TWI785527B - A material classification schduling method to prevent scheduling deadlock - Google Patents

Abstract

A material classification scheduling method for preventing scheduling deadlock, includes: determining the materials to be scheduled; there are process participation materials placed in bottleneck resource position in the materials to be scheduled, sending the information of the materials to be scheduled to the scheduling module for scheduling and outputting scheduling sequence; wherein, the scheduling module schedules the materials, and the outputting scheduling sequence includes: if there are process participation materials in the materials to be scheduled Based on the preset priority rule of the first wafer transport box, the wafer transport box for transmission creates a moving step for the highest priority wafer transport box. The invention solves the technical problem of scheduling calculation deadlock caused by competing for bottleneck resources when a semiconductor device with a storage device schedules multiple transport operations and process operations at the same time, and improves the performance of the machine software, the reliability and equipment capacity of the company, and enhance the customer experience.

Description

A Material Classification Scheduling Method to Prevent Scheduling Deadlock

The invention relates to the technical field of semiconductor equipment, in particular to a material classification scheduling method for preventing scheduling deadlock.

Semiconductor vertical furnace equipment is one of the important process equipment in the pre-process of semiconductor production line. It is used for diffusion, oxidation, annealing, alloying and sintering processes in industries such as large-scale integrated circuits, discrete devices, power electronics, optoelectronic devices and optical fibers; As the size of wafers continues to increase, chipmakers are able to fabricate more wafers on a single wafer. Since 2000, the wafer standard in the semiconductor industry has been set at 300 mm. To simplify transportation and minimize the risk of contamination, wafer manufacturers utilize front-opening standard wafer cassettes, also known as Foups, to handle wafers. Multiple wafers can be placed in each dust-free and ultra-clean wafer transfer box, usually 25 wafers. The wafer transfer box can be docked at the front end of most Applied Materials machine systems. The machine can suck the wafers in one by one, automatically processing.

Semiconductor vertical furnace equipment includes external loading table (LoadPort), stocker (Stocker), wafer transfer box robot (STR), wafer loading and unloading position (LoadLock), wafer robot (WTR) and process module chamber (PM ).

A semiconductor vertical furnace with a stocker has an important feature: In addition to the wafer (Wafer) participating in the transfer, the wafer transfer box (Foup) is also involved in the transfer, so the wafer transfer box robot (STR) and the wafer loading and unloading position (LoadLock) become Bottleneck resources for semiconductor vertical furnaces, Simultaneous movement of the wafer transfer box (Foup) and the movement of the process flow will result in a scheduling deadlock due to competition for bottleneck resources. For example, the wafer transfer box robot (STR) needs to move to the wafer loading and unloading position (LoadLock). The wafer transfer box (Foup), and the wafer loading and unloading position (LoadLock) has a wafer transfer box (Foup) that needs to be removed. The wafer transfer box (Foup) moving to the other side, that is, at this time, the wafer transfer box robot (STR) and the wafer loading and unloading position (LoadLock) are in a waiting state for each other, and enter the scheduling deadlock, and the thread of the host computer is in the scheduling deadlock. If the machine is in an abnormal state, the materials in the processing machine are in danger of being scrapped, and the software of the machine must be restarted, which seriously affects the normal process flow. Therefore, it is necessary to solve the deadlock technology of equipment scheduling problems, thereby ensuring material safety and improving equipment productivity.

The purpose of the present invention is to overcome the defects of the prior art and provide a material classification scheduling method that prevents scheduling deadlock.

The technical solution of the present invention is: a material scheduling method for preventing scheduling deadlock in semiconductor equipment, comprising:

Step S1. Determine the materials to be dispatched. The materials to be dispatched are divided into process participation materials and transmission carrier materials. The process participation materials include wafers participating in the process and wafer transfer boxes participating in the process. The transmission carrier materials include Wafer transfer boxes that do not participate in the process; step S2, if there is a process-participating material placed on the bottleneck resource position in the material to be scheduled, directly send the information of the material to be scheduled to the scheduling module for scheduling, and output the scheduling sequence Wherein, the scheduling module performs scheduling, and the output scheduling sequence includes: step Z100, receiving information of the material to be scheduled, generating a list of removable wafers and a list of removable wafer delivery boxes; step Z200, judging whether there are wafers in the material to be scheduled The transport box is being loaded or unloaded, if yes, then go to step Z210, if not, then go to step Z220; step Z210, for the wafer transport box that is being loaded or unloaded, or the movable wafer, Create moving steps, Then turn to Z300; step Z220, judge whether there is an FOUP being transferred in the material to be scheduled, and if so, create an FOUP for the highest priority FOUP based on the preset first FOUP priority rule Move the step, and go to step Z300; if not, then according to whether the FOUP is about to be loaded or unloaded, based on the preset second FOUP priority rule, the process participation material has the highest priority The wafer transfer box creation movement step, and go to step Z300; Step Z300, update the movable wafer list or the movable wafer transfer box list, judge whether all the materials to be dispatched have reached the destination, if not, return to step Z200 , if yes, then output all moving steps to form the scheduling sequence.

Further, step Z210 includes: step Z211, judging whether a moving step can be created for the FOUP being loaded or unloaded, if yes, creating a moving step for the FOUP being loaded or unloaded, and Go to step Z212, if no, go to step Z212 directly; step Z212, judge whether there is a movement step generated, if yes, go to step Z300, if not, go to step Z213; step Z213, based on preset A wafer priority rule of , create a move step for the wafer with the highest priority among the movable wafers, and go to step Z300.

Further, the bottleneck resource location includes a wafer loading and unloading location, and a FOUP robot.

Further, the first FOUP priority rule includes: setting a movement priority for each FOUP according to the moving step of each FOUP and whether the bottleneck resource bit is occupied, wherein the bottleneck resource bit is occupied The FOUP has the highest priority.

Further, the first FOUP priority rule includes: the FOUPs that have been scanned by the wafer robot and are waiting to be processed or the FOUPs that participate in the process have a priority of level one.

Further, the first FOUP priority rule also includes: when the FOUP participating in the process occupies the bottleneck resource position, the priority of the FOUP that has been scanned by the wafer manipulator and is waiting for the process is the second level; Wafer robot scanning completed and waiting for processing When the FOUPs occupy the bottleneck resource bit, the priority of the FOUPs participating in the manufacturing process is the second level.

Further, the priority of the wafer transfer box waiting to be scanned by the wafer manipulator is level three; the priority of the wafer transport box waiting to be moved into the stocker is level 4; it is placed on the stocker and waits to be moved into the wafer loading and unloading position for wafer mechanical Hand-scanned FOUPs have a priority of five; FOUPs placed on a stocker waiting to be removed to a load port have a priority of six.

Further, in step S2, if there is no process participation material placed on the bottleneck resource position in the material to be scheduled, go to step S3; step S3, if there is a process participation material placed on the bottleneck resource position in the material to be scheduled transfer carrier material, then go to step S4; step S4, judge whether there is a process participation material that is not placed on the bottleneck resource position in the material to be scheduled, if not, go to step S5, if yes, go to step S5 Go to step S6; step S5, directly send the information of the material to be scheduled to the scheduling module for scheduling, and output the scheduling sequence; step S6, add the transmission carrier material placed on the bottleneck resource position among the materials to be scheduled to the first Batch scheduling processing materials, sending the information of the first batch of scheduling processing materials to the scheduling module for scheduling, and outputting the first scheduling sub-sequence; step S7, extracting the process participation materials that are not placed on the bottleneck resource position among the materials to be scheduled , added to the second batch of scheduling processing materials, sending the information of the second batch of scheduling processing materials to the scheduling module for scheduling, and outputting the second scheduling sequence sub-column; step S8, extracting the materials to be scheduled that are not placed in the bottleneck resource position The transmission carrier material on the above is added to the third batch of scheduling processing materials, and the information of the third batch of scheduling processing materials is sent to the scheduling module for scheduling, and the third scheduling subsequence is output; step S9; output scheduling sequence, the scheduling sequence It includes a first scheduling subsequence, a second scheduling subsequence and a third scheduling subsequence.

Further, in step S3, if there is no transmission carrier material placed on the bottleneck resource position in the material to be dispatched, go to step S10; step S10, judge whether there is a material not placed in the bottleneck resource position in the material to be dispatched If no, then go to step S11; if yes, go to step S12; step S11, directly send the information of the material to be scheduled to the scheduling module for scheduling, and output the scheduling sequence; Step S12. Extract the process participation materials that are not placed on the bottleneck resource position among the materials to be scheduled, add them to the second batch of scheduling processing materials, send the information of the second batch of scheduling processing materials to the scheduling module for scheduling, and output the first Second scheduling sequence sub-column; step S13, extract the transmission carrier materials that are not placed on the bottleneck resource position in the material to be scheduled, add them to the third batch of scheduling processing materials, and send the information of the third batch of scheduling processing materials to the scheduling module Perform scheduling, and output a third scheduling subsequence; Step S14: output a scheduling sequence, the scheduling sequence including the second scheduling subsequence and the third scheduling subsequence.

The invention has the following beneficial effects: by setting the operation priority rules for the wafer transfer box for the transfer operation, and classifying and batch-scheduling the materials to be scheduled, it solves the problem of multiple transfer operations and process operations of semiconductor equipment with stockers At the same time, due to competition for bottleneck resources during scheduling, there will be technical problems in scheduling calculation deadlocks, which improves the reliability of machine software operation and equipment productivity, and further improves customer experience.

LoadPortA, LoadPortB: external loading port

STR: wafer transfer box robot

Shelf: shelf

Stocker: Stocker

LoadLockC, LoadLockD: chip loading and unloading port

MTR: Wafer Robot

Boat: boat

PM: process module chamber

Aspects of the present disclosure are best understood from the following detailed description when read with the accompanying drawings. It should be noted that, in accordance with the standard practice in the industry, various components are not drawn to scale. In fact, the dimensions of the various components may be arbitrarily increased or decreased for clarity of discussion.

Fig. 1 is a schematic diagram of the structure of semiconductor vertical furnace equipment in an embodiment of the present invention.

Fig. 2 is a flow chart of a scheduling method for process-participating materials placed on bottleneck resource positions among materials to be scheduled in an embodiment of the present invention.

Fig. 3 is a flow chart of the scheduling algorithm in the scheduling module in the embodiment of the present invention.

Fig. 4 is a flow chart of classified scheduling of materials to be scheduled in the embodiment of the present invention.

The following disclosure provides many different embodiments, or examples, of different means for implementing the disclosure. Specific examples of components and configurations are described below to simplify the present disclosure. Of course, these are examples only and are not intended to be limiting. For example, in the following description a first member is formed on a first Over or over two members may include embodiments in which the first member and the second member are formed in direct contact, and may also include embodiments in which additional members may be formed between the first member and the second member such that the An embodiment in which the first member and the second member may not be in direct contact. Additionally, the present disclosure may repeat reference numerals and/or letters in various instances. This repetition is for simplicity and clarity and does not in itself indicate a relationship between the various embodiments and/or configurations discussed.

In addition, for ease of description, spatially relative terms such as "below", "below", "under", "above", "upper" and the like may be used herein to describe the relationship between one element or member and another(s) The relationship between elements or components, as illustrated in the figure. Spatially relative terms are intended to encompass different orientations of the device in use or operation in addition to the orientation depicted in the figures. The device may be otherwise oriented (rotated 90 degrees or at other orientations) and thus the spatially relative descriptors used herein should be interpreted similarly.

差。再者，如本文中使用，術語「大約」通常意謂在一給定值或範圍之10%、5%、1%或0.5%內。替代地，術語「大約」意謂在由此項技術之一般技術者考量時處於平均值之一可接受標準

差內。除在操作/工作實例中以外，或除非以其他方式明確指定，否則諸如針對本文中揭露之材料之數量、時間之持續時間、溫度、操作條件、數量之比率及其類似者之全部數值範圍、數量、值及百分比應被理解為在全部例項中由術語「大約」修飾。相應地，除非相反地指示，否則本揭露及隨附發明申請專利範圍中陳述之數值參數係可根據需要變化之近似值。至少，應至少鑑於所報告有效數位之數目且藉由應用普通捨入技術解釋各數值參數。範圍可在本文中表達為從一個端點至另一端點或在兩個端點之間。本文中揭露之全部範圍包含端點，除非 另有指定。 Notwithstanding that the numerical ranges and parameters setting forth the broad scope of the disclosure are approximations, the numerical values set forth in the specific examples are reported as precisely as possible. Any numerical value, however, inherently contains certain deviations necessarily resulting from the standard deviations found in their respective testing measurements.

Difference. Furthermore, as used herein, the term "about" generally means within 10%, 5%, 1%, or 0.5% of a given value or range. Alternatively, the term "about" means an acceptable standard of being within an average value when considered by one of ordinary skill in the art

within the range. Except in operating/working examples, or unless otherwise expressly specified, all numerical ranges, such as for amounts, durations of time, temperatures, operating conditions, ratios of amounts, and the like, of materials disclosed herein, Amounts, values and percentages should be understood as being modified by the term "about" in all instances. Accordingly, unless indicated to the contrary, the numerical parameters set forth in this disclosure and the accompanying claims are approximations that may vary as desired. At a minimum, each numerical parameter should at least be construed in light of the number of reported significant digits and by applying ordinary rounding techniques. Ranges can be expressed herein as from one endpoint to the other or as between two endpoints. All ranges disclosed herein are inclusive of endpoints unless otherwise specified.

As shown in Figure 1, the semiconductor vertical furnace includes an external loading platform (LoadPort), a stocker (Stocker), a wafer transfer box robot (STR), a wafer loading and unloading position (LoadLock), a wafer robot (WTR) and a process Module chamber (PM).

External loading platform (LoadPort): It is a bridge between the external and equipment. The external loading platform (LoadPort) can place the wafer transfer box (Foup). The external loading platform (LoadPort) has a door opening mechanism to open the wafer transfer box (Foup). the door. The external loading platform (LoadPort) generally has two ports, LoadPortA and LoadPortB.

Wafer transfer box robot (STR): responsible for transferring the wafer transfer box (Foup), and also includes the function of scanning (Map). During the scanning (Map) process, the door of the wafer transport box (Foup) must be opened and kept still. The infrared sensor is installed on the mechanical arm of the wafer transport box manipulator (STR). The storage information of the wafer (Wafer) in the box (Foup). The Wafer Transfer Box Robot (STR) is used to transfer the wafer transfer box (Foup) between the external loading platform (LoadPort), the wafer loading and unloading position (LoadLock) and the shelf (Shelf) of the stocker (Stocker).

Stocker (Stocker): used to place Foups, multiple Foups can be placed on one Stocker, and Foups can be placed on the Stocker The parts are called shelves (Shelf).

Wafer loading and unloading position (LoadLock): the wafer transfer box (Foup) can be placed on the wafer loading and unloading position (LoadLock), with a door opening mechanism, which can open the door of the wafer transfer box (Foup) Take out the wafer (Wafer) and put it on the boat (Boat) or take out the wafer (Wafer) from the boat (Boat) and put it into the wafer transfer box (Foup), That is, charging (Charge) or unloading (DisCharge), the wafer loading and unloading position (LoadLock) is a bridge for wafers (Wafer) to enter the process module chamber (PM). The chip loading and unloading position (LoadLock) generally has two ports, LoadLockC and LoadLockD.

Wafer robot (WTR): responsible for the transfer of wafers (Wafer), and also includes the function of scanning (Map), which can be used for wafer transfer boxes (Foup) on the wafer loading and unloading position (LoadLock) and in the process module chamber (PM) The boat (Boat) scans (Map). During the scan (Map), the wafer transfer box (Foup) on the wafer loading and unloading position (LoadLock) is in the state of opening and resting. The boat (Boat) is at the starting position (Home position), and the wafer There is an infrared sensor on the single finger (Arm) of the manipulator (WTR), and the storage information of the wafer (Wafer) in the wafer transfer box (Foup) and the storage information of the wafer (Wafer) on the boat (Boat) are obtained by moving the single finger (Arm) up and down. )Information. The wafer robot (WTR) can transfer the wafer (Wafer) from the wafer transfer box (Foup) of the wafer loading and unloading position (LoadLock) and the boat (Boat) in the process module chamber (PM). The wafer robot (WTR) is divided into 1 finger and 5 fingers, which can pick and place 1 wafer (Wafer) or 5 wafers (Wafer) at a time.

Process module chamber (PM): used to perform corresponding process operations. There is a boat (Boat) in the process module chamber (PM) for placing wafers (Wafer). The number of wafers (Wafer) participating in the process in the process module chamber (PM) is determined by the number of slots (Slots) of the boat (Boat).

Before the process starts, the wafer transfer box robot (STR) first transfers the wafer transfer box (Foup) loaded with wafers (Wafer) to the wafer loading and unloading position (LoadLock), and the wafer transfer box robot (WTR) scans (Map), After the scanning (Map) is completed, the wafer transfer box The robot arm (STR) transfers the wafer transfer box (Foup) to the corresponding shelf (Shelf) of the stocker (Stocker).

After the process starts, the specific process is as follows:

1) The wafer transfer box robot (STR) transfers the wafer transfer box (Foup) from the shelf (Shelf) of the stocker (Stocker) to the wafer loading and unloading position (LoadLock);

2) The wafer robot (WTR) transfers the wafer (Wafer) in the wafer transfer box (Foup) in the wafer loading and unloading position (LoadLock) to the boat (Boat) in the process module chamber (PM);

3) The wafer manipulator (WTR) scans (Map) all the wafers (Wafer) in the boat (Boat) of the process module chamber (PM);

4) The wafer transport box robot (STR) puts the wafer transport box (Foup) in the wafer loading and unloading position (LoadLock) back on the shelf (Shelf) of the stocker (Stocker);

5) All wafers (Wafer) complete the process operation in the boat (Boat) of the process module chamber (PM);

6) After the process is over, the wafer robot (WTR) first goes to the boat (Boat) of the process module chamber (PM) to scan (Map) all wafers (Wafer) before unloading (DisCharge);

7) The wafer transfer box robot (STR) takes the wafer transfer box (Foup) participating in the process from the shelf (Shelf) corresponding to the stocker (Stocker) and puts it on the wafer loading and unloading position (LoadLock);

8) The wafer robot (WTR) takes out the wafer (Wafer) that has completed the process from the boat (Boat) of the process module chamber (PM) and puts it into the corresponding wafer transfer box (Foup) on the wafer loading and unloading position (LoadLock). In the card slot (slot).

9) The wafer transport box robot (STR) puts the wafer transport box (Foup) on the wafer loading and unloading position (LoadLock) back to the corresponding shelf (Shelf) of the stocker (Stocker).

As shown in Figure 2, a material scheduling method for preventing scheduling deadlock in semiconductor equipment, including:

Step S1. Determine the materials to be dispatched. The materials to be dispatched are divided into process-participating materials and transport carrier materials. Process-participating materials include wafers (Wafer) participating in the process, wafer transfer boxes (Foup) participating in the process, and transport carriers. Such materials include Foups that do not participate in the process; there are 25 slots in the Foup for storing wafers. If the wafers in the Foup ) need to carry out corresponding process operations in the process module chamber (PM), then the wafer (Wafer) and wafer transfer box (Foup) are process participation materials, if the wafer (Wafer) in the wafer transfer box (Foup) does not need The corresponding process operation is carried out in the process module chamber (PM), and the wafer transfer box (Foup) is a transport carrier material.

Step S2. Determine whether there is a process participation material placed on the bottleneck resource position among the materials to be scheduled, and if so, directly send the information of the material to be scheduled to the scheduling module, and the scheduling module will perform scheduling and output a scheduling sequence; there are materials in storage The semiconductor vertical furnace of the device has an important feature: in addition to the wafer (Wafer), the wafer transfer box (Foup) is also involved in the transmission, so the wafer transfer box robot (STR) and wafer loading and unloading position (LoadLock) become the bottleneck resources of the semiconductor vertical furnace. Process participation materials on the above, at this time, directly send the information of the materials to be scheduled to the scheduling module for scheduling, and output the scheduling sequence; as shown in Figure 3, where the scheduling module performs scheduling, and the output scheduling sequence includes: Step Z100, receiving the Scheduling material information, generating a list of movable wafers and a list of removable wafer transfer boxes; Step Z200, judging whether there are wafer transfer boxes in the materials to be scheduled that are being loaded or unloaded, if yes, go to step Z210, if not , then turn to step Z220; step Z210, create a movement step for the wafer FOUP that is being loaded or unloaded, or a movable wafer, and then turn to Z300; step Z210 further includes: step Z211, judging whether it can target Create a move step for the FOUP that is being loaded or unloaded, if yes, create a move step for the FOUP that is being loaded or unloaded, and go to step Z212, if no, go directly to step Z212 ; Step Z212, judging whether a moving step has been generated, if yes, then go to step Z300, if not, then go to step Z213; step Z213, based on the preset chip priority rules, for the highest priority among the movable Wafer creation move step, and go to step Z300.

There can be up to 25 wafers (Wafer) in a box of wafer transfer box (Foup). When participating in the process (job), Wafer takes out the wafer (Wafer) from the wafer transfer box (Foup) and places the wafer on the boat (Boat). (Wafer) order is sequential, These sequences are wafer priority rules. The priority is calculated according to the selection mode (Mode) of the position of the wafer (Wafer) on the boat (Boat) set by the user through the algorithm corresponding to different modes (Mode). Wafer priority The calculation method of the level belongs to the prior art.

Step Z220, judging whether there is an FOUP that is being transferred in the material to be scheduled, if yes, based on the preset first FOUP priority rule, create a movement step for the FOUP with the highest priority, and go to Step Z300; if no, according to whether the FOUP is about to be loaded or unloaded, based on the preset second FOUP priority rule, create a movement for the FOUP with the highest priority among the process participation materials step, and turn to step Z300; step Z300, update the list of movable wafers or the list of movable wafer transfer boxes, and judge whether all materials to be dispatched have reached the destination, if not, return to step Z200, if yes, then output all moving steps , forming a scheduling sequence.

The first FOUP priority rule is for setting priority rules for FOUPs participating in the carrier operation.

The first FOUP priority rule includes: setting the movement priority for each FOUP according to the moving step of each FOUP and whether the bottleneck resource bit is occupied, wherein the priority of the FOUP that occupies the bottleneck resource bit is highest level.

The priority of the wafer robot that has finished scanning and waits for the wafer transfer box to be processed or the wafer transfer box that participates in the manufacturing process is the first level.

If the wafer transfer box (Foup) participating in the process occupies the bottleneck resource wafer loading and unloading position (LoadLock), the priority of the wafer transfer box (Foup) participating in the manufacturing process is one level, the wafer robot in the stocker (Stocker) has completed the scanning of the wafer robot and the priority of the wafer transfer box (Foup) waiting for the process is the second level; When the bottleneck resource wafer loading and unloading position (LoadLock), the wafer robot in the stocker (Stocker) has completed scanning and the priority of the wafer transfer box (Foup) waiting for the process is the first level, and the wafer transfer box (Foup) participating in the process is given priority The grade is second grade.

The priority of the Foup waiting to be scanned by the Wafer Robot (WTR) is Level 3; the priority of the Foup placed on the External Loading Station (LoadPort) waiting to be moved into the Stocker (Stocker) is Level 4 ;The priority of the wafer transfer box (Foup) placed on the stocker (Stocker) waiting to be moved into the wafer loading and unloading position (LoadLock) for scanning by the wafer manipulator is five; The priority of the wafer transfer box (Foup) to the external loading station (LoadPort) is six.

The above sets the operation priority for all the wafer transfer boxes (Foup) involved in the transfer (Carrier) operation of the machine. The smaller the priority number is, the priority will be selected as the movable material in the scheduling cycle. The larger the priority number is, then Postselected as a movable item in a dispatch cycle.

The second WFOP priority rule is to set the operation priority for the WFOP in the process participation materials. There are four types of WFOPs (Foup) participating in the process (job), namely P (Product), M (Monitor), ED (Extra Dummy), SD (Side Dummy) four types. For these four types of priority, the user can set the priority order when the process (job) is created, that is, the second FOUP priority rule, and then During the execution of the process (job), the Foups participating in the process (job) operate according to the set second Foup priority rule.

As shown in Figure 4, if there is no process participation material placed on the bottleneck resource position among the materials to be scheduled, it is necessary to classify the materials to be scheduled at this time, and send each type of materials to be scheduled to the scheduling module in batches for scheduling. and output a different dispatch sequence.

In the above step S2, if it is determined that there is no process participation material placed on the bottleneck resource position among the materials to be scheduled, go to step S3; Step S3, determine whether there is a transmission placed on the bottleneck resource position among the materials to be scheduled Carrier materials, if yes, go to step S4; step S4, judge whether there are process participation materials that are not placed on bottleneck resource positions in the materials to be scheduled, if not, go to step S5, if yes, go to Go to step S6; step S5, directly send the information of the material to be scheduled to the scheduling module for scheduling, and output the scheduling sequence; step S6, add the transmission carrier material placed on the bottleneck resource position among the materials to be scheduled to the first batch of scheduling Processing materials, sending the information of the first batch of scheduling processing materials to the scheduling module for scheduling, and outputting the first scheduling sub-sequence; step S7, extracting the process participation materials that are not placed on the bottleneck resource position among the materials to be scheduled, and adding them to The second batch of scheduling processing materials, the information of the second batch of scheduling processing materials is sent to the scheduling module for scheduling, and the second scheduling sequence sub-sequence is output; step S8, extracting the transmission carrier that is not placed on the bottleneck resource position among the materials to be scheduled Class materials, added to the third batch of scheduling processing materials, sending the information of the third batch of scheduling processing materials to the scheduling module for scheduling, and outputting the third scheduling subsequence; Step S9: Outputting a scheduling sequence, the scheduling sequence includes a first scheduling subsequence, a second scheduling subsequence and a third scheduling subsequence.

According to the above method, it can be seen that the materials to be scheduled are divided into three batches, the first batch is the transmission carrier materials placed on the bottleneck resource position; the second batch is the process participation materials not placed on the bottleneck resource position; The third batch is the transmission carrier materials that are not placed on the bottleneck resource positions.

In step S3, if it is determined that there is no transmission carrier material placed on the bottleneck resource position among the materials to be dispatched, go to step S10; Step S10, determine whether there is a process that is not placed on the bottleneck resource position among the materials to be dispatched Participating materials, if no, go to step S11, if yes, go to step S12; step S11, directly send the information of the materials to be scheduled to the scheduling module for scheduling, and output the scheduling sequence; step S12, extract the materials to be scheduled The process participation materials that are not placed on the bottleneck resource positions are added to the second batch of scheduling processing materials, and the information of the second batch of scheduling processing materials is sent to the scheduling module for scheduling, and the second scheduling subsequence is output; step S13, Extract the transmission carrier materials that are not placed on the bottleneck resource position among the materials to be scheduled, add them to the third batch of scheduling processing materials, send the information of the third batch of scheduling processing materials to the scheduling module for scheduling, and output the third scheduling subsequence ; Step S14 ; Outputting a scheduling sequence, the scheduling sequence includes a second scheduling subsequence and a third scheduling subsequence.

In this step, since there is no transmission carrier material placed on the bottleneck resource position, the materials to be scheduled are divided into two batches. The first batch is process participation materials that are not placed on the bottleneck resource position; the second batch is Transmission carrier materials that are not placed on bottleneck resource positions.

Applying the scheduling method of the present invention, it is assumed that two transmission carrier materials that are not placed on the bottleneck resource position and one process participation material that is not placed on the bottleneck resource position enter the existing scheduling calculation at the same time. There are no materials participating in the scheduling, so the process participation materials that are not placed on the bottleneck resource positions are first extracted and input to the scheduling module for scheduling calculation, and the second scheduling subsequence is output, and then the transmission is extracted and not placed on the bottleneck resource positions The two materials of the carrier material are input to the scheduling module for scheduling calculation, and output the third scheduling subsequence. The final output scheduling sequence is: the second scheduling subsequence + the third scheduling subsequence. After the box (Foup) moves to the bottleneck resource wafer loading and unloading position (LoadLock), the loading starts first, that is, the wafer (Wafer) is taken out of the wafer transfer box (Foup), placed on the boat (Boat), and the loading wafer transfer is completed After the box (Foup) returns to the stocker (Stocker), the two wafer transfer boxes (Foup) that transport carrier materials go to the bottleneck resource wafer loading and unloading position (LoadLock) to scan (Map), effectively avoiding bottleneck resources The mutual waiting state avoids scheduling deadlock.

The present invention sets the operation priority rules for the wafer transfer box for the transfer operation, and classifies and batches the materials to be scheduled, thereby solving the problem of semiconductor equipment with a stocker when multiple transfer operations and process operations are scheduled at the same time. The technical problem of scheduling and computing deadlock caused by competition for bottleneck resources has improved the reliability of machine software operation and equipment production capacity, and further improved customer experience.

The foregoing content summarizes the features of several embodiments, so that those skilled in the art can better understand aspects of the present disclosure. Those skilled in the art should appreciate that they can readily use the present disclosure as a basis for designing or modifying other processes and structures for carrying out the same purposes and/or achieving the same advantages of the embodiments described herein. Those skilled in the art should also understand that such equivalent constructions do not depart from the spirit and scope of the present disclosure, and that they can make various changes, substitutions and alterations herein without departing from the spirit and scope of the present disclosure.

LoadPortA, LoadPortB: external loading port

STR: wafer transfer box robot

Shelf: shelf

Stocker: Stocker

LoadLockC, LoadLockD: chip loading and unloading port

WTR: Wafer Robot

Boat: boat

PM: process module chamber

Claims (9)

A material scheduling method for preventing scheduling deadlock in semiconductor equipment, comprising: Step S1: Determine the materials to be dispatched, wherein the materials to be dispatched are divided into a process-participating material and a transport carrier-type material, the process-participating material includes wafers participating in the process and wafer transfer boxes participating in the process, and the transport carrier class Materials include FOUPs that do not participate in the process; Step S2: If there is a process-participating material placed on a bottleneck resource position among the materials to be scheduled, directly send the information of the material to be scheduled to the scheduling module, and the scheduling module performs scheduling and outputs a scheduling sequence; Wherein, the scheduling module performs scheduling, and outputs the scheduling sequence including: Step Z100: Receive the information of the material to be dispatched, and generate a list of movable wafers and a list of movable wafer delivery boxes; Step Z200: Judging whether there is a FOUP being loaded or unloaded in the material to be dispatched, if yes, go to step Z210, if not, go to step Z220; Step Z210: Create a movement step for the wafer FOUP that is being loaded or unloaded, or a movable wafer, and then turn to Z300; Step Z220: Determine whether there is an FOUP being transferred in the material to be scheduled, and if so, create a movement step for the FOUP with the highest priority based on a preset priority rule for the first FOUP, and Go to step Z300; if not, according to whether the FOUP is about to be loaded or unloaded, based on a preset second FOUP priority rule, transfer the wafer with the highest priority among the process participation materials box to create a move step, and go to step Z300; Step Z300: Update the movable wafer list or the movable wafer transfer box list, and judge whether all the materials to be scheduled have reached the destination, if not, return to step Z200, if yes, output all moving steps to form the scheduling sequence . The method as claimed in item 1, wherein step Z210 comprises: Step Z211: Determine whether a moving step can be created for the FOUP being loaded or unloaded, if yes, create a moving step for the FOUP being loaded or unloaded, and go to step Z212, if not , go directly to step Z212; Step Z212: Judging whether a moving step has been generated, if yes, go to step Z300, if not, go to step Z213; Step Z213: Based on the preset wafer priority rules, create a moving step for the wafer with the highest priority among the movable wafers, and go to step Z300. The method according to claim 1, wherein the bottleneck resource location includes a wafer loading and unloading location, and a FOUP robot. The method as described in claim 1, wherein the first FOUP priority rule includes: setting a movement priority for each FOUP according to the moving step of each FOUP and whether the bottleneck resource bit is occupied, wherein , the FOUP that occupies the bottleneck resource bit has the highest priority. The method as claimed in claim 4, wherein the first FOUP priority rule includes: the priority of FOUPs waiting to be processed by the wafer robot after scanning or participating in the process is one level. The method as described in claim 5, wherein the first FOUP priority rule further includes: when the FOUPs participating in the process occupy the bottleneck resource position, the wafer manipulator scans the FOUPs that are waiting to be processed The priority is level 2; when the scanning of the wafer manipulator is completed and the FOUP waiting for the process occupies the bottleneck resource position, the priority of the FOUP participating in the process is level 2. The method as described in claim item 6, wherein the priority of the wafer transfer box waiting for the wafer manipulator to scan is three; the priority of the wafer transfer box waiting to be moved into the stocker is four; it is placed on the stocker and waits to be moved into the stocker The priority of the wafer transfer boxes scanned by the wafer manipulator at the wafer loading and unloading position is level five; the priority level of the wafer transport boxes placed on the stocker waiting to be moved out to the loading port is level six. The method as described in any one of claim items 1-7, wherein in step S2, if there is no process participation material placed on the bottleneck resource position among the materials to be scheduled, go to step S3; Step S3: If there is a transmission carrier material placed on the bottleneck resource position among the materials to be scheduled, go to step S4; Step S4: Determine whether there is a process participation material that is not placed on the bottleneck resource position among the materials to be scheduled, if not, go to step S5, if yes, go to step S6; Step S5: directly send the information of the material to be scheduled to the scheduling module for scheduling, and output the scheduling sequence; Step S6: Add the transmission carrier material placed on the bottleneck resource position among the materials to be scheduled to the first batch of scheduling processing materials, send the information of the first batch of scheduling processing materials to the scheduling module for scheduling, and output a first dispatch subsequence; Step S7: Extract the process participation materials that are not placed on the bottleneck resource position among the materials to be scheduled, add them to the second batch of scheduling processing materials, send the information of the second batch of scheduling processing materials to the scheduling module for scheduling, and output a The second dispatch sequence sub-sequence; Step S8: Extract the transmission carrier materials that are not placed on the bottleneck resource position among the materials to be scheduled, add them to the third batch of scheduling processing materials, send the information of the third batch of scheduling processing materials to the scheduling module for scheduling, and output a a third scheduling subsequence; Step S9: Outputting the scheduling sequence, the scheduling sequence includes the first scheduling subsequence, the second scheduling subsequence and the third scheduling subsequence. The method as described in claim 8, wherein in step S3, if there is no transmission carrier material placed on the bottleneck resource position among the materials to be scheduled, go to step S10; Step S10: Judging whether there are process participation materials that are not placed on the bottleneck resource position among the materials to be scheduled, if not, go to step S11, if yes, go to step S12; Step S11: directly send the information of the material to be scheduled to the scheduling module for scheduling, and output the scheduling sequence; Step S12: Extract the process participation materials that are not placed on the bottleneck resource position among the materials to be scheduled, add them to the second batch of scheduling processing materials, send the information of the second batch of scheduling processing materials to the scheduling module for scheduling, and output a The second dispatch sequence sub-sequence; Step S13: Extract the transmission carrier materials that are not placed on the bottleneck resource position among the materials to be scheduled, add them to the third batch of scheduling processing materials, send the information of the third batch of scheduling processing materials to the scheduling module for scheduling, and output a a third scheduling subsequence; Step S14: Outputting the scheduling sequence, which includes the second scheduling subsequence and the third scheduling subsequence.

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