JP2003059890A - Method and program for scheduling substrate processing system - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To enhance throughput and to improve reproducibility of a process by eliminating the waiting time, while suppressing waste of power. SOLUTION: A case where heat treatment work steps S10 and S20 are performed in parallel or continuously can be determined, by scheduling a substrate processing process previously. In such a case, the need for repeating start/stop operation at a high pitch can be eliminated, using branch resources under use continuously in steps S12, S14, S22 and S24. consequently, waste of power can be suppressed and throughput can be enhanced by eliminating the waiting time. Since the waiting time can be eliminated, reproducibility of the process can be improved.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a method and program for creating a schedule for a substrate processing apparatus for performing a predetermined process on a semiconductor wafer or a glass substrate for a liquid crystal display device (hereinafter simply referred to as a substrate), and more particularly, The present invention relates to a scheduling technique when using resources related to heat treatment.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, in this type of substrate processing apparatus, when a substrate is subjected to a cleaning process with heated pure water (warm water) by using a plurality of resources such as cleaning units, For example, it is performed as follows. First, when the two cleaning processing units perform the processing in parallel, the hot water is used in series by shifting the timing of use. Therefore, the preparation of the hot water is started according to the cleaning processing unit that uses the hot water first, and the preparation of the hot water is stopped when the use is finished. Then, the preparation of the hot water is started again in accordance with the cleaning processing unit that uses the hot water, and the preparation of the hot water is stopped when the use is finished.

[0003]

However, the conventional example having such a structure has the following problems. In other words, when hot water is needed, hot water preparation is started, and when it is no longer needed, hot water preparation is stopped. There is a problem that

Further, depending on the timing of the hot water treatment, the waiting time before the actual treatment with hot water varies, which causes a problem that the reproducibility of the process deteriorates.

Furthermore, in order to reduce the above problems, it is possible to continuously make preparations so that hot water can be used at all times, but in this case, there is no waiting time but wasteful power consumption. It creates a different problem.

The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances and suppresses wasteful power by using branch resources related to heat treatment work as continuously as possible in anticipation of the schedule of heat treatment work. It is an object of the present invention to provide a method of creating a schedule for a substrate processing apparatus and a program thereof that can improve throughput by eliminating waiting time and improve process reproducibility.

[0007]

The present invention has the following constitution in order to achieve such an object. That is, the invention according to claim 1 is a substrate processing apparatus that includes a plurality of resources for a substrate, and determines the timing of using each resource when processing while using each resource. In the method of creating a schedule, the timing of using each resource is created in advance before actually starting the processing for the substrate, and the operation accompanying the heat treatment work that is the direct processing for the substrate is defined as a branch resource. When performing heat treatment work on a substrate using the heat treatment work resource, the heat treatment work resource is used, the branch resource attached to the heat treatment work is used, and the heat treatment work is performed by a plurality of resources. When it is executed in parallel or consecutively, the branch resources already used are continuously It is characterized in that use.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, in the method for creating a schedule of the substrate processing apparatus according to the first aspect, the heat treatment work includes a cleaning processing unit that cleans the substrate with the heat processing liquid that heats the processing liquid as a resource. The branch resource includes a use time control of the heat treatment liquid and a temperature control of the heat treatment liquid.

According to a third aspect of the present invention, in the method of creating a schedule of the substrate processing apparatus according to the second aspect, the treatment liquid is pure water.

According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, in the method of creating a schedule of the substrate processing apparatus according to the second aspect, the use time control defines from start of use of the heat treatment liquid to stop, and the temperature control comprises It is characterized in that the preparation stop of the heat treatment liquid is defined after the preparation start and the preparation completion.

According to a fifth aspect of the present invention, a substrate processing apparatus having a plurality of resources for a substrate determines the timing of using each resource when processing while using each resource. In the equipment schedule creation program, the usage timing of each resource is created in advance before actually starting the processing for the substrate, and the operation associated with the heat treatment work that is the direct processing for the substrate is defined as a branch resource. However, when the heat treatment work is performed on the substrate using the heat treatment work resource, the heat treatment work resource is used, and the branch resource associated with the heat treatment work is used. If the branch resources are already used, It is characterized in that to control the computer to continue to use.

[0012]

The operation of the invention described in claim 1 is as follows. That is, when the heat treatment work is performed, the resource of the heat treatment work is used and the branch resource is used. However, since the schedule is created in advance, it can be seen that the heat treatment work is performed in parallel or continuously. In such a case, by continuously using the branch resource that has already been used, it is not necessary to repeatedly start and stop the use every minute.

The resources are, for example, a transport mechanism for transporting the substrate, a pure water cleaning processing unit for cleaning the substrate with a processing liquid containing pure water, a hot water unit for supplying heated pure water, a processing liquid containing a chemical liquid. Although it includes a chemical solution processing section for cleaning the substrate, a heat processing section for heating the substrate, etc., in the present invention, the processing section particularly related to the heat treatment work is shown.

The branch resource is an operation associated with the heat treatment work. For example, hot water usage time control and temperature control in a hot water unit for supplying heated pure water to the pure water cleaning processing section. It is shown that.

According to the second aspect of the present invention, when the cleaning treatment section using the heat treatment liquid is used as a resource, the use time control for defining the use time of the heat treatment liquid as a branch resource and the heat treatment liquid are used. And temperature control that regulates the temperature of.

According to the third aspect of the present invention, the substrate is treated with the heat treatment liquid obtained by heating pure water.

According to the fourth aspect of the present invention, the use time control which is a branch resource regulates from the start of use of the heat treatment liquid to the stop, and the temperature control is prepared from the start of preparation of the heat treatment liquid through completion of preparation. The stop is specified to perform the operation associated with the heat treatment work.

According to the invention described in claim 5, the same operation as in claim 1 is produced.

[0019]

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION An embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. 1 to 3 relate to an embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 1 is a plan view showing a schematic configuration of a substrate processing apparatus according to the embodiment, FIG. 2 is a block diagram thereof, and FIG. 3 is pure water. It is a block diagram showing a schematic structure of a cleaning processing part.

The substrate processing apparatus is, for example, an apparatus for subjecting the substrate W to chemical treatment, pure water cleaning treatment and drying treatment. A plurality of (e.g., 25) substrates W are stored in the cassette 1 in an upright posture. The cassette 1 containing the unprocessed substrate W is placed on the loading unit 3.
The loading unit 3 includes two mounting tables 5 on which the cassette 1 is mounted. A payout unit 7 is provided on the opposite side of the input unit 3 with the central portion of the substrate processing apparatus sandwiched therebetween. This payout section 7
Stores the processed substrate W in the cassette 1 and dispenses the cassette 1 together. The payout unit 7 functioning in this way is provided with two mounting bases 9 for mounting the cassette 1 similarly to the loading unit 3.

At a position along the input section 3 and the payout section 7, a first transport mechanism 11 is arranged so as to be movable between them. The first transport mechanism 11 transports a plurality of substrates W together with the cassette 1 placed on the loading unit 3 to the second transport mechanism 13.

The second transfer mechanism 13 takes out all the stored substrates W from the cassette 1 and then transfers all the substrates W to the third transfer mechanism 15. After receiving the processed substrate W from the third transfer mechanism 15, the substrate W is accommodated in the cassette 1 and transferred to the first transfer mechanism 11.

The third transfer mechanism 15 is constructed so as to be movable in the longitudinal direction of the substrate processing apparatus, and has the above-mentioned second transfer mechanism.
The substrate W is transferred to and from the transport mechanism 13. On the most front side in the moving direction of the third transport mechanism 15,
A drying processing unit 17 is provided to store a plurality of substrates W in a low-pressure chamber and dry the substrates.

A first processing unit 19 is provided at a position adjacent to the drying processing unit 17 in the moving direction of the third transport mechanism 15. The first processing unit 19 is a pure water cleaning processing unit 2 for performing a pure water cleaning process on a plurality of substrates W.
1, and a chemical liquid processing unit 23 for performing chemical liquid processing on a plurality of substrates W. The deionized water cleaning processing unit 21 is supplied with heated deionized water supplied from the hot water unit 24 as a heat treatment liquid, only pure water is supplied, and ozone water is supplied as a treatment liquid. W is washed.

The first sub-transport mechanism 25 has a L-shaped vertical cross section, and a holding arm 25a for holding the substrate W in an upright posture.
Is equipped with. In addition to the substrate transfer in the first processing unit 19,
The substrate W is transferred to and from the third transfer mechanism 15. At the “non-processing position” located above the pure water cleaning processing section 21,
While the operation of transferring the substrate W to and from the third transfer mechanism 15 is performed, the transfer of the substrate W is not performed at the “non-processing position” located above the chemical liquid processing section 23. Also,
When processing the substrate W, the substrate W is lowered to the “processing position” located in the bath of the pure water cleaning processing unit 21 or the chemical liquid processing unit 23.

The hot water unit 24 is one of the resources like the first transport mechanism 11 and the like. This hot water unit 2
4 has a function of heating pure water to generate a heat treatment liquid, and is treated as a “branch resource” that defines an operation accompanying a heat treatment operation. That is, from the start of preparation for starting the temperature control of the heat treatment liquid to start heating, through the preparation completion indicating the completion of heating, the temperature control for stopping the temperature control and ending the heating control And a use time control that defines the start and stop of use of the processing liquid.

The pure water cleaning processing section 21 includes a holding arm 25a.
A processing tank 27 for immersing the substrate W in the processing liquid is provided, and an injection pipe 29 for injecting the processing liquid is provided at the bottom thereof. Further, a collection tank 31 for collecting and discharging the overflowed processing liquid is provided around the upper part. A pipe 33 communicating with a pure water supply source 31 is connected to the injection pipe 29. Piping 3
An on-off valve 35 and a mixing valve 37 are attached to 3. A supply pipe 41 communicating with an ozone supply source 39 is attached to the mixing valve 37, and the injection of ozone water is controlled by opening / closing the opening / closing valve 43. A heater 45 for heating pure water under the control of the hot water unit 24 is attached to the pipe 33.

The substrate W is heated by a heat treatment liquid obtained by heating pure water.
In order to wash the water, the opening / closing valve 35 is opened while the opening / closing valve 43 is closed, and the hot water unit 2 is supplied via the heater 45.
When the temperature is adjusted to the target temperature in 4, it is supplied to the processing bath 27. At this time, the holding arm 25a is in a state of being lowered to the processing position in the processing tank 27.

A second processing section 47 is provided adjacent to the first processing section 19. The second processing unit 47 has the same configuration as the first processing unit 19. That is, the pure water cleaning processing unit 49
And a chemical solution processing section 51, and a second sub-transport mechanism 53.
Is equipped with. The second sub transport mechanism 53 includes a holding arm 53a. Further, the pure water cleaning processing unit 49 has the same configuration as the pure water cleaning processing unit 21 described above. That is, the processing tank 55, the injection pipe 57, the recovery tank 59, the pipe 61, the opening / closing valve 63, the mixing valve 65, the supply pipe 67, and the opening / closing valve 69 are provided. However, the pure water supply source 31, the ozone supply source 39, and the heater 45 are shared.

The pure water cleaning processing units 21, 49 described above are used.
Corresponds to the cleaning processing unit in the present invention. In this embodiment, the heat treatment liquid obtained by heating pure water is described as an example.
For example, it can be carried out even when a heat treatment liquid obtained by heating a chemical liquid such as ozone water is used.

The cassette cleaning unit 71 attached to the second transfer mechanism 13 has a function of cleaning the empty cassette 1 after the second transfer mechanism 13 has taken out all the substrates W.

The substrate processing apparatus configured as described above is comprehensively controlled by the controller 73 as shown in the block diagram of FIG.

The control unit 73 is composed of a CPU and the like, and determines the use timing of each resource such as the pure water cleaning processing unit 21 described above according to the recipe based on the procedure corresponding to the schedule creating program described below. , Is determined in advance before actually starting the processing on the substrate W. After that, when actually processing the substrate W, the processing according to the recipe is performed on the substrate W using each resource based on the created schedule.

The storage unit 75 executes a plurality of types of recipes created in advance by the user of this substrate processing apparatus and defining how to process the substrate W, a schedule creation program, and the created schedule. A processing program and the like are stored in advance.

The control unit 73 determines at what timing the resources such as the pure water cleaning processing unit 21 and the hot water unit 24 are controlled in order to create a schedule.
Pure water cleaning processing unit 21, which involves heat treatment work as a resource,
When using 49, not only is it used by itself, but it also uses branch resources associated with heat treatment work and continuously uses branch resources already used. It has become a target.

The procedure corresponding to the schedule creating program will be described with reference to the time chart shown in FIG. 4. However, in order to facilitate understanding, only a part of the recipe will be described as an example.

The process will be described in detail. The first lot of substrates W are subjected to a water washing process including a heat treatment operation using pure water (hereinafter, referred to as warm water) heated in the pure water cleaning unit 21. Then, with a slight delay, the second lot of substrates W are subjected to the same processing in the pure water cleaning processing section 49.

The above processing operation will be described in detail.
First, in the process for the first lot (indicated by a white rectangle in the figure), the resources of the pure water cleaning processing unit 21 are set to the step S for the time corresponding to the recipe from time t0 to t7.
Used in 10. As a result, the washing process including the process with warm water is performed on the substrates W of the first lot. Note that step S10a during the times t4 to t5 is a step in which hot water is supplied and the substrate W is processed in step S10.

In parallel with this, in the processing for the second lot (shown by hatched rectangles in the figure), the resources of the pure water cleaning processing section 49 are covered from time t1 to t8 so that the processing by hot water does not overlap. To use. That is, at time t5, the arrangement is such that the end of step S10a and the start of step S20a continue.

Further, in accordance with the use of hot water in the pure water cleaning processing section 21 in which the first lot is processed (step S10a), the resource for controlling the use time of the hot water unit 24 is set in step S12 over time t4 to t5. use. Following this, in accordance with the use of hot water in the deionized water cleaning processing unit 49 in which the second lot is processed (step S20a), the same resource for use time control of the hot water unit 24 is used in step S22.

Further, the temperature control resource of the hot water unit 24 is used for a predetermined time including the time required for raising the temperature of the pure water in accordance with step S10a in which the hot water is used in the pure water cleaning processing section 21. To do. That is, in the present embodiment, the step S1 is performed over the time t2 to t5.
Use in 4. As a result, a "preparation start" command is issued at time t2 to start temperature control, and the temperature is raised toward the target temperature according to the recipe. A "ready" command indicating that the temperature of the hot water has reached the target temperature is issued at time t4, and the temperature control is continued until time t5 when the hot water treatment is completed.

In parallel with this, the temperature control resource of the hot water unit 24 is used in accordance with step S20a where hot water is used in the pure water cleaning processing section 49. That is, it is used in step S24 from time t3 to time t6. As a result, temperature control is started from time t3,
Although the temperature is raised according to the recipe, since the branch resource has already been used, it is not used again but is used continuously. Therefore, although the "preparation start" command for temperature control is originally issued at time t3 in step S24, this command is not issued. Similarly, the "stop preparation" command for temperature control, which should have been issued at time t5 in step S14, is not issued. As a result, the temperature control resource of the hot water unit 24 is continuously used for the time t2 to t6.

Such a schedule is created in advance and stored in the storage unit 75. Then, when the processing of the substrate W is actually started, the processing program executes the schedule to actually process the substrate W.

Since it is understood that the heat treatment work is performed in parallel by creating the schedule in advance as described above, continuous use of the branch resource that has already been used can be used to start and stop the use in small increments. No need to repeat. Therefore, it is possible to suppress wasteful generation of electric power, and increase the throughput by eliminating the waiting time. Moreover, since the waiting time can be eliminated, the reproducibility of the process can be improved.

<Comparison with Prior Art>

The time chart shown in FIG. 5 is a comparison between the present invention (FIG. 5 (a)) and the prior art (FIG. 5 (b)).

As described above, in the conventional technique (FIG. 5B),
Since the temperature control of the hot water unit 24 is started after the completion of the operation of the pure water cleaning processing section 21, it is necessary to wait during the temperature rising time. Therefore, the first lot,
It can be seen that in the second lot, the waiting time indicated by the black rectangle in the figure occurs. Further, since the temperature control is temporarily stopped when the processing for the first lot is completed, it is necessary to wait for the temperature to rise again before the second lot starts processing. Also, it can be seen that this waiting time is longer than that of the first lot. That is, the waiting time until the start of treatment with hot water may vary greatly from lot to lot, so the reproducibility of the process between lots is low.

On the other hand, according to the present invention, as shown in FIG. 5A, the standby time is eliminated by continuously using the branch resource of the hot water unit 24. Therefore, the time required for temperature control is also reduced and useless power can be suppressed. Further, since the waiting time is short, the time for the first lot to finish using the pure water cleaning processing unit 21 is increased by TA time, and the time for the second lot to finish using the pure water cleaning processing unit 49. Is shortened by TB time.

In the above description, for easy understanding, only a part of the processing steps of the recipe has been described as an example. The present invention can be applied if a schedule is created in advance before processing and then the actual processing is performed. Among them, the following schedule creation method is preferable.

That is, when a plurality of lots are processed by a substrate processing apparatus having a plurality of processing units for processing a substrate, each lot is sequentially processed by each processing unit based on a recipe including a plurality of processing steps. In the method of creating a schedule for a substrate processing apparatus that determines the processing order of each lot for processing, after arranging the first processing step for any lot, the next processing step of each lot The processing step for the lot having the earliest scheduled end time in the processing step is arranged as the next processing step.

The processing steps in this method are, for example,
Processing in the pure water cleaning processing section 21 and the third transport mechanism 15
And the processing in the drying processing unit 17 and the like.

According to this method, it is possible to arrange the post-work of the previous processing step and the pre-work of the subsequent processing step in an overlapping manner by scheduling in advance, and to arrange the pre-processing of the process steps that can be arranged. By selecting and arranging the processing step of the lot whose processing step ends early as the next processing step, the time until the completion of the next processing step can be shortened. Therefore, since the processing unit of the substrate processing apparatus can be effectively used, the standby time can be suppressed and the operating rate can be improved.

The present invention can be applied to any processing apparatus as long as it is a substrate processing apparatus. For example, an apparatus that deposits a photoresist film on the substrate, an etching apparatus that deposits a conductive film on the surface of the substrate, or the like may be used. In such a case, the branch resources associated with the heat treatment operation include the control of the usage time of using the plate in the heat treatment section for heating the substrate and the temperature control of controlling the temperature of the plate.

[0054]

As is apparent from the above description, according to the invention described in claim 1, it is understood that the heat treatment work is carried out in parallel or continuously by preparing the schedule in advance. In such a case, by continuously using the branch resource that has already been used, it is not necessary to repeatedly start and stop the use every minute. Therefore, it is possible to suppress wasteful generation of electric power, eliminate standby time, and improve throughput.
Moreover, since the waiting time can be eliminated, it is possible to improve the reproducibility of the process.

According to the second aspect of the present invention, as the branch resource, the use time control that defines the start and stop of the use of the heat treatment liquid and the temperature control that defines the start and stop of the temperature control of the heat treatment liquid are used. By doing so, the heat treatment work can be efficiently performed.

According to the third aspect of the present invention, the cleaning treatment can be performed by treating the substrate with the heat treatment liquid obtained by heating pure water.

According to the fourth aspect of the present invention, the use time control and the temperature control, which are the branch resources, define the operations associated with the heat treatment work, so that the substrate is efficiently processed.

According to the invention described in claim 5, as a program, the same effect as the effect described in claim 1 can be obtained.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a plan view showing a schematic configuration of a substrate processing apparatus according to an embodiment.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing a schematic configuration of a substrate processing apparatus according to an embodiment.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing a schematic configuration of a pure water cleaning processing unit.

FIG. 4 is a time chart showing a part of a schedule example.

FIG. 5 is a time chart comparing the present invention with a conventional example.

[Explanation of symbols]

1 ... Cassette 11 ... First transport mechanism 13 ... Second transport mechanism 15 ... Third transport mechanism 17 ... Drying processing section 19 ... First processing unit 21 ... Pure water cleaning unit 23 ... Chemical processing section 24 ... Hot water unit 25 ... First sub-transport mechanism 45 ... Heater 47 ... Second processing unit 73 ... Control unit 75 ... Storage unit

   ─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continued front page    (72) Inventor Jun Kawai             4-chome Tenjin, which runs up to Teranouchi, Horikawa-dori, Kamigyo-ku, Kyoto             1 Kitamachi No. 1 Dai Nippon Screen Manufacturing Co., Ltd.             Inside the company (72) Inventor Kiyoshi Akao             4-chome Tenjin, which runs up to Teranouchi, Horikawa-dori, Kamigyo-ku, Kyoto             1 Kitamachi No. 1 Dai Nippon Screen Manufacturing Co., Ltd.             Inside the company (72) Inventor Osamu Horiguchi             4-chome Tenjin, which runs up to Teranouchi, Horikawa-dori, Kamigyo-ku, Kyoto             1 Kitamachi No. 1 Dai Nippon Screen Manufacturing Co., Ltd.             Inside the company F term (reference) 3B201 AA02 AA03 AB01 BB82 BB89                       BB92 BB93 CB15 CC01                 3C100 AA05 BB14 EE06                 5F043 AA01 AA30 BB27 DD12 DD23                       EE10 EE22 EE35 EE36 EE40                       GG10

Claims (5)

[Claims] 1. A method for creating a schedule for a substrate processing apparatus, wherein a substrate processing apparatus having a plurality of resources for a substrate determines the timing of using each resource when processing while using each resource. Before the actual processing of the substrate is started, the usage timing of each resource is created in advance, and the operations associated with the heat treatment work, which is the direct treatment of the substrate, are defined as branch resources. When performing heat treatment work on a substrate by using the heat treatment work, the resources of the heat treatment work are used, and branch resources attached to the heat treatment work are used, and the heat treatment work is performed in parallel or continuously with a plurality of resources. If it is, the branch resource already used is continuously used. Scheduling method of a substrate processing apparatus that. 2. The method of creating a schedule for a substrate processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the heat treatment operation uses a cleaning processing unit that cleans a substrate with a heat processing liquid obtained by heating a processing liquid as a resource, and the branch resource. Is a method for creating a schedule for a substrate processing apparatus, which includes controlling a use time of the heat treatment liquid and controlling a temperature of the heat treatment liquid. 3. The method for creating a schedule for a substrate processing apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the processing liquid is pure water. 4. The method of creating a schedule for a substrate processing apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the use time control defines a start of use of the heat treatment liquid and a stop, and the temperature control includes start of preparation of the heat treatment liquid. A method for creating a schedule for a substrate processing apparatus, characterized in that preparation stop is defined after preparation is completed. 5. A schedule processing program for a substrate processing apparatus, wherein a substrate processing apparatus having a plurality of resources for a substrate determines the timing of using each resource when processing while using each resource, Before the actual processing of the substrate is started, the usage timing of each resource is created in advance, and the operations associated with the heat treatment work, which is the direct treatment of the substrate, are defined as branch resources. When performing heat treatment work on a substrate by using the heat treatment work, the resources of the heat treatment work are used, and branch resources attached to the heat treatment work are used, and the heat treatment work is performed in parallel or continuously with a plurality of resources. If so, make sure to continue using the branch resource that is already used. Schedule creation program of the substrate processing apparatus and controls the computer.