ABSTRACT

In semiconductor manufacturing systems, a time-constrained multi-cluster tool should be scheduled such that a wafer stays in a process chamber in a given time range to satisfy a wafer residency time constraint. In practice, activity time is subject to variation. It could lead to some fluctuation of wafer residency time in a process chamber. Hence, it is crucial to analyze how wafer residency time varies with activity time variation. This issue is especially challenging for multi-cluster tools. This work focuses on determining the exact upper bound of wafer sojourn time delay resulted from activity time variation for dual-arm multi-cluster tools. After discussing their dynamic behaviours, it presents a two-level real-time operational architecture and a real-time control policy. Based on them, this work derives for the first time an efficient algorithm to calculate the exact upper bound of wafer sojourn time delay in a process chamber. As a result, engineers can test whether a given schedule is feasible. Several examples of industrial significance are used to demonstrate the application of the proposed approach.

摘要

在半导体制造系统中，应安排时间受限的多集群工具，以便晶片在给定的时间范围内停留在处理室中，以满足晶片驻留时间限制。在实践中，活动时间会有所变化。这可能会导致处理室中晶片停留时间的一些波动。因此，分析晶圆驻留时间如何随活动时间变化而变化至关重要。这个问题对于多集群工具尤其具有挑战性。这项工作的重点是确定双臂多集群工具活动时间变化导致的晶圆停留时间延迟的确切上限。在讨论了它们的动态行为之后，它提出了一个两级实时操作架构和一个实时控制策略。在他们的基础上，这项工作首次推导出一种有效的算法来计算处理室中晶圆逗留时间延迟的准确上限。因此，工程师可以测试给定的时间表是否可行。几个具有工业意义的例子被用来证明所提出的方法的应用。