1. Purpose and scope
Parts from the same wafer differ: some run faster, some draw less power, some hold data better at high temperature, and some have parts of the array that cannot be repaired. Grading turns that spread into products. Each grade is an orderable part with its own price and demand, and the grade structure decides how much revenue each wafer brings and how much inventory the business carries.
This stage sets the grade structure and the bin limits that sort parts into grades, decides how partly good dies and stacks are used, and steers the product mix as distributions and demand change. The grade structure and binning are set up before the production release, so each orderable part has a grade behind it, and the stage closes at Bin and grade plan release; steering the mix then continues through volume production.
In scope: distribution analysis, the bin and grade plan, the binning program and the production test flow it runs in, partly good use, inventory and allocation across grades. Out of scope: test time reduction and test flow changes in volume, which follow in the ramp, and cost-down changes to the die.
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