SDET low
resistance defect.
OCAP: Do FA.
3.2 ESD Risk Prediction and Detection
3.2.1 Delta Resistance Calculation
In slider electrical test, the MR resistance is used to
check for ESD damaged. The MR resistance tends to
become low when damaged by ESD.
In order to detect ESD risk from bin S, the data of the
resistance parameter of RBQST and SDET of bin will be
pulled out. The resistance delta between RBQST and SDET
will be calculated using the formula:
RRBQST - RSDET > 50, ESD01 slider
Total Count of ESD01 sliders / Total Qty of Bin D >
N% [N is variable]
If the percentage ESD01 sliders exceed the
specified target limit, the parent jobs will be rerouted,
provided that this change in resistance will be supported
with the failure pattern due to the field charge of the tape.
3.2.2 Tray Map Pattern Recognition
Figure 10. Slider tray map showing the ESD (delta
resistance failure) pattern induced by the static field charge
from the tape.
The illustration in Figure 10 shows a diagonal
pattern, on an actual position of sliders on tray after cutting
process, occurs on a set of job which is an indicative sign of
ESD risks. This may due to exposure on highly chargeable
materials (tape), exposure on processes that create charges
(Tribocharge), and/or unsafe practices. This pattern will be
used as added criteria to check if indeed there is a potential
for ESD defect. This will supplement the delta resistance
criteria for job rerouting.
23rd ASEMEP National Technical Symposium

3.3 SLDET Rerouting for Bin S

Slider ESD binning is done for Bin D sliders that

have DET test results. The ESD bin results are used to
determine the parent job status. There is a configurable
threshold (% parent job Bin D sliders tested) that must be
met before the parent job can be judged. If the percent tested
threshold is met, then a combination of a configurable
formula and a configurable threshold are used to determine
if the parent job has failed the ESD judgment. The parent
job state will be set to one of the following:

1) REROUTE, causing Bin S jobs to be re-routed to

SDET and the creation of an Event report. Figure 11. Paper FA reports with check boxes are used to
indicate if the report has some ESD significance.
2) ALERT, causing the creation of an Event report,
without re-routing the Bin S jobs.

3) PASS, where Event report will be created and the

Bin S jobs will be allowed to skip the DET step.
Note: this skip disposition only applies to ESD
results. The job may still be forced to the DET step
because of other DET processing.

ESD criteria will only be applied to Bin D and Bin S parts.

It will not be applied to sliders with any other bin type.

3.4 Real-Time Identification of Tools/Processes with ESD

Risk

This can allow tools to be fixed prior to damaging many Figure 12. Sample report that consists of image file or
days or weeks of production. HTML file.

1) The current cycle time between determination of 3.4.2 Process FA Reports

ESD mechanism and tool type is based on quasi
analysis
2) The cycle time is a minimum of 2 days to a
maximum of weeks depending on the depth of
analysis
3) The results presently do not make use of SDET
results and require more time from the ESD
Analyst thereby losing valuable time.
This is a list of claims that happened for all jobs related
to a parent job that has a recorded ESD event. This list of
claims will be used to identify and record the need for
investigation, analysis and change at operations/tools, or
training for operators (see Figure 13 for some details).

3.4.1 Paper FA Reports

The reports are grouped into sections. Each report has

an associated check box used to indicate that the report has
some ESD significance (see Figure 11). All of these reports
will be independently generated by the Report Generator
and placed in a directory on the web server for access by
this form. The reports will consist of image files or HTML
files. Based on the type, the form will present them to the
user in the appropriate manner (see Figure 12 for sample
HTML report). Figure 13. Process FA report will be used as checklist to
identify any tool ESD-related problem.
23rd ASEMEP National Technical Symposium

3.4.3 Product FA Reports the corrective actions will be faster, achieving faster
turnaround time (TAT) for the customer response.
This report is used to set the status of the Product FA
analysis and to record any findings or corrective actions (see
Figure 14).

Figure 16. Incoming ESD (Low Resistance) DPPM trend

chart of Customer.

3.6 Slider DET Yield Savings

Figure 14. Product FA report will be used to compile all the
documents concerning the product.
SDET Yield improvement will be incrementally
achieved at 0.25% (1Q), and 0.50% (onwards). The full
3.4.4 Corrective Action Monitoring
year volume for Slider DET Start is 340M Sliders.
With 1% SDET Yield Improvement at $0.0075/unit, the
ESD team will perform various activities to determine
1 year projection savings would be $ 0.558M. The
if the cause is ESD-related or not. After this determination,
savings will be generated only at Tape Process where
the ESD team may close the report or proceed to further FA
50% of total Fab2 volume will undergo at this process.
or problem correction, see Figure 15.
The other 50% will undergo Rigid Process where ESD
failures are significantly low.

Figure 15. A sample of accomplished Process FA.

3.5 Incoming Test ESD DPPM of Customer

By monitoring the ESD delta, corrective actions

have been made in the Fab 2B Tape Bond processes, thus
improving the incoming DPPM of the customer. Figure 16
shows the reduction of the incoming ESD DPPM of
customer. Though this was achieved with the current
manual system, but the concept of ESD Delta System was
already applied. With the implementation of the Real-time
ESD Delta Monitoring System, it is expected that the ESD
DPPM will further improve and that the response time for
23rd ASEMEP National Technical Symposium

4.0 CONCLUSION Department, spearheading manufacturing applications

Having the real-time ESD Delta Monitoring
System, real-time identification of potential ESD failures
can allow tools to be fixed prior to damaging many days or
weeks of production.
The current cycle time between determination of
ESD mechanism and tool type is based on post Out-of-Box
(OBA) paper analysis and quasi analysis. The cycle time is a
minimum of couple of days to a maximum of weeks
depending on the depth of analysis. By using the SDET test
results from the Delta System, analysis done by ESD
Engineers would be lessen, giving more valuable time is
doing line measurements and formulating corrective actions.
projects.
Ray Nicanor M. Tag-at has a Bachelors
Degree in Electrical Engineering at Silliman
University, and currently taking up his MBA
in Ateneo Graduate School of Business. He
is currently working in HGST Phil. Corp, a Western Digital
Company. As a Unit Manager, spearheading the ESD
Control Program of the company. He is a Certified ESD
Engineer of the International Association of Radio and
Telecommunications Engineers (iNARTE).

5.0 RECOMMENDATIONS Ma. Venus Maceren-Gambito has a

To provide a more robust prediction and detection
system, further improvements must be made such as:
1) Daily dashboard monitoring of reroute and alert
rates, capacity impact to SDET operations, and
events closure rate.
2) Library of patterns
3) Continuously study R relationship to pattern
as reader technology advances.
Bachelor's Degree in Computer Engineering
at Mindanao University of Science and
Technology. She is currently a Manager
working in HGST Phil. Corp, a Western
Digital Company, concurrently heading the Reliability
Laboratory and Quality Development Head QA function.

6.0 ACKNOWLEDGMENT

The authors wished to thank Garth Helf and Donald

Pence of HGST USA, for developing the system; Ciaran
Fox, for sharing his skills and expertise in ESD; Roger
Galinggana and Luis Pelo for the support in the creation of
this technical paper; and lastly but not the least Geronima
Bacurin for compiling and putting all together in order.

7.0 REFERENCES

1. Maceren, M.V., Tag-at, R., Fox, C. Real-Time ESD

Detection Using Delta Software Tool, US Patent Disclosure
No. HSJ820120028.

8.0 ABOUT THE AUTHORS

Orville Grace C. Tiangco has a Bachelors

Degree in Industrial Engineering at De La
Salle University-Dasmarias. She is
currently working in HGST Phil. Corp., a
Western Digital Company as a QA ESD
Engineer. She is currently involved in the ESD
development and experiments in the manufacturing line.

Merryl Nikki Mabias is a licensed

Electronics and Communications Engineer
from Saint Louis University. She is currently
working in HGST Phil. Corp., a Western
Digital Company as an Analyst for the IT