JP4401609B2 - Information processing apparatus, information processing method, program, semiconductor manufacturing system, and semiconductor device manufacturing method - Google Patents

Description

[0001]
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to an information processing apparatus and method, a program, and a semiconductor device manufacturing method .
[0002]
[Prior art]
With the high integration and high functionality of semiconductor integrated circuits, highly accurate semiconductor manufacturing technology is strongly demanded. A semiconductor manufacturing apparatus used in a semiconductor process may deteriorate in performance due to a change with time. For example, in a semiconductor manufacturing apparatus, the performance of laser irradiation may deteriorate with the amount used.
[0003]
In the past, the accumulated time of using the laser was counted, and parts with degraded performance were replaced using this value as a guide. In addition, after the deterioration of the performance appears remarkably, the parts whose performance has deteriorated have been replaced.
[0004]
[Problems to be solved by the invention]
However, when a part with deteriorated performance is replaced after the performance has deteriorated, the manufacture is performed in a state where the performance has deteriorated until the part with deteriorated performance is replaced. This reduces the productivity of the semiconductor manufacturing apparatus.
[0005]
The present invention has been made in view of the above problems, and an object of the present invention is, for example, to improve the productivity of a semiconductor manufacturing apparatus.
[0006]
[Means for Solving the Problems]
A first aspect of the present invention relates to an information processing apparatus that performs a simulation of the operation of a unit of a semiconductor manufacturing apparatus controlled by a control command and diagnoses the performance of the semiconductor manufacturing apparatus. Simulation means for executing a simulation of the operation of the unit using a control command, the state of the unit when the control command is executed, obtained from the semiconductor manufacturing apparatus, and the simulation means using the control command Means for determining the difference between the unit states simulated by the above and trend data for diagnosing the performance of the semiconductor manufacturing apparatus in advance, and the difference trend obtained continuously by the determining means based on the comparison of the information and the trend data, sex of the semiconductor manufacturing device And having a diagnostic means for diagnosing.
[0010]
A second aspect of the present invention relates to an information processing method for diagnosing the performance of the semiconductor manufacturing apparatus by executing a simulation of the operation of a unit of the semiconductor manufacturing apparatus controlled by a control command. A simulation process for executing a simulation of the operation of the unit using a control command, a state of the unit when the control command is executed, obtained from the semiconductor manufacturing apparatus, and the simulation process using the control command A step of obtaining a difference from the state of the unit simulated in the above, a trend data prepared in advance for diagnosing the performance of the semiconductor manufacturing apparatus, and a trend of the difference continuously obtained by the obtaining step based on the information and comparison of diagnosing the performance of the semiconductor manufacturing device And having a cross-sectional step.
[0014]
A third aspect of the present invention relates to a program for executing a simulation of an operation of a unit of a semiconductor manufacturing apparatus controlled by a control command and causing a computer to execute an information processing method for diagnosing the performance of the semiconductor manufacturing apparatus. The method includes a simulation step of executing a simulation of the operation of the unit using the control command from the semiconductor manufacturing apparatus, and the unit when the control command acquired from the semiconductor manufacturing apparatus is executed. A step of obtaining a difference between the state and the state of the unit simulated in the simulation step using the control command, trend data prepared in advance for diagnosing the performance of the semiconductor manufacturing apparatus, and the obtaining Information on the difference trend obtained continuously by the process Based on the comparison, and having a diagnostic step of diagnosing the performance of the semiconductor manufacturing device.
[0015]
A fourth aspect of the present invention relates to a semiconductor manufacturing system, executes a simulation of the operation of a semiconductor manufacturing apparatus controlled by a control command and a unit of the semiconductor manufacturing apparatus, and diagnoses the performance of the semiconductor manufacturing apparatus. It has the above-mentioned information processor .
[0016]
The fifth aspect of the present invention relates to a method of manufacturing a semiconductor device, characterized by manufacturing a semiconductor device using the semiconductor manufacturing system.
[0017]
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
FIG. 1 is a diagram showing an overall configuration of a semiconductor manufacturing system according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention.
[0018]
In FIG. 1, the semiconductor manufacturing system includes a semiconductor manufacturing apparatus 100, a virtual apparatus 110, and a failure prevention apparatus 120.
[0019]
The semiconductor device 100 includes an operation terminal 101, a controller 102, and a control target unit 103.
[0020]
The operation terminal 101 is used as an interface between a human and a machine, and accepts a control procedure input by an operator or displays a status.
[0021]
The controller 102 controls the entire control target unit 103. The controller 102 outputs control commands to the plurality of control target units 103 while constructing an overall flow according to the control commands input from the operation terminal 101. Also, a response from the control target unit 103 is received as a device state.
[0022]
For example, in the semiconductor manufacturing apparatus, the control target unit 103 includes a control target unit 103 such as a wafer stage, a reticle stage, a laser unit, a wafer transfer apparatus, and a reticle transfer apparatus. When receiving the control command, the control target unit 103 controls the hardware accordingly. For example, the wafer stage is driven. The control target unit 103 returns its device status after operating according to the control command.
[0023]
The virtual device 110 includes a graphic terminal 111, a device state 3D display unit 112, a unit operation simulation unit 113, and unit shape data 114.
[0024]
For example, the graphic terminal 111 has an image processing function for displaying a 3D image.
[0025]
The device state 3D display unit 112 converts the shape data of the control target unit 103 into a 3D image, and displays the result of simulating the driving state as a 3D image. Thereby, the shape, the degree of freedom of movement, the range of movement, and the like in the control target unit 103 can be reproduced.
[0026]
The unit operation simulation unit 113 simulates the operation of the control target unit 103 of the semiconductor manufacturing system.
[0027]
The unit shape data 114 includes 3D-CAD data, solid data, polygon data, wire frame data, and the like. These include, for example, those in which the control target unit 103 is designed by 3D-CAD in order to create a virtual reality space.
[0028]
The failure diagnosis apparatus 120 includes an actual operation / simulation operation comparison unit 121, an apparatus state trend processing unit 122, trend data 124, and a failure / prevention diagnosis unit 123.
[0029]
The actual operation / simulation operation comparison 121 has a function of acquiring the device state of the control target unit 103 and the device state of the control target unit of the virtual device and comparing the device states. As a method of acquiring the device status of the control target unit, for example, there is a method of acquiring information added to the device status returned after executing the control command.
[0030]
The device state trend processing unit 122 obtains a trend obtained by statistically processing the device state compared by the actual operation / simulation operation comparison 121.
[0031]
The failure / prevention diagnosis unit 123 performs failure diagnosis or failure prediction by comparing the trend obtained by the device state trend processing unit 122 with the trend data prepared in advance. Here, the trend data is a basic data group for failure diagnosis. Since this method can objectively determine a failure, it can also check for leakage in software design.
[0032]
Next, laser degradation of a semiconductor manufacturing apparatus according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention will be described by taking diagnosis as an example.
[0033]
In the excimer laser for exposure used in the semiconductor manufacturing apparatus, the output performance deteriorates when the exposure time exceeds a certain time. For this reason, if the output performance is below a certain level, it is assumed that the lifetime has been reached, and the deteriorated parts are to be replaced. By continuously measuring the amount of light that is output and obtaining the trend, it is possible to know the degree of deterioration of the laser.
[0034]
However, the amount of light that is output varies depending on factors other than deterioration, such as various modes such as modified illumination in the light emission command and a variable light amount diaphragm. Therefore, the light emission command is simulated, and the amount of light that is output is predicted by reflecting each mode and condition.
[0035]
The difference between the predicted light amount obtained in this way and the actually measured light amount is continuously measured.
[0036]
2A and 2B are graphs in which the measured values obtained by measuring the illuminance of the laser at a certain point and the graphs of the predicted values obtained by executing the simulation under the same conditions are superimposed.
[0037]
In FIG. 2A, the predicted value graph depicts a curve reflecting the thermal effect of the accumulated light emission amount based on the illuminance predicted by the light emission intensity, the mode such as modified illumination, and the variable aperture value. In the case of an excimer laser, the measured value graph varies along the predicted illuminance curve, although the illuminance varies for each emission. However, the measured values showed a tendency for the illuminance to decrease as the number of times of light emission increased. This indicates that the output performance may have deteriorated.
[0038]
In FIG. 2B, the difference between the predicted value and the actually measured value is graphed, and the failure diagnosis or the prediction of the failure time is performed depending on how the difference diverges when compared with the trend data.
[0039]
Next, a description will be given of the running deterioration of the stage of the semiconductor manufacturing apparatus according to the preferred embodiment of the present invention as an example.
[0040]
A wafer stage used in a semiconductor manufacturing apparatus is driven by a linear motor. The movement performance of the wafer stage deteriorates due to an increase in travel distance.
[0041]
In particular, the exercise performance is significantly degraded by the settling time. The settling time is the convergence time from when the stage is driven to reach the target position until it stops. The stage is driven in the order of constant acceleration motion, constant speed motion, and constant acceleration motion. If these are represented by a graph of speed and time, a trapezoid is drawn.
[0042]
FIG. 3A is a diagram showing the stage driving state, the vertical axis is the speed, and the horizontal axis is the measured value, and FIG. 3B is the stage driving state, the vertical axis is the speed, and the horizontal axis is the horizontal axis. FIG. 3 (c) is a diagram showing the time as a predicted value, and FIG. 3 (c) shows the stage driving state by the difference between the settling times (the settling time of the actual measurement value-the settling time of the predicted value) on the vertical axis and the horizontal axis on the number of driving times. FIG.
[0043]
FIG. 3A is a graph of actual measurement values. The settling time is measured by the drive mode, stage inertia, linear motor torque, and drive acceleration. FIG. 3B is a graph of the predicted value, and it can be seen that there is a difference in the settling time between the actually measured value and the predicted value of the simulation. The difference in the settling time is set to ΔT (n) (= Tr−Ts), and the data of the settling time is continuously acquired every time driving is performed. FIG. 3C shows the graph as an axis. In this figure, the graph is divergent and it can be seen that there is a failure symptom due to performance degradation.
[0044]
Here, if an attempt is made to determine the symptom of a failure only with measured value data, the settling time varies depending on the drive mode, and the influence on the settling time due to deterioration is difficult to understand. Therefore, it is necessary to compare with a simulator.
[0045]
From the above, it is possible to shorten the operation period with the equipment performance deteriorated, to reduce the cost without having inventory as much as possible, and to adjust the production in anticipation of replacement timing of deteriorated parts Is done. Furthermore, the characteristics of the semiconductor manufacturing apparatus and the simulation are compared, and failure diagnosis and failure prediction are possible based on the trend. As a result, there is an advantage that it is easy to make a production plan, the state of the apparatus can be maintained in a good state, and a failure can be prevented, and the productivity of the semiconductor manufacturing apparatus can be improved.
[0046]
Although the embodiment has been described in detail above, the present invention may be applied to a system constituted by a plurality of devices, or may be applied to an apparatus composed of one device.
[0047]
In the present invention, a software program that realizes the functions of the above-described embodiments is directly or remotely supplied to a system or apparatus, and the computer of the system or apparatus reads and executes the supplied program code. Including the case where it is also achieved by. In that case, as long as it has the function of a program, the form does not need to be a program.
[0048]
Accordingly, since the functions of the present invention are implemented by computer, the program code installed in the computer also implements the present invention. That is, the claims of the present invention include the computer program itself for realizing the functional processing of the present invention.
[0049]
In this case, the program may be in any form as long as it has a program function, such as an object code, a program executed by an interpreter, or script data supplied to the OS.
[0050]
As a recording medium for supplying the program, for example, floppy disk, hard disk, optical disk, magneto-optical disk, MO, CD-ROM, CD-R, CD-RW, magnetic tape, nonvolatile memory card, ROM, DVD (DVD-ROM, DVD-R).
[0051]
As another program supply method, a client computer browser is used to connect to an Internet homepage, and the computer program of the present invention itself or a compressed file including an automatic installation function is downloaded from the homepage to a recording medium such as a hard disk. Can also be supplied. It can also be realized by dividing the program code constituting the program of the present invention into a plurality of files and downloading each file from a different homepage. That is, a WWW server that allows a plurality of users to download a program file for realizing the functional processing of the present invention on a computer is also included in the claims of the present invention.
[0052]
In addition, the program of the present invention is encrypted, stored in a storage medium such as a CD-ROM, distributed to users, and key information for decryption is downloaded from a homepage via the Internet to users who have cleared predetermined conditions. It is also possible to execute the encrypted program by using the key information and install the program on a computer.
[0053]
In addition to the functions of the above-described embodiments being realized by the computer executing the read program, the OS running on the computer based on an instruction of the program is a part of the actual processing. Alternatively, the functions of the above-described embodiment can be realized by performing all of them and performing the processing.
[0054]
Furthermore, after the program read from the recording medium is written to a memory provided in a function expansion board inserted into the computer or a function expansion unit connected to the computer, the function expansion board or The CPU or the like provided in the function expansion unit performs part or all of the actual processing, and the functions of the above-described embodiments are realized by the processing.
[0055]
Next, a semiconductor device manufacturing process using the above exposure apparatus will be described. FIG. 4 shows the flow of the entire manufacturing process of the semiconductor device. In step 1 (circuit design), the semiconductor device circuit is designed. In step 2 (mask production), a mask is produced based on the designed circuit pattern. On the other hand, in step 3 (wafer manufacture), a wafer is manufactured using a material such as silicon. Step 4 (wafer process) is called a pre-process, and an actual circuit is formed on the wafer by lithography using the mask and wafer. The next step 5 (assembly) is called a post-process, and is a process to make a semiconductor chip using the wafer produced in step 4. Assembly such as assembly process (dicing, bonding), packaging process (chip encapsulation), etc. Process. In step 6 (inspection), the semiconductor device manufactured in step 5 undergoes inspections such as an operation confirmation test and a durability test. Through these processes, the semiconductor device is completed and shipped (step 7).
[0056]
FIG. 5 shows a detailed flow of the wafer process. In step 11 (oxidation), the wafer surface is oxidized. In step 12 (CVD), an insulating film is formed on the wafer surface. In step 13 (electrode formation), an electrode is formed on the wafer by vapor deposition. In step 14 (ion implantation), ions are implanted into the wafer. In step 15 (resist process), a photosensitive agent is applied to the wafer. In step 16 (exposure), the circuit pattern is transferred onto the wafer by the exposure apparatus described above. In step 17 (development), the exposed wafer is developed. In step 18 (etching), portions other than the developed resist image are removed. In step 19 (resist stripping), the unnecessary resist after etching is removed. By repeating these steps, multiple circuit patterns are formed on the wafer.
[0057]
【The invention's effect】
According to the present invention , for example, the productivity of a semiconductor manufacturing apparatus can be improved.
[Brief description of the drawings]
FIG. 1 is a diagram showing an overall configuration of a semiconductor manufacturing system according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 2a,
FIG. 2b is a graph showing the illuminance transition of the laser in the semiconductor manufacturing apparatus according to the preferred embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 3a,
FIG. 3b;
FIG. 3c is a graph showing the stabilization time of the wafer stage in the semiconductor manufacturing apparatus according to the preferred embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 4 is a diagram showing a flow of an entire manufacturing process of a semiconductor device.
FIG. 5 is a diagram showing a detailed flow of a wafer process.

Claims (9)

An information processing apparatus that performs a simulation of the operation of a unit of a semiconductor manufacturing apparatus controlled by a control command and diagnoses the performance of the semiconductor manufacturing apparatus,
Simulation means for performing a simulation of the operation of the unit using the control command from the semiconductor manufacturing apparatus;
Means for obtaining a difference between the state of the unit when the control command is executed acquired from the semiconductor manufacturing apparatus and the state of the unit simulated by the simulation means using the control command;
Trend data for diagnosing the performance of the semiconductor manufacturing apparatus in advance, and based on a comparison between the trend data of the difference obtained continuously by the means for obtaining and the trend data, Diagnostic means for diagnosing performance;
An information processing apparatus comprising:   The information processing apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising display means for displaying a simulation result by the simulation means.   The information processing apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the simulation result is three-dimensional image data. An information processing method for executing a simulation of the operation of a unit of a semiconductor manufacturing apparatus controlled by a control command and diagnosing the performance of the semiconductor manufacturing apparatus,
Using the control command from the semiconductor manufacturing apparatus, a simulation process for executing a simulation of the operation of the unit;
Obtaining a difference between the state of the unit when the control command is executed, obtained from the semiconductor manufacturing apparatus, and the state of the unit simulated in the simulation step using the control command;
Diagnose the performance of the semiconductor manufacturing apparatus based on a comparison between the trend data prepared in advance for diagnosing the performance of the semiconductor manufacturing apparatus and the trend information of the difference obtained continuously by the obtaining step. Diagnostic process to
An information processing method characterized by comprising:   The information processing method according to claim 4, wherein a simulation result in the simulation step is displayed.   The information processing method according to claim 5, wherein the simulation result is three-dimensional image data. A program for executing a simulation of the operation of a unit of a semiconductor manufacturing apparatus controlled by a control command and causing a computer to execute an information processing method for diagnosing the performance of the semiconductor manufacturing apparatus, the method comprising:
Using the control command from the semiconductor manufacturing apparatus, a simulation process for executing a simulation of the operation of the unit;
Obtaining a difference between the state of the unit when the control command is executed, obtained from the semiconductor manufacturing apparatus, and the state of the unit simulated in the simulation step using the control command;
Diagnose the performance of the semiconductor manufacturing apparatus based on a comparison between the trend data prepared in advance for diagnosing the performance of the semiconductor manufacturing apparatus and the trend information of the difference obtained continuously by the obtaining step. Diagnostic process to
The program characterized by having. A semiconductor manufacturing apparatus controlled by a control command;
4. The semiconductor manufacturing apparatus comprising: the information processing apparatus according to claim 1, which executes a simulation of an operation of a unit of the semiconductor manufacturing apparatus and diagnoses a performance of the semiconductor manufacturing apparatus. 5. system.   A semiconductor device manufacturing method, wherein a semiconductor device is manufactured using the semiconductor manufacturing system according to claim 8.

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