Gauss Labs Releases AI-Based Virtual Metrology Solution, Panoptes VM 2.0

• New features added in order to improve accuracy and usability
• SK hynix expands adoption of Gauss Labs's solution to etching process in addition to thin film deposition process
• Gauss Labs plans to expand its presence in global industrial AI market with strong references in semiconductor manufacturing

SEOUL, South Korea, Aug. 12, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- Gauss Labs announced today that it released the second version of its AI-based virtual metrology* solution, Panoptes VM 2.0.

*Metrology: a process of measuring the physical and electrical characteristics to ensure that requirements are met in the manufacturing process

Panoptes VM provides all-wafer measurement data in real-time by predicting process outcomes from sensor data. By applying this solution, it is possible to predict the process results of all products without physical full-scale measurement, significantly reducing time and resources.

Gauss Labs said that Panoptes VM 2.0 is making a new leap forward with new modeling features including the Multi-Step Modeling, Operation-Group Modeling and Automatic Model Selection. With these new features, the prediction accuracy and usability have been greatly improved, compared to the previous version.

Gauss Labs, an industrial AI company invested by SK hynix, first launched Panoptes VM 1.0 in November 2022. The system has been deployed to the thin film deposition* process at SK hynix's high-volume manufacturing fabs since December 2022. By integrating the virtual measurement results from Panoptes VM with APC*, SK hynix improved process variability* by approximately 29% and also enhanced yield rate.

*Thin film deposition: the process of creating and depositing thin film coatings onto a substrate material
*APC(Advanced Process Control): a solution that adjusts process condition for equipment adaptively during a manufacturing process
*Variability: the scale of the quality variation of the products from a certain process. It is important to maintain a low process variability in order to keep the product quality consistent.

SK hynix plans to expand the application to APC use case. With the new Multi-Step Modeling feature, it expects to cover the etching process effectively. This new feature creates prediction models using data from not only the current step but also previous steps to improve the accuracy of VM predictions which is especially critical for etching process.

*Etching: the process of removing unnecessary parts on the exterior of the circuit engraved on the wafer through photolithography

Panoptes VM 2.0 also provides the Operation-Group Modeling that allows the users to group data from similar operations for more effective modeling even when the data is scarce and the Automatic Model Selection, which supports multi-algorithm architecture and automatically selects the best performing model based on data characteristics to further improve the accuracy of VM as well as usability.

Gauss Labs, headquartered in Silicon Valley, was founded in 2020 with the vision of "revolutionizing manufacturing with AI" and has focused on "developing AI solutions for manufacturing data intelligence* (MDI)."

Mike Kim, Chief Executive Officer of Gauss Labs, said, "Our concerted efforts over the past 4 years are now creating meaningful impact in the semiconductor industry, the most advanced manufacturing sector. Equipped with our state-of-the-art industrial AI technology, we will continue our march towards the global industrial AI market."

*MDI(Manufacturing Data Intelligence): extracting valuable information and insights from a vast amount of raw manufacturing data that cannot be easily analyzed by humans

About SK hynix Inc.

SK hynix Inc., headquartered in Korea, is the world's top tier semiconductor supplier offering Dynamic Random Access Memory chips ("DRAM"), flash memory chips ("NAND flash") and CMOS Image Sensors ("CIS") for a wide range of distinguished customers globally. The Company's shares are traded on the Korea Exchange, and the Global Depository shares are listed on the Luxemburg Stock Exchange. Further information about SK hynix is available at www.skhynix.com, news.skhynix.com.

About Gauss Labs Inc.

Gauss Labs develops innovative industrial AI solutions and software products to make factories more intelligent by leveraging machine-generated data. It was founded in August 2020 and now has two international locations in Silicon Valley, CA, and Seoul, Korea. Further information about Gauss Labs is available at www.gausslabs.ai.

SOURCE SK hynix Inc.