JP3565934B2 - Unified management method and program integrated management system for foreign matter inspection device - Google Patents

Description

[0001]
[Industrial applications]
The present invention relates to a unified program management method and a unified program management system for a foreign substance inspection apparatus, and more particularly, to a management method and a management method for centrally managing programs of a plurality of foreign substance inspection apparatuses configured with a local area network (LAN). The present invention relates to a centralized management system for centrally managing a program of a foreign substance inspection device connected to a management room by a network file system.
[0002]
[Prior art]
A semiconductor IC chip is formed by processing the surface of a silicon wafer as a raw material in a multi-step process. If foreign matter adheres to the formed IC chip, the quality of the IC chip is degraded or deteriorated. Therefore, each wafer is inspected by a foreign matter inspection device for each material or each processing step. The foreign substance inspection device is installed in a clean room.
FIG. 3 shows a basic configuration of the foreign substance inspection device 2. The foreign substance inspection device 2 includes a foreign substance detection unit 21 and a data processing unit 22, and an outline of the inspection method will be described below.
The wafer 1 to be inspected is mounted on the spindle 211 of the foreign matter detecting section 21 and rotated by the motor (M) 212, and moves in the radial direction by the moving mechanism 215 controlled by the control circuit (CONT) 216. The detection optical system 214 projects and scans the surface of the wafer 1 with the laser beam LT 2, and the foreign matter adhering to the surface scatters the laser beam LT 1, and the scattered light LR is detected by the detection optical system 214. The detection signal is sequentially input to a signal processing circuit 221 of the data processing unit 22, and noise is removed by an appropriate threshold value set therein to extract a foreign substance signal. Then, an A / D converter (A / D) 222 and input to a microprocessor (MPU) 223. The MPU 223 executes a processing program set in the memory (MEM) 224, and sorts the foreign matter by size, for example, large (L), medium (M), and small (S) according to the level of the foreign matter signal. Foreign material classification data is created by classifying the data into stages. On the other hand, the rotation angle of the wafer 1 is detected by the rotation angle detector 213 added to the motor 212, and the detected rotation angle signal and the radial position signal obtained by the moving mechanism 215 are always input to the MPU 223. The XY coordinate values of the existing position of the foreign matter are calculated from these, and are temporarily stored in the memory (MEM) 223 together with the foreign matter classification data. The stored foreign object classification data and the respective XY coordinate values are collectively output to the output unit 224 at the end of the inspection of the wafer 1 and printed or displayed on a map.
[0003]
Recently, the number of inspections of the wafer 1 has increased with an increase in the production amount of IC chips, and in order to cope with this, a plurality of foreign substance inspection devices 2 are provided, and the wafers 1 are inspected in parallel. Further, in order to analyze a time-series change of a foreign substance in each processing step of the wafer 1, a work station EWS having a foreign substance analyzing function is provided, and each foreign substance inspection apparatus 2 is connected to the workstation EWS, so-called a local area network. A LAN is configured, and each foreign substance inspection device 2 creates foreign substance classification data necessary for analysis and transfers the data to the EWS.
FIG. 4 shows a LAN 10 which is composed of a plurality of n foreign substance inspection devices 2-1, 2-2,..., 2-n arranged in a clean room, and an EWS 3 arranged in a control room, and is currently in practical use. .
The EWS 3 includes a main computer (M / CPU) 31, a hard disk drive (HD) 32, a cathode ray tube display (CRT) 33, a printer (PRNT) 34, and an interface (INT) 35. The MPU 223 of each foreign substance inspection device 2 Is connected to the M-CPU 31 via the INT 35 by the connection cable 4.
FIG. 5 shows an example of transfer data that is classified by each foreign matter inspection device 2 and transferred to the EWS 3. The transfer data includes lot data, wafer data, and coordinate data. The lot data is an inspection apparatus number / lot number / wafer type / processing step number. The wafer data is a wafer number / total number of foreign particles / sizes L and M. , S and the coordinate data are classified into X and Y coordinate values for each size. These are transferred from each foreign substance inspection apparatus 2 to the EWS 3 and stored in the HD 32, read out at appropriate times by the M / CPU 31 to create time series data of the foreign substances for each processing step, and displayed on a CRT 33 as a map or printed on a PRNT 34. In addition, a time-series change of the attachment and detachment of the foreign matter between the processing steps, the influence of the foreign matter on the quality of the IC chip, and the like are statistically analyzed.
[0004]
[Problems to be solved by the invention]
In the LAN 10 described above, creation and correction of a processing program for each foreign substance inspection device 2 and program management such as debugging and loading of the MEM 224 are performed for each device. However, performing such operations in a clean room is inefficient and disadvantageous in that it is not preferable in terms of dust management .
This invention is intended to solve the problems of the prior art, specifically, the respective particle inspection device 2 processing program, to debug created or modified by EWS3, foreign matter It is an object of the present invention to provide a unified management method for a program, which is transmitted to the inspection apparatus 2 and loaded into each MEM 224.
Still another object of the present invention is to unify a program of a foreign substance inspection apparatus combined with a management room by a network file system, transmitting a processing program of each foreign substance inspection apparatus created or modified and loading the processing program into each memory. It is an object of the present invention to provide a unified program management system for a foreign substance inspection device which is managed in a centralized manner.
[0005]
[Means for Solving the Problems]
The present invention is a method for centrally managing a program of a foreign substance inspection apparatus, wherein a plurality of foreign substance inspection apparatuses are provided corresponding to each processing step of a wafer, each of which is common to each processing step suitable for classification for foreign substance analysis. The workstation EWS has a processing program for the same foreign matter classification or a processing program for the different foreign matter classification depending on each processing step of a wafer, and the workstation EWS changes in time series of attachment and detachment of foreign matter in a certain processing step. Is to be analyzed, and
For the local area network LAN, a network link means by software processing is set between the EWS (or a processor such as an MPU and a CPU) and the memory of each foreign substance inspection device. EWS is the same for each foreign substance inspection apparatus for foreign matter classification program and the different processing programs for the foreign material classification is intended to debug creating or modifying each of the plurality of dust particle inspection system that is created or debugging The processing programs for the same foreign substance classification processing program or different foreign substance classification processing programs, the transmission program for each data processing unit, and the address for the processing program in the memory of each data processing unit are stored in the hard disk drive of the EWS. Store each. The transmission program is executed by the EWS, and the debugged processing programs are sequentially transmitted to the data processing units, and are loaded into the addresses of the respective memories.
In the above, when the processing programs created or modified by the EWS and loaded into the memory of each foreign substance inspection device are the same processing program, the same processing program is transmitted to each data processing unit at the same time.
Further, a feature of the unified program management system of the foreign substance inspection apparatus of the present invention is that a foreign substance detection unit which is disposed in the inspection room and detects foreign substances on the wafer, and detects the detected foreign substance signal by a processing program set in the memory. A plurality of foreign substance inspection devices each having a data processing unit for processing, a storage device arranged in a management room and storing the processing program, and a storage device arranged in the management room and stored in the storage device a processor for the processing of transmitting the read Te foreign matter inspection device from the processor and the data processing unit and the software Bei Eteite and means for linking the network by the processing, each processing step of a plurality of foreign substance inspection apparatus wafers The same processing program for the same foreign matter classification that is provided for each of the processing steps, each of which is suitable for the classification for foreign matter analysis. A processing program for different foreign matter classification according to each processing step of a ram or a wafer, and a processor for analyzing a time series change of attachment and detachment of foreign matter in a certain processing step, wherein the same foreign matter is analyzed. A foreign object classification processing program different from the classification foreign object classification processing program is created or corrected, and debugging is performed. The same foreign object classification processing program for a plurality of foreign object inspection devices or a different foreign object classification transmitted program is transmitted. The processing program is loaded into a predetermined address of the memory of the foreign substance inspection device.
[0006]
[Action]
In the above program centralized method, the NFS (Network File System), EWS (or MPU, a processor such as a CPU) and a memory and a pixel shift ware to link each foreign substance inspection apparatus, than EWS In addition, it is possible to transmit a processing program to each of the foreign substance inspection devices and to load data into the respective memories. In the EWS, a processing program of each foreign substance inspection device is created or corrected and debugged, and these processing programs, a transmission program for each data processing unit, and an address for a processing program of a memory of each data processing unit are Each is stored in the hard disk device of EWS. By the execution of the transmission program by the EWS, each debugged processing program is sequentially transmitted to each data processing unit, and is loaded to an address of each memory. As described above, since the processing program of each foreign substance inspection apparatus is centrally managed by the EWS, the inefficiency of the program management conventionally performed for each foreign substance inspection apparatus and the unfavorable disadvantage in dust management are eliminated. . When the processing programs created or modified by the EWS and loaded into the memory of each foreign substance inspection device are the same, the creation or modification of the processing program and the debugging thereof need only be performed once. The data is sent to the data processing unit at the same time, so that the work is made more efficient.
[0007]
【Example】
FIG. 1 shows an embodiment in which the present invention is applied to the local area network LAN 10 shown in FIG. The LNA 10 includes a plurality of foreign substance inspection devices 2-1 to 2-n and a workstation EWS3 as in the related art, but in the present invention, the LAN 10 (M / CPU 31 of the EWS3 in the figure) is connected to the software processing means described above. set the network file system (NFS), links the EWS3 and (M-CPU 31 of EWS3) and memory (MEM) 224 of the foreign substance inspection apparatus 2 by software to the network. The transmission program and the address for the processing program in the memory (MEM) 224 of each foreign substance inspection device 2 are loaded in advance on the hard disk device (HD) 32 of the EWS 3.
When a processing program for each foreign substance inspection device 2 is newly created or a conventional one is modified, these programming and debugging are performed by the EWS 3 and loaded into the HD 32. The loaded processing program is denoted by PG.
In transmitting the processing program PG 1 to each foreign substance inspection device 2, when the transmission program is executed by the M · CPU 31, the processing program PG 2 is read out, sequentially transmitted to each foreign substance inspection device 2, and loaded into each MEM 224. You. When the processing program PG of each foreign substance inspection device 2 is the same, the transmission program is transmitted from the EWS 3 at the same time, and is simultaneously loaded to each MEM 224.
[0008]
An example of the modification of the processing program will be described with reference to FIG.
In the transfer data of FIG. 5 described above, the foreign substances detected from the wafer 1 are classified into three levels of large, medium and small (L, M, S). Since the classification method is insufficient, it is necessary to classify them into finer stages. That is, as shown in FIG. 2, the lot data is the same as the conventional one, but the wafer data includes the conventional wafer number and the total number of foreign substances, the level L of the luminance signal (the foreign substance signal in FIG. 3) a plurality n (For example, 1024) are divided into stages L0 to Ln, and the number of each stage (L0 to L1) (Ln-1 to Ln) is added. The coordinate data classifies the X and Y coordinate values for each stage. In order to be suitable for this classification, the conventional processing program for classification is corrected and debugged in the EWS 3, transmitted to each foreign substance inspection device 2 at the same time, and loaded into each MEM 224.
In the above example, the processing programs of the respective foreign substance inspection devices 2 are all the same. However, if the output programs are different, they are sequentially transmitted.
As described above, according to the unified management method of the program of the present invention, the creation and correction of the processing program and the loading operation are extremely easy.
[0009]
【The invention's effect】
As described above, according to the unified program management method of the present invention, the processing program of each foreign substance inspection device is created or corrected in the EWS (or the processor) , debugged, and sequentially executed for each data processing unit. Or transmitted simultaneously and loaded into each memory, eliminating the inefficiency of program management and the unfavorable disadvantages of dust management conventionally performed for each foreign particle inspection device, and eliminating a plurality of foreign particle inspection devices. have a, the effect contributing to the improvement of the efficiency of these devices is the control room and software processing means programmed definitive system that binds the management, there is large.
[Brief description of the drawings]
FIG. 1 is a configuration diagram of an embodiment of a local area network LAN to which the present invention is applied.
FIG. 2 is an explanatory diagram of an example of a modification of a processing program to which the present invention is applied;
FIG. 3 is a basic configuration diagram of a foreign substance inspection device.
FIG. 4 is a configuration diagram of a LAN configured by a plurality of n sets of foreign substance inspection devices and a workstation.
FIG. 5 is an explanatory diagram of an example of transfer data in a LAN ;
[Explanation of symbols]
1 ... wafer,
2 Foreign matter inspection device, 21 Foreign matter detection unit, 211 spindle, 212 motor (M)
213: rotation angle detector, 214: detection optical system, 215: moving mechanism,
216: control circuit (CONT), 22: data processing unit, 221: signal processing circuit,
222: A / D converter, 223: Microprocessor (MPU),
224: memory (MEM), 225: output unit,
3 ... Work station (EWS) for foreign substance analysis,
31: Main computer (M / CPU), 32: Hard disk drive (HD)
33 ... CRT display (CRT), 34 ... Printer (PRNT),
35 ... Interface (INT),
4: Connection cable,
10. Local area network LAN, subject of the present invention
NFS: Network file system, L: Level of luminance signal.

Claims (7)

A foreign substance detection unit that is disposed in an inspection room of a clean room and detects foreign substances on a wafer, and processes the detected foreign substance signal according to a processing program for classification of foreign substances set in a memory to remove the detected foreign substances. A local area configured by connecting a plurality of foreign substance inspection apparatuses each having a data processing unit to be classified and a workstation arranged in a control room and analyzing foreign substances such as distribution characteristics of foreign substances with a connection cable.・ In a network LAN,
The plurality of foreign substance inspection apparatuses are provided corresponding to each processing step of the wafer, and each of the plurality of foreign substance inspection apparatuses is the same processing program for the same foreign substance classification common to the respective processing steps suitable for classification for foreign substance analysis or the same. Having a different processing program for the foreign matter classification according to each processing step of the wafer, the workstation is to analyze a time-series change of attachment and detachment of foreign matter in a certain processing step,
The control room is provided outside of the clean room, to the LAN, the with the workstation and a memory of the foreign substance inspection apparatus sets means of linking the network by software processing, the workstation respective foreign body The processing program for the same foreign substance classification and the processing program for the different foreign substance classification of the inspection apparatus are respectively created or corrected and debugged , and the created or debugged foreign substance inspection apparatus is used. Each processing program of the same foreign substance classification processing program or the different foreign substance classification processing program, a transmission program for each data processing unit, and an address for the processing program of the memory of each data processing unit, Each on the hard disk drive of the workstation And executing the transmission program by the workstation, transmitting the created or debugged processing program to the data processing unit, loading the data into respective memory addresses, and unifying the processing program. A method for centrally managing a program for a foreign substance inspection device, wherein When the processing program created or modified by the workstation and loaded into the memory of each foreign substance inspection device is the same processing program, the same processing program is simultaneously transmitted to each of the data processing units. 2. The method according to claim 1, wherein the program is integrated in a foreign matter inspection apparatus. A foreign substance detection unit that is disposed in an inspection room of a clean room and detects foreign substances on a wafer, and processes the detected foreign substance signal according to a processing program for classification of foreign substances set in a memory to remove the detected foreign substances. A data processing unit to classify, a plurality of foreign substance inspection devices each having, a storage device arranged in a management room provided outside the clean room and storing the processing program, and a storage device arranged in the management room and A processor for performing a process of reading the stored processing program from the storage device and transmitting the read processing program to the foreign substance inspection device, and a unit that links the processor and the data processing unit via a network by software processing;
The plurality of foreign substance inspection apparatuses are provided corresponding to each processing step of the wafer, and each of the plurality of foreign substance inspection apparatuses is the same processing program for the same foreign substance classification common to the respective processing steps suitable for classification for foreign substance analysis or the same. A processing program for differentiating the foreign matter according to each processing step of the wafer, wherein the processor analyzes a time-series change of attachment and detachment of foreign matter in one of the processing steps, A processing program for the same foreign substance classification and a processing program for the different foreign substance classification are respectively created or modified for debugging. The plurality of foreign substance inspection devices created or modified and debugged by the processing of the processor are described. of transmitting the same program or processing programs for the different foreign substances classification for foreign material classification from the control room The loaded at a predetermined address in the memory, the processing program is characterized in that characterized in that it is centrally managed, program centralized management system of the foreign substance inspection apparatus of the foreign substance inspection apparatus Te. 4. The processor according to claim 3, wherein the processor is provided in a workstation, and the processing program stored in the storage device is created or modified in the workstation, and includes data for classifying foreign matter. Centralized management system for foreign particle inspection equipment programs. 5. The apparatus according to claim 4, wherein the plurality of foreign substance inspection devices are provided corresponding to each processing step, and the workstation performs a process of statistically analyzing the influence of the foreign substance on the quality of the IC chip. Centralized management system for foreign object inspection device programs. 5. The unified program management system for a foreign matter inspection apparatus according to claim 4, wherein the data for classifying the foreign matter includes data for classifying a level of a luminance signal for detecting the size of the foreign matter. 5. The method according to claim 4, wherein when the processing programs loaded into the memories of the plurality of foreign substance inspection devices are the same processing program, the same processing program is simultaneously transmitted to the data processing units. A unified program management system for the described foreign matter inspection device.

Images