公开(公告)号：US10134613B2

公开(公告)日：2018-11-20

申请号：US15272706

申请日：2016-09-22

申请人： Macau University of Science and Technology

发明人： Yan Qiao ,  Mengchu Zhou ,  Naiqi Wu ,  Zhiwu Li ,  Qinghua Zhu

IPC分类号： H01L21/677 ,  H01L21/67

摘要： A system and method for a cluster tool apparatus for processing a semiconductor product including processing modules located adjacent each other and configured to process a semiconductor module, loadlocks configured to retain and dispense unprocessed semiconductor products and each positioned adjacent one of the processing modules, a robot configured to load, transfer and unload a semiconductor product to and from the processing modules, a hardware controller in communication with the robot and executing a method to close down the cluster tool apparatus to an idle state, the method including determining a status of the processing modules, determining if a close down process is required based on the status or based on a close down signal, and, if required, determining a schedule for a close down process based on a semiconductor product residency parameter, and controlling the operation of the robot based on the schedule to perform the close down process.

公开(公告)号：US10001772B2

公开(公告)日：2018-06-19

申请号：US14918564

申请日：2015-10-21

申请人： Macau University of Science and Technology

发明人： Naiqi Wu ,  Qinghua Zhu ,  Mengchu Zhou ,  Yan Qiao

IPC分类号： G05B19/418

CPC分类号： G05B19/41865 ,  G05B2219/34418 ,  G05B2219/45031 ,  G05B2219/50391 ,  Y10S901/02 ,  Y10S901/30

摘要： Recent trends of larger wafer and smaller lot sizes bring cluster tools with frequent lot switches. Practitioners must deal with more transient processes during such switches, including start-up and close-down processes. To obtain higher yield, it is necessary to shorten the duration of transient processes. Much prior effort was poured into the modeling and scheduling for the steady state of cluster tools. In the existing literature, no attention has been turned to optimize the close-down process for single-arm cluster tools with wafer residency constraints. This invention intends to do so by 1) developing a Petri net model to analyze their scheduling properties and 2) proposing Petri net-based methods to solve their close-down optimal scheduling problems under different workloads among their process steps. Industrial examples are used to illustrate the effectiveness and application of the proposed methods.

公开(公告)号：US20180082878A1

公开(公告)日：2018-03-22

申请号：US15272706

申请日：2016-09-22

申请人： Macau University of Science and Technology

发明人： Yan Qiao ,  Mengchu Zhou ,  Naiqi Wu ,  Zhiwu Li ,  Qinghua Zhu

IPC分类号： H01L21/677

CPC分类号： H01L21/67167 ,  H01L21/67745

摘要： A system and method for a cluster tool apparatus for processing a semiconductor product including processing modules located adjacent each other and configured to process a semiconductor module, loadlocks configured to retain and dispense unprocessed semiconductor products and each positioned adjacent one of the processing modules, a robot configured to load, transfer and unload a semiconductor product to and from the processing modules, a hardware controller in communication with the robot and executing a method to close down the cluster tool apparatus to an idle state, the method including determining a status of the processing modules, determining if a close down process is required based on the status or based on a close down signal, and, if required, determining a schedule for a close down process based on a semiconductor product residency parameter, and controlling the operation of the robot based on the schedule to perform the close down process.

公开(公告)号：US20170083008A1

公开(公告)日：2017-03-23

申请号：US14918577

申请日：2015-10-21

申请人： Macau University of Science and Technology

发明人： Naiqi Wu ,  Qinghua Zhu ,  Yan Qiao ,  Mengchu Zhou

IPC分类号： G05B19/418

CPC分类号： G05B19/4187 ,  G05B2219/45031 ,  G05B2219/50291 ,  Y02P90/205 ,  Y02P90/26

摘要： The scheduling problem of a multi-cluster tool with a tree topology whose bottleneck tool is process-bound is investigated. A method for scheduling the multi-cluster tool to thereby generate an optimal one-wafer cyclic schedule for this multi-cluster tool is provided. A Petri net (PN) model is developed for the multi-cluster tool by explicitly modeling robot waiting times such that a schedule is determined by setting the robot waiting times. Based on the PN model, sufficient and necessary conditions under which a one-wafer cyclic schedule exists are derived and it is shown that an optimal one-wafer cyclic schedule can be always found. Then, efficient algorithms are given to find the optimal cycle time and its optimal schedule. Examples are used to demonstrate the scheduling method.

公开(公告)号：US10001773B2

公开(公告)日：2018-06-19

申请号：US14918577

申请日：2015-10-21

申请人： Macau University of Science and Technology

发明人： Naiqi Wu ,  Qinghua Zhu ,  Yan Qiao ,  Mengchu Zhou

IPC分类号： G05B19/41 ,  G05B19/418

CPC分类号： G05B19/4187 ,  G05B2219/45031 ,  G05B2219/50291 ,  Y02P90/205 ,  Y02P90/26

摘要： The scheduling problem of a multi-cluster tool with a tree topology whose bottleneck tool is process-bound is investigated. A method for scheduling the multi-cluster tool to thereby generate an optimal one-wafer cyclic schedule for this multi-cluster tool is provided. A Petri net (PN) model is developed for the multi-cluster tool by explicitly modeling robot waiting times such that a schedule is determined by setting the robot waiting times. Based on the PN model, sufficient and necessary conditions under which a one-wafer cyclic schedule exists are derived and it is shown that an optimal one-wafer cyclic schedule can be always found. Then, efficient algorithms are given to find the optimal cycle time and its optimal schedule. Examples are used to demonstrate the scheduling method.

公开(公告)号：US20170083010A1

公开(公告)日：2017-03-23

申请号：US14918564

申请日：2015-10-21

申请人： Macau University of Science and Technology

发明人： Naiqi Wu ,  Qinghua Zhu ,  Mengchu Zhou ,  Yan Qiao

IPC分类号： G05B19/418

CPC分类号： G05B19/41865 ,  G05B2219/34418 ,  G05B2219/45031 ,  G05B2219/50391 ,  Y10S901/02 ,  Y10S901/30

摘要： Recent trends of larger wafer and smaller lot sizes bring cluster tools with frequent lot switches. Practitioners must deal with more transient processes during such switches, including start-up and close-down processes. To obtain higher yield, it is necessary to shorten the duration of transient processes. Much prior effort was poured into the modeling and scheduling for the steady state of cluster tools. In the existing literature, no attention has been turned to optimize the close-down process for single-arm cluster tools with wafer residency constraints. This invention intends to do so by 1) developing a Petri net model to analyze their scheduling properties and 2) proposing Petri net-based methods to solve their close-down optimal scheduling problems under different workloads among their process steps. Industrial examples are used to illustrate the effectiveness and application of the proposed methods.