JP2008283169A - Substrate processing system and data retrieval method - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To rapidly perform data retrieval and display by a GUI terminal without increasing the load of data retrieval processing in a group administration apparatus even with an increase in the number of apparatuses and GUI terminals. <P>SOLUTION: The data transmitted by the apparatus 2 are classified for each group by a group administration apparatus 3. Thus, for example, in the case of displaying temperature information by a GUI terminal 4, a temperature information group is set into a retrieval condition for each item of display items, and a temperature setting value and a temperature monitor value are set for each type. Then, these are transferred to the group administration apparatus 3. The group administration apparatus 3 refers to the retrieval conditions of a plurality of display items that are acquired from the GUI terminal 4 to merge the display items with the same conditions into one item as a retrieval item. Thereby, the acquisition of data is permitted by the request on a group unit to the data stored in the group administration apparatus 3, so as to reduce the number of retrievals of apparatus data. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2009,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a substrate processing system that centrally manages information of a plurality of substrate processing apparatuses such as semiconductor manufacturing apparatuses using a group management apparatus, and more particularly to a substrate processing system and data search that efficiently retrieve data handled by the group management apparatus. Regarding the method.

  Conventionally, in a group management apparatus, data transmitted from each semiconductor manufacturing apparatus is stored in a semiconductor manufacturing apparatus data storage area inside the group management apparatus for each semiconductor manufacturing apparatus. Then, the group management device is configured according to the data acquisition request of the semiconductor manufacturing device to be displayed transmitted from each GUI (Graphical User Interface) terminal (that is, each operation terminal) that is generated periodically. Data is directly retrieved from the semiconductor manufacturing apparatus data storage area, and the result is transmitted to the corresponding GUI terminal. By using a group management apparatus having such a function, for example, it is possible to prevent inconsistencies in recipes and occurrence of defective lots when performing substrate processing (see, for example, Patent Document 1).

FIG. 14 is a conceptual diagram showing a data flow of a general group management apparatus (group management system). That is, this figure shows a data flow at the time of data retrieval in response to a display data acquisition request from the GUI terminal in the conventional group management apparatus, and more specifically shows a data acquisition flow of the semiconductor manufacturing apparatus displayed on the GUI terminal. ing. In FIG. 14, solid arrows indicate the data flow of the semiconductor manufacturing apparatus 1, broken lines indicate the data flow of the semiconductor manufacturing apparatus 2, and chain lines indicate the data flow of the semiconductor manufacturing apparatus n. In the following description, a semiconductor manufacturing apparatus having an interface compliant with the specifications of a common equipment model (CEM [Common Equipment Model]) defined in SEMI standard E120 may be simply referred to as a device.
JP 2006-73845 A

  However, as shown in the data flow of the group management device in FIG. 14, when data is exchanged between n devices and n GUI terminals, a concentrated state occurs in the load within the group management device. To do. That is, at the time of requesting acquisition of device data to be displayed from the GUI terminal, the number of items of device data displayed on the GUI terminal increases, the number of devices displayed on the GUI terminal, and the number of GUI terminals increase. Then, the data search processing load in the group management apparatus increases and a delay in data search occurs. As a result, it may take a long time for the data to be displayed on the GUI terminal, or an error such as a timeout may occur in some cases, making it impossible to display the data on the GUI terminal.

  The present invention has been made in view of the above problems, and even if the number of substrate processing apparatuses such as semiconductor manufacturing apparatuses and GUI terminals increases, the load of data search processing in the group management apparatus increases. It is an object of the present invention to provide a substrate processing system capable of promptly performing a data search and reliably displaying necessary data on a GUI terminal.

  In order to solve the above-described problems, a substrate processing system according to the present invention includes a plurality of substrate processing apparatuses that process a substrate, a group management apparatus that manages each of the substrate processing apparatuses, and the group management apparatus when connected to the group management apparatus. A plurality of operation terminals are provided that create a data acquisition request format that defines search conditions and types of display items classified in each table for each substrate processing apparatus, and transmit the data acquisition request format to the group management apparatus.

  Here, the group management apparatus extracts the data acquisition request format of the same substrate processing apparatus from the data acquisition request formats acquired from each of the plurality of operation terminals at the time of the data acquisition request from the operation terminal, A merge table is created by merging display items searched under the same search condition.

  According to the present invention, when the display data acquisition request is issued from the GUI terminal by the data grouping function or data merging function by the group management device, there is no possibility of delay in the data acquisition of the GUI terminal. Further, when data search is performed inside the group management apparatus, it is possible to reduce the data search load or reduce the amount of internal memory used by performing data merge. Furthermore, since there is no search for duplicate data as in the prior art, the search time can be shortened.

  First, the outline | summary of the substrate processing system in this invention is demonstrated. FIG. 1 is a basic configuration diagram of a substrate processing system according to the present invention. As shown in FIG. 1, in the substrate processing system of the present invention, a group management device 3 capable of centrally managing information of a plurality of devices 2 accumulates data of the plurality of devices 2, and these ( That is, a plurality of devices 2 and a group management device 3) are connected via a network. Further, a plurality of GUI terminals 4 (that is, terminals that can display data of the apparatus 2) that can display data of the plurality of apparatuses 2 and the group management apparatus 3 are connected via a network. Yes. The substrate processing system of the present invention realizes an efficient search means for data displayed on a plurality of GUI terminals 4 in the configuration as shown in FIG.

  In the configuration of the substrate processing system as shown in FIG. 1, in response to an apparatus data acquisition request periodically generated from a plurality of GUI terminals 4 to a specific apparatus 2, one data type searched under the same search condition is set. By collecting them as search items, the number of searches for device data can be reduced. That is, data (device data) sent from the semiconductor manufacturing device (device 2) to the group management device 3 includes the state of the device itself, wafer information, temperature information, gas flow rate information, pressure information, There are various sensor information, etc., and these pieces of information are classified by groups, and have detailed data in the groups. For example, in the case of temperature information, a temperature setting value, a monitor value, a cascade monitor value, a profile monitor value, a heater power monitor value, and the like are defined as a temperature information group. For this reason, when the temperature information is to be displayed by the GUI terminal 4, for each display item, a temperature information group is set as a search condition, and a temperature set value or a temperature monitor value is set as a type. Is passed to the group management device 3.

  On the other hand, the group management device 3 refers to the search conditions for a plurality of display items acquired from the GUI terminal 4 and collects the display items under the same condition (in this case, “temperature information group”) as one search item. By combining the search conditions into one in this way, it is possible to acquire data by searching in groups for the device data stored in the group management device 3. Although there are a plurality of GUI terminals 4, since the group management device 3 can search in groups, it is possible to acquire device data without being aware of the number of GUI terminals 4.

  Thereby, the search load of the device 2 data performed by the group management device 3 can be reduced. Therefore, it is possible to realize a search method corresponding to a plurality of GUI terminals 4 that can return an appropriate search result to each GUI terminal 4 without causing a delay in search time. That is, it is possible to realize a merge data search method for searching data of a plurality of devices 2 required by a plurality of GUI terminals 4 connected to the group management device 3. Furthermore, a merge data management method for a plurality of GUI terminals 4 performed by the group management apparatus 3 and a merge data expansion method for a plurality of GUI terminals 4 can be realized. Note that merging means creating a single file by merging a plurality of files with a computer.

  Here, the reason why merging is possible is that the group management device 3 regenerates the merge table and the merge data management table together with the information of the GUI terminal 4 currently connected when receiving the data acquisition request from the GUI terminal 4. It is because it builds. The data acquisition request format from the GUI terminal 4 is sent only when the GUI terminal 4 is connected. Thereafter, the group management apparatus 3 periodically issues a data acquisition response to the GUI terminal 4 based on the merged data.

  Next, an embodiment of the substrate processing system in the present invention will be described in detail. First, the unification of the data acquisition request format from the GUI terminal 4 will be described with reference to FIG. This figure shows an example of the definition of the device data acquisition request format displayed on the GUI terminal 4 for improving the search efficiency of the device 2 data in the group management device 3. The right figure is a display image group of each GUI terminal 4, and the left figure is a display data acquisition request format created by each GUI terminal 4.

  As shown in FIG. 2, each GUI terminal 4 has a plurality of screen display patterns. In any screen display pattern, the search condition and the display data type are defined for each data item to be displayed (for each device). Is performed (that is, a data acquisition request format as shown in the left diagram of FIG. 2 is created), classified into devices 2 and transferred to the group management device 3. Here, the left side of FIG. 2 is a format of one of the display image groups of each GUI terminal 4 on the right side of FIG.

  The group management apparatus 3 performs the merging based on the search condition of the screen display item of each GUI terminal 4 and the definition of the type. Therefore, the format of information sent from each GUI terminal 4 is unified.

  Next, a specific example of a format when a screen (screen A) display data acquisition request with a GUI terminal in the substrate processing system is requested will be described. FIG. 3 is a diagram showing a specific example of the format at the time of a display data acquisition request for a screen (screen A) with the GUI terminal shown in FIG. That is, FIG. 3 shows a GUI terminal display screen image and group management when the temperature set value and the temperature monitor value of each device 2 (devices 1, 2,... 5 as device numbers in FIG. 3) are displayed by the GUI terminal 4. The relationship of the display data acquisition request format (display item storage table) for passing to the apparatus 3 is shown. Needless to say, the number of devices is not limited to five.

  In FIG. 3 and subsequent figures, the device numbers are expressed as devices 1, 2,..., Not as device symbols (that is, device 2 shown in FIG. 1). Similarly, GUI terminals 1, 2... N are expressed not as GUI terminal codes (that is, GUI terminals 4 shown in FIG. 1) but as GUI terminal numbers.

  In step S1 of FIG. 3, the temperature setting value of the device 1 is set to the display item 1 of the device 1 in the “display item storage table”. In this case, since the data is temperature, the search condition is “temperature group”. Further, the temperature monitor value of the device 1 is set to the display item 2 of the device 1 in the “display item storage table”. Also in this case, since the data is temperature, the search condition is “temperature group”. Next, in step S2, as described above, the temperature setting value and the temperature monitor value of the device 2 are set in the display item 1 and the display item 2 of the device 2 in the “display item storage table”. Thereafter, as in step S3, display items are additionally set to display item 1 and display item 2 of the “display item storage table” for each device.

  Next, an apparatus data search item merging method in the group management apparatus will be described. FIG. 4 is a conceptual diagram of the apparatus data search item merging method in the group management apparatus in the substrate processing system of the present invention. That is, this figure shows a merging method for efficiently searching the device data stored in the group management device from the data display items acquired from the GUI terminal, and the right figure shows the display items for each GUI terminal. The storage table, the left figure shows a search item data merge table for each device.

  Here, the definition of the merge data management table will be described. The merge data management table is intended to reduce the number of times of retrieval acquisition of data reported from the semiconductor manufacturing equipment, and to efficiently expand the data obtained as a result of retrieval to the corresponding item of each GUI terminal. It is a table.

  As shown in FIG. 4, in the group management apparatus, the information acquired from each GUI terminal (that is, the display data acquisition request format) is displayed for each GUI terminal in an internal table (that is, the display item for each GUI terminal in the right diagram of FIG. 4). Storage table). Then, the information on the same device is acquired from the stored information on each GUI terminal, and the display data type in each display item under the same search condition is stored in the search item data merge table for each device in the left diagram of FIG. That is, the types of display data that are the same search condition are combined into one item and stored in the merge table (that is, the device-specific search item data merge table in the left diagram). This greatly reduces the number of search conditions by merging requests from a plurality of GUI terminals to a specific device.

  4, the GUI terminals 1, 2,... N device 1 are connected to the group management device 3 with 1, 2,. Indicates that The display item indicates an item displayed by the GUI terminal (for example, “1” indicates display item 1). The search condition indicates a condition for the group management apparatus 3 to search for data in the data storage area (for example, “1” indicates the search condition 1). The type indicates the type of item that the GUI terminal wants to display (for example, “1” indicates type 1). Moreover, the display item and the search item are the same, and when there is the same display item, the expression is changed by an image to be merged into one search item.

  FIG. 5 is a conceptual diagram showing a specific example of an apparatus data search method in the group management apparatus in the substrate processing system shown in FIG. Hereinafter, a specific example of the search method shown in FIG. 4 will be described with reference to FIG. 5 shows a display item storage table, and the left figure shows a search item data merge table.

First, in step S11 of FIG. 5, the search condition 1 of the display item 1 of “device 1” is extracted from the “display item storage table” acquired from “GUI terminal 1”, and “device of“ search item data merge table ”is extracted. 1 ”is set to search condition 1 of search item 1. Next, in step S12, type 1 of display item 1 of “device 1” in “display item storage table” is extracted and set as type 1 of search item 1 of “device 1” in “search item data merge table”. To do. In step S13, the search condition 1 of the display item 2 of “device 1” in the “display item storage table” is compared with the search condition 1 of the search item 1 of “device 1” in the “search item data merge table”. To do.
As a result of comparison, if the search conditions of the two do not match, the search condition 2 of the search item 2 is set.

  If the search conditions of both match, the type 1 of display item 2 of “device 1” in the “display item storage table” and the type of search item 1 of “device 1” in the “search item data merge table” are displayed. 1 is compared. If both types match, it is determined that both are the same search item, and the search item is not added.

  In step S14, if the two types do not match, the next type is compared, and if the type to be compared does not exist, a new type is added to the search item. In step S15, when there are a plurality of designated devices, the processes in steps S11 to S14 are repeated for the number of devices. Furthermore, when there are a plurality of GUI terminals in step S16, the processes in steps S12 to S15 are repeated for the number of GUI terminals.

  Next, the merge data management table will be described. FIG. 6 is a diagram showing a merge data management table in the group management device 3 shown in FIG. 1, and shows a table defining GUI terminal display items for merged search items. That is, in order to recognize which display item of which GUI terminal the merged display item is, a merge data management table as shown in FIG. 6 is created.

  Note that the GUI terminal display item information in FIG. 6 indicates information on the display data acquisition request format sent from the GUI terminal. Further, the merge data management tables are created for the number of devices 1 connected to the group management device 3. Further, the data search result storage table stores the search results in the search item data merge table.

  As shown in FIG. 6, by comparing the information in the GUI terminal display item storage table and the information in the merge table, the location of the data can be confirmed, and the GUI terminal display can be performed from the merge data after the device data search result. Expansion to items becomes easy.

  Here, the merge data management table will be described in more detail. The merge data management table is a table for managing which type information of the “search item data merge table” corresponds to the type information of the “display item storage table” from the GUI terminal.

  When the group management device 3 receives a display request from a plurality of GUI terminals, it takes time to perform a data search each time, resulting in a delay in the search and adversely affecting the screen rendering performance of the GUI terminal. Will be given. Therefore, it is necessary to acquire data for the same item in a single search by a request from the GUI terminal. In other words, it is necessary to merge the same items in the display items from each GUI terminal, reduce the number of searches, and reduce the burden on the search. In addition, when passing the result data searched after merging to each GUI terminal, it is necessary to expand the result data in the order of request from the corresponding GUI terminal (that is, display item and type order). It is a management table for easily expanding those contents.

  FIG. 7 is a conceptual diagram showing a procedure for expanding the merge data management table shown in FIG. 6. The merge data management table is composed of the items shown in FIG. 7 and is expanded as shown by the arrows in the figure. The GUI terminal display item information manages various pieces of information of the “display item storage table” acquired from the GUI terminal by numbers. For example, the GUI terminal number is indicated as the GUI terminal, the display item number of the display item storage table is indicated as the display item of the GUI terminal, the search condition number of the display item storage table is indicated as the search condition of the GUI terminal, and the GUI terminal Indicates the type number of the display item storage table.

  Further, the merge table information manages various pieces of information of the “search item data merge table” for reducing the number of searches of device acquisition data by numbers. For example, the search item number of the search item data merge table is shown as the search item, the search condition number of the search item data merge table is shown as the search condition, and the type number of the search item data merge table is shown as the type.

  FIG. 8 is a flowchart showing a procedure for expanding the merge data management table shown in FIG. Here, the timing of setting information in the merge data management table is performed simultaneously with the creation of merge data. The procedure for setting information in the merge data management table is as follows. That is, in step S21, the GUI terminal number, the display item number, the search condition number, and the type number of the “display item storage table” are set in the [GUI terminal display item information] of the “merge data management table” for the number of GUI terminals. To do.

  Further, in step S22, a “search item data merge table” is created from the information of the “display item storage table”. Since the procedure at that time is the same as the procedure of steps S11 to S16 of the apparatus data search method in FIG. 5 described above, a duplicate description is omitted. In step S23, the corresponding information is expanded in the merge data management table when the “search data merge table” is set in step S22. In this way, the above-described steps S21 to S23 are repeated for all display items of all GUI terminals 4.

  Next, a data search result storage method will be described. FIG. 9 is a conceptual diagram showing how the group management apparatus 3 shown in FIG. 1 expands the data search result storage table. That is, FIG. 9 shows the flow to the table for storing the search result when performing device data search according to the search item, the left diagram shows the search item data merge table for each device, and the right diagram shows the data search result storage table. ing.

  First, using the created merge data, a device information data search is performed based on the search condition and type. Next, as the search result, an item corresponding to the type in the search item of the merge data is stored in the search result storage table. The search condition at this time is not necessary. That is, as shown in FIG. 9, data is searched based on the search condition and type, and stored in the data storage area of “device 1”, for example. Then, the search result is stored in the data search result storage table.

  FIG. 10 is a development view showing a specific example of development in the data search result storage table shown in FIG. First, in step S31, a temperature group that matches the search condition 1 of the “search item data merge table” is searched from the accumulated data. Next, in step S32, if there is a matching temperature group in step S31, the various types in the same group of the “search item data merge table” are searched in order. In step S33, the result searched in step S32 is set in the “data search result storage table”.

  Next, a data search result expansion method will be described. FIG. 11 is a conceptual diagram showing the flow of the data search result expansion method performed by the group management apparatus shown in FIG. 1, and shows the flow of expansion from the apparatus data search result to the GUI terminal search result storage table. A GUI terminal search result storage table for passing to each GUI terminal is created from the data search result storage table and the merge data management table, and the contents are transmitted to the corresponding GUI terminal. At this time, which item of the GUI terminal is confirmed from the search item and type, the search result is stored.

  FIG. 12 is a flowchart showing a specific flow of the data search result expansion method shown in FIG. In FIG. 12, first, in step S41, GUI terminal display item information that matches the search item number and type number in the data search result storage table is acquired from the merge data management table. Next, in step S42, the corresponding position in the GUI terminal search result storage table is obtained based on the information (that is, GUI terminal number, display item, type) acquired in step S41. Further, in step S43, data acquired from the apparatus is set for the position obtained in step S42. In step S44, the processes in steps S41 to S43 are repeated for the number of rows stored in the merge data management table.

  Next, in order to summarize the above-described content, a specific example of the data flow of the group management apparatus 3 will be described. FIG. 13 is a flowchart showing a data flow of the group management apparatus 3 in the substrate processing system of the present invention. First, in step S51, the group management device 3 irregularly receives the latest device information from each device 2 and stores it in its own device data storage area. The apparatus information at this time includes various information such as an apparatus state, a wafer state, temperature information, gas flow rate information, pressure information, and sensor information.

  In step S52, the group management device 3 accepts a display data acquisition request from the GUI terminal, and stores the search items for each device in the data search table. Furthermore, in step S53, the group management device 3 individually searches for corresponding data from the data storage area of the target device for the search items stored in the data search table of the GUI terminal. Next, in step S54, the group management device 4 stores the search result in step S53 in the search result storage table for each device. In step S55, the group management apparatus 3 extracts the search result data from the search result storage table and returns it to the GUI terminal. Thereby, the GUI terminal appropriately displays the search result acquired from the group management apparatus 3.

  In the above embodiment, the case where the semiconductor manufacturing apparatus is applied as the substrate processing apparatus has been described, but it goes without saying that the present embodiment can be applied not only to the semiconductor manufacturing apparatus but also to an apparatus for processing a glass substrate such as an LCD device.

  Next, specific embodiments of the substrate processing apparatus to which the present invention is applied will be described. In the best mode for carrying out the present invention, as an example, the substrate processing apparatus is configured as a semiconductor manufacturing apparatus that performs processing steps in a method of manufacturing a semiconductor device (IC). In the following description, a case where a vertical apparatus (hereinafter simply referred to as a processing apparatus) that performs oxidation, diffusion processing, CVD processing, or the like is applied to the substrate as the substrate processing apparatus will be described. FIG. 15 is shown as a plan perspective view of a processing apparatus applied to the present invention. FIG. 16 is a side perspective view of the processing apparatus shown in FIG.

  As shown in FIGS. 15 and 16, the processing apparatus according to the present invention uses a hoop (substrate container, hereinafter referred to as a pod) 110 as a wafer carrier containing a wafer (substrate) 200 made of silicon or the like. 100 includes a housing 111. A front maintenance port 103 as an opening provided for maintenance is opened at the front front portion of the front wall 111a of the housing 111, and front maintenance doors 104 and 104 for opening and closing the front maintenance port 103 are provided. It is built.

  A pod loading / unloading port (substrate container loading / unloading port) 112 is opened on the front wall 111a of the casing 111 so as to communicate between the inside and the outside of the casing 111. The pod loading / unloading port 112 has a front shutter (substrate The container loading / unloading opening / closing mechanism 113 is opened and closed. In addition, a load port (substrate container delivery table) 114 is installed on the front front side of the pod loading / unloading port 112, and the load port 114 is configured so that the pod 110 is placed and aligned. The pod 110 is loaded onto the load port 114 by an in-process transfer device (not shown) and unloaded from the load port 114.

  A rotary pod shelf (substrate container mounting shelf) 105 is installed at an upper portion of the casing 111 in a substantially central portion in the front-rear direction. The rotary pod shelf 105 stores a plurality of pods 110. It is configured. That is, the rotary pod shelf 105 includes a support column 116 that is erected vertically and intermittently rotates in a horizontal plane, and a plurality of shelf plates (substrate containers) that are radially supported by the support column 116 at each of the four upper and lower positions. The plurality of shelf plates 117 are configured to hold the plurality of pods 110 in a state where the plurality of pods 110 are respectively placed.

  A pod transfer device (substrate container transfer device) 118 is installed between the load port 114 and the rotary pod shelf 105 in the housing 111, and the pod transfer device 118 moves up and down while holding the pod 110. The pod elevator (substrate container lifting mechanism) 118a and a pod transfer mechanism (substrate container transfer mechanism) 118b as a transfer mechanism are configured. The pod transfer device 118 includes a pod elevator 118a and a pod transfer mechanism 118b. The pod 110 is transported between the load port 114, the rotary pod shelf 105, and the pod opener (substrate container lid opening / closing mechanism) 121.

  A sub-housing 119 is constructed across the rear end of the lower portion of the housing 111 at a substantially central portion in the front-rear direction. A pair of wafer loading / unloading ports (substrate loading / unloading ports) 120 for loading / unloading the wafer 200 into / from the sub-casing 119 are arranged on the front wall 119a of the sub-casing 119 in two vertical stages. A pair of pod openers 121 and 121 are installed at the upper and lower wafer loading / unloading openings 120 and 120, respectively.

  The pod opener 121 includes mounting bases 122 and 122 on which the pod 110 is placed, and cap attaching / detaching mechanisms (lid attaching / detaching mechanisms) 123 and 123 that attach and detach caps (lids) of the pod 110. The pod opener 121 is configured to open and close the wafer loading / unloading port of the pod 110 by attaching / detaching the cap of the pod 110 placed on the placing table 122 by the cap attaching / detaching mechanism 123.

  The sub casing 119 constitutes a transfer chamber 124 that is fluidly isolated from the installation space of the pod transfer device 118 and the rotary pod shelf 105. A wafer transfer mechanism (substrate transfer mechanism) 125 is installed in the front region of the transfer chamber 124, and the wafer transfer mechanism 125 rotates the wafer 200 in the horizontal direction or can move the wafer 200 in the horizontal direction. A substrate transfer device) 125a and a wafer transfer device elevator (substrate transfer device lifting mechanism) 125b for moving the wafer transfer device 125a up and down. By the continuous operation of the wafer transfer device elevator 125b and the wafer transfer device 125a, the tweezer (substrate holder) 125c of the wafer transfer device 125a is used as a placement portion for the wafer 200 with respect to the boat (substrate holder) 217. The wafer 200 is loaded (charged) and unloaded (discharged).

  As shown in FIG. 15, a clean atmosphere or clean air 133 that is an inert gas is supplied to the right end of the transfer chamber 124 opposite to the wafer transfer device elevator 125b side. In addition, a clean unit 134 composed of a supply fan and a dustproof filter is installed, and a substrate alignment device for aligning the circumferential position of the wafer between the wafer transfer device 125a and the clean unit 134 is provided. A notch aligning device 135 is installed.

  The clean air 133 blown out from the clean unit 134 is circulated through the notch aligning device 135 and the wafer transfer device 125a and then sucked in by a duct (not shown) to be exhausted to the outside of the casing 111 or clean. The unit 134 is circulated to the primary side (supply side) which is the suction side, and is again blown into the transfer chamber 124 by the clean unit 134.

  In the rear region of the transfer chamber 124, a casing (hereinafter referred to as a pressure-resistant casing) 140 having a confidential performance capable of maintaining a pressure lower than atmospheric pressure (hereinafter referred to as negative pressure) is installed. A load lock chamber 141 which is a load lock type standby chamber having a capacity capable of accommodating the boat 217 is formed by the pressure-resistant housing 140.

  A wafer loading / unloading opening (substrate loading / unloading opening) 142 is formed in the front wall 140a of the pressure-resistant housing 140, and the wafer loading / unloading opening 142 is opened and closed by a gate valve (substrate loading / unloading opening / closing mechanism) 143. It has become. A gas supply pipe 144 for supplying nitrogen gas to the load lock chamber 141 and an exhaust pipe 145 for exhausting the load lock chamber 141 to a negative pressure are connected to the pair of side walls of the pressure-resistant housing 140, respectively. ing.

  A processing furnace 202 is provided above the load lock chamber 141. The lower end portion of the processing furnace 202 is configured to be opened and closed by a furnace port gate valve (furnace port opening / closing mechanism) 147. A furnace port gate valve cover 149 that accommodates the furnace port gate valve 147 when the lower end portion of the processing furnace 202 is opened is attached to the upper end portion of the front wall 140 a of the pressure-resistant housing 140.

  As shown in FIG. 15, the pressure-resistant housing 140 is provided with a boat elevator (substrate holder lifting mechanism) 115 for lifting and lowering the boat 217. A seal cap 219 serving as a lid is horizontally installed on an arm 128 serving as a connector connected to the boat elevator 115, and the seal cap 219 supports the boat 217 vertically and closes the lower end of the processing furnace 202. It is configured as possible.

  The boat 217 includes a plurality of holding members so that a plurality of (for example, about 50 to 125) wafers 200 are horizontally held in a state where their centers are aligned in the vertical direction. It is configured.

  Next, the operation of the processing apparatus shown in FIGS. 15 and 15 will be described. As shown in FIGS. 15 and 16, when the pod 110 is supplied to the load port 114, the pod loading / unloading port 112 is opened by the front shutter 113, and the pod 110 above the load port 114 serves as a pod transfer device. 118 is carried into the housing 111 from the pod loading / unloading port 112.

  The loaded pod 110 is automatically transported and delivered by the pod transport device 118 to the designated shelf 117 of the rotary pod shelf 105, temporarily stored, and then one pod from the shelf 117. It is transported to the opener 121 and transferred to the mounting table 122, or directly transferred to the pod opener 121 and transferred to the mounting table 122. At this time, the wafer loading / unloading port 120 of the pod opener 121 is closed by the cap attaching / detaching mechanism 123, and the transfer chamber 124 is filled with clean air 133. For example, the transfer chamber 124 is filled with nitrogen gas as clean air 133, so that the oxygen concentration is set to 20 ppm or less, which is much lower than the oxygen concentration inside the casing 111 (atmosphere).

  The pod 110 mounted on the mounting table 122 has its opening-side end face pressed against the opening edge of the wafer loading / unloading port 120 on the front wall 119a of the sub-housing 119, and the cap is removed by the cap attaching / detaching mechanism 123. The wafer loading / unloading port of the pod 110 is opened. Further, when the wafer loading / unloading opening 142 of the load lock chamber 141 whose interior is previously set at atmospheric pressure is opened by the operation of the gate valve 143, the wafer 200 is removed from the pod 110 by the tweezer 125c of the wafer transfer device 125a. After being picked up through the loading / unloading port and aligned with the notch aligner 135, the wafer is loaded into the load lock chamber 141 through the wafer loading / unloading opening 142, transferred to the boat 217, and loaded (wafer charging). The wafer transfer device 125 a that has delivered the wafer 200 to the boat 217 returns to the pod 110 and loads the next wafer 110 into the boat 217.

  During the loading operation of the wafer into the boat 217 by the wafer transfer device 125 in the one (upper or lower) pod opener 121, the other (lower or upper) pod opener 121 has a rotary pod shelf 105 or load port 114. The other pod 110 is transported by the pod transport device 118, and the opening operation of the pod 110 by the pod opener 121 proceeds simultaneously.

  When a predetermined number of wafers 200 are loaded into the boat 217, the wafer loading / unloading opening 142 is closed by the gate valve 143, and the load lock chamber 141 is evacuated from the exhaust pipe 145 to be decompressed.

  When the load lock chamber 141 is reduced to the same pressure as that in the processing furnace 202, the lower end portion of the processing furnace 202 is opened by the furnace port gate valve 147. At this time, the furnace port gate valve 147 is carried into and stored in the furnace port gate valve cover 149.

  Subsequently, the seal cap 219 is raised by the elevator 161 of the boat elevator 115, and the boat 217 supported by the seal cap 219 is loaded into the processing furnace 202.

  After loading, arbitrary processing is performed on the wafer 200 in the processing furnace 202. After the processing, the boat 217 is pulled out by the boat elevator 115, and the gate valve 143 is opened after the pressure inside the load lock chamber 140 is restored to atmospheric pressure. After that, the wafer 200 and the pod 110 are discharged to the outside of the casing 111 by the reverse procedure described above except for the wafer alignment process in the notch alignment device 135.

  As described above, the substrate processing system according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention creates a merge table for each of the substrate processing apparatuses, and merges information of the merge table and a data acquisition request format that is display item information of the operation terminal. A group management device for creating a data management table.

  Further, in the substrate processing system in the present embodiment, the group management apparatus uses the data storage area for storing data of the substrate processing apparatus and the created merge table, and requests the acquisition of the target data storage area. A data search result storage table for storing the search result by searching with the search condition and type acquired from the format, and transmitting data to each of the operation terminals by the search result storage table and the merge data management table An operation terminal search result storage table is created, and the contents are transmitted to the corresponding operation terminal.

  In the substrate processing system according to the present embodiment, the group management device periodically searches the data storage area, creates the operation terminal search result storage table, and transmits the contents to the corresponding operation terminal. It is characterized by that.

The data acquisition request from the operation terminal is generated by an operation screen switching operation at the operation terminal.

  Furthermore, the substrate processing system in one aspect of the present embodiment includes a plurality of substrate processing apparatuses that process a substrate, a plurality of operation terminals that create a data acquisition request format for each of the substrate processing apparatuses when the power is turned on, A data acquisition request format of the same substrate processing apparatus is extracted from the data acquisition request formats acquired from each of the plurality of operation terminals, and a merge table is created by merging display items searched under the same search condition. And a group management device.

  The group management apparatus creates a merge table for each substrate processing apparatus, and creates a merge data management table by combining information of the merge table and display item information of the operation terminal. To do.

  In addition, the substrate processing system according to one aspect of the present embodiment includes a plurality of substrate processing apparatuses that process a substrate, a plurality of operation terminals that create a data acquisition request format for each substrate processing apparatus at the time of a data acquisition request, and a plurality of operations. Of the data acquisition request formats acquired from each of the terminals, the data acquisition request formats of the same substrate processing apparatus are collectively stored in the merge table for each display item of the same search condition, and a merge table for each substrate processing apparatus is created. And a group management device that merges the information of the merge table and the display item information of the operation terminal to create a merge data management table, and the group management device uses the created merge table as a target board. Search the data storage area that stores the data of the processing device by the search condition and type, and display the search results. The operation terminal search result storage table for transmitting data to each operation terminal is created by the search result storage table and the merge data management table, and the contents are stored in the corresponding operation terminal. Configured to send.

  Further, in one aspect of the present embodiment, the group management apparatus in the substrate processing system that centrally manages information of a plurality of substrate processing apparatuses, the same among the data acquisition request formats acquired from each of the plurality of operation terminals The data acquisition request format of the substrate processing apparatus is stored in a merge table together with each display item of the same search condition, and a merge table for each of the substrate processing apparatuses is created, and information on the merge table and display of the operation terminal It merges item information and creates a merge data management table.

  Further, in one aspect of the present embodiment, a substrate processing method in the substrate processing system can be provided. A substrate processing method in a substrate processing system comprising a substrate processing apparatus for processing a substrate, a group management apparatus for managing a plurality of substrate processing apparatuses, and a plurality of operation terminals connected to the group management apparatus. , A procedure for creating a data acquisition request format for each substrate processing apparatus when the operation terminal requests data acquisition, and a data acquisition request for the same substrate processing apparatus among the data acquisition request formats acquired by the group management apparatus from each operation terminal Merge data management by merging the merge table information with the operation terminal display item information, the procedure for creating a merge table for each substrate processing apparatus by storing them in the merge table together with each display item of the same search condition from the format Use the table creation procedure and the created merge table to store the target substrate processing equipment data. Search the data storage area by search condition and type, store the search results in the data search result storage table, and search for operation terminals to send data to each operation terminal using the search result storage table and merge data management table It is also possible to provide a substrate processing method characterized by including a procedure for creating a result storage table and transmitting the contents to a corresponding operation terminal.

It is a basic lineblock diagram of a substrate processing system in the present invention. It is a figure which shows the example of a format at the time of the GUI terminal display data acquisition request in the substrate processing system of this invention. It is a figure which shows the specific example of the format at the time of the GUI terminal display data acquisition request shown in FIG. It is a conceptual diagram of the apparatus data search item merge system in the group management apparatus in the substrate processing system of this invention. It is a conceptual diagram which shows the specific example of the apparatus data search item data merge system in the group management apparatus in the substrate processing system shown in FIG. It is a figure which shows the merge data management table in the group management apparatus shown in FIG. It is a conceptual diagram which shows the expansion | deployment procedure of the merge data management table shown in FIG. 7 is a flowchart showing a procedure for expanding the merge data management table shown in FIG. 6. It is a conceptual diagram which shows the mode of expansion | deployment to the data search result storage table which the group management apparatus shown in FIG. 1 performs. It is an expanded view which shows a specific example of expansion | deployment to the data search result storage table shown in FIG. It is a conceptual diagram which shows the flow of the data search result expansion | deployment system which the group management apparatus shown in FIG. 1 performs. It is a flowchart which shows the specific flow of the data search result expansion | deployment system shown in FIG. It is a flowchart which shows the data flow of the group management apparatus in the substrate processing system of this invention. It is a conceptual diagram which shows the data flow of a general group management apparatus. It is a plane perspective view of the processing apparatus applied to the present invention. It is side surface perspective drawing of the processing apparatus shown in FIG.

Explanation of symbols

2 device (semiconductor manufacturing device), 3 group management device, 4 GUI terminal.

Claims (10)

A plurality of substrate processing apparatuses for processing a substrate;
A group management device for managing each of the substrate processing devices;
A plurality of operation terminals for creating a data acquisition request format defining search conditions and types of display items classified in each table for each substrate processing apparatus when connected to the group management apparatus; and transmitting to the group management apparatus; A substrate processing system comprising:   The group management device extracts a data acquisition request format of the same substrate processing apparatus from the data acquisition request formats acquired from each of the plurality of operation terminals, and in each display item searched under the same search condition 2. The substrate processing system according to claim 1, wherein the merge table is created by merging the types.   A group management device that creates a merge table for each substrate processing apparatus and creates a merge data management table by combining the information of the merge table and a data acquisition request format that is display item information of the operation terminal. The substrate processing system according to claim 2. The group management apparatus uses the data storage area for storing data of the substrate processing apparatus and the created merge table to search the target data storage area by the search condition and type acquired from the acquisition request format. , Store the search results in the data search result storage table,
The contents of the data search result storage table and the merge data management table are collated to create an operation terminal search result storage table for transmitting data to the operation terminal, and the contents are transmitted to the corresponding operation terminal. The substrate processing system according to claim 3.   5. The board according to claim 4, wherein the group management device periodically searches the data storage area, creates the operation terminal search result storage table, and transmits the contents to the corresponding operation terminal. Processing system.   The substrate processing system according to claim 2, wherein the data acquisition request from the operation terminal is generated by an operation screen switching operation in the operation terminal. A plurality of substrate processing apparatuses for processing a substrate;
A plurality of operation terminals for creating a data acquisition request format that defines search conditions and types of display items classified in each table for each substrate processing apparatus when the power is turned on;
A merge table that extracts data acquisition request formats of the same substrate processing apparatus from data acquisition request formats acquired from each of the plurality of operation terminals, and merges the types in the respective display items searched under the same search condition. A substrate processing system comprising: a group management device for creating a substrate.   The group management apparatus creates a merge table for each of the substrate processing apparatuses and creates a merge data management table by combining information of the merge table and display item information of the operation terminal. 8. The substrate processing system according to 7.   For each display item to be displayed on the operation terminal to be displayed, a data acquisition request format in which a search condition and a data type are formatted is transmitted, and each display item searched under the same search condition based on the data acquisition request format A data search method for creating a merge table by merging data types in and then searching for data to be searched using the merge table. The result of searching the data to be searched using the merge table is stored in the first search result storage table,
The first search result storage table, the data acquisition request format, and the merge data management table obtained by merging the merge table are collated to create a second search result storage table for transmitting data, The data search method according to claim 9, wherein the content of the second search result storage table is transmitted to the corresponding operation terminal.

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