JP2793576B2 - Wafer production management apparatus and production control method - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a wafer production management apparatus and a production management method thereof, and more particularly to a wafer production management apparatus and a production management method for integrating lots of wafer production units.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Generally, in a wafer manufacturing process, it is required to increase the number of wafers to be supplied to one manufacturing run to a predetermined amount in order to improve manufacturing efficiency. In a conventional wafer production management apparatus and a production management method of this kind, for example, in a semiconductor device production management method disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 5-109596, wafers with different production processing conditions are integrated. As a result, the number of wafers in one lot is increased to facilitate the production control of the wafers, and the load on the host computer of the production management system is reduced. In this conventional example, a host computer that manages the entire semiconductor device manufacturing process, a data input / output terminal arranged at each work place in the semiconductor device manufacturing process, and a storage that stores different manufacturing processing conditions for each type of wafer. The integrated lot is divided into lots for each wafer with the same processing conditions in the integrated wafer manufacturing process as described above, corresponding to wafer processes with different manufacturing processing conditions. , While displaying the respective manufacturing processing conditions of the divided lots on a terminal, and sending the divided lots to different manufacturing processing steps,
After the end of the manufacturing process, a method of reintegrating the divided lots is adopted.

[0003] In this conventional example, as conditions for each wafer that can be integrated, manufacturing processing conditions in the process of each wafer may be partially different. Is a necessary condition, and therefore, as a product type of a wafer that can be integrated, a wafer product that can be processed in parallel even if manufacturing processing conditions are partially different in a manufacturing process. They are limited to each other, and cannot be integrated for other product lots of wafers. In addition, lot integration is performed at the start of wafer manufacturing, and the integrated lot is put into a manufacturing line to perform manufacturing management. Therefore, in the course of the production line, it is practically impossible to change the composition of the lot group constituted by the integrated lot.

[0004]

In the above-described conventional wafer manufacturing management apparatus and manufacturing management method, the integration of the lots of each product is not performed in the middle of manufacturing, but at the start of wafer manufacturing. Integration is performed by dividing each product lot in accordance with the process with different manufacturing conditions, and the method of re-integrating the split lot again only after the end of the different manufacturing process is adopted. I have. Therefore, the content of the integrated lot is
It is defined by the integration of lots at the start of wafer production, and after the start of production, even if the need arises,
There is a disadvantage that the combination of the integrated lots cannot be changed.

[0005] In addition, when lots are integrated, if only the manufacturing processing conditions of the same process are different, it is not possible to cope by dividing the lot temporarily and performing operations on different processing steps individually. However, there is a drawback that work steps, that is, wafers in which the sequence of steps is partially different for each wafer, cannot be integrated as an integrated lot.

An object of the present invention is to make it possible for an operator to easily judge whether wafer lots can be integrated or not through the similarity of block names, so that a small number of wafers having different production processes can be arranged. Wafer manufacturing management apparatus and manufacturing management method that enables efficient manufacturing line operation by increasing the number of wafers per lot in a multi-product small-quantity wafer manufacturing process for producing a product group on the same manufacturing line Is to provide.

[0007]

According to a first aspect of the present invention, there is provided a wafer manufacturing control apparatus for managing a whole process of a wafer manufacturing line, and at least integrating or unintegrating a lot in a specific manufacturing process of the wafer manufacturing line. A host computer that outputs identification information about the group,
Information that is connected to the host computer as a peripheral device and stores at least information on a manufacturing process for each product of each wafer, information on manufacturing specifications including manufacturing processing conditions in the manufacturing process, and information on in-process information on a wafer lot. Storage means, and an information input / output means having an information input / output function with respect to the host computer, and also having a function of displaying integration / non-integration information of a lot in a specific manufacturing process of the wafer manufacturing run,
Is provided at least.

The information storage means includes a first information storage device for storing information on a manufacturing process for each product of each wafer and information on manufacturing specifications including manufacturing processing conditions in the manufacturing process, and a wafer lot. And a second information storage device for storing in-process information, wherein the information input / output means is arranged at each work site in a wafer manufacturing process, and integrates different lots with each manufacturing process management operator. You may make it comprise as a data input / output terminal which displays and provides availability information.

Further, in the wafer manufacturing management method according to the second invention, regarding the integration of lots of a plurality of types of wafers, a sequence of lot manufacturing processes, which is the minimum unit of each wafer manufacturing, is divided into a plurality of processes by a specific process. A first step of dividing and dividing into lot blocks, and a second step of expressing, as a quantitative value (quantitative value), a difference between the specific process of each lot block divided and divided in the first step. And a third step of, based on the quantitative value, assigning a unique name to each of the lot blocks to define the magnitude of the quantitative value and storing the unique name in a predetermined storage unit. And a fourth step of determining whether or not to integrate lots in accordance with the degree of approximation of the name.

[0010]

Next, the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an embodiment of the first invention. As shown in FIG. 1, in the present embodiment, a host computer 1 that manages the entire wafer manufacturing process, and a storage device 2 that stores the manufacturing process for each product type of the wafer and the manufacturing conditions for each process. When,
It comprises a storage device 3 for storing lot in-process information and a data input / output terminal 4 arranged at each work place in the wafer manufacturing process. FIG. 2 is a diagram showing a data table relating to wafer manufacturing specifications in the present embodiment, FIG. 3 is a diagram showing a data table showing in-process information of the wafer, and FIG. FIG. 6 is a diagram showing a data display image in FIG. Hereinafter, the operation of the present embodiment will be described with reference to FIGS. 1, 2, 3, and 4.

As is apparent from the wafer manufacturing specifications in FIG. 2, in the manufacturing line of the present embodiment, the product types of the wafers are product: L-900, product:
L-800, product: V-1000 and product: L-80
It indicates that products of four types of wafers including 0 are manufactured, and the manufacturing specifications of each of these wafers are divided into blocks according to the corresponding manufacturing equipment and conditions, with the development check process as a break. Have been.
Further, in the data table showing the in-process information of the wafer in FIG. 3, one example of the lot identification code of each product and the in-process is displayed. In this case, it is assumed that the product having the largest number of products is L900. In this case, the process sequence of each block and the manufacturing conditions are compared based on the product having the largest input amount: the input amount of L-900. The number of steps different from the reference is suffixed and set in the block name (alphabet) section of the data table (see FIG. 2) of the corresponding wafer manufacturing specification. That is, in FIG. 2, the block names A1 and C1 of the product: L-800,
Product: V-1000 block names B3, A2 and C
1, Product: block name A2 of L-1000 is an example.

Various data relating to the wafer production line shown in FIGS. 2 and 3 are stored in the storage device 2 via the operation control operation of the operator at the data input / output terminal 4 in the wafer production management device shown in FIG. The host computer 1 captures and processes the manufacturing specifications including the manufacturing process for each product type of the wafer and the manufacturing conditions of each process stored in the storage device 3 and the in-process information of the lot stored in the storage device 3. Obtained as result data. As shown in FIG. 4, the data of these wafer manufacturing lines is output from the host computer 1 in a display format for the data input / output terminal 4, and the data of the development check process is displayed on the display screen of the data input / output terminal 4. The block names of the lots are displayed in ascending order. That is, in FIG. 4, as described above, each block name A2,
B, B, B, C, and C1 correspond to wafer product names V1000, L-900, L-900, L-800, L-1000, and L-800, respectively, and lot identification codes 11-0009, 11 -0001, 11-000
3, 11-0007, 11-0012 and 11-00
08 is displayed. As apparent from this display screen, the lots of wafers with lot identification codes of 11-0001, 11-0003 and 11-0007 are:
Since both of the in-process block names are the same in B, it can be seen that the work can be integrated until the next development check step. In addition, wafer lots with lot identification codes of 11-0012 and 11-0008 have different block names for the in-process blocks C and C1, respectively. It can be seen that only one step differs between the two.

The display data relating to these production lines is monitored by an operator, and the operator should integrate the data by referring to the list of production line data of each wafer displayed on the data input / output terminal 4. The lot can be appropriately selected, and the production line can be controlled and adjusted efficiently and smoothly.

In the wafer manufacturing management method according to the second invention, as a procedure for integrating lots of a plurality of types of wafers, a manufacturing process for each product type of the wafer stored in the storage device 2 and a manufacturing condition for each process. Manufacturing specifications consisting of:
Through a processing operation of the host computer 1 that takes in the lot in-process information stored in the storage device 3, the row of the manufacturing process of the lot, which is the minimum unit of each wafer manufacturing, is divided into a plurality of lots by separating a specific process. Each lot block divided and divided in the first step is divided into blocks (first step), and the difference between the lot block and the specific process is expressed as a quantitative numerical value (quantitative value) ( (Second step), based on the quantitative value, a unique name for defining the magnitude of the quantitative value is assigned to each lot block and stored in the storage means (third step). With reference to the unique name defined in the third step, it is determined whether lots can be integrated according to the degree of approximation of the name (fourth step). By judging whether or not the lots can be integrated according to the procedure, it is possible to form an integration even for a lot group in which a part of the process is partially different in a wafer manufacturing process. Increase the efficiency of production line operation.

[0016]

As described above, the present invention provides a method of manufacturing a wafer through information processing in which manufacturing processes for each product type of a wafer, manufacturing specifications including manufacturing conditions for each process, and lot in-process information are input. In the manufacturing process, it is possible to easily determine whether or not lots can be integrated even in the process of the process after the start of wafer manufacturing using block names that quantitatively represent the similarity to the process after the process. When there is the first effect and the similarity exists in the block name of each lot, the work is performed by integrating the lots. Conversely, when the similarity does not exist, the work is performed as an individual lot. This configuration has a second effect that it is possible to form an integrated lot even for a lot group in which a part of the process sequence is partially different. The second effect, can increase the number of wafers per lot in the wafer manufacturing line and will, there is a significant effect that it is possible to perform efficient production line operations.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an embodiment of the first invention.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing a data table of manufacturing specifications of a product in the embodiment.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing a work in progress information table of the wafer in the embodiment.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing a display image of a data input / output terminal in the embodiment.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Host computer 2, 3 Storage device 4 Data input / output device

Claims (3)

(57) [Claims] A host computer that manages overall processes of a wafer manufacturing line and outputs at least identification information on a group of lots that can or cannot be integrated in a specific manufacturing process of the wafer manufacturing line; An information storage unit connected as an apparatus and storing at least information on a manufacturing process for each product of each wafer, information on manufacturing specifications including manufacturing processing conditions in the manufacturing process, and information on in-process information on a lot of wafers; An information input / output means having an information input / output function with respect to a host computer, and also having a function of displaying information on whether or not the lot can be integrated in a specific manufacturing process of the wafer manufacturing run; Wafer production management equipment. 2. A first information storage device, wherein the information storage means stores information on a manufacturing process for each product of each wafer and information on manufacturing specifications including manufacturing processing conditions in the manufacturing process, and a wafer lot. And a second information storage device for storing the in-process information of the lot, wherein the information input / output means is arranged at each work site in the wafer manufacturing process, and integrates different lots with each manufacturing process management operator. 2. The wafer production management apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the apparatus is configured as a data input / output terminal for displaying and providing availability information. 3. Regarding the integration of lots of a plurality of types of wafers, an array of manufacturing processes of a lot, which is a minimum unit for manufacturing each wafer, is divided into a plurality of lots by a specific process.
A first step of dividing and dividing into blocks; each lot divided and divided in the first step;
A second step of expressing a difference between the block and the specific process as a quantitative numerical value (quantitative value); and a unique step of defining the magnitude of the quantitative value for the lot block based on the quantitative value. A third step of giving a name and storing it in a predetermined storage means; and a fourth step of referring to the unique name and determining whether or not to integrate lots according to the degree of similarity of the name. A method for managing the production of wafers, comprising: