Abstract: A method and structure for predicting semiconductor product costs at a fabricator entailing a storage medium which includes a database of historical critical dimensions and historical critical groundrules correlated to cost functions at the fabricator. The user interface has user inputs for new design parameters and new critical groundrules associated with a new device to be produced at the fabricator and a computer adapted to receive the user inputs, extract data from the storage medium, and compute semiconductor costs for the new device. The historical critical dimensions and the new critical dimensions are gate dimensions and the new critical dimensions are smaller than the historical critical dimensions. This device includes a future technology generation. Fabrication hardware and fabrication methods for producing the future technology generation are unknown and the relationships comprise base models and models that include options.

Abstract: A method and structure for predicting semiconductor product costs at a fabricator entailing a storage medium which includes a database of historical critical dimensions and historical critical groundrules correlated to cost functions at the fabricator. The user interface has user inputs for new design parameters and new critical groundrules associated with a new device to be produced at the fabricator and a computer adapted to receive the user inputs, extract data from the storage medium, and compute semiconductor costs for the new device. The historical critical dimensions and the new critical dimensions are gate dimensions and the new critical dimensions are smaller than the historical critical dimensions. This device includes a future technology generation. Fabrication hardware and fabrication methods for producing the future technology generation are unknown and the relationships comprise base models and models that include options.

Abstract: A method of, computer system for, and computer program product for causally relating costs to products comprises, identifying resource costs for manufacturing the product, computing load factors for each of the resource costs, producing weighted resource costs based on the resource costs and the load factors, summing the weighted resource costs for the product, determining a volume of the product manufactured, and dividing the weighted resource costs by the volume to produce a weighted cost per product.

Abstract: A method of, computer system for, and computer program product for causally relating costs to products, including relating costs to a wafer having semiconductor chips comprising identifying resource costs for manufacturing the wafer including identifying equipment costs, computing load factors for each of the resource costs (the computing load factors for the equipment costs comprising determining a number of exposure fields on the wafer, computing a raw processing time for the wafer based on the number of exposure fields, and determining a percentage the raw processing time represents of a manufacturing time period on an equipment element, the equipment element having the equipment costs), producing weighted resource costs based on the resource costs and the load factors, (the producing weighted resource costs for the equipment costs comprising multiplying the equipment costs by the percentage), summing the weighted resource costs for the wafer, determining a volume of the wafer manufactured, and dividing th