JP2017033348A - Alarm device and process control system - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an alarm device and a process control system capable of detecting an abnormal state of a processing device at an earlier stage.SOLUTION: An alarm device 10 acquires a plurality of representative values of a physical amount which are measured over time in a process which is executed plural times. The alarm device 10 determines whether an index value, which indicates an extent that the acquired representative values linearly increase/decrease over time, exceeds a predetermined threshold value. When the index value is determined as exceeding the predetermined threshold value, the alarm device 10 notifies that an abnormality has occurred on the process.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 2

Description

  The present invention relates to an alarm device and a process control system.

  Technologies for discriminating process abnormalities such as heat treatment and chemical treatment have been developed. Regarding the heat treatment apparatus, a reference time profile which is a time profile of temperature when normal temperature control is performed is stored in advance, and the heat treatment apparatus is sequentially evaluated while evaluating the difference between the time profile at the time of each heat treatment and the reference time profile. There is known a method for determining whether or not there is an abnormality (see, for example, Patent Document 1).

JP-A-8-263134

  However, in the method described in Patent Document 1, since the heat treatment apparatus cannot capture the tendency of the heat treatment apparatus to approach an abnormal state over time at a time interval longer than the time required for one heat treatment, the abnormal state of the heat treatment apparatus is determined. There is a possibility that it cannot be detected early. As a result, poor maintenance of the heat treatment apparatus tends to be overlooked, which may cause problems in terms of safety and environment.

  The present invention has been made in view of the above-described reasons, and an object thereof is to provide an alarm device and a process control system that can detect an abnormal state of a processing device at an early stage.

  The alarm device according to the present invention includes an acquisition unit that acquires a plurality of representative values obtained by measuring a physical quantity of a process that is executed a plurality of times in time series, and the representative value acquired by the acquisition unit monotonously increases or decreases in time series. A determination unit that determines whether or not an index value indicating a degree exceeds a predetermined threshold value, and an abnormality in the process when the determination unit determines that the index value exceeds the predetermined threshold value. A notifying unit for notifying that the occurrence has occurred.

It is a block diagram which shows the hardware constitutions of the process control system which concerns on embodiment. It is a block diagram which shows the function structure of the alarm device which concerns on embodiment. It is a time chart which shows the relationship between the process signal which concerns on embodiment, a trigger signal, a pressure value, and temperature. It is operation | movement explanatory drawing of the alarm device which concerns on embodiment, (A) shows the case where a sudden abnormal value is not contained in a representative value, (B) shows the case where a sudden abnormal value is contained in a representative value. It is an example of a signal with the alarm device which concerns on embodiment. (A) is a figure which shows the content of the pressure value determination database, (B) is a figure which shows the content of the temperature determination database about embodiment. It is a flowchart which shows the abnormality determination process 1 which the alarm device which concerns on embodiment performs. It is a time chart which shows the relationship between the heater ON signal which concerns on a modification, a trigger signal, and temperature. It is a figure which shows the content of the temperature determination database which concerns on a modification. It is a flowchart which shows the abnormality determination process 2 which the alarm device which concerns on a modification performs.

  Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings. As shown in FIG. 1, the process control system according to the present embodiment includes a film forming apparatus 20 that executes a process and an alarm device 10. The alarm device 10 is a device that issues an alarm when an abnormality occurs in the film forming apparatus 20 that repeatedly executes the film forming process.

  The film forming apparatus 20 includes a film forming apparatus having a reaction furnace. The film forming apparatus 20 includes a reaction furnace 21, a pressure gauge 22 that measures the internal pressure of the reaction furnace 21, a thermometer 23 that measures the temperature inside the reaction furnace 21, and a composition that controls the entire film forming apparatus 20. And a membrane device control unit 24. The reaction furnace 21 includes, for example, a wafer table (not shown) on which a semiconductor wafer is placed, a supply source (not shown) for supplying a material gas, a buffer gas, and the like to the surface of the semiconductor wafer placed on the wafer table, a reaction A heater (not shown) for heating the inside of the furnace 21 is provided. The film forming apparatus 20 executes the process in which the pressure and temperature fluctuate with such a configuration a plurality of times (at least M + 2 times or more) in time series.

  The pressure gauge 22 outputs pressure data indicating the measured pressure to the film forming apparatus control unit 24. The thermometer 23 outputs temperature data indicating the measured temperature to the film forming apparatus control unit 24. The pressure gauge 22 and the thermometer 23 can communicate with the alarm device 10, and output pressure data and temperature data to the alarm device 10 in response to a data request signal from the alarm device 10.

  The film forming apparatus control unit 24 uses the pressure data input from the pressure gauge 22 and the temperature data input from the thermometer 23 to supply the material gas and buffer gas supplied from the supply source and the heater temperature. Control etc. Further, the film forming apparatus control unit 24 outputs a processing signal indicating that the film forming process is being executed to the alarm device 10 during the film forming process.

  The alarm device 10 includes a notification unit 12 that notifies an abnormality of the film formation device 20 and a control unit 11 that controls the notification unit 12 based on information acquired from the film formation device 20. The control unit 11 physically includes a CPU (Central Processing Unit) 11a, a main storage unit 11b, an auxiliary storage unit 11c, a time measuring unit 11d, an interface unit 11e, and a system bus 11f that connects each unit.

  The main storage unit 11b includes a volatile memory such as a RAM (Random Access Memory). The main storage unit 11b is used as a work area for the CPU 11a.

  The auxiliary storage unit 11c includes a nonvolatile memory such as a ROM (Read Only Memory), a magnetic disk, and a semiconductor memory. The auxiliary storage unit 11c stores programs executed by the CPU 11a, various parameters, and the like. In addition, processing results by the CPU 11a are sequentially stored. The auxiliary storage unit 11 c includes a process database (physical quantity database) 131 in which pressure values and temperatures measured by the pressure gauge 22 and the thermometer 23 are recorded, a pressure determination database 132, and a temperature determination database 133. In the pressure determination database 132, information used for determining abnormality of the pressure in the reaction furnace 21 is recorded. In the temperature determination database 133, information used for determining abnormality of the temperature in the reaction furnace 21 is recorded.

  The timer unit 11d includes a hardware timer or the like. The timer unit 11d is used to measure time data necessary for an abnormality determination process 1 described later.

  The interface unit 11 e includes a LAN interface, a serial interface, a parallel interface, an analog interface, and the like, and functions as an interface with external apparatuses including the film forming apparatus 20. Specifically, the interface unit 11e acquires process physical quantity data from physical quantity sensors such as a pressure gauge 22 and a thermometer 23 included in the film forming apparatus 20. In addition, a signal indicating the state of the reaction furnace 21 is received from the film forming apparatus control unit 24. The interface unit 11e transmits the acquired data to the CPU 11a.

  The notification unit 12 includes a speaker that sounds an alarm sound, a display device that displays a warning light and an alarm screen, and the like. The notification unit 12 notifies the user of an abnormal tendency of the process of the reaction furnace 21 in response to a command from the CPU 11a.

  In addition, the alerting | reporting part 12 may be connected to the internet etc., for example, and may have a function which transmits an alarm message to the portable terminal etc. which a user possesses via the internet.

  Next, the functional configuration of the control unit 11 of the alarm device 10 according to the present embodiment will be described. The control unit 11 reads and executes the program stored in the auxiliary storage unit 11c by the CPU 11a, so that the extraction unit 111, the trigger generation unit 112, the calculation unit 113, the comparison unit 114, the polarity management, as shown in FIG. Functions as the unit 115, the determination unit 116, and the notification control unit 117.

  The extracting unit 111 at a specific time out of data indicating a plurality of physical quantities (pressure values, temperatures) measured during each film forming process performed by the film forming apparatus 20 acquired by the interface unit 11e and having different measurement times. Values (representative values) indicating the pressure value and temperature in the reaction furnace 21 are extracted and recorded in the process database 131.

  Here, the specific time is set to a time after elapse of a preset time from the time when the trigger signal is input from the trigger generation unit 112.

  The trigger generation unit 112 generates a trigger signal according to whether or not a processing signal is input from the film forming apparatus 20 and outputs the trigger signal to the extraction unit 111. For example, when the N-th film formation process is started in the film formation apparatus 20, the input of the processing signal of the voltage Vr from the film formation apparatus 20 to the alarm device 10 is started as shown in FIG. 3. At this time, the trigger generation unit 112 generates a rectangular pulse-shaped trigger signal having the voltage Vtr and outputs the trigger signal to the extraction unit 111. Here, the extracting unit 111 refers to the count value of the time measuring unit 11d and extracts the pressure data and the temperature data at the time T1 after a preset reference time t1 has elapsed from the time T0 when the trigger signal is input. . The extraction unit 111 extracts a plurality of representative values corresponding to the trigger signal generated a plurality of times.

  As described above, the interface unit 11e, the extraction unit 111, and the trigger generation unit 112 jointly acquire a plurality of representative values obtained by measuring physical quantities of processes that are executed a plurality of times in time series.

The calculation unit 113 calculates a moving average value of each physical quantity (pressure value, temperature) recorded in the process database 131 each time the extraction unit 111 extracts a new representative value. Here, the moving average (simple moving average) is from S (N) to M times (M is a positive integer smaller than N) when the most recently obtained representative value is S (N) as shown in FIG. The average value up to the representative value S (NM) acquired in the past is expressed by the equation (1)
Avr (N) = (S (N) + S (N−1) +,..., + S (N−M)) / M (1)
It is expressed.

When a new representative value S (N + 1) is acquired, the moving average is expressed by equation (2)
Avr (N + 1) = (S (N + 1) + S (N),..., + S (N−M + 1)) / M (2)
It is expressed. In the present embodiment, the value of M can be set freely by the user in accordance with the process, but is set to 10 here. The calculation unit 113 calculates a new moving average value every time the new extraction unit 111 extracts a new representative value. Then, the calculated moving average value is stored in a database (pressure determination database 132 or temperature determination database 133) corresponding to the representative value.

  It is assumed that all the representative values (pressure and temperature) corresponding to the respective film formation processes before the N-1th film formation are recorded in the process database 131.

  In addition, the calculation unit 113 obtains a numerical range (also referred to as a target range) that is a criterion for determining whether or not the representative value (pressure value, temperature) is an outlier with respect to the moving average value Avs (N). Here, the target range is a 95% confidence interval when S (N)... S (N−M) is used as a sample. The 95% confidence interval is an interval from Avr (N) −1.96 * s / M ^ (1/2) to Avr (N) + 1.96 * s / M ^ (1/2). Here, s is a standard deviation of the samples S (N)... S (NM). The target range may be a 99% confidence interval. Moreover, it is good also as a range of a predetermined | prescribed numerical range (for example, 5hp (hectopascal), 50 degreeC) by a user's setting.

  The comparison unit 114 reads the representative value extracted most recently from the process database 131 and determines whether or not the read value is included in the target range set by the calculation unit 113. When the read value is within the target range, this value is not an outlier, so the corresponding database (the pressure determination database 132 for the pressure value, and the temperature determination database 133 for the temperature). (FIG. 4A). On the other hand, when it is outside the target range, it is excluded from the subsequent processing as an outlier (FIG. 4B).

  FIG. 5 shows a measurement example in which a graph with the time in the process on the horizontal axis and the physical quantity on the vertical axis is arranged in the process execution order. In the example of FIG. 5, a graph of a greatly different form that differs from the others appears at the (N + 1) th time. In such a case, it is considered that an abnormality that did not occur in the process at other times occurred, such as generation of noise in the sensor (pressure gauge 22 or thermometer 23) or interruption of the process. By setting the target range with the calculation unit 113 and excluding values outside the target range with the comparison unit 114, the influence of such extreme values can be removed.

  When the newly extracted representative value is not an outlier, the comparing unit 114 moves past data from the corresponding database (the pressure determination database 132 when the pressure value is a pressure value, and the temperature determination database 133 when the temperature is a temperature value). Read the average value. Then, the representative value is compared with the past moving average value to identify the magnitude relationship. Here, when the representative value S (N) is obtained, the magnitude relation is specified in comparison with the previous moving average Avr (N−1).

  Then, the specified value (polarity value) indicating the magnitude relationship is stored in a corresponding database (a pressure determination database 132 for a pressure value, and a temperature determination database 133 for a temperature). Here, the polarity value is “1” when the comparison target value is larger than the moving average value, and is “0” when the comparison target value is smaller than the average value. Further, when the comparison target value is equal to the moving average value, the same value as the immediately preceding polarity value is taken.

  The polarity management unit 115 uses the same polarity continuation indicating the number of continuations of the same polarity value as the pressure value and temperature extracted most recently for the polarity values recorded in the pressure determination database 132 and the temperature determination database 133. Calculate the number. Then, the polarity management unit 115 records the calculated same polarity continuation number in the pressure determination database 132 and the temperature determination database 133.

  For example, as illustrated in FIG. 6A, the pressure determination database 132 includes a numerical value indicating the number of processes, a pressure average value calculated by the calculation unit 113, a pressure value extracted most recently, and a pressure average value closest to the pressure average value. The polarity value indicating the magnitude relationship with the extracted pressure value and the same polarity continuation number are recorded in association with each other. Here, the same polarity continuation number is a numerical value indicating how many times the same polarity value has continued. For example, as shown in FIG. 6B, the temperature determination database 133 is a magnitude relationship between the temperature average value calculated by the calculation unit 113, the most recently extracted temperature, and the temperature average value and the most recently extracted temperature. And the same polarity continuation number are recorded in association with each other.

  The same polarity continuation number indicates the number of acquired representative values that are monotonously increasing or monotonically decreasing. That is, if the number of same polarity continuations is large, it means that the representative value of the physical quantity monotonously increases or decreases in many continuous processes over a long period.

  The determination unit 116 generates an abnormality in the film forming apparatus 20 based on whether or not the number of same polarity continuations recorded in the pressure determination database 132 and the temperature determination database 133 is equal to or greater than a preset continuation number threshold. Determine whether or not. For example, as illustrated in FIGS. 6A and 6B, when the determination threshold is set to “6”, the determination unit 116 continues the same polarity recorded in the pressure determination database 132 and the temperature determination database 133. When at least one of the numbers reaches “6”, it is determined that the film forming apparatus 20 is abnormal. If the determination unit 116 determines that the film forming apparatus 20 has an abnormality, the determination unit 116 outputs an abnormality notification signal to the notification control unit 117.

  As described above, the comparison unit 114, the polarity management unit 115, and the determination unit 116 have an index value (the number of same polarity continuations) indicating the degree to which the acquired representative value monotonously increases or decreases monotonically in a time series. It is determined whether or not a threshold value (here, “6”) is exceeded.

  When the determination unit 116 determines that an abnormality has occurred in the film forming apparatus 20, the notification control unit 117 causes the notification unit 12 to issue an alarm. Here, the notification control unit 117 drives the notification unit 12 when the abnormality notification signal is input from the determination unit 116 and notifies the user of the abnormality of the film forming apparatus 20.

  Next, the abnormality determination process 1 executed by the control unit 11 of the alarm device 10 according to the present embodiment will be described with reference to FIG. The abnormality determination process 1 is started when the user turns on the power to the alarm device 10, for example.

  First, as shown in FIG. 7, the trigger generation unit 112 determines whether or not input of a processing signal from the film forming apparatus 20 has been started (step S1). The trigger generation unit 112 maintains the standby state unless a processing signal is input from the film forming apparatus 20 (step S1: No).

  On the other hand, when the input of the processing signal is started (step S1: Yes), the extraction unit 111 extracts the pressure value and the temperature (step S2). Here, the trigger generation unit 112 outputs a trigger signal to the extraction unit 111. And the extraction part 111 extracts the pressure value and temperature measured at the time which passed only the preset reference time from the time when the trigger signal was input. The extraction unit 111 records the extracted pressure value and temperature in the process database 131.

  Next, when the average value calculation target number is M, the calculation unit 113 determines whether or not the extracted pressure value, the pressure data indicating the temperature, and the temperature data are accumulated in the process database 131 by M + 1 or more. Determine (step S3). As long as the pressure data and the temperature data stored in the process database 131 are less than M + 1 each (step S3: No), the processes of step S1 and step S2 are repeatedly executed.

  On the other hand, when M + 1 or more pressure data and temperature data are accumulated in the process database 131 (step S3: Yes), the calculation unit 113 moves from the representative values of the pressure value and the temperature recorded in the process database 131. An average value is calculated (step S4). Specifically, among the representative values of the pressure values, M average values obtained by excluding the most recent representative value M + 1 from the most recently extracted representative value M + 1 are calculated and used as the moving average value. Similarly, a moving average value is obtained for the temperature.

  Subsequently, for each of the pressure value and the temperature, the calculation unit 113 calculates a target range that is a determination criterion as to whether or not the comparison unit 114 is to perform a comparison with the average value of the pressure value and the temperature (step) S5).

  Thereafter, the comparison unit 114 determines whether or not the most recently extracted pressure value and temperature are included in the target range for the pressure value and temperature, respectively (step S6). When the comparison unit 114 determines that at least one of the most recently extracted pressure value and temperature representative value is not included in the target range (step S6: No), the pressure value representative value is recorded in the pressure determination database 132. In addition, the representative value of the temperature is not recorded in the temperature determination database 133. And the process of step S1 is performed as it is. Instead of the configuration described here, a configuration may be adopted in which only representative values outside the target range are excluded when only some of the representative values of a plurality of types of physical quantities are not included in the target range. .

  On the other hand, if it is determined that both the most recently extracted pressure value and the representative temperature value are included in the target range (step S6: Yes), the comparing unit 114 sets the representative pressure value to the pressure determination database 132. To record. The representative value of the temperature is recorded in the temperature determination database 133 (step S7).

  Next, the comparison unit 114 obtains the polarity value depending on whether the most recently extracted representative value of the pressure value and temperature is larger, smaller, or the same as the moving average value. Then, the obtained polarity value is recorded in the pressure determination database 132 and the temperature determination database 133 for each of the pressure value and the temperature (step S8). Specifically, the comparison unit 114 selects the polarity value “1” when the representative value of the physical quantity (pressure value or temperature) extracted most recently is larger than the moving average value calculated in step S4, and is smaller. The polarity value “0” is selected. If it is equal to the moving average value, the same value as the polarity value selected in the previous loop is selected.

  Next, the polarity management unit 115 determines whether or not there is a change in the polarity value with respect to the pressure determination database 132 (step S9). Here, the polarity management unit 115 records the polarity value recorded for the film forming process corresponding to the most recently extracted pressure value and the film forming process executed immediately before this film forming process. The polarity values are compared, and if they are different from each other, it is determined that there is a change in the polarity value. For example, in the case of the pressure determination database 132 shown in FIG. 5A, the polarity management unit 115 assumes that the Nth film formation process corresponds to the most recently extracted pressure value. And the polarity value “1” corresponding to the (N−1) th film formation process are different, and therefore it is determined that there is a change in the polarity value.

  If it is determined that there is a change in the polarity value for the pressure determination database 132 (step S9: Yes), the polarity management unit 115 sets the number of continuations of the same polarity in the pressure determination database 132 to “1” (step S10). . Thereafter, the process of step S12 is executed. Here, the polarity management unit 115 sets the same polarity continuation number corresponding to the most recently extracted pressure value to “1”.

  On the other hand, when it is determined that there is no change in the polarity value for the pressure determination database 132 (step S9: No), the polarity management unit 115 increments the same polarity continuation number in the pressure determination database 132 by “1” (step S11). Then, the process of step S12 is executed. Here, the polarity management unit 115 increments the same polarity continuation number corresponding to the most recently extracted pressure value by “1”.

  After step S10 or step S11, in step S12, the polarity management unit 115 determines whether or not there is a change in the polarity value in the temperature determination database 133 (step S12). Here, the polarity management unit 115 includes a polarity value corresponding to the most recently extracted temperature, and a polarity value corresponding to the film forming process immediately preceding the film forming process corresponding to the most recently extracted temperature. When these are different from each other, it is determined that there is a change in the polarity value. For example, in the case of the temperature determination database 133 shown in FIG. 5B, the polarity management unit 115 assumes that the Nth film formation process corresponds to the most recently extracted temperature. Since the corresponding polarity value “0” is different from the polarity value “1” corresponding to the N−1th film formation process, it is determined that the polarity value has changed.

  When it is determined that there is a change in the polarity value for the temperature determination database 133 (step S12: Yes), the polarity management unit 115 sets the same polarity continuation number in the temperature determination database 133 to “1” (step S13). Thereafter, the process of step S15 is executed. Here, the polarity management unit 115 sets the same polarity continuation number corresponding to the most recently extracted temperature to “1”.

  On the other hand, when it is determined that there is no change in the polarity value in the temperature determination database 133 (step S12: No), the polarity management unit 115 increments the number of continuations of the same polarity in the temperature determination database 133 by “1” (step S14). Thereafter, the process of step S15 is executed. Here, the polarity management unit 115 increments the same polarity continuation number corresponding to the most recently extracted temperature by “1”.

  After step S10 or step S11, in step S15, the determination unit 116 determines that at least one of the same polarity continuation numbers stored in the pressure determination database 132 and the temperature determination database 133 is greater than or equal to a preset continuation number threshold value. It is determined whether or not there is (step S15). As long as the number of continuations of the same polarity does not reach the threshold value of the continuation number (step S15: No), the processing from step S1 to step S14 is repeatedly executed. On the other hand, when the polarity continuation number of any physical quantity matches the continuation number threshold value (step S15: Yes), the determination unit 116 outputs an abnormality notification signal to the notification control unit 117, and the notification control unit 117 When an abnormality notification signal is input from 116, the notification unit 12 is driven to issue an alarm (step S16).

  As described above, in the alarm device 10 according to the present embodiment, the trigger generation unit 112 and the extraction unit 111 measure the representative value obtained by measuring the physical quantity of the process that progresses with time inside the reaction furnace 21 as the measurement time. Get multiple differently. Then, whether or not the same polarity continuation number indicating the degree to which the acquired representative value monotonously increases or decreases monotonically in time series exceeds a predetermined threshold value by the calculation unit 113, the comparison unit 114, and the determination unit 116. Determine. When the notification unit 12 determines that the number of continuations of the same polarity exceeds a predetermined threshold value, the notification unit 12 notifies that an abnormality has occurred in the process. Therefore, process abnormalities can be detected early.

  Normally, when a representative value of a physical quantity is measured over a plurality of processes, the representative value frequently increases and decreases due to the influence of the process itself and noise generated during measurement. That is, the number of continuations of the same polarity, which is an index value indicating the degree of monotonic increase or monotonic decrease, does not increase.

  Further, the comparison unit 114 excludes outliers that are out of the setting range set by the calculation unit 113 based on a plurality of representative values. Therefore, the influence of process abnormality, sensor noise, etc. can be reduced. Therefore, the alarm device 10 according to the present embodiment has high abnormality determination accuracy.

  Furthermore, the polarity management unit 115 obtains the same polarity continuation number using the moving average value of the representative values extracted by the extraction unit 111. Therefore, it is less susceptible to noise than the case where the number of continuations of the same polarity is obtained using the result of simply comparing the representative value extracted and the representative value extracted immediately before. Therefore, the alarm device 10 according to the present embodiment has high abnormality determination accuracy.

  By the way, in order to detect abnormalities in the process, the pressure value and temperature time profile during the film forming process when the film forming apparatus 20 is normal are held in advance, and the pressure value and temperature measured at each time during the film forming process. It is conceivable to sequentially evaluate the difference between the normal time profile and the time profile. In the case of this configuration, pressure values and temperatures at all times during one film formation process are required, and the amount of data to be processed becomes enormous.

  In contrast, in the alarm device 10 according to the present embodiment, the extraction unit 111 extracts the pressure value and temperature (representative value) measured at a specific time for each film forming process performed by the film forming apparatus 20. Then, the presence or absence of abnormality of the alarm device 10 is determined from the extracted pressure value and temperature polarity value. Thereby, since the amount of data to be processed by the alarm device 10 can be reduced, the data processing capacity required for the alarm device 10 can be reduced.

  As mentioned above, although embodiment of this invention was described, this invention is not limited by the above-mentioned embodiment. For example, in the embodiment, the example in which the extraction unit 111 extracts one pressure value and temperature (representative value) for one film formation process has been described. Two or more pressure values or two or more temperatures may be extracted for the film forming process.

  For example, as shown in FIG. 8, it is assumed that the heater 24 of the voltage Vhon is continuously output to the alarm device 10 while the controller 24 of the film forming apparatus 20 is turning on the heater. Here, the trigger generating unit 112 according to this modification may be configured to output a trigger signal of the voltage Vtr to the alarm device 10 at the input start time T20 and the input stop time T22 of the heater-on signal. In this case, the extraction unit 111 can be configured to extract temperatures at time T21 after time t21 from time T20 and time T23 after time t22 from time T22. Here, the time t21 is set in advance based on, for example, a temperature rising time profile when the film forming apparatus 20 is normal. The time t22 is set in advance based on, for example, a temperature drop time profile when the film forming apparatus 20 is normal. The temperature at time T21 reflects the state of the heater. If this temperature is monotonously decreasing, the heater is approaching an abnormal state. Further, the temperature at time T23 reflects the state of the cooling system of the reaction furnace 21, and if this temperature increases monotonically, the cooling system of the reaction furnace 21 is approaching an abnormal state.

  Further, for example, as shown in FIG. 9, the temperature determination database 133 according to the present modification has values corresponding to the temperature at time T <b> 21 with respect to the temperature average value, the most recently extracted temperature, the polarity value, and the number of continuations of the same polarity. And a value corresponding to the temperature at time T23 are recorded. Note that the leftmost column in FIG. 9 shows an example of the number of film forming processes, and may not be actually recorded in the temperature determination database 133.

  When the same polarity continuation number corresponding to time T21 reaches a preset determination threshold, the determination unit 116 determines that the heater is abnormal, and the same polarity continuation number corresponding to time T23 is set in advance. When the determination threshold is reached, it is determined that the cooling system of the reaction furnace 21 is abnormal. For example, as illustrated in FIG. 9, when the determination threshold is set to “6”, the determination unit 116 determines that the heater of the film forming apparatus 20 is turned on when the same-polarity continuation number corresponding to time T21 reaches “6”. It is determined that there is an abnormality, and a heater abnormality notification signal for notifying the abnormality of the heater is output to the notification control unit 117. Further, when the same-polarity continuation number corresponding to time T23 reaches “6”, the determination unit 116 determines that the cooling system of the reactor 21 is abnormal, and provides a cooling abnormality notification signal for notifying the abnormality of the cooling system. The information is output to the notification control unit 117. The notification control unit 117 may distinguish between the case where the heater abnormality notification signal is input and the case where the cooling abnormality notification signal is input, and notify the user that the heater or the cooling system is abnormal.

  According to this configuration, since the abnormal state of the film forming apparatus 20 can be distinguished and notified to the user by the mode, the user can grasp the cause of the abnormality of the film forming apparatus 20 at an early stage. 20 can be restored early.

  In the embodiment, the film forming apparatus control unit 24 outputs a processing signal indicating that the film forming process is being performed during the film forming process to the alarm device 10, and the alarm device 10 receives the processing signal. The example in which the abnormality determination process 1 is executed while the user is in the process is described. For example, the film formation apparatus 20 outputs a process start signal and a process end signal to the alarm device 10 when the film formation process starts and after the film formation process ends. The abnormality determination process 1 may be executed after the input until the process end signal is input.

  In the above embodiment, the representative value is extracted from the data acquired from the film forming apparatus 20 using the trigger generation unit 112 and the extraction unit 111. However, the method of acquiring the representative value is not limited to this, and the trigger signal may be input from the process device. Alternatively, the representative value itself may be acquired from the outside via the interface unit 11e.

  Furthermore, the formulas and algorithms in the above-described embodiments are not limited to the above examples. For example, in the above embodiment, the simple moving average is used as the moving average, but a load moving average may be used. When the representative value and the moving average value are the same, the polarity value is the same as the previous process. In other words, broad monotonic increase and broad monotonic decrease were used. Instead of this, narrow monotonic increase and narrow monotonic decrease may be used. For this purpose, in step S8 of FIG. 7, if the representative value and the moving average value are the same, the polarity value is reversed from the previous processing (if it is “0”, it is set to “1”). , “0” in the case of “1”).

  In the alarm device 10 according to the embodiment, the example in which the extraction unit 111 extracts the pressure value and temperature in the reaction furnace 21 measured by the pressure gauge 22 and the thermometer 23 of the film forming apparatus 20 has been described. For example, when the film forming apparatus 20 includes a flow meter (not shown) that measures the flow rate of the material gas supplied from the supply source, the extraction unit 111 is identified during one film forming process. It may be configured to extract the flow rate of the material gas at the time. In addition, if the film forming apparatus 20 is configured to measure the temperature at a plurality of locations in the reaction furnace 21 with a plurality of thermometers, the extraction unit 111 can perform a plurality of locations at a specific time during one film forming process. The structure which extracts temperature may be sufficient.

  Further, the extraction unit 111 may be configured to extract the pressure value, the average value of the temperature, or the median in the reaction furnace 21 measured during one film forming process.

  In the embodiment, the example in which the alarm system includes the film forming apparatus 20 has been described. However, the present invention is not limited to this, and another process apparatus such as a heat treatment apparatus may be provided on condition that the process is executed a plurality of times in time series.

  In the embodiment described above, abnormality determination is performed using the same threshold value for a plurality of physical quantities having different properties of pressure and temperature. However, a configuration in which determination is performed using different threshold values corresponding to each physical quantity may be used. According to such a configuration, setting according to the property of the physical quantity is possible, and convenience is enhanced. Similarly, different values for a plurality of physical quantities may be used for the value M of the moving average.

  In this case, the database (the first continuation number threshold for the pressure determination, the second continuation number threshold for the temperature, and the second continuation number threshold for the temperature) corresponding to the thresholds used in the determination (here, the first continuation number threshold is the pressure determination database 132, the second The continuation number threshold value is stored in the temperature determination database 133). Then, for example, as in the abnormality determination process 2 of FIG. 10, it may be determined whether the number of polarity continuations exceeds the threshold value using the corresponding threshold value (steps S <b> 11 a and S <b> 15 a in FIG. 10).

  Note that steps up to step S8 of the abnormality determination process 2 are the same as steps up to step S8 of the abnormality determination process 1 in FIG. Steps S9, S10, and S11 are also executed in the same manner as the abnormality determination process 1.

  In the abnormality determination process 2, after step S10 or step S11, in step S11a, the determination unit 116 determines that the same polarity continuation number stored in the pressure determination database 132 is the corresponding continuation number threshold (first continuation number threshold). It is determined whether or not this is the case (step S11a). When the threshold value is not reached (step S11a: No), step S12 is executed. On the other hand, when it is more than a 1st continuation number threshold value (step S11a: Yes), the alerting | reporting part 12 issues a warning (step S16).

Steps S12 to S14 are executed in the same manner as the abnormality determination process 1.

  In the abnormality determination process 2, after step S13 or step S14, in step S15a, the determination unit 116 determines that the same polarity continuation number stored in the temperature determination database 133 corresponds to the continuation number threshold (second continuation number threshold). It is determined whether or not this is the case (step S15a). When the threshold value is not reached (step S15a: No), both the temperature and the pressure are less than the corresponding threshold values, so the processing from step S1 to step S15a is repeatedly executed. On the other hand, when it is more than a 2nd continuation number threshold value (step S15a: Yes), the alerting | reporting part 12 issues a warning (step S16).

  Although the embodiment of the present invention has been described, this embodiment is presented as an example and is not intended to limit the scope of the invention. The novel embodiment can be implemented in various other forms, and various omissions, replacements, and changes can be made without departing from the scope of the invention. This embodiment and its modifications are included in the scope and gist of the invention, and are included in the invention described in the claims and the equivalents thereof.

  DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 ... Alarm device, 11 ... Control part, 11a ... CPU, 11b ... Main memory part, 11c ... Auxiliary memory part, 11d ... Time measuring part, 11e ... Interface part, 11f ... System bus, 12 ... Notification part, 20 ... Film formation Apparatus, 21 ... reactor, 22 ... pressure gauge, 23 ... thermometer, 24 ... deposition device control unit, 111 ... extraction unit, 112 ... trigger generation unit, 113 ... calculation unit, 114 ... comparison unit, 115 ... polarity management , 116 ... determination unit, 117 ... notification control unit, 131 ... process database, 132 ... pressure determination database, 133 ... temperature determination database.

Claims (5)

An acquisition unit for acquiring a plurality of representative values obtained by measuring a physical quantity of a process executed multiple times in time series;
A determination unit that determines whether or not an index value indicating a degree of monotonously increasing or monotonically decreasing the representative value acquired by the acquiring unit exceeds a predetermined threshold;
A notification unit for notifying that an abnormality has occurred in the process when the determination unit determines that the index value exceeds the predetermined threshold;
An alarm device comprising: Further including an excluding unit that excludes outliers from the plurality of representative values acquired by the acquiring unit;
The alarm device according to claim 1.   The alarm device according to claim 1, wherein the determination unit obtains the index value using a moving average value of the representative value. The acquisition unit acquires representative values of a plurality of physical quantities having different properties,
The alarm device according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein the determination unit performs the determination using thresholds corresponding to the physical quantities having different properties. A process device that executes the process multiple times in time series, and
A sensor for measuring a physical quantity of the process;
An acquisition unit that acquires a plurality of representative values of the physical quantity;
A determination unit that determines whether or not an index value indicating a degree of monotonously increasing or monotonically decreasing the representative value acquired by the acquiring unit exceeds a predetermined threshold;
A notification unit for notifying that an abnormality has occurred in the process when the determination unit determines that the index value exceeds the predetermined threshold;
A process control system comprising:

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