JP2005056353A - Production management device, production management system, and method for managing production - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a production management device, a production management system and a production managing method for easily specifying a manufacturing device, a manufacturing process or a chamber in which abnormality occurs. <P>SOLUTION: The production management system is constituted of the production management device 101 and a wafer rearranging device 103. The production management device 101 is provided with a wafer processing order calculation part 105 for determining or calculating the processing order of wafers w1-wn to be supplied to the manufacturing device 102 and a wafer processing order instruction part 104 for outputting wafer processing order to the wafer rearranging device 103. The wafer rearranging device 103 rearranges the wafers w1-wn to be supplied to the manufacturing device 102 in the processing order outputted by the wafer processing order instruction part 104. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2005,JPO&NCIPI

Description

  The present invention relates to a production management apparatus, a production management system, and a production management method used for production management of a production system of a semiconductor device such as an electronic device.

  A semiconductor device such as an electronic device is formed by repeating a plurality of processing steps such as exposure, development, and etching on a wafer serving as a substrate. In addition, electrical characteristics inspection is performed on the wafer manufactured through the plurality of processing steps as necessary, and further, abnormalities in the process can be detected by analyzing electrical characteristic results, characteristic differences between wafers, and variations. A determination is made as to whether there is an abnormality in the manufacturing apparatus.

  If a difference between the wafers is recognized from the electrical characteristic result, the wafers are grouped. The grouping is performed such as a group of wafers with good characteristics and other wafer groups, or a group of wafers with poor characteristics and other wafer groups. Thereafter, for each group, a manufacturing apparatus (common apparatus) and a chamber (common chamber) for processing all the wafers belonging to the group are obtained, and an abnormal manufacturing process or manufacturing apparatus is identified (for example, a patent) Reference 1).

  Here, a conventional semiconductor device manufacturing process and inspection process will be described with reference to FIGS. FIG. 18 is a diagram showing the flow of a conventional semiconductor device manufacturing process and inspection process. As shown in FIG. 18, wafers are grouped into a plurality of wafers w1 to wn in lot units and processed by the respective manufacturing apparatuses A to D, and then an inspection process is performed on each of the wafers w1 to wn.

  In the example shown in FIG. 18, the processing order of the wafer w1, wafer w2, wafer w3, wafer w4,..., Wafer wn is determined based on the number assigned to each wafer. Usually, processing in a manufacturing apparatus is performed in ascending or descending order of wafer numbers. In the example shown in FIG. 18, the wafers are processed in ascending order, such as w1, w2, w3, w4. In all the processing steps, wn... W4, w3, w2, and w1 may be processed in descending order.

  In the example shown in FIG. 18, each of the manufacturing apparatuses A to D includes two chambers c1 and c2, and the chambers c1 and c2 process the wafers w1 to wn alternately. Usually, in such a manufacturing apparatus including two chambers, odd-numbered wafers are processed by one chamber, and even-numbered wafers are processed by the other chamber.

  FIG. 19 is a diagram showing a wafer processed by the chamber of the manufacturing apparatus in each manufacturing process shown in FIG. 18, and shows a manufacturing history of the wafer. In FIG. 19, the arrows indicate the order in which each wafer is processed in the chamber of each manufacturing apparatus. As can be seen from FIG. 19, in the manufacturing steps 1, 2, and 4 shown in FIG. 18, the odd-numbered wafers are processed by the chamber c1, and the even-numbered wafers are processed by the chamber c2. Further, as can be seen from FIG. 19, in the manufacturing process 3 shown in FIG. 18, even-numbered wafers are processed by the chamber c1, and odd-numbered wafers are processed by the chamber c2.

FIG. 20 is a diagram illustrating inspection results of the wafers w1 to wn illustrated in FIG. In the example of FIG. 20, abnormal characteristics have occurred in odd-numbered wafers such as wafers w1, w3,..., And these are divided into one group. In this case, all of the manufacturing apparatuses A to D are common apparatuses for odd-numbered wafers such as wafers w1 and w3. The chamber c1 of each of the manufacturing apparatus A, the manufacturing apparatus B, and the manufacturing apparatus D and the chamber c2 of the manufacturing apparatus C are common chambers for odd-numbered wafers such as wafers w1 and w3.
JP 2000-252179 A (FIG. 4)

  However, as shown in FIG. 20, in the above method for manufacturing a semiconductor device, when a characteristic abnormality occurs in a cycle of two sheets, that is, when a characteristic abnormality occurs only in either the odd number or even number, All of the manufacturing apparatuses A to D having two are common apparatuses, and all of these are considered to be causes of abnormal wafer characteristics. For this reason, it is extremely difficult to identify the manufacturing apparatus, manufacturing process, and chamber in which an abnormality has actually occurred.

  Furthermore, when processing is performed by a plurality of manufacturing apparatuses having three chambers, when a characteristic abnormality occurs in a cycle of three sheets, or when processing is performed by a plurality of manufacturing apparatuses having four chambers, When a characteristic abnormality occurs in a cycle of four sheets, all the manufacturing apparatuses can be considered as the cause of the characteristic abnormality of the wafer, as in the above case. Therefore, even in these cases, it is extremely difficult to identify the manufacturing apparatus, manufacturing process, and chamber in which an abnormality has actually occurred.

  Also, in the past, in order to identify the manufacturing equipment, manufacturing process, and chamber in which an abnormality has actually occurred, including changes in the wafers that make up a lot due to wafer breakage, differences in manufacturing equipment in multiple lots, etc. Analysis may also be performed. However, such analysis takes a long time, and it is difficult to reliably identify the manufacturing process, manufacturing apparatus, and chamber in which an abnormality has occurred even by such analysis.

  An object of the present invention is to provide a production management apparatus, a production management system, and a production management method that can easily identify a manufacturing apparatus, a manufacturing process, and a chamber in which an abnormality has occurred.

  In order to achieve the above object, a production management system according to the present invention is a production management system that performs production management of a semiconductor device production system having a plurality of manufacturing apparatuses, and includes a production management apparatus and a wafer rearrangement apparatus. The production management apparatus determines or calculates a processing order of a plurality of wafers supplied to the manufacturing apparatus used in the manufacturing process for each of a plurality of manufacturing processes performed in the semiconductor device production system. An order calculation unit; and a wafer processing order instruction unit that outputs a processing order of the plurality of wafers to the wafer rearrangement apparatus, and the wafer rearrangement apparatus is used in the manufacturing process for each manufacturing process. The plurality of wafers supplied to the manufacturing apparatus are rearranged in the processing order output by the wafer processing order instruction unit.

  In order to achieve the above object, a production management apparatus according to the present invention is a production management apparatus that performs production management of a semiconductor device production system including a plurality of manufacturing apparatuses, and includes a wafer processing order calculation unit and a wafer processing order instruction. The wafer processing order calculation unit includes, for each of a plurality of manufacturing processes performed in the semiconductor device production system, a processing order of a plurality of wafers supplied to the manufacturing apparatus used in the manufacturing process. The wafer processing sequence instruction unit outputs the processing sequence determined or calculated by the wafer processing sequence calculation unit to the outside.

  Next, in order to achieve the above object, a production management method according to the present invention is a production management method for performing production management of a semiconductor device production system including a plurality of manufacturing apparatuses, and (a) the semiconductor device production system Determining or calculating a processing order of a plurality of wafers supplied to the manufacturing apparatus used in the manufacturing process for each of a plurality of manufacturing processes performed in (b), and (b) a plurality of processes supplied to the manufacturing apparatus And a step of rearranging the wafer processing order to the processing order determined or calculated in the step (a).

  Furthermore, the present invention may be a program for realizing the production management method according to the present invention. By installing this program on a computer and executing it, the production management method of the present invention can be executed.

  As described above, according to the production management system and the production management method of the present invention, in a semiconductor device production system including a plurality of production apparatuses, rearrangement of wafers to be processed is performed for each production process. For this reason, it is possible to easily identify the manufacturing apparatus, manufacturing process, and chamber in which an abnormality has occurred.

  In the production management system according to the present invention, the production management apparatus further includes a wafer processing order storage unit that stores processing orders of the plurality of wafers determined or calculated by the wafer processing order calculation unit, When the processing sequence calculation unit detects that the plurality of wafers are supplied to the manufacturing apparatus, the processing sequence calculation unit retrieves the processing sequence stored therein from the wafer processing sequence storage unit and sends it to the wafer processing sequence instruction unit. Preferably, the output to the wafer rearrangement apparatus is performed.

  The production management apparatus according to the present invention further includes a wafer processing order storage unit that stores the processing order of the plurality of wafers determined or calculated by the wafer processing order calculation unit, and the wafer processing order calculation unit includes: When it is detected that the plurality of wafers are supplied to the manufacturing apparatus, the processing order stored in the wafer processing order storage unit is extracted from the wafer processing order storage unit, and the wafer processing order instruction unit is output to the outside. Preferably.

  Further, in the production management system and production management apparatus according to the present invention, when the plurality of wafers are processed by a manufacturing apparatus having a plurality of chambers, the wafer processing order calculation unit processes each of the plurality of wafers. It is preferred to determine the chamber to be played.

  Furthermore, in the production management system and the production management apparatus according to the present invention, the wafer processing order calculation unit determines a processing order of a plurality of wafers in an initial manufacturing process, and rearranges the determined processing order at random. It is also preferable to calculate the processing order of a plurality of wafers in the remaining manufacturing steps.

  Further, in the production management system and the production management apparatus according to the present invention, the wafer processing order calculation unit includes a variable assigned to each of the plurality of wafers as a response variable, a factor for each chamber of the plurality of manufacturing apparatuses, It is also preferable to determine or calculate the processing order of the plurality of wafers based on an experimental design method using the number of chambers of the manufacturing apparatus as a standard.

  In the production management method of the present invention, it is preferable that the step (b) is performed when supply of the plurality of wafers to the manufacturing apparatus is detected. Further, when the plurality of wafers are processed by a manufacturing apparatus having a plurality of chambers, it is also preferable to determine a chamber in which each of the plurality of wafers is processed in the step (a).

  Furthermore, in the production management method according to the present invention, in the step (a), the processing order of a plurality of wafers in the first manufacturing process is determined, the determined processing order is randomly rearranged, and the remaining steps are performed. It is also preferable to calculate the processing order of a plurality of wafers in the manufacturing process.

  In the production management method of the present invention, in the step (a), a variable assigned to each of the plurality of wafers is a response variable, a chamber of each of the plurality of manufacturing apparatuses is a factor, and a chamber of the manufacturing apparatus The processing order of the plurality of wafers can also be determined or calculated based on an experiment design method with a number as a level.

(Embodiment 1)
Hereinafter, a production management system and a production management method according to Embodiment 1 of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS. Initially, the structure of the production management system in Embodiment 1 of this invention is demonstrated using FIGS. 1-3. FIG. 1 is a configuration diagram showing a schematic configuration of a production management system according to Embodiment 1 of the present invention.

  As shown in FIG. 1, the production management system according to the first embodiment is a system that performs production management of a semiconductor device production system including a plurality of manufacturing apparatuses 102. The production management system according to the first embodiment includes a production management device 101 and a wafer rearrangement device 103.

  The semiconductor device production system to be managed in the first embodiment performs manufacturing steps 1, 2, 3,... N by a plurality of manufacturing apparatuses 102 on wafers w1, w2, w3, w4,. As a result, a plurality of semiconductor devices are formed on each wafer. Thereafter, individual wafers are obtained by dicing each wafer.

  In the example of FIG. 1, each manufacturing apparatus 102 includes two chambers (not shown). However, in the present invention, all or a part of the manufacturing apparatus may include three or more chambers, or a part of the manufacturing apparatus may include only a single chamber. In the example of FIG. 1, “manufacturing apparatus A” used for manufacturing process 1, “manufacturing apparatus B” used for manufacturing process 2, and manufacturing among a plurality of manufacturing apparatuses 102 constituting the semiconductor device production system. Only the “manufacturing apparatus C” used in step 3 is illustrated. Further, the manufacturing apparatus 102 used in each of the manufacturing processes 1, 2, 3,... N may be a single manufacturing apparatus, or a plurality of processes that perform the same processing as shown in FIG. It may be an assembly of manufacturing apparatuses.

  As shown in FIG. 1, in the first embodiment, the production management apparatus 101 includes a wafer processing order calculation unit 105, a wafer processing order instruction unit 104, a wafer processing order storage unit 106, an apparatus chamber number management unit 107, and a manufacturing process. A process sequence management unit 108 is provided.

  The manufacturing process sequence management unit 108 manages information specifying the contents and order of a plurality of manufacturing processes performed in the semiconductor device production system, and information regarding the manufacturing apparatus 102 used for each of the plurality of manufacturing processes. In the first embodiment, the manufacturing process sequence management unit 108 manages the information shown in FIGS. 2 (a) and 2 (b). FIGS. 2A and 2B are diagrams illustrating information managed by the manufacturing process sequence management unit 108 included in the production management apparatus 101 according to the first embodiment.

  As shown in FIGS. 2A and 2B, the manufacturing process sequence management unit 108 manages information using a “manufacturing process sequence management table” and an “apparatus group management table”. Although not shown in FIGS. 2A and 2B, in the first embodiment, the manufacturing process sequence management unit 108 also manages information for specifying the number of wafers to be processed. 2A and 2B show an example in which each manufacturing process is performed by an assembly (device group) of a plurality of manufacturing apparatuses that perform the same processing.

  The “manufacturing process sequence management table” shown in FIG. 2A includes three items such as “process sequence”, “manufacturing process”, and “processing device group”. The “process sequence” indicates the order of manufacturing steps performed in the semiconductor device production system. For each wafer, the manufacturing process is performed in ascending order of the process sequence. “Manufacturing process” indicates the contents of the process. Actually, the manufacturing process of the semiconductor device such as the exposure process and the development process is coded and stored in the column of “manufacturing process”. A “processing device group” is a group of a plurality of manufacturing devices used in the same manufacturing process. Manufacturing apparatuses belonging to the same group can perform the same processing.

  Further, the “apparatus group management table” shown in FIG. 2B includes two items such as “processing apparatus group” and “manufacturing apparatus”. The “processing device group” illustrated in FIG. 2B corresponds to the “processing device group” illustrated in FIG. “Manufacturing apparatus” indicates a manufacturing apparatus constituting each apparatus group. From FIG. 2B, it can be seen that, for example, the device group A is composed of the manufacturing devices A1, A2, and A3.

  The apparatus chamber number management unit 107 shown in FIG. 1 manages information for specifying the number of chambers of a manufacturing apparatus used in a plurality of manufacturing processes. In the first embodiment, the apparatus chamber number management unit 107 manages the information shown in FIG. FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating information managed by the apparatus chamber number management unit 107 constituting the production management apparatus 101 according to the first embodiment.

  As shown in FIG. 3, the apparatus chamber number management unit 107 manages information using an “apparatus chamber number management table”. The “apparatus chamber number management table” is composed of two items such as “processing apparatus group” and “chamber number”. “Processing device group” indicates a “processing device group” (see FIG. 2A) managed by the manufacturing process sequence management unit 108. “Number of chambers” indicates how many chambers the manufacturing apparatus of each device group is configured with. In FIG. 3, for example, the manufacturing apparatus of the apparatus group A is configured with two chambers.

  The wafer processing order calculation unit 105 shown in FIG. 1 calculates, for each of a plurality of manufacturing processes performed in the semiconductor device production system, a processing order of a plurality of wafers supplied to a manufacturing apparatus used in the manufacturing process in units of lots. To do. In the first embodiment, first, the wafer processing order calculation unit 105 determines the processing order of a plurality of wafers in the first manufacturing process. Next, the wafer processing order calculation unit 105 randomly rearranges the processing order of the plurality of wafers in the first manufacturing process, and calculates the processing order of the plurality of wafers in the remaining manufacturing processes. The determination or calculation of the processing order by the wafer processing order calculation unit 105 will be described later.

  In the first embodiment, the wafer processing order calculation unit 105 performs processing based on the number of chambers managed by the apparatus chamber number management unit 107 when processing is performed by the manufacturing apparatus 102 having a plurality of chambers. It is also determined in which chamber each wafer is processed. For example, when the number of chambers is two, the odd-numbered wafers in the processing order are in the first chamber (c1), the even-numbered wafers in the second chamber (c2), or the processing order is The even-numbered wafer is assigned to the first chamber (c1), the odd-numbered wafer is assigned to the second chamber (c2), and so on.

  Further, the processing order determined or calculated by the wafer processing order calculation unit 105 is stored in the wafer processing order storage unit 106. FIG. 4 is a diagram showing an example of the processing order stored in the wafer processing order storage unit 106, and shows the case where the number of wafers is six. As shown in FIG. 4, the processing order determined or calculated by the wafer processing order calculation unit 105 is stored in the wafer processing order storage unit 106 in the form of a “wafer processing order storage table”. The “wafer processing order storage table” is classified into four items such as “process sequence”, “wafer”, “processing order”, and “processing chamber”.

  “Process sequence” indicates a process sequence managed by the manufacturing process sequence management unit 108. “Wafer” indicates a wafer processed in each manufacturing process. “Processing order” indicates the processing order of wafers processed in the apparatus group, that is, the processing order determined or calculated by the wafer processing order calculation unit 105. “Chamber” indicates a chamber of a manufacturing apparatus in which each wafer is processed. For example, when the process sequence is 1, the wafer w1 is processed by the first chamber (c1) of any manufacturing apparatus in the processing apparatus group.

  1 outputs the processing order of the wafers w1, w2, w3, w4... Wn to the wafer rearrangement apparatus 103. The wafer processing order instruction unit 104 shown in FIG. The wafer rearrangement apparatus 103 outputs, for each manufacturing process, the wafers w1, w2, w3, w4... Wn supplied to the manufacturing apparatus 102 used in the manufacturing process. Sort by. In the first embodiment, the wafer processing order instruction unit 104 is connected to the wafer rearrangement apparatus 103 and the manufacturing apparatus 102 via a LAN. For this reason, the processing order output by the wafer processing order instruction unit 104 is performed via the LAN.

  In the first embodiment, the wafer rearrangement apparatus 103 is installed for each manufacturing apparatus or apparatus group. Further, when the wafers w1, w2, w3, w4... Wn are supplied to the corresponding manufacturing apparatus or apparatus group, the wafer rearrangement apparatus 103 sends a signal notifying the LAN to the wafer processing order instruction unit 104. It has the function to output via.

  Therefore, in the first embodiment, when the wafer processing order calculation unit 105 detects that a wafer is supplied by outputting a signal from the wafer rearrangement device 103 to the wafer processing order instruction unit 104, First, the processing order is extracted from the wafer processing order storage unit 106. Next, the wafer processing order calculation unit 105 gives an instruction to the wafer processing order instruction unit 104 so as to output the extracted processing order to the wafer rearrangement apparatus 103 that has output the signal. The output of the signal for notifying that such a wafer is supplied may be performed so that the wafer processing order calculation unit 105 detects that the wafer is supplied. Therefore, in the present embodiment, the manufacturing apparatus 102 may output a signal notifying that a wafer is supplied.

  Here, an example of the processing order output to the wafer rearrangement apparatus 103 via the wafer processing order instruction unit 104 will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 5 is a diagram illustrating an example of a processing order output to the wafer rearrangement apparatus 103 by the wafer processing order instruction unit 104. The processing order shown in FIG. 5 is the processing order that the wafer processing order instruction unit 104 outputs to the wafer rearrangement apparatus 103 in the manufacturing process 2 shown in FIG. FIG. 5 shows the case where the number of wafers is six, and the processing order shown in FIG. 5 corresponds to the processing order of the process sequence 2 in FIG. When receiving the output of the processing order shown in FIG. 5, the wafer rearrangement apparatus 103 rearranges the wafers w1 to w6 in this order and supplies them to the manufacturing apparatus 102 (see FIG. 1).

  Next, the production management method in Embodiment 1 of this invention is demonstrated using FIG. However, the production management method in this Embodiment 1 is implemented by operating the production management system in this Embodiment 1 shown in FIG. For this reason, the following description of the production management method will be given by explaining the operation of the production management system in the first embodiment with appropriate reference to FIGS. FIG. 6 is a flowchart showing operations of the production management method and the production management apparatus 101 according to Embodiment 1 of the present invention.

  As shown in FIG. 6, first, the wafer processing sequence calculation unit 105 reads information (see FIGS. 2 and 3) managed by the manufacturing process sequence management unit 108 and the apparatus chamber number management unit 107 (see FIGS. 2 and 3). Step S1).

  Next, the wafer processing order calculation unit 105 determines the processing order of the wafers w1, w2, w3, w4... Wn in the first manufacturing process (manufacturing process 1 shown in FIG. 1) (step S2). In the first embodiment, the numbers assigned to the wafers are in ascending order, that is, w1, w2, w3, w4.

  In step S <b> 2, the wafer processing order calculation unit 105 performs processing when the wafer is processed by the manufacturing apparatus 102 having a plurality of chambers based on the number of chambers of each manufacturing apparatus 102 managed by the apparatus chamber number management unit 107. The chamber in which each wafer is processed is also determined.

  The determined processing order and chamber assignment are output to the wafer processing order storage unit 106 by the wafer processing order calculation unit 105. Thereby, the “processing order” and “processing chamber” in the process sequence 1 of the “wafer processing order storage table” shown in FIG. 4 are determined.

  Next, the wafer processing order calculation unit 105 calculates the number of remaining manufacturing processes from the information (see FIG. 2) managed by the manufacturing process sequence management unit 108, and randomly rearranges the processing order determined in step S2. Then, the processing order of a plurality of wafers in the remaining manufacturing process (from manufacturing process 2 shown in FIG. 2) is calculated (step S3). Also in this case, the wafer processing order calculation unit 105 also determines a chamber in which each wafer is processed in the remaining manufacturing steps based on the number of chambers of each manufacturing apparatus 102 managed by the apparatus chamber number management unit 107. ing.

  Further, the processing order and chamber allocation calculated in step S 3 are also output to the wafer processing order storage unit 106 by the wafer processing order calculation unit 105. As a result, the “processing order” and “processing chamber” in the process sequence 2 and subsequent steps of the “wafer processing order storage table” shown in FIG. 4 are also determined. The contents of steps S2 and S3 will be described later.

  Next, whether the wafer processing order calculation unit 105 transmits a signal from the wafer rearrangement device 103 to the wafer processing order instruction unit 104 informing that the supply of the wafers w1, w2, w3, w4. Judgment is made (step S4).

  When no signal is transmitted from the wafer rearrangement apparatus 103, the wafer processing order calculation unit 105 enters a standby state. On the other hand, when a signal is transmitted from the wafer rearrangement apparatus 103, the wafer processing order calculation unit 105 reads out data of a corresponding portion in the wafer processing order storage table from the wafer processing order storage unit 106 (step S5). ). Specifically, the wafer processing order calculation unit 105 identifies and identifies the “process sequence” of the manufacturing process performed by the manufacturing apparatus 102 provided with the wafer rearrangement apparatus 103 that has transmitted the signal. The “processing sequence” and “processing chamber” corresponding to the “process sequence” are read (see FIG. 4).

  In the first embodiment, each manufacturing apparatus 102 shown in FIG. 1 has a function of transmitting information for specifying a chamber in which processing is performed first to the wafer processing order instruction unit 104. For this reason, after execution of step S5, the wafer processing order calculation unit 105 compares the information transmitted from the manufacturing apparatus 102 with the information read from the wafer processing order storage unit 106, and the information transmitted from the manufacturing apparatus 102. It is determined whether or not the first chamber specified by accords with the first chamber of the read “processing chamber” (step S6).

  When the first chamber specified by the information transmitted from the manufacturing apparatus 102 matches the first chamber of the read “processing chamber”, the wafer processing order calculation unit 105 reads the reading to the wafer processing order instruction unit 104. “Processing order” and “processing chamber” are output and transmitted to the wafer rearrangement apparatus 103 (step S8).

  On the other hand, when the first chamber specified by the information transmitted from the manufacturing apparatus 102 does not coincide with the first chamber of the read “processing chamber”, the wafer processing order calculation unit 105 determines the wafers w1, w2, w3, w4. ... Recalculates the processing sequence of wn (step S7). Specifically, in the first embodiment, the “processing order” in the wafer processing order storage table (FIG. 4) is maintained without changing the correspondence between the wafer and the processing chamber in the wafer processing order storage table (FIG. 4). To change.

  For example, if the first processing is performed in the second chamber (c2) in the process sequence 2 shown in FIG. 4, the content of the “processing chamber” is “c1, c2, c1, c2, c1, c2”. As it is, the content of “processing order” is changed to “1, 2, 4, 3, 5, 6”. As a result, the first wafer in the “processing order” after recalculation is processed in the first chamber specified by the information transmitted from the manufacturing apparatus 102.

  In this case, the wafer processing order calculation unit 105 rewrites the contents of the wafer processing order storage table (FIG. 4) stored in the wafer processing order storage unit 106 to the changed contents. Further, the wafer processing order calculation unit 105 outputs the changed “processing order” and “processing chamber” to the wafer processing order instruction unit 104, and transmits them to the wafer rearrangement apparatus 103 (step S8). .

  Thereafter, the wafer processing order calculation unit 105 determines whether all the manufacturing steps have been completed (step S9). As a result of the determination, if all the manufacturing processes have not been completed yet, steps S4 to S8 are executed again. If all the manufacturing steps have been completed, the process ends.

  In the first embodiment, the production management apparatus 101 shown in FIG. 1 can be realized by installing a program that realizes steps S1 to S9 shown in FIG. 6 in a computer and executing the program. In this case, the CPU of the computer functions as the wafer processing order calculation unit 105.

  In this case, the wafer processing order instruction unit 104 can be realized by a LAN interface provided in the computer. Further, the manufacturing process sequence management unit 108, the apparatus chamber number management unit 107, and the wafer processing order storage unit 106 store data files constituting them in a storage device such as a hard disk provided in the computer, or This can be realized by mounting the recording medium storing the data file in a reading device connected to the computer.

  Next, step S2 and step S3 shown in FIG. 6 will be described more specifically with reference to FIGS. FIG. 7 is a diagram conceptually showing the rearrangement of the wafer processing order performed by the production management apparatus 101 according to the first embodiment. In FIG. 7, for convenience of explanation, a case where the number of wafers is four will be described. FIG. 8 is a diagram illustrating an example of a program for rearranging the wafer processing order when the production management apparatus 101 according to the first embodiment is realized by a computer. FIG. 9 is a flowchart of the program shown in FIG.

  As shown in FIG. 7, first, the wafer processing order calculation unit 105 sets the processing order in the manufacturing process 1 as the first manufacturing process in ascending order of the numbers assigned to the wafers. Next, the wafer processing order calculation unit 105 calculates the processing order in the manufacturing process 2. The wafer processing order calculation unit 105 generates random numbers from 1 to the number of wafers (between 1 and 4 in FIG. 7), and generates the processing order 1 wafer and the generated random number processing order wafer. Replace. In the example of FIG. 7, 4 is generated as a random number, and the wafer w1 in the processing order 1 and the wafer w4 in the processing order 4 are switched.

  Next, the wafer processing order calculation unit 105 calculates the processing order in the manufacturing process 3. Also in this case, the wafer processing order calculation unit 105 generates a random number between 1 and the number of wafers, and replaces the wafer in the processing order 2 in the manufacturing process 2 with the generated random number-th processing order. In the example of FIG. 7, 3 is generated as a random number, and the wafer w2 in the processing order 2 and the wafer w3 in the processing order 3 are switched.

  Further, similarly, the wafer processing order calculation unit 105 repeats the generation of random numbers from 1 to the number of wafers and the replacement of the processing order to calculate the processing order in the manufacturing steps 4, 5,. To do. In the example of FIG. 7, after the replacement four times, in the manufacturing process 5, the wafers are rearranged in the order of w4, w1, w2, and w3.

  When the production management apparatus according to the first embodiment is realized by a computer, the rearrangement shown in FIG. 7 can be performed by executing the program shown in FIG. The program shown in FIG. 8 executes step S2 shown in FIG. 6 by the first to fifth lines, and executes step S3 shown in FIG. 6 by the seventh to sixteenth lines. The program shown in FIG. 8 is an example, and the present invention is not limited to this. 8 is described in the awk language, the present invention is not limited to this, and the program may be described in another language such as the C language.

  Here, the program shown in FIG. 8 will be described with reference to FIG. As shown in FIG. 9, first, the number of wafers is read by the first line of the program (step S11). Next, the processing order is initialized in ascending order of wafer numbers by the third to fifth lines of the program (step S12).

  Next, the i-th processing order that has already been determined is extracted from the seventh line (step S13). Next, on the 8th line, random numbers from 0 to 1 are generated, the generated random number is multiplied by the number of wafers, the multiplication result is converted to an integer, and the integer is added to 1 and stored in a variable (ranNum). (Step S14). Thereafter, the 9th to 11th lines exchange the i-th processing order extracted in the 7th line with the variable (ranNum) -th processing order (step S15). Finally, the rearrangement result is confirmed in the 14th to 16th lines (step S16), and the process is terminated.

  As described above, according to the first embodiment, a plurality of wafers to be processed are rearranged for each manufacturing process. As a result, the following effects are obtained. The effect by this Embodiment 1 is demonstrated using FIGS. 10-12.

  FIG. 10 is a diagram showing the flow of the manufacturing process and the inspection process of the semiconductor device when the production management system in the first embodiment is used. As shown in FIG. 10, the wafers w1 to wn are collected in units of lots and processed by the manufacturing apparatuses A to D, and then an inspection process is performed on the wafers w1 to wn.

  As shown in FIG. 10, in the first embodiment, the wafers w1 to w4 are rearranged for each manufacturing process. For this reason, in the manufacturing process 1, the wafers are processed in the chambers c1, c2, c1, and c2, respectively, in the order of w1, w2, w3, and w4. Similarly, in the manufacturing process 2, the wafers are processed in the chambers c1, c2, c1, and c2, respectively, in the order of w2, w1, w3, and w4. In the manufacturing process 3, the wafers are processed in the chambers c2, c1, c2, and c1, respectively, in the order of w3, w1, w2, and w4.

  FIG. 11 is a diagram showing a wafer processed by the chamber of the manufacturing apparatus in each manufacturing process shown in FIG. 10, and shows a manufacturing history of the wafer. In FIG. 11, arrows indicate the order in which each wafer is processed in the chamber of each manufacturing apparatus. As shown in FIG. 11, in the manufacturing process 1, the wafers w1 and w3 are processed in the order of the chamber c1 of the manufacturing apparatus A, and the wafers w2 and w4 are processed in the order of the chamber c2 of the manufacturing apparatus A. Done. Further, in the manufacturing process 2, the processing is performed in the order of the wafer w2 and the wafer w3 in the chamber c1 of the manufacturing apparatus B, and the processing is performed in the order of the wafer w1 and the wafer w4 in the chamber c2 of the manufacturing apparatus B.

  Further, in the manufacturing process 3, processing is performed in the order of the wafer w1 and the wafer w4 by the chamber c1 of the manufacturing apparatus C, and processing is performed in the order of the wafer w3 and the wafer w2 by the chamber c2 of the manufacturing apparatus C. In the manufacturing process 4, the processing is performed in the order of the wafer w4 and the wafer w3 in the chamber c1 of the manufacturing apparatus D, and the processing is performed in the order of the wafer w2 and the wafer w1 in the chamber c2 of the manufacturing apparatus D.

  FIG. 12 is a diagram showing inspection results of the wafers w1 to wn shown in FIG. In the example of FIG. 12, a characteristic abnormality is found in the wafer w1 and the wafer w3. Assuming that the wafer w1 and the wafer w3 are one group, as can be seen from FIGS. 11 and 12, the common apparatus is only the manufacturing apparatus A used in the manufacturing process 1, and the common chamber is the manufacturing apparatus A. Only the first chamber c1. Therefore, as shown in FIG. 12, it can be determined that the manufacturing apparatus, the manufacturing process, and the chamber in which an abnormality has occurred are the manufacturing apparatus A, the manufacturing process 1, and the chamber c1, respectively. Thus, according to the first embodiment, unlike the conventional case, the manufacturing apparatus, manufacturing process, and chamber in which an abnormality has occurred can be easily identified.

(Embodiment 2)
Next, the production management system and the production management method in Embodiment 2 of this invention are demonstrated using FIGS. The configuration of the production management system in the second embodiment is the same as the configuration of the production management system in the first embodiment. Further, the production management method according to the second embodiment is also carried out in the same flow as in the first embodiment.

  However, in the second embodiment, the method of determining and calculating the processing order (steps S2 and S3) shown in FIG. 6 in the first embodiment is different from the first embodiment. Specifically, in the second embodiment, wafer processing order calculation unit 105 (see FIG. 1) calculates the processing order of wafers w1, w2, w3, w4. This point will be described below with reference to FIGS. In the following description, FIGS. 1 to 12 used in the first embodiment are appropriately taken into consideration.

  FIG. 13 is a diagram illustrating an execution result of the experiment design method by the wafer processing order calculation unit 105. FIG. 14 is a diagram showing the results of the experimental design method shown in FIG. 13 for each process sequence. In FIG. 14, the chambers of the respective manufacturing apparatuses assigned to the respective wafers are shown for each process sequence.

  In the second embodiment, the wafer processing order calculation unit 105 manages the variables assigned to the wafers w1 to w8 as response variables, the chambers c1 and c2 of the manufacturing apparatus 102 as factors, and is managed by the apparatus chamber number management unit 107. Develop an experimental design based on the number of chambers. When the wafer processing order calculation unit 105 executes this experiment design method, specifically, it is assigned to the wafers w1 to w2 as shown in FIG. 13 by performing allocation using an orthogonal table or a mixed orthogonal table. The chamber of each manufacturing apparatus is determined.

  Further, as shown in FIG. 14, only by executing the experimental design method, for example, in the process sequence 1, the wafer w1 is assigned to the chamber c1 and the wafer w2 is assigned to the chamber c2. Although the correspondence between the chamber and the chamber is fixed, the processing order of the wafers is not fixed.

  Therefore, in the second embodiment, the wafer processing order calculation unit 105 calculates the processing order of the wafers w1 to w8 after the manufacturing process after the end of the experimental design method. This point will be described with reference to FIGS. 15 and 16. FIG. 15 is a diagram conceptually showing the rearrangement of the wafer processing order performed by the production management apparatus according to the second embodiment.

  As shown in FIG. 15, in the second embodiment, the wafer processing order calculation unit 105 first extracts a wafer to be processed in the same chamber for each process sequence. Next, the wafer processing order calculation unit 105 rearranges the extracted wafers for each chamber. In the second embodiment, as the wafer rearrangement method, the method described with reference to FIGS. 7 to 9 in the first embodiment can be used.

  Thereafter, the wafer processing order calculation unit 105 synthesizes the processing order for each chamber. In the example of FIG. 15, the synthesis of the processing order for each chamber is performed so that the first chamber and the second chamber are alternately arranged, such as c1, c2, c1, c2,. In the second embodiment, the synthesis of the wafer processing order is not limited to this example.

  The combined processing order is output to the wafer processing order storage unit 106 by the wafer processing order calculation unit 105 and stored in the wafer processing order storage unit 106 as shown in FIG. FIG. 16 is a diagram showing an example of the processing order stored by the wafer processing order storage unit 106 in the second embodiment.

  Next, the effect by this Embodiment 2 is demonstrated using FIG. FIG. 17 is a diagram illustrating inspection results of the wafers w1 to w8 illustrated in FIGS. In the example of FIG. 17, a characteristic abnormality occurs in the odd-numbered wafer. Assuming that the odd-numbered wafers (w1, w3...) Are one group, as shown in FIG. 17, the common apparatus is only the manufacturing apparatus A used in the manufacturing process 1, and the common chamber is the manufacturing apparatus A. Only the first chamber c1. Therefore, as shown in FIG. 17, it can be determined that the manufacturing apparatus, the manufacturing process, and the chamber in which an abnormality has occurred are the manufacturing apparatus A, the manufacturing process 1, and the chamber c1, respectively. Thus, also in the second embodiment, as in the first embodiment, it is possible to easily identify the manufacturing apparatus, manufacturing process, and chamber in which an abnormality has occurred.

  In the first and second embodiments described above, as shown in FIGS. 12 and 17, there are manufacturing apparatuses and chambers that process all wafers in which characteristic anomalies have occurred. Probabilistically, there may be no manufacturing apparatus and chamber that process all wafers in which characteristic anomalies have occurred.

  However, even in such a case, according to the present invention, as shown in FIG. 20 in the prior art, a situation in which it must be determined that an abnormality has occurred in all the manufacturing apparatuses is avoided. It is considered that the manufacturing apparatus and the chamber in which an abnormality may occur can be narrowed down compared to the conventional case. Therefore, in such a case, if a significant difference or the like between the chambers is statistically determined by performing analysis using an analysis of variance method or the like, a manufacturing apparatus or a chamber in which an abnormality has occurred can be specified.

It is a block diagram which shows schematic structure of the production management system in Embodiment 1 of this invention. It is a figure which shows the information managed by the manufacturing process sequence management part which comprises the production management apparatus in Embodiment 1. FIG. It is a figure which shows the information managed by the apparatus chamber number management part which comprises the production management apparatus in Embodiment 1. FIG. It is a figure which shows an example of the processing order memorize | stored by the wafer processing order memory | storage part, and has shown about the case where the number of wafers is six sheets. It is a figure which shows an example of the processing order output to a wafer rearrangement apparatus by a wafer processing order instruction | indication part. It is a flowchart which shows operation | movement of the production management method and production management apparatus in Embodiment 1 of this invention. FIG. 3 is a diagram conceptually showing the rearrangement of the processing order of wafers performed by the production management apparatus in the first embodiment. 6 is a diagram illustrating an example of a program for rearranging the wafer processing order when the production management apparatus according to the first embodiment is realized by a computer. FIG. It is a flowchart of the program shown in FIG. It is a figure which shows the flow of the manufacturing process and inspection process of a semiconductor device at the time of using the production management system in Embodiment 1. FIG. It is a figure which shows the wafer which the chamber of a manufacturing apparatus processes in each manufacturing process shown in FIG. 10, and has shown the manufacture history of the wafer. It is a figure which shows the test result of wafers w1-wn shown in FIG. It is a figure which shows the execution result of the experiment design method by a wafer processing order calculation part. It is a figure which shows the result of the experiment design method shown in FIG. 13 for every process sequence. FIG. 10 is a diagram conceptually showing the rearrangement of the processing order of wafers performed by the production management apparatus in the second embodiment. It is a figure which shows an example of the process order memorize | stored by the wafer process order memory | storage part in this Embodiment 2. FIG. It is a figure which shows the test result of wafers w1-w8 shown in FIGS. It is a figure which shows the flow of the manufacturing process and test | inspection process of the conventional semiconductor device. It is a figure which shows the wafer which the chamber of a manufacturing apparatus processes in each manufacturing process shown in FIG. It is a figure which shows the test result of wafers w1-wn shown in FIG.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 101 Production management apparatus 102 Manufacturing apparatus 103 Wafer rearrangement apparatus 104 Wafer process order instruction | indication part 105 Wafer process order calculation part 106 Wafer process order memory | storage part 107 Apparatus chamber number management part 108 Manufacturing process sequence management part

Claims (20)

A production management system that performs production management of a semiconductor device production system including a plurality of manufacturing apparatuses,
A production management device and a wafer rearrangement device;
The production management apparatus determines or calculates a processing order of a plurality of wafers supplied to the manufacturing apparatus used in the manufacturing process for each of a plurality of manufacturing processes performed in the semiconductor device production system. A wafer processing order instruction unit that outputs the processing order of the plurality of wafers to the wafer rearrangement device,
The wafer rearrangement apparatus rearranges, for each manufacturing process, a plurality of wafers supplied to the manufacturing apparatus used in the manufacturing process in the processing order output by the wafer processing order instruction unit. A featured production management system. The production management apparatus further includes a wafer processing order storage unit that stores processing orders of the plurality of wafers determined or calculated by the wafer processing order calculation unit,
When the wafer processing order calculation unit detects that the plurality of wafers are supplied to the manufacturing apparatus, the processing order stored in the wafer processing order storage unit is extracted from the wafer processing order storage unit, and the wafer processing order instruction The production management system according to claim 1, wherein an output is made to the wafer rearrangement apparatus.   The production management system according to claim 1, wherein when the plurality of wafers are processed by a manufacturing apparatus having a plurality of chambers, the wafer processing order calculation unit determines a chamber in which each of the plurality of wafers is processed.   The wafer processing order calculating unit determines a processing order of a plurality of wafers in an initial manufacturing process, rearranges the determined processing order at random, and calculates a processing order of the plurality of wafers in the remaining manufacturing processes. The production management system according to claim 1.   The wafer processing order calculation unit is based on an experimental design method in which a variable assigned to each of the plurality of wafers is a response variable, a chamber of each of the plurality of manufacturing apparatuses is a factor, and the number of chambers of the manufacturing apparatus is a level. The production management system according to claim 1, wherein the processing order of the plurality of wafers is determined or calculated. A production management device that performs production management of a semiconductor device production system including a plurality of manufacturing devices,
At least a wafer processing order calculation unit and a wafer processing order instruction unit;
The wafer processing order calculation unit determines or calculates a processing order of a plurality of wafers supplied to the manufacturing apparatus used in the manufacturing process for each of a plurality of manufacturing processes performed in the semiconductor device production system,
The wafer management order instruction unit outputs the processing order determined or calculated by the wafer processing order calculation unit to the outside. A wafer processing order storage unit for storing the processing order of the plurality of wafers determined or calculated by the wafer processing order calculation unit;
When the wafer processing order calculation unit detects that the plurality of wafers are supplied to the manufacturing apparatus, the processing order stored in the wafer processing order storage unit is extracted from the wafer processing order storage unit, and the wafer processing order instruction The production management apparatus according to claim 6, wherein the output is output to the outside.   The production management apparatus according to claim 6, wherein when the plurality of wafers are processed by a manufacturing apparatus having a plurality of chambers, the wafer processing order calculation unit determines a chamber in which each of the plurality of wafers is processed.   The wafer processing order calculating unit determines a processing order of a plurality of wafers in an initial manufacturing process, rearranges the determined processing order at random, and calculates a processing order of the plurality of wafers in the remaining manufacturing processes. The production management apparatus according to claim 6.   The wafer processing order calculation unit is based on an experimental design method in which a variable assigned to each of the plurality of wafers is a response variable, a chamber of each of the plurality of manufacturing apparatuses is a factor, and the number of chambers of the manufacturing apparatus is a level. The production management apparatus according to claim 6, wherein the processing order of the plurality of wafers is determined or calculated. A production management method for performing production management of a semiconductor device production system including a plurality of manufacturing apparatuses,
(A) determining or calculating a processing order of a plurality of wafers supplied to the manufacturing apparatus used in the manufacturing process for each of a plurality of manufacturing processes performed in the semiconductor device production system;
(B) A production management method comprising at least a step of rearranging a processing order of a plurality of wafers supplied to the manufacturing apparatus to the processing order determined or calculated in the step (a).   12. The production management method according to claim 11, wherein the step (b) is executed when supply of the plurality of wafers to the manufacturing apparatus is detected.   The production management method according to claim 11, wherein when the plurality of wafers are processed by a manufacturing apparatus having a plurality of chambers, the chamber in which each of the plurality of wafers is processed is determined in the step (a).   In the step (a), the processing order of a plurality of wafers in the first manufacturing process is determined, and the determined processing order is randomly rearranged to calculate the processing order of the plurality of wafers in the remaining manufacturing processes. The production management method according to claim 11.   In the step (a), the variable assigned to each of the plurality of wafers is a response variable, the chamber of each of the plurality of manufacturing apparatuses is a factor, and the experimental design method is based on the number of chambers of the manufacturing apparatus. The production management method according to claim 11, wherein the processing order of the plurality of wafers is determined or calculated. A program for performing production management of a semiconductor device production system including a plurality of manufacturing apparatuses by a computer,
(A) determining or calculating a processing order of a plurality of wafers supplied to the manufacturing apparatus used in the manufacturing process for each of a plurality of manufacturing processes performed in the semiconductor device production system;
(B) A program comprising at least a step of outputting the processing order determined or calculated in the step (a) to the outside.   The program according to claim 16, wherein the step (b) is executed when supply of the plurality of wafers to the manufacturing apparatus is detected.   The program according to claim 16, wherein, when the plurality of wafers are processed by a manufacturing apparatus having a plurality of chambers, the chamber in which each of the plurality of wafers is processed is determined in the step (a).   In the step (a), the processing order of a plurality of wafers in the first manufacturing process is determined, and the determined processing order is randomly rearranged to calculate the processing order of the plurality of wafers in the remaining manufacturing processes. The program according to claim 16.   In the step (a), based on an experimental design method in which a variable assigned to each of the plurality of wafers is a response variable, each chamber of each of the plurality of manufacturing apparatuses is a factor, and the number of chambers of the manufacturing apparatus is a level. The program according to claim 16, wherein the processing order of the plurality of wafers is determined or calculated.

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