TREESPLIT Procedure

Example 34.3 Assessing Variable Importance

(View the complete code for this example.)

This example creates a classification tree model to determine important variables (parameters) during the manufacture of a semiconductor device. Some of the variables that are involved in the manufacturing process are: gTemp, the growth temperature of substrate; aTemp, the annealing temperature; Rot, rotation speed; Dopant, the atom used during device growth; and Usable, which indicates whether the device is usable.

The following statements create a data table named mylib.MBE_Data, which contains measurements for 20 devices:

data mylib.MBE_Data;
   label gTemp  = 'Growth Temperature of Substrate';
   label aTemp  = 'Anneal Temperature';
   label Rot    = 'Rotation Speed';
   label Dopant = 'Dopant Atom';
   label Usable = 'Experiment Could Be Performed';

   input gTemp aTemp Rot Dopant $ 39-40 Usable $ 47-54;
   datalines;
   384.614    633.172    1.01933      C       Unusable
   363.874    512.942    0.72057      C       Unusable
   397.395    671.179    0.90419      C       Unusable
   389.962    653.940    1.01417      C       Unusable
   387.763    612.545    1.00417      C       Unusable
   394.206    617.021    1.07188      Si      Usable
   387.135    616.035    0.94740      Si      Usable
   428.783    745.345    0.99087      Si      Unusable
   399.365    600.932    1.23307      Si      Unusable
   455.502    648.821    1.01703      Si      Unusable
   387.362    697.589    1.01623      Ge      Usable
   408.872    640.406    0.94543      Ge      Usable
   407.734    628.196    1.05137      Ge      Usable
   417.343    612.328    1.03960      Ge      Usable
   482.539    669.392    0.84249      Ge      Unusable
   367.116    564.246    0.99642      Sn      Unusable
   398.594    733.839    1.08744      Sn      Unusable
   378.032    619.561    1.06137      Sn      Usable
   357.544    606.871    0.85205      Sn      Unusable
   384.578    635.858    1.12215      Sn      Unusable
   ;

The following statements create the tree model:

proc treesplit data=mylib.MBE_Data maxdepth=6;
   class Usable Dopant;
   model Usable = gTemp aTemp Rot Dopant;
   prune none;
run;

Output 34.3.1 shows the "Variable Importance" table.

Output 34.3.1: Variable Importance

The TREESPLIT Procedure

Variable Importance
VariableTrainingCount
ImportanceRelative
Importance
Dopant2.70001.00001
aTemp1.05000.38891


This table shows that the predictor Dopant has the largest importance value. This means that the atom used during device growth is the most important consideration in determining the usability of the sample. The column Count indicates how many times the variable was used in for splits within the decision tree.

Last updated: September 22, 2026