JP4115107B2 - Substrate processing apparatus schedule creation method and program thereof - Google Patents

Description

[0001]
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to a schedule creation method for a substrate processing apparatus for performing predetermined processing on a glass substrate for a semiconductor wafer or a liquid crystal display device (hereinafter simply referred to as a substrate) and a program therefor, and in particular, substantially the same processing can be performed. The present invention relates to a scheduling technique in a substrate processing apparatus including a plurality of possible equivalent processing units.
[0002]
[Prior art]
For example, in a substrate processing apparatus provided with two each of a pure water cleaning processing unit and a chemical processing unit, two pure water cleaning processing units are equivalent processing units, and two chemical processing units are equivalent processing units. Be treated. In such a substrate processing apparatus, conventionally, a lot consisting of a plurality of substrates is processed as follows.
[0003]
That is, if there is an unused processing unit that is not used at the time of lot insertion, that portion is selected. That is, it is not defined in advance which of the two pure water cleaning processing units performs the pure water cleaning, and which of the two chemical processing units does the chemical processing.
[0004]
Therefore, the empty one of the equivalent processing units is automatically selected at the time of actually putting a lot.
[0005]
[Problems to be solved by the invention]
However, the conventional example having such a configuration has the following problems.
In other words, in the method of distribution that determines the status of the equivalent processing unit only at the time of lot insertion as in the conventional method, the usage status of other equivalent processing units and the subsequent usage status cannot be considered. Therefore, the payout of the lot may be slower than the case where the equivalent processing unit that was vacant at the time of insertion is not selected.
[0006]
In addition, when none of the equivalent processing units is free at the time of loading, the carrying operation is started after any of the equivalent processing units is free, so that there is a problem that the waiting time increases and throughput decreases.
[0007]
The present invention has been made in view of such circumstances, and by making a plurality of schedules in advance before processing and taking into consideration the use schedule of a plurality of equivalent processing units, it is ensured that lots can be paid out quickly. Another object of the present invention is to provide a substrate processing apparatus schedule creation method and program for improving throughput.
[0008]
[Means for Solving the Problems]
In order to achieve such an object, the present invention has the following configuration.
That is, according to the first aspect of the present invention, a processing unit capable of performing substantially the same processing on a substrate is used as an equivalent processing unit, and a plurality of lots are processed by a substrate processing apparatus including a plurality of the equivalent processing units. In the method of creating a schedule of a substrate processing apparatus for selecting an equivalent processing unit to be used by each lot, the plurality of equivalent processing units are prepared when the schedule is created in advance prior to actually starting processing for each lot. multiple schedules in advance to set the priority, at the time of turn-on of a lot, to create a multiple of the schedule that you use all of the equivalent processing unit that can be used, adopted a schedule to end earliest among them, that you created When the end times of the same are the same, a schedule using the equivalent processing unit with the higher priority is adopted .
[0009]
According to a second aspect of the present invention, in the method for creating a schedule for a substrate processing apparatus according to the first aspect of the present invention, consideration is given to maintenance performed periodically in each of the equivalent processing units.
[0010]
(Delete)
[0011]
The invention described in claim 3 is the scheduling method of a substrate processing apparatus according to claim 1 or 2, one of said plurality of equalization processing unit, characterized in that it is a pure water cleaning unit Is.
[0012]
According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, in the method for creating a schedule for a substrate processing apparatus according to the first or second aspect , one of the plurality of equivalent processing units is a chemical processing unit. is there.
[0013]
According to a fifth aspect of the present invention, in the schedule creation method for a substrate processing apparatus according to any one of the first to fourth aspects, the lots are a first lot and a second lot, and the equivalent processing unit is a first equivalent. When the processing unit and the second equivalent processing unit are used, the plurality of schedules include a first schedule using only the first equivalent processing unit in the first lot and the second lot, and the first lot. The second equivalent processing unit or the second equivalent processing unit is used to create a second schedule using the second equivalent processing unit or the first equivalent processing unit in the second lot. It is what.
[0014]
According to the sixth aspect of the present invention, when a processing unit capable of performing substantially the same processing on a substrate is used as an equivalent processing unit, and a plurality of lots are processed by a substrate processing apparatus including a plurality of the equivalent processing units. In the schedule creation program of the substrate processing apparatus for setting priority to the plurality of equivalent processing units and selecting an equivalent processing unit to be used by each lot, prior to actually starting the processing for each lot in advance. When creating a schedule, create a plurality of schedules using the equivalent processing unit that can be used when a lot is input, adopt the schedule that ends earliest among them, and the end time of the created schedules if it becomes the same it is also characterized in that for controlling the computer so as to adopt a schedule to use an equivalent processing unit having a higher priority It is.
[0015]
[Action]
The operation of the first aspect of the invention is as follows.
That is, before actually processing a lot, a plurality of schedules are created in advance as follows. First, assuming that a certain lot is input, a plurality of schedules using all equivalent processing units that can be used according to the recipe are created at this point. Then, a plurality of schedules are compared, and the schedule with the earliest payout of the lot is adopted. As a result of comparing a plurality of schedules, if the end times are the same, a schedule using the equivalent processing unit with the higher priority is adopted.
[0016]
According to the second aspect of the present invention, the schedule is created in consideration of the maintenance related to the replacement of the processing liquid and the like, which is periodically performed in each equivalent processing unit and in which the number of uses is limited.
[0017]
(Delete)
[0018]
According to the third aspect of the present invention, the pure water cleaning processing unit that performs the cleaning processing with pure water is the equivalent processing unit.
[0019]
According to invention of Claim 4 , the chemical | medical solution process part which performs a chemical | medical solution process with a chemical | medical solution is made into an equivalent process part.
[0020]
According to the fifth aspect of the present invention, the first schedule using only the first equivalent processing unit in the first lot and the second lot, and the first equivalent processing unit or the second equivalent processing in the first lot. The second schedule using the second equivalent processing unit or the first equivalent processing unit is created in the second lot, and the schedule scheduled to end earlier is selected from these.
[0021]
According to the invention of claim 6 exhibits the same effect as the above claim 1.
[0022]
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
An embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.
1 and 2 relate to one embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 1 is a plan view showing a schematic configuration of a substrate processing apparatus according to the embodiment, and FIG. 2 is a block diagram thereof.
[0023]
This substrate processing apparatus is an apparatus for performing chemical liquid processing, pure water cleaning processing, and drying processing on the substrate W, for example. A plurality of (for example, 25) substrates W are stored in a standing posture with respect to the cassette 1. The cassette 1 storing the unprocessed substrates W is placed on the input unit 3. The input unit 3 includes two mounting tables 5 on which the cassette 1 is mounted. On the opposite side of the loading unit 3 across the center of the substrate processing apparatus, a dispensing unit 7 is provided. The dispensing unit 7 stores the processed substrate W in the cassette 1 and dispenses the cassette 1 together. The payout unit 7 that functions in this manner includes two mounting bases 9 for mounting the cassette 1, similarly to the loading unit 3.
[0024]
A first transport mechanism 11 configured to be movable between these is disposed at a position along the input unit 3 and the payout unit 7. The first transport mechanism 11 transports a plurality of substrates W together with the cassette 1 placed on the input unit 3 to the second transport mechanism 13.
[0025]
The second transport mechanism 13 transports all the substrates W to the third transport mechanism 15 after taking out all the stored substrates W from the cassette 1. Further, after receiving the processed substrate W from the third transport mechanism 15, the substrate W is accommodated in the cassette 1 and transported to the first transport mechanism 11. The third transport mechanism 15 is configured to be movable in the longitudinal direction of the substrate processing apparatus.
[0026]
A drying processing unit 17 for storing a plurality of substrates W in a low-pressure chamber and drying them is provided on the most front side in the moving direction of the third transport mechanism 15.
[0027]
A first processing unit 19 is disposed at a position adjacent to the drying processing unit 17 in the moving direction of the third transport mechanism 15. The first processing unit 19 includes a pure water cleaning processing unit 21 for performing a pure water cleaning process on a plurality of substrates W, and also for performing a chemical solution process on the plurality of substrates W. A chemical processing unit 23 is provided. Further, a first sub transport mechanism 25 for transporting the substrate W between them is provided. The first sub transport mechanism 25 transfers the substrate W to and from the third transport mechanism 15 in the pure water cleaning processing unit 21 in addition to the substrate transport in the first processing unit 19.
[0028]
A second processing unit 27 is disposed adjacent to the first processing unit 19. The second processing unit 27 has the same configuration as the first processing unit 19 described above, and the substrate W is transferred to the third transport mechanism 15 in the pure water cleaning processing unit 29, the chemical solution processing unit 31, and the pure water cleaning processing unit 29. And a second sub-transport mechanism 33 that passes between the first sub-transport mechanism 33 and the second sub-transport mechanism 33.
[0029]
The cassette cleaning unit 35 attached to the second transport mechanism 13 has a function of cleaning the empty cassette 1 after the above-described second transport mechanism 13 takes out all the substrates W.
[0030]
The pure water cleaning processing unit 21 of the first processing unit 19 and the pure water cleaning processing unit 29 of the second processing unit 27 described above correspond to the processing unit and the equivalent processing unit in the present invention, and the second processing unit 27. Similarly, the chemical processing unit 23 and the chemical processing unit 31 of the second processing unit correspond to a processing unit and an equivalent processing unit.
[0031]
The substrate processing apparatus configured as described above is comprehensively controlled by the control unit 37 as shown in the block diagram of FIG.
[0032]
The control unit 37 is composed of a CPU and the like, and actually starts processing to determine which configuration described above is used in which order according to a recipe based on a procedure corresponding to a schedule creation program described below. Predetermined before. Thereafter, when the substrate W is actually processed, the substrate W is processed according to the recipe by using each component based on the created schedule.
[0033]
In the storage unit 39, a plurality of types of recipes that are created in advance by the user of the substrate processing apparatus and define the procedure for processing the substrate W, a schedule creation program, and a process for executing the created schedule Programs and the like are stored in advance. In addition, information indicating which of the two equivalent processing units described above is preferentially selected is stored in advance, and a created schedule is also stored.
[0034]
First, the procedure corresponding to the schedule creation program will be described with reference to the time chart shown in FIG. 3, but only a part of the recipe will be described as an example for easy understanding. Further, in this example, a description will be given by taking as an example a schedule that assumes a case where two lots are processed in parallel with the same recipe.
[0035]
Specifically, the processing will be described. The substrate W of the first lot (indicated by a white rectangle in FIGS. 3A and 3B) is transported by the second transport processing unit 13 in step S10, and pure water in step S11. After performing the cleaning process, a chemical solution process is performed in step S12, a pure water cleaning process is performed in step S13, a drying process is performed by the drying processing unit 17 in step S14, and then a second transport mechanism 13 is performed in step S15. It is to convey.
[0036]
For simplification of description, the operations of the third transport mechanism 15 and the first / second sub-transport mechanisms 25 and 33 are omitted.
[0037]
In order to process the second lot (indicated by hatched rectangles in FIGS. 3A and 3B) in parallel with the processing of the first lot with the same recipe, as shown by the arrow in FIG. At the time “2 lots are input”, the second lot is input. In the case of the present embodiment apparatus, since there are two equivalent processing units, the total number of schedules that the second lot can take is two.
[0038]
That is, as shown in FIG. 3A, the case where the second lot is processed so that the pure water cleaning processing unit 21 performs the first pure water cleaning process (step S21), and the case shown in FIG. 3B. As described above, the second lot may be processed so that the pure water cleaning processing unit 29 performs the first processing.
[0039]
In the case of the apparatus according to the present embodiment, the first sub-transport mechanism 25 and the second sub-transport mechanism 33 can transport the lot only by their own processing units 19 and 27 because of the configuration. It is impossible to perform the next water washing in the second processing unit 27 after the first water washing on the first processing unit 19 side or vice versa. Also, if any lot is included in the water washing or chemical treatment, the next lot is placed in the same processing unit (first / second processing units 19 and 27) as the lot until it is removed from the water washing. Cannot be brought in.
[0040]
First, in the first schedule shown in FIG. 3A, the substrate W of the second lot is transferred by the second transfer processing unit 13 in step S20 so as to be parallel to step S13 of the first lot, and step S21. After the pure water cleaning process is performed by the pure water cleaning process unit 21, the chemical process is performed by the chemical process unit 23 in step S22, and the pure water cleaning process is performed again by the pure water cleaning process unit 21 in step S23. After performing a drying process by the drying process part 17 in S24, it conveys by the 2nd conveyance mechanism 13 by step S25.
[0041]
Next, in the second schedule shown in FIG. 3B, the substrate W of the second lot is transported by the second transport processing unit 13 in step S20 so as to be parallel to step S11 of the first lot, and in step S21. After the pure water cleaning process is performed by the pure water cleaning process unit 29, the chemical process is performed by the chemical process unit 31 in step S22, the pure water cleaning process is performed again by the pure water cleaning process unit 29 in step S23, and then step S24. Then, after the drying process is performed by the drying processing unit 17, the sheet is transported by the second transport mechanism 13 in step S25.
[0042]
Then, the control unit 37 compares these two schedules, and adopts the schedule that ends earlier, that is, the schedule of FIG. 3B. The schedule adopted in this way is stored in the storage unit 39 and is executed when the lot is actually processed.
[0043]
Next, schedule creation in a situation different from the situation described above will be described with reference to FIG. In this situation, since the maintenance M that is performed periodically accompanying the chemical solution replacement is performed in the chemical processing unit 31, the chemical processing unit 31 cannot be used during that time.
[0044]
First, in the first schedule shown in FIG. 4A, the substrate W of the second lot is transported by the second transport processing unit 13 in step S40 so as to be parallel to step S33 of the first lot, and step S41. After the pure water cleaning process is performed by the pure water cleaning process unit 21, the chemical process is performed by the chemical process unit 23 in step S42, and the pure water cleaning process is performed again by the pure water cleaning process unit 21 in step S43. After the drying process is performed by the drying processing unit 17 in S44, the sheet is transported by the second transport mechanism 13 in Step S45.
[0045]
Next, in the second schedule shown in FIG. 4B, the substrate W of the second lot is transferred by the second transfer processing unit 13 in step S40 so as to be parallel to step S31 of the first lot, and in step S41. After performing the pure water cleaning process by the pure water cleaning processing unit 29, the system waits until the maintenance M of the chemical solution processing unit 31 is completed. After the maintenance M is completed, a chemical solution process is performed by the chemical solution processing unit 31 in step S42, a pure water cleaning process is performed again by the pure water cleaning processing unit 29 in step S43, and then a drying process unit 17 is dried in step S44. After the processing, it is transported by the second transport mechanism 13 in step S45.
[0046]
In such a situation, since FIG. 4A ends earlier, this is stored in the storage unit 39 as a schedule.
[0047]
Reference is now made to FIG.
In this situation, the recipe is slightly different from that described above, and the drying process step S54 for the first lot and the drying process step S64 for the second lot are set longer. The same.
[0048]
In this case, when all the schedules are created for the processing of the second lot consisting of steps S60 to S65 for the processing of the first lot consisting of steps S50 to S55, the results are shown in FIGS. 5 (a) and 5 (b). As such, the end time is the same. In such a case, a priority is set as a determination rule in the storage unit 39 in order to prevent the control unit 37 from being able to determine and the processing from becoming stuck. For example, when “first priority is given to the first processing unit 19 (pure water cleaning processing unit 21 and chemical solution processing unit 23)”, the schedule of FIG. 5A is selected.
[0049]
Thus, before actually processing the lot, a plurality of schedules using all the equivalent processing units (pure water cleaning processing units 21 and 29, chemical solution processing units 29 and 31) that can be used according to the recipe are created. . And, by comparing multiple schedules, adopting the schedule with the earliest lot payout, and considering the use schedule of the equivalent processing unit, the lot payout can be surely accelerated and throughput can be improved. Can do it.
[0050]
In addition, since the maintenance performed periodically in each equivalent processing unit is taken into consideration, the same effect can be obtained even at the time of maintenance.
[0051]
Furthermore, by applying a rule that employs a schedule that uses an equivalent processing unit with a higher priority, it is possible to prevent schedule creation from getting stuck even if the end times are the same in a plurality of schedules.
[0052]
In the above description, for ease of understanding, only a part of the recipe relating to water washing and chemical solution processing has been described as an example. The present invention is applicable as long as the actual process is performed after the schedule is created in advance before the process. Among them, the following schedule creation method is preferable.
[0053]
That is, when a plurality of lots are processed by a substrate processing apparatus having a plurality of processing units for processing a substrate, each lot is sequentially processed by each processing unit based on a recipe including a plurality of processing steps. In order to determine the processing order of each lot, in the method for creating a schedule of a substrate processing apparatus, after arranging the first processing step for any lot, among the next processing steps of each lot, in each previous processing step The processing process for the lot with the earliest scheduled end time is arranged as the next processing process.
[0054]
The processing steps in this method are the steps including the above-described processing in the second transport mechanism 13 of the first lot, the rinsing processing in the pure water cleaning processing section 21, the processing in the chemical processing section 23, and the pure water cleaning processing. It is a process including a process including a water washing process in the unit 21, a drying process in the drying process unit 17, and a transport process by the second transport mechanism 13.
[0055]
According to this method, it is possible to arrange the subsequent operation of the previous processing step and the previous operation of the subsequent processing step by overlapping in advance and arrange the previous processing step among the possible processing steps. By selecting and arranging the processing process of the lot that ends earlier as the next processing process, it is possible to shorten the time until the next processing process is completed. Therefore, since the processing unit of the substrate processing apparatus can be used effectively, standby time can be suppressed and the operating rate can be improved.
[0056]
In addition, this invention is not limited to said embodiment, A deformation | transformation implementation is possible as follows.
[0057]
(1) In the above example, the substrate processing apparatus includes two equivalent processing units. However, the substrate processing apparatus may include three or more equivalent processing units.
[0058]
(2) The present invention can be applied to any apparatus that performs any processing as long as it is a substrate processing apparatus. For example, an apparatus for depositing a photoresist film on a substrate or an etching apparatus for depositing a conductive film on the surface of the substrate may be used. The equivalent processing unit in such a case is, for example, a coating processing unit or an etching processing unit.
[0059]
【The invention's effect】
As is apparent from the above description, according to the first aspect of the present invention, before actually processing a lot, a plurality of schedules using available equivalent processing units are created. And, by comparing multiple schedules, adopting the schedule with the earliest lot payout, and considering the use schedule of the equivalent processing unit, the lot payout can be surely accelerated and throughput can be improved. Can do. Note that, when the end times are the same as a result of comparing a plurality of schedules, the schedule using the equivalent processing unit with the higher priority is adopted, so that it is possible to prevent the schedule creation from getting stuck.
[0060]
According to the second aspect of the present invention, since the maintenance periodically performed in each equivalent processing unit is considered, the same effect can be obtained even at the time of maintenance.
[0061]
(Delete)
[0062]
According to the third aspect of the present invention, it is possible to create a schedule in a substrate processing apparatus provided with a pure water cleaning processing unit as an equivalent processing unit.
[0063]
According to the invention described in claim 4 , it is possible to create a schedule in the substrate processing apparatus including the chemical processing unit as an equivalent processing unit.
[0064]
According to the fifth aspect of the present invention, the first schedule and the second schedule are created, and the one that ends earlier is selected.
[0065]
According to invention of Claim 6, there exists an effect similar to the said Claim 1 as a program.
[Brief description of the drawings]
FIG. 1 is a plan view showing a schematic configuration of a substrate processing apparatus according to an embodiment.
FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating a schematic configuration of a substrate processing apparatus according to an embodiment.
FIG. 3 is a diagram showing an example of schedule creation.
FIG. 4 is a diagram showing an example of schedule creation.
FIG. 5 is a diagram showing an example of schedule creation.
[Explanation of symbols]
DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Cassette 3 ... Loading part 5 ... Mounting stand 11 ... 1st conveyance mechanism 13 ... 2nd conveyance mechanism 15 ... 3rd conveyance mechanism 17 ... Drying process part 19 ... 1st process part 21 ... Pure water washing process part (process part) Equivalent processing part)
23 ... Chemical processing unit (processing unit, equivalent processing unit)
25 ... 1st sub conveyance mechanism 27 ... 2nd process part 29 ... Pure water washing process part (a process part, an equivalent process part)
31 ... Chemical solution processing unit (processing unit, equivalent processing unit)
33 ... Second sub-transport mechanism 37 ... Control unit 39 ... Storage unit

Claims (6)

A processing unit that can perform substantially the same processing on a substrate is an equivalent processing unit, and an equivalent processing unit used by each lot when a plurality of lots are processed by a substrate processing apparatus including a plurality of equivalent processing units. In the substrate processing apparatus schedule creation method for selecting
When creating a schedule in advance prior to actually starting processing for each lot,
Priorities are set for the plurality of equivalent processing units,
Create multiple schedules using equivalent processing units that can be used when a lot is put in, adopt the schedule that ends the earliest among them,
A schedule creation method for a substrate processing apparatus, wherein a schedule using an equivalent processing unit with a higher priority is adopted when the end times of a plurality of created schedules are the same . In the schedule preparation method of the substrate processing apparatus of Claim 1,
A method for creating a schedule for a substrate processing apparatus, wherein maintenance performed periodically in each equivalent processing unit is taken into consideration. In the schedule preparation method of the substrate processing apparatus of Claim 1 or 2 ,
One of the plurality of equivalent processing units is a pure water cleaning processing unit. In the schedule preparation method of the substrate processing apparatus of Claim 1 or 2 ,
One of the plurality of equivalent processing units is a chemical processing unit, and a schedule creation method for a substrate processing apparatus. In scheduling method for a substrate processing apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 4,
When each lot is a first lot and a second lot, and the equivalent processing unit is a first equivalent processing unit and a second equivalent processing unit,
As the plurality of schedules, a first schedule using only the first equivalent processing unit in the first lot and the second lot, and the first equivalent processing unit or the second equivalent in the first lot. A method of creating a schedule for a substrate processing apparatus, comprising: using a processing unit to create a second schedule using the second equivalent processing unit or the first equivalent processing unit in the second lot. A processing unit that can perform substantially the same processing on a substrate is an equivalent processing unit, and an equivalent processing unit used by each lot when a plurality of lots are processed by a substrate processing apparatus including a plurality of equivalent processing units. In the schedule creation program of the substrate processing apparatus for selecting
When creating a schedule in advance prior to actually starting processing for each lot,
Priorities are set for the plurality of equivalent processing units,
Create multiple schedules using equivalent processing units that can be used when a lot is put in, adopt the schedule that ends the earliest among them,
Creating a schedule for a substrate processing apparatus characterized by controlling a computer to adopt a schedule that uses an equivalent processing unit with a higher priority when the end times of the created schedules become the same program.

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