JP5204710B2 - Substrate processing equipment - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to a substrate processing apparatus for processing a semiconductor substrate, a glass substrate for a liquid crystal display device, a glass substrate for a photomask, a substrate for an optical disk, etc. (hereinafter simply referred to as “substrate”). It relates to improvement of processing.

  Conventionally, information related to the substrate transfer procedure is expressed by a data structure that combines (1) basic flow information and (2) optional information indicating a processing unit that is not to be used. A technique for determining whether to use a specific processing unit based on the above is known (for example, Patent Document 1).

  Further, a technique for adding processing skip setting information (flag) to information for determining the transport order and determining whether or not to skip the corresponding processing in accordance with the value of this flag is also known. (For example, patent document 2).

JP 09-31323 A JP 2005-123249 A

  Here, in the substrate processing apparatuses of Patent Documents 1 and 2, the substrate processing procedure by each processing unit and the substrate transport procedure by the substrate transport unit are based on recipe data (information on substrate processing procedures and processing conditions). It is determined. In the following, description will be given by taking, as an example, recipe data that specifies that a heating process is performed following a cleaning process.

  If the cleaning process has already been started in the cleaning unit based on the recipe data, the control unit executes a confirmation process as to whether or not the cleaning process has been completed. This confirmation process is executed, for example, by checking the presence or absence of a cleaning completion control signal from the cleaning unit.

  Next, when it is confirmed that the cleaning process is completed, the control unit causes the substrate transport unit to carry out the substrate from the cleaning unit. Subsequently, the control unit causes the substrate transport unit to carry the received substrate into the heating unit. And a control part performs the process which heats a board | substrate with respect to a heating unit.

  As described above, when the substrate processing and the transfer processing are executed by the same control unit, the control unit determines the substrate transfer procedure by checking the processing procedure of each substrate stored in the recipe data. Can do.

  However, when the number of processing units managed by the same control unit increases, in some cases, the number exceeds the processing capability of the control unit, and it is difficult to control substrate processing and transfer processing by a single control unit. Problem arises. In particular, this problem becomes significant when processing units are stacked around the substrate transport unit.

  Therefore, an object of the present invention is to provide a substrate processing apparatus that can satisfactorily execute a substrate transfer process.

  In order to solve the above problems, the invention of claim 1 is a substrate processing apparatus, wherein each of a plurality of processing units for processing a substrate and each of the plurality of processing units, A substrate transfer unit that transfers a substrate, a first control unit that controls a substrate process executed by at least one of the plurality of processing units, and a transfer process executed by the substrate transfer unit A substrate is transferred between the first processing unit of which the substrate processing is controlled by the first control unit and the substrate transport unit among the plurality of processing units. The control unit corresponding to the delivery-side unit of the first and second control units is a board related to the substrate delivered to the control unit corresponding to the reception-side unit. The substrate information data includes recipe-related data regarding the conditions of each substrate processing, and processing flow data for specifying the processing procedure of each substrate, and each of the processing flow data includes The plurality of processing units have a one-to-one correspondence with the plurality of processing units, and a plurality of order data indicating the order of substrate processing performed in the corresponding processing units, and each of the plurality of processing units has a one-to-one correspondence And a plurality of processing status data indicating the processing status of the substrate in the corresponding processing unit, and the second control unit includes the plurality of order data and the plurality of processing statuses included in the processing flow data. A processing unit as a substrate transfer destination is determined based on the data.

  According to a second aspect of the present invention, in the substrate processing apparatus according to the first aspect, the second control unit determines the order in which the substrates are transported to each processing unit based on the magnitude relationship of the respective order data. In addition, when the target sequence data has the same value as the non-process constant, the processing unit corresponding to the sequence data is excluded from the substrate transfer destination, and each of the two or more target sequence data of interest is a value other than the non-process constant. When the two or more order data are the same, the substrate is transported to one of the processing units corresponding to the two or more order data.

  According to a third aspect of the present invention, in the substrate processing apparatus according to the first aspect, the second control unit is configured to determine each processing data based on a predetermined processing order of processing units and a value of each order data. When the order in which the substrates are transported to the processing unit is determined and the target order data has the same value as the non-processing constant, the processing unit corresponding to the order data is excluded from the transport destination, and the target order data is single. When the value is the same as the processing constant, the substrate is transferred to the processing unit corresponding to the order data, and each of the two or more order data items of interest has a value other than the non-processing constant and the single processing constant, and the 2 When the order data is the same as each other, the substrate is transported to any one of the processing units corresponding to the two or more order data.

  According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, in the substrate processing apparatus according to any one of the first to third aspects, the processing flow data includes the plurality of processing status data in an order based on the plurality of processing units. And a second data string in which the plurality of order data are continuously arranged in an order based on the plurality of processing units.

  Further, in the substrate processing apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 3, the processing flow data includes each unit when the corresponding processing status data and order data are unit data. The data is continuously arranged in the order based on the plurality of processing units.

  According to the first to fifth aspects of the present invention, the second control unit refers to the processing flow data of the substrate information data delivered together with the substrate, so that the order of the substrate processing executed in each processing unit is performed. And the processing status of the substrate in each processing unit.

  Thereby, the 2nd control part can determine the order (substrate conveyance procedure) which conveys a substrate to each processing unit, without managing the history of each substrate processing performed with a plurality of processing units. Therefore, the calculation for determining the substrate transfer procedure can be simplified, and the calculation cost can be reduced.

It is a perspective view which shows an example of a structure of the substrate processing apparatus in the 1st thru | or 3rd embodiment of this invention. It is a figure which shows an example of the data structure of the board | substrate information data in the 1st thru | or 3rd Embodiment of this invention. It is a figure which shows an example of the data structure of a recipe table. It is a figure which shows an example of the data structure of the process flow data in 1st Embodiment. It is a figure which shows the value of each process status data in FIG. 4, and order data. It is a figure which shows another example of the data structure of the process flow data in 1st Embodiment. It is a figure which shows the value of each process status data and order data in FIG. It is a figure which shows an example of the data structure of the process flow data in 1st Embodiment. It is a figure which shows the value of each process status data and order data in FIG. It is a figure which shows an example of the data structure of the process flow data in 2nd Embodiment. It is a figure which shows the value of each process status data in FIG. 10, and order data. It is a figure which shows an example of the data structure of the process flow data in 3rd Embodiment. It is a figure which shows the value of each process status data and order data in FIG. It is a figure which shows an example of the data structure of the process flow data in 3rd Embodiment. It is a figure which shows the value of each process status data and order data in FIG.

  Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings.

<1. First Embodiment>
<1.1. Hardware configuration of substrate processing apparatus>
FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing an example of a hardware configuration of a substrate processing apparatus 1 according to the first embodiment of the present invention. The substrate processing apparatus 1 is an apparatus that performs substrate processing such as resist coating processing, heat treatment (heating or cooling processing), and development processing. As shown in FIG. 1, the substrate processing apparatus 1 mainly includes a loader 10, substrate transfer units 20, 40, a plurality of control units 25, 30, 45, 50, an unloader 90, and a plurality of processing units C00 to C00. C15.

  Here, in the present embodiment, the substrate processing unit 5 is a processing unit group composed of a plurality of processing units C00 to C15 and substrate transport units 20 and 40, as indicated by a one-dot chain line in FIG. Shall be pointed to.

  As shown in FIG. 1, the loader 10 is arranged in parallel with the substrate processing unit 5 (more specifically, the processing unit C00). The loader 10 takes out the unprocessed substrates taken out from the cassette (not shown) one by one, and delivers the taken-out unprocessed substrates to the processing unit C00 of the substrate processing unit 5. Note that the cassette in which the unprocessed substrates are stored may be carried into the loader 10 by a transport mechanism (for example, AGV (Automatic Guided Vehicle): not shown) outside the substrate processing apparatus 1.

  The substrate transfer unit 20 is a so-called transfer robot, and a transfer arm (not shown) is rotated around a turning axis extending in (1) the vertical direction (substantially Z-axis direction), and (2) is moved up and down in the vertical direction. 3) It can be expanded and contracted in a horizontal plane (in a plane substantially parallel to the XY plane). Thereby, the substrate transport unit 20 can transfer the substrate held by the transport arm to each of the processing units C00 to C08, and can receive the substrate from each of the processing units C00 to C08.

  The processing units C00 to C08 perform various substrate processing as pre-exposure processing. As shown in FIG. 1, the processing units C00 to C08 are arranged around the substrate transport unit 20 (more specifically, from the loader 10 toward the unloader 90 (hereinafter simply referred to as “downstream of substrate transport”). Are also arranged in front and rear (substantially Y-axis direction) and left and right (substantially X-axis direction) of the substrate transport unit 20.

  The processing unit C00 is a so-called cleaning unit, and cleans the substrate put into the substrate processing unit 5 with a chemical solution and a rinse solution (pure water). As shown in FIG. 1, the processing unit C00 is disposed behind the substrate transport unit 20 toward the downstream side of the substrate transport. As the processing unit C00, a cleaning unit that cleans the transferred substrates one by one may be employed, or a cleaning unit that simultaneously cleans a plurality of transferred substrates while conveying the substrate may be employed. .

  Each of the processing units C01 and C02 is a heating unit for heating the substrate, and has the same hardware configuration as each other. When the substrate cleaned by the processing unit C00 is carried into one of the processing units C01 and C02 and heated, the rinse liquid adhering to the substrate evaporates and the substrate is heated and dried. The processing unit C03 is a cooling unit that cools the substrate. For example, the processing unit C03 cools the substrate heated by the processing units C01 and C02. As shown in FIG. 1, the processing units C01 to C03 are arranged on the left side of the substrate transport unit 20 toward the downstream side of the substrate transport, and are stacked in this order from the top.

  The processing unit C04 is a coating unit that forms a resist film on the substrate by supplying the resist to the substrate. The processing unit C05 is a so-called reduced pressure drying unit, and pre-drys the resist film formed on the substrate surface by the processing unit C04. As shown in FIG. 1, the processing units C04 and C05 are arranged on the right side of the substrate transport unit 20 toward the downstream side of the substrate transport, and are stacked in this order from the top.

  Each of the processing units C06 and C07 is a heating unit that heats the substrate, and has the same hardware configuration. When the resist-coated substrate is carried into the processing units C06 and C07 and a baking process (pre-bake process) before exposure is performed, the resist film formed on the substrate is solidified. The processing unit C08 is a cooling unit that cools the substrate. For example, the processing unit C08 cools the substrate heated by the processing units C06 and C07. As shown in FIG. 1, the processing units C06 to C08 are arranged in front of the substrate transport unit 20 toward the downstream side of the substrate transport, and are stacked in this order from the top.

  The control unit 25 (second control unit) is electrically connected to the substrate transport unit 20 and controls, for example, transport processing executed by the substrate transport unit 20. As shown in FIG. 1, the control unit 25 mainly includes a RAM (Random Access Memory) 26, a ROM (Read Only Memory) 27, and a CPU (Central Processing Unit) 29.

  The RAM 26 is constituted by, for example, a volatile storage unit, and stores data used in arithmetic processing of the CPU 29. When the substrate is transferred between the substrate transport unit 20 and each of the processing units C00 to C08, the RAM 26 is substantially synchronized with the transfer of the substrate, and the substrate information data transferred between the control unit 25 and the control unit 30. 60 is stored (see FIG. 1). In addition, when a plurality of substrates are held by the substrate transport unit 20, a plurality of substrate information data 60 is stored in the RAM 26.

  The ROM 27 includes a so-called nonvolatile storage unit. As shown in FIG. 1, the ROM 27 stores a program 27a, for example. The ROM 27 may be a flash memory that is a readable / writable nonvolatile memory.

  The CPU 29 executes operation control and data calculation according to the program 27a of the ROM 27 at a predetermined timing. For example, the CPU 29 determines a processing unit that should next transport each substrate based on the substrate information data 60 corresponding to each substrate.

  The control unit 30 (first control unit) is electrically connected to the processing units C00 to C08 and controls, for example, the substrate processing executed in the processing units C00 to C08. As shown in FIG. 1, the control unit 30 mainly includes a RAM 31, a ROM 32, and a CPU 34.

  The RAM 31 has the same hardware configuration as that of the RAM 26 and stores data used in the arithmetic processing of the CPU 34. For example, when a substrate is transferred between the processing units C00 to C08 and the substrate transport unit 20, the substrate information is transferred to the RAM 31 between the control unit 30 and the control unit 25 substantially in synchronization with the transfer of the substrate. Data 60 is stored (see FIG. 1). Further, when a plurality of substrates stay in the processing units C00 to C08, the RAM 31 stores a plurality of substrate information data 60.

  Here, “a plurality of substrates stays in the processing units C00 to C08” means, for example, (1) that one substrate stays in each of two processing units of the processing units C00 to C08. Or (2) two or more substrates may stay in one of the processing units C00 to C08.

  As shown in FIG. 1, the RAM 31 stores a recipe table 64a storing a plurality of recipes. Here, the recipe is data in which conditions (process IDs) for each substrate processing executed by the processing units C00 to C15 are stored, and corresponds to each record (row) of the recipe table 64a. The recipe table 64a may be transferred from the so-called large capacity storage unit (for example, hard disk drive: not shown) to the RAM 31 every time the control unit 30 is activated.

  Similar to the ROM 27, the ROM 32 is configured by a so-called nonvolatile storage unit. As shown in FIG. 1, the ROM 32 stores a program 32a, for example. As the ROM 32, a flash memory that is a readable / writable non-volatile memory may be adopted as in the ROM 27.

  The CPU 34 performs operation control and data calculation in accordance with the program 32a in the ROM 32. For example, the CPU 34 performs resist liquid temperature control and discharge control executed in the resist coating process of the processing unit C04 at a predetermined timing.

  The substrate transfer unit 40 is a transfer robot having a hardware configuration similar to that of the substrate transfer unit 20, and (1) rotates a transfer arm (not shown) around a turning axis extending in the vertical direction, and (2) vertical direction. (3) can be expanded and contracted in a horizontal plane. Thereby, the substrate transport unit 40 can deliver the substrate held by the transport arm to each of the plurality of processing units C09 to C15.

  The processing unit C09 is an exposure unit that exposes a fine pattern such as wiring to the resist film on the substrate on which the pre-exposure processing has been completed. As shown in FIG. 1, the processing unit C09 is located in a subsequent process of the processing units C00 to C08. Further, as shown in FIG. 1, the processing unit C09 is disposed in front of the processing unit C08 and behind the processing unit C10 toward the downstream side of substrate transport. Here, the operation of transferring the substrate from the processing unit C08 to the processing unit C09 may be executed by a transfer robot (not shown) of the processing unit C09.

  The processing units C10 to C15 perform various substrate processing as post-exposure processing. As shown in FIG. 1, the processing units C <b> 10 to C <b> 15 are arranged around the substrate transport unit 40 (more specifically, before and after the substrate transport unit 40 toward the downstream side of the substrate transport). Yes.

  The processing unit C10 is a developing unit that develops the exposed pattern by supplying a developing solution to the resist film on the substrate on which the exposure processing has been completed. Further, the processing unit C10 supplies a rinsing liquid (pure water) to the substrate, thereby washing away the developer adhering to the substrate. As shown in FIG. 1, the processing unit C10 is disposed behind the substrate transport unit 40 toward the downstream side of the substrate transport.

  Each of the processing units C11 and C12 is a heating unit that heats the substrate, and has the same hardware configuration as each other. When the substrate developed and cleaned in the processing unit C10 is carried into one of the processing units C11 and C12 and heat treatment (post-bake processing) is performed, the solvent and moisture in the resist are removed, and the resist film and Adhesion with the substrate is improved. The processing unit C13 is a cooling unit that cools the substrate. For example, the processing unit C13 cools the substrate that has been heated by the processing units C11 and C12. As shown in FIG. 1, the processing units C11 to C13 are disposed on the left side of the substrate transport unit 40 toward the downstream side of the substrate transport, and are stacked in this order from the top.

  The processing unit C14 is a removal unit that removes organic substances adhering to the substrate (for example, resist residues adhering to the substrate after development processing) by irradiating the substrate surface with ultraviolet rays. As shown in FIG. 1, the processing unit C14 is arranged on the left side of the substrate transport unit 40 toward the downstream side of the substrate transport.

  The processing unit C15 is an inspection unit that confirms the quality of the substrate processing performed by at least one processing unit among the processing units C00 to C14. As shown in FIG. 1, the processing unit C15 is disposed in front of the substrate transport unit 40 toward the downstream side of the substrate transport.

  The control unit 45 (second control unit) is electrically connected to the substrate transfer unit 40 and controls, for example, transfer processing executed by the substrate transfer unit 40. As shown in FIG. 1, the control unit 45 mainly includes a RAM 46, a ROM 47, and a CPU 49.

  The RAM 46 has a hardware configuration similar to that of the RAM 26, and stores data used in the arithmetic processing of the CPU 49. For example, when a substrate is transferred between the substrate transport unit 40 and each of the processing units C09 to C15, the substrate is transferred to the RAM 46 between the control unit 50 and the control unit 45 substantially in synchronization with the transfer of the substrate. Information data 60 is stored (see FIG. 1). In addition, when a plurality of substrates are held by the substrate transport unit 40, a plurality of substrate information data 60 is stored in the RAM 46.

  Similar to the ROM 27, the ROM 47 is configured by a so-called nonvolatile storage unit. As shown in FIG. 1, the ROM 47 stores, for example, a program 47a. As the ROM 47, a flash memory that is a readable / writable nonvolatile memory may be adopted as in the ROM 27.

  The CPU 49 executes operation control and data calculation according to the program 47a of the ROM 47 at a predetermined timing. For example, the CPU 49 determines a processing unit that should next transport each substrate based on the substrate information data 60 corresponding to each substrate.

  The control unit 50 (first control unit) is electrically connected to the processing units C09 to C15, and controls, for example, the substrate processing executed by the processing units C09 to C15. As shown in FIG. 1, the control unit 50 mainly includes a RAM 51, a ROM 52, and a CPU 54.

  The RAM 51 has a hardware configuration similar to that of the RAM 26, and stores data used in the arithmetic processing of the CPU 54. For example, when a substrate is transferred between each of the processing units C09 to C15 and the substrate transport unit 40, the substrate is transferred to the RAM 51 between the control unit 50 and the control unit 45 substantially in synchronization with the transfer of the substrate. Information data 60 is stored (see FIG. 1). Further, when a plurality of substrates stays in the processing units C09 to C15, the RAM 51 stores a plurality of substrate information data 60.

  As shown in FIG. 1, the RAM 51 stores a recipe table 64 a that stores a plurality of recipes, like the RAM 31. The recipe table 64a may be transferred to the RAM 51 from a so-called large-capacity storage unit (for example, hard disk drive: not shown) every time the control unit 50 is activated, for example.

  Similar to the ROM 27, the ROM 52 is configured by a so-called nonvolatile storage unit. As shown in FIG. 1, the ROM 52 stores, for example, a program 52a. As the ROM 52, a flash memory that is a readable / writable nonvolatile memory may be employed as in the ROM 27.

  The CPU 54 executes operation control and data calculation according to the program 52 a of the ROM 52. For example, the CPU 54 executes the developer temperature control and the discharge control executed in the developing process of the processing unit C10 at a predetermined timing.

  As shown in FIG. 1, the unloader 90 is arranged in parallel with the substrate processing unit 5 (more specifically, the processing unit C15). The unloader 90 receives the processed substrate processed by the substrate processing unit 5. The received substrate is stored in a corresponding slot in a cassette (not shown).

<1.2. Data structure of board information data>
FIG. 2 is a diagram showing an example of the data structure of the substrate information data 60 in the present embodiment. FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating an example of a data structure of the recipe table 64a. Here, the data structure of the board | substrate information data 60 memorize | stored in the control parts 25, 30, 45, and 50 and the recipe table 64a memorize | stored in the control parts 30 and 50 is demonstrated.

  The substrate information data 60 is information relating to a substrate delivered between the processing units C00 to C15 and the substrate transport units 20 and 40, and is generated for each substrate. Also, the board information data 60 is delivered from the control unit corresponding to the board delivery unit to the control unit corresponding to the reception unit substantially in synchronization with the board delivery.

  For example, when a substrate is delivered from the processing unit C00 to the substrate transport unit 20, the corresponding substrate information data 60 controls the receiving substrate transport unit 20 from the control unit 30 that controls the delivery processing unit C00. It is delivered to the control unit 25.

  As shown in FIG. 2, the board information data 60 has a plurality of characteristic data (for example, “board ID”, “cassette NO”, “slot NO”, “recipe ID”, “processing flow data”, etc.). doing. Moreover, as shown in FIG. 2, each characteristic data is stored in the corresponding storage parts 61-65.

  That is, the board ID storage unit 61 stores “board ID” (configured by numerical values, character strings, etc.) as data (board identification data) for uniquely identifying each board. Further, “cassette NO” is stored in the cassette NO storage section 62 as data for specifying the cassette in which the corresponding substrate is stored. Further, “slot NO” is stored in the slot NO storage unit 63 as data for specifying the substrate storage location (slot) in the cassette.

  The recipe ID storage unit 64 stores “recipe ID” as recipe-related data regarding the conditions (recipe) of each substrate processing. Here, the “recipe ID” is used to identify each recipe stored in the recipe table 64a. The data structure of the recipe table 64a will be described later.

  Further, “processing flow data” is stored in the processing flow storage unit 65 as data for specifying the processing procedure of each substrate. The data structure of “processing flow data” will be described later.

<1.3. Recipe Table Data Structure>
FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating an example of a data structure of the recipe table 64a. The recipe table 64a is a database that stores a plurality of recipes, and each row (record) of the recipe table 64a corresponds to a recipe. As shown in FIG. 3, the recipe table 64a mainly includes “recipe ID”, “cleaning process”, “application process”, “pre-bake”, “exposure process”, “development process”, and “post-bake”. It has fields (columns). For convenience of illustration, the recipe table 64a in FIG. 3 describes the substrate processing conditions of some processing units (processing units C00, C04, C06, C07, C09 to C12).

  The “recipe ID” field stores a value (numerical value, character string, etc.) for uniquely identifying each record included in the recipe table 64a. One of the values of “recipe ID” of each record is stored in the recipe ID storage unit 64 of the substrate information data 60.

  In the “cleaning process” field, a process ID (numerical value) that specifies conditions for the cleaning process executed by the processing unit C00 is stored. The “application process” field stores a process ID for specifying the conditions of the resist application process executed in the processing unit C04. In the “pre-bake” field, a process ID that specifies the conditions of the pre-bake process (heating process) executed in any of the processing units C06 and C07 is stored.

  In the “exposure process” field, a process ID for specifying the conditions of the exposure process executed by the processing unit C09 is stored. In the “development process” field, a process ID for specifying the conditions of the development process executed in the processing unit C10 is stored. Further, the “post-bake” field stores a process ID that specifies the conditions of the post-bake process (heating process) executed in one of the processing units C11 and C12.

  Here, the process ID stored in each field of “cleaning process”, “coating process”, “pre-bake”, “exposure process”, “development process”, and “post-bake” refers to the conditions of the corresponding substrate process. Is a value for uniquely identifying stored data (process data). Each process ID and each process data are associated one to one. Accordingly, the control units 30 and 50 can extract the corresponding process data by executing the search process using the process ID, and cause the corresponding processing units C00 to C15 to execute a desired process.

  In the present embodiment, different process IDs are assigned for each processing condition regardless of the same type of substrate processing and different substrate processing. Therefore, the process ID of a certain field is not stored in another field. For example, since there is a process ID with “cleaning process” = “1”, no other field has a process ID with “1”.

  However, since it is sufficient to identify each processing condition in the same type of substrate processing, the same process ID may be used in different fields. For example, any process ID from “1” to “30” may be stored for each field.

<1.4. Data structure of processing flow data>
FIG. 4 is a diagram showing an example of the data structure of the processing flow data 66a in the present embodiment. FIG. 5 is a diagram in which values of the processing status data and the order data stored in the processing flow data 66a are summarized in a table format (table form) for each processing unit C00 to C15.

  Here, the processing flow data 66a includes a plurality of processing status data and a plurality of order data. The control units 25 and 45 that control the transport processing of the substrate transport units 20 and 40 determine the transport order of the processing units C00 to C15 based on the processing flow data 66a.

  Further, as shown in FIG. 4, the processing flow data 66a is composed of a plurality of word data W00 to W04. In the present embodiment, each word data W00 to W04 is configured as a data string having a data capacity of 16 bits. Therefore, the processing flow data 66a can store 80-bit data.

  For each word data W00 to W04, the least significant bit position corresponds to the code D00, and the most significant bit position corresponds to the code D15. In the following description, the processing flow data 66a and processing flow data 66b and 66c (see FIGS. 6 to 9) described later are collectively referred to as processing flow data 66.

  The word data W00 stores processing status data (processing status flags) of the processing units C00 to C15. That is, each bit position D00 to D15 of the word data W00 has a one-to-one correspondence with each processing unit C00 to C15, and the processing status of the substrate in the corresponding processing unit (“processed” or “unprocessed”). Processing status data (1 bit data) indicating is stored.

  Here, when the value of the processing status data is “1” and “0”, it indicates that the substrate processing executed in the corresponding processing unit is “processed” and “unprocessed”, respectively. Therefore, the value (= “1”) of the bit position D00 indicates that the substrate processing (cleaning processing) is “processed” in the processing unit C00. On the other hand, the value (= “0”) of the bit position D13 indicates that the substrate processing (cooling processing) in the processing unit C13 is “unprocessed”.

  When the processing in the corresponding processing units C00 to C15 is completed, the control units 30 and 50 store “1” in the corresponding processing status data. For example, in FIGS. 4 and 5, when the substrate processing in the processing unit C13 is completed, the control unit 30 corresponding to the processing unit C13 (that is, controlling the processing unit C13) sets “1” to the bit position D13 of the word data W00. Is stored.

  The word data W01 to W04 store a plurality (16 in the present embodiment) of order data. Here, each of the plurality of order data has a one-to-one correspondence with each of the processing units C00 to C15, and the order of conveyance to the corresponding processing unit (as a result of the substrate processing executed in the corresponding processing unit). Order).

  As shown in FIG. 4, in word data W01, (1) bit positions D00 to D03, (2) bit positions D04 to D07, (3) bit positions D08 to D11, and (4) bit positions D12 to D15. Each 4-bit data stores the order data of the processing units C00 to C03.

  In the word data W02, 4 bits represented by (5) bit positions D00 to D03, (6) bit positions D04 to D07, (7) bit positions D08 to D11, and (8) bit positions D12 to D15. The data stores the order data of the processing units C04 to C07, respectively.

  In the word data W03, (9) bit positions D00 to D03, (10) bit positions D04 to D07, (11) bit positions D08 to D11, and (12) bit positions D12 to D15. The data stores the order data of the processing units C08 to C11, respectively.

  In the word data W04, (4) each represented by (13) bit positions D00 to D03, (14) bit positions D04 to D07, (15) bit positions D08 to D11, and (16) bit positions D12 to D15. The data stores order data of the processing units C12 to C15, respectively.

  For example, the value indicated by the bit positions D04 to D07 of the word data W04 is “11” (see FIG. 4). Therefore, it is understood from the processing flow data 66a that the order of the substrate processing (cooling processing) of the processing unit C13 is the eleventh.

Thus, the processing flow data 66 of the present embodiment is as shown in FIG.
(1) Word data W00 (first data) in which a plurality of processing status data (1-bit data) is continuously arranged in an order based on each processing unit C00 to C15 (for example, the order of codes given to each processing unit). 1 data column)
(2) word data W01 to W04 (second data string) in which a plurality of order data are continuously arranged in the order based on the processing units C00 to C15;
have.

<1.5. Substrate transport procedure using processing flow data>
FIG. 6 is a diagram illustrating a data structure of the processing flow data 66b. FIG. 7 is a diagram in which the processing status data and the order data values in the processing flow data 66b are summarized in a table format for each processing unit C00 to C15. FIG. 8 is a diagram illustrating a data structure of the processing flow data 66c. FIG. 9 is a table in which values of the processing status data and the order data in the processing flow data 66c are tabulated for each processing unit C00 to C15.

  Here, in the present embodiment, the control units 25 and 45 that control the transfer processing of the substrate transfer units 20 and 40 include the following rule A1 in the processing flow data 66 (66a to 66c) of each transferred substrate. By applying ~ A4, the processing units C00 to C15 of the transport destination are determined. Therefore, in the following, the rules A1 to A4 will be described, and the substrate transfer procedure executed by the control units 25 and 45 will be described.

  The process flow data 66b and 66c are data created for the convenience of explanation of the rules A1 to A4. Therefore, the processing procedure executed by the processing flow data 66b and 66c may be different from the processing procedure performed on the actual substrate.

<1.5.1. Rule A1>
The control units 25 and 45 determine the order in which the substrates are transported to the processing units C00 to C15 based on the magnitude relationship between the order data. Here, a case where substrates are transported in ascending order of the order data (ascending order) will be considered. The substrate is first transported to the processing unit C00 in which the order data has a minimum value (= “1”). In the processing flow data 66a (see FIGS. 4 and 5), the transport order of the processing unit C05 in which the order data value is “5” is next to the processing unit C04 (order data = “4”).

<1.5.2. Rule A2>
When the value of the order data to be noted is “0”, the control units 25 and 45 determine that the processing units C00 to C15 corresponding to the order data are transport exclusion units, and the transport exclusion unit is a substrate. Excluded from the destination. For example, in the processing flow data 66b (see FIGS. 6 and 7), “0” is stored in the order data of the processing unit C03. Accordingly, the substrate is not transported to the processing unit C03, and the substrate is not subjected to processing (cooling processing).

<1.5.3. Rule A3>
In addition, when the values of two or more order data of interest are values other than “0” and the values of the two or more order data are the same, the control units 25 and 45 correspond to these order data. The substrate is transported to any one of the processing units C00 to C15.

  For example, in the processing flow data 66a (see FIGS. 4 and 5), the processing units C01 and C02 have the same order data value (both are “2”). Therefore, the control unit 25 causes the substrate to be transferred to an acceptable unit among the processing units C01 and C02. As described above, the processing units C01 and C02 capable of performing the same type of substrate processing can select any one as the transfer destination, and each of these processing units C01 and C02 can be alternatively selected. Used as a simple processing unit (hereinafter, also simply referred to as “alternative selection unit”).

  Further, as shown in the processing flow data 66a, each of the processing units C06 and C07 and each of the processing units C11 and C12 can be used as an alternative selection unit.

  In addition, when a part (one or two or more) of processing units among a plurality of alternative selection units that can execute the same type of substrate processing is explicitly set as a transport destination, each corresponding order data includes The following values are set. That is, “0” is stored in the order data of processing units (one or more) that are excluded from the transport destination among the plurality of alternative selection units. On the other hand, the same value other than “0” (that is, any value from “1” to “15”) is stored in the sequence data of the processing unit (one or more) as the transport destination. The Thereby, only the processing unit in which the same value other than “0” is stored in the order data among the plurality of alternative selection units is set as the transport destination.

  For example, as shown in the processing flow data 66b (see FIGS. 6 and 7), for the processing units (alternate selection units) C11 and C12 capable of executing the same type of post-bake processing, the order data of the processing unit C11 includes “ “0” and “7” are stored in the order data of the processing unit C12. Therefore, only the processing unit C12 of the alternative selection units C11 and C12 is selected as the transport destination.

<1.5.4. Rule A4>
Furthermore, the control units 25 and 45 set the processing unit C00 to C15 whose processing status data value is other than “0” to the transport destination with the highest priority. For example, as shown in the processing flow data 66b, the substrate processing in the processing unit C10 is completed, and “1” is stored in the bit position D10 of the word data W00 by the control unit 50, and from the control unit 50 to the control unit 45. When the substrate information data 60 corresponding to is transferred, the control unit 45 of the substrate transport unit 40 sets the processing unit C12 as the next transport destination.

  Similarly, in the case of the processing flow data 66a, one of the processing units C11 and C12 is set as the next transport destination, and in the case of the processing flow data 66c (see FIGS. 8 and 9), the processing unit C13 is set as the next transport destination. The

<1.5.5. Substrate transport procedure according to rules A1 to A4>
When the above rules A1 to A4 are applied to the process flow data 66a, the control units 25 and 45 cause the substrate transfer units 20 and 40 to execute the next transfer process.

  That is, prior to substrate transport by the substrate transport unit 20, the substrate is carried into the processing unit C00 from the loader 10 side, and cleaning processing is performed in the processing unit C00. When the cleaning process is completed in the processing unit C00 and the substrate is transferred from the processing unit C00 to the substrate transport unit 20, the substrate transport unit 20 transports the received substrate to one of the processing units C01 and C02. The processing units C03, C04, and C05 are conveyed in this order. Subsequently, the substrate transport unit 20 transports the substrate received from the processing unit C05 to one of the processing units C06 and C07, and then transports the substrate to the processing unit C08.

  On the other hand, the substrate transport unit 40 completes the substrate processing in the processing units C08 to C10, transports the substrate received from the processing unit C10 to one of the processing units C11 and C12, and then transports the substrate to the processing unit C13. When the substrate processing in the processing unit C13 is completed, the substrate is carried out to the unloader 90 side.

  When the above rules A1 to A4 are applied to the process flow data 66b, the control units 25 and 45 cause the substrate transfer units 20 and 40 to execute the next transfer process.

  Here, as shown in FIG. 6 and FIG. 7, “0” is stored in the order data of the processing units C01 to C03, and the processing units C01 to C03 are excluded from the substrate transport destination. Yes. Therefore, when the cleaning process is completed in the processing unit C00 and the substrate is transferred from the processing unit C00 to the substrate transport unit 20, the substrate transport unit 20 transports the received substrate to the processing unit C04.

  Subsequently, the substrate transport unit 20 transports the substrate received from the processing unit C04 to one of the processing units C06 and C07 without passing through the processing unit C05, and then transports the substrate to the processing unit C08.

  Here, in the processing flow data 66b, only the “order data” of the processing unit C11 among the processing units C11 and C12 that can be used as the alternative selection unit is set to “0”. That is, in the processing procedure based on the processing flow data 66b, one processing unit C12 of the alternative selection units C11 and C12 is always selected, and the processing unit C11 is excluded from the substrate transport destination.

  Accordingly, the substrate transport unit 40 completes the substrate processing in the processing units C08 to C10, and transports the substrate received from the processing unit C10 to the processing unit C12. When the substrate processing in the processing unit C12 is completed, the substrate is carried out to the unloader 90 side.

  When the number of alternative selection units is 3 or more, the processing flow data 66 may be set so that the value of “order data” of at least one processing unit is “0”. In this case, some (one or more) processing units of the alternative selection units are selected.

  Further, when the above rules A1 to A4 are applied to the process flow data 66c, the control units 25 and 45 cause the substrate transfer units 20 and 40 to execute the next transfer process.

  Here, as shown in FIGS. 8 and 9, the same value (= “3”) other than “0” is stored in the order data of the processing units C01 and C02. Further, “2”, “5”, and “4” are stored in the order data of the processing units C03, C04, and C05, respectively. That is, in the processing units C01 to C03, the order in which the substrates are transferred to each processing unit is not the ascending order of the corresponding codes (C01 or C02 → C03) but the descending order (C03 → C01 or C02).

  As described above, when the processing flow data 66 of the present embodiment is used and substrate transport is performed, the substrate transport units 20 and 40 are not limited to the transport order assigned to each processing unit in advance, and are random. The substrate can be transferred to each processing unit in order.

  Therefore, when the cleaning process is completed in the processing unit C00 and the substrate is transferred from the processing unit C00 to the substrate transport unit 20, the substrate transport unit 20 transports the received substrate to the processing unit C03, and then the processing unit C01. , C02. The substrate transport unit 20 transports the substrates received from either of the processing units C01 and C02 in the order of the processing units C05 and C04. Then, the substrate transport unit 20 is transported to one of the processing units C06 and C07, and then transported to the processing unit C08.

  On the other hand, the substrate transport unit 40 completes the substrate processing in the processing units C08 to C10 and transports the substrate received from the processing unit C10 to one of the processing units C11 and C12, as in the case of the processing flow data 66a. After that, it is transported to the processing unit C13. When the substrate processing in the processing unit C13 is completed, the substrate is carried out to the unloader 90 side.

<1.6. Advantages of the substrate processing apparatus of the first embodiment>
As described above, the control units 25 and 45 (second control unit) according to the first embodiment refer to the processing flow data 66 of the substrate information data 60 delivered together with the substrates, and thereby each processing unit C00 to C00. The order of the substrate processing executed in C15 and the processing status (unprocessed or processed) of the substrates in the processing units C00 to C15 can be grasped.

  That is, the control units 25 and 45 serve as substrate transport destinations based on the plurality of processing status data stored in the word data W00 and the plurality of order data stored in the word data W01 to W04. Processing units C00-C15 can be determined.

  Thereby, the control parts 25 and 45 perform the procedure which conveys a board | substrate to each process unit based on the process flow data 66, without managing the log | history of each board | substrate process performed by several process units C00-C15. Can be determined. Therefore, the substrate processing apparatus 1 according to the first embodiment can simplify the calculation for determining the substrate transfer procedure, and can reduce the calculation cost.

<2. Second Embodiment>
Next, a second embodiment of the present invention will be described. Compared with the substrate processing apparatus 1 of the first embodiment, the plate processing apparatus 100 of the second embodiment is the substrate information data (more specifically, processing flow data) transferred between the control units. Except for the difference in data structure, this is the same as in the first embodiment. Therefore, in the following, this difference will be mainly described.

  In the following description, the same reference numerals are given to the same constituent elements as those in the substrate processing apparatus 1 of the first embodiment. Since the components with the same reference numerals have already been described in the first embodiment, description thereof will be omitted in the present embodiment.

<2.1. Data structure of processing flow data>
FIG. 10 is a diagram illustrating an example of a data structure of the processing flow data 166a in the present embodiment. The processing flow data 166 (166a) is data for specifying the processing procedure of each substrate, as with the processing flow data 66. As shown in FIG. 10, the process flow data 166a is composed of a plurality of word data W11 to W14.

  Here, each of the word data W11 to W14 is configured as a data string having a data capacity of 16 bits similarly to the word data W00 to W04 of the first embodiment. Accordingly, the processing flow data 166a can store 64-bit data.

  Similarly to the word data W00 to W04 in the first embodiment, the least significant bit position corresponds to the code D00 and the most significant bit position corresponds to the code D15 in the word data W11 to W14, respectively. .

  The word data W11 is composed of four unit data. As shown in FIG. 10, in word data W11, (1) bit positions D00 to D03, (2) bit positions D04 to D07, (3) bit positions D08 to D11, and (4) bit positions D12 to D15. Each 4-bit data to be processed corresponds to unit data of the processing units C00, C01, C02, and C03.

  In the word data W11, each unit data of the processing units C00 to C03 is composed of 1-bit processing status data and 3-bit order data. For example, the unit data of the processing unit C00 is composed of processing status data at the bit position D00 and order data at the bit positions D01 to D03. As described above, the processing status data and the order data constituting the unit data correspond to the same processing unit.

  Similarly, the unit data of the processing unit C01 is the processing status data of the bit position D04 and the order data of the bit positions D05 to D07, and the unit data of the processing unit C02 is the processing status data of the bit position D08 and the bit positions D09 to D11. The unit data of the processing unit C03 is composed of the processing status data at the bit position D12 and the order data at the bit positions D13 to D15.

  The word data W12 is composed of four unit data, like the word data W11. As shown in FIG. 10, in the word data W12, (1) bit positions D00 to D03, (2) bit positions D04 to D07, (3) bit positions D08 to D11, and (4) bit positions D12 to D15. Each 4-bit data to be processed corresponds to unit data of the processing units C04, C05, C06, and C07.

  In the word data W12, the unit data of the processing unit C04 is the processing status data at the bit position D00 and the order data at the bit positions D01 to D03, and the unit data of the processing unit C05 is the processing status data at the bit position D04 and the bit position. From the order data of D05 to D07, the unit data of the processing unit C06 is the processing status data of the bit position D08 and the order data of the bit positions D09 to D11, and the unit data of the processing unit C07 is the processing status data of the bit position D12. It consists of order data of bit positions D13 to D15.

  The word data W13 is composed of four unit data, like the word data W11 and W12. As shown in FIG. 10, in word data W13, (1) bit positions D00 to D03, (2) bit positions D04 to D07, (3) bit positions D08 to D11, and (4) bit positions D12 to D15. Each 4-bit data corresponding to the unit data of the processing units C08, C09, C10, and C11, respectively.

  In the word data W13, the unit data of the processing unit C08 is the processing status data at the bit position D00 and the order data at the bit positions D01 to D03, and the unit data of the processing unit C09 is the processing status data at the bit position D04 and the bit position. From the order data of D05 to D07, the unit data of the processing unit C10 is the processing status data of the bit position D08 and the order data of the bit positions D09 to D11, and the unit data of the processing unit C11 is the processing status data of the bit position D12. It consists of order data of bit positions D13 to D15.

  Further, the word data W14 is composed of four unit data, like the word data W11, W12, and W13. As shown in FIG. 10, in word data W14, (1) bit positions D00 to D03, (2) bit positions D04 to D07, (3) bit positions D08 to D11, and (4) bit positions D12 to D15. Each 4-bit data to be processed corresponds to unit data of the processing units C12, C13, C14, and C15.

  In the word data W14, the unit data of the processing unit C08 is the processing status data at the bit position D00 and the order data at the bit positions D01 to D03, and the unit data of the processing unit C09 is the processing status data and the bit position at the bit position D04. From the order data of D05 to D07, the unit data of the processing unit C10 is the processing status data of the bit position D08 and the order data of the bit positions D09 to D11, and the unit data of the processing unit C11 is the processing status data of the bit position D12. It consists of order data of bit positions D13 to D15.

  As described above, the processing flow data 166a of the present embodiment is obtained by continuously arranging the unit data in the order of the codes of the processing units C00 to C15 (ascending order of the codes) as shown in FIG. is there.

  Here, the processing flow data 166a of the present embodiment is compared with the processing flow data 66b of the first embodiment. FIG. 11 is a diagram in which values of the processing status data and the order data in the processing flow data 166a are summarized in a table format (table form) for each processing unit C00 to C15. As shown in FIGS. 6, 7, 10, and 11, the data structure of the processing flow data 166a is different from that of the processing flow data 66b. On the other hand, the values of the processing status data and the order data stored in both processing flow data 66b and 166a are the same. Therefore, when the above rules A1 to A4 are applied to both processing flow data 66b and 166a, the same substrate transport procedure is executed from both processing flow data 66b and 166a.

  The data size of the processing flow data 166a (total data capacity: 64 bits) is smaller than the data size of the processing flow data 66 (total data capacity: 80 bits). Therefore, the amount of data communication (transmission / reception) between the control units 25, 30, 45, and 50 is reduced, and the processing load of data communication performed between the control units 25, 30, 45, and 50 can be reduced.

  As described above, the substrate transfer procedure executed by the process flow data 166a is the same as the substrate transfer procedure executed by the process flow data 66b, and has been described in the first embodiment. Therefore, the description is omitted here.

<2.2. Advantages of Substrate Processing Apparatus According to Second Embodiment>
As described above, the substrate processing apparatus 100 according to the second embodiment can determine a procedure for transporting a substrate to each of the processing units C00 to C15 based on the processing flow data 166 (166a). Therefore, similarly to the substrate processing apparatus 1 of the first embodiment, the substrate processing apparatus 100 of the second embodiment can simplify the calculation for determining the substrate transfer procedure and reduce the calculation cost. Can be reduced.

  Further, the data size of the processing flow data 166 used in the second embodiment is smaller than the data size of the processing flow data 66 used in the first embodiment. Therefore, the processing load of data communication executed between the control units 25, 30, 45, and 50 is reduced.

<3. Third Embodiment>
Next, a third embodiment of the present invention will be described. Compared with the substrate processing apparatus 100 of the second embodiment, the substrate processing apparatus 200 of the third embodiment has a value stored in the processing flow data 266 of the substrate information data 260 and a transfer destination processing unit. The second embodiment is the same as the second embodiment except that the rule for determining C00 to C15 is different. Therefore, in the following, this difference will be mainly described.

  In the following description, the same components as those in the substrate processing apparatuses 1 and 100 of the first and second embodiments are denoted by the same reference numerals. Since the components with the same reference numerals have been described in the first and second embodiments, description thereof will be omitted in the present embodiment.

<3.1. Substrate transport procedure using processing flow data>
FIG. 12 is a diagram showing a data structure of the processing flow data 266a in the present embodiment. FIG. 13 is a diagram in which the processing status data and the order data values in the processing flow data 266a are summarized in a table format for each processing unit C00 to C15.

  FIG. 14 is a diagram showing a data structure of the processing flow data 266b in the present embodiment. FIG. 15 is a table in which the values of the processing status data and the order data in the processing flow data 266b are tabulated for each processing unit C00 to C15.

  Here, in the present embodiment, the control units 25 and 45 that control the transfer processing of the substrate transfer units 20 and 40 include the following rule B1 in the processing flow data 266 (266a and 266b) of each transferred substrate. By applying ~ B5, the processing units C00 to C15 of the transport destination are determined. Therefore, in the following, the rules B1 to B5 will be described, and the substrate transport procedure executed by the control units 25 and 45 will be described.

  As shown in FIGS. 12 and 14, the processing flow data 266 is composed of a plurality of word data W11 to W14, like the processing flow data 166a of the second embodiment. Further, the processing flow data 266 is obtained by continuously arranging the unit data in the order of the codes of the processing units C00 to C15 (ascending order of the codes), like the processing flow data 166a of the second embodiment. is there.

<3.1.1. Rule B1>
In principle, the control units 25 and 45 cause the processing units C00 to C15 to transport the substrates based on a predetermined processing order of the processing units C00 to C15. In the present embodiment, the substrates are transported to the processing units C00 to C15 in the order of the assigned codes C00 to C15 (for example, ascending order of the codes). In addition, the control units 25 and 45 correct the predetermined processing order based on the following rules B2 to B5, and determine the order in which the substrates are transported to each processing unit.

<3.1.2. Rule B2>
When the value of the target order data is “0”, the control units 25 and 45 determine that the processing units C00 to C15 corresponding to this order data are transport exclusion units, and the transport exclusion unit transports the substrate. Excluded first. For example, in the processing flow data 266b (see FIGS. 14 and 15), “0” is stored in the order data of the processing units C01 to C03. Therefore, the substrate processed by the processing unit C00 is not transferred to the processing units C01 to C03 but is transferred to the processing unit C04.

<3.1.3. Rule B3>
When the value of the order data to be noted is “1”, the control units 25 and 45 determine that the processing units C00 to C15 corresponding to the order data are always indispensable processing units to be transported by the substrate. Then, the substrate is transported to this essential processing unit.

  For example, in the processing flow data 266a (see FIGS. 12 and 13), “1” is stored in the order data of the processing units C03 to C05, and these processing units C03 to C05 are all transported. It becomes a target. Therefore, the transport order of the processing units C03, C04, and C05 is the ascending order of the corresponding codes (C03 → C04 → C05).

<3.1.4. Rule B4>
If the values of the two or more order data items of interest are values other than “0” and “1” and the two or more order data values are the same, the control units 25 and 45 The substrate is transported to any one of the alternative selection units corresponding to the order data.

  For example, in the processing flow data 266a (see FIGS. 12 and 13), the processing units (alternate selection units) C01 and C02 have the same value of the order data (both are “2”). Therefore, the control unit 25 causes the substrate to be transferred to an acceptable unit among the processing units C01 and C02.

  Further, as shown in the processing flow data 266a, each of the processing units C06 and C07 and each of the processing units C11 and C12 can be used as an alternative selection unit.

  In addition, when some (one or two or more) processing units among a plurality of alternative selection units are explicitly set as transport destinations, the following values are set in the corresponding order data. That is, “0” is stored in the order data of processing units (one or more) that are excluded from the transport destination among the plurality of alternative selection units. On the other hand, the order data of the processing unit (one or more) as the transport destination includes the same value other than “0” and “1” (that is, any value from “2” to “7”). ) Is stored. Thereby, only the processing unit in which the same value other than “0” and “1” is stored in the order data among the plurality of alternative selection units is set as the transport destination.

  For example, as shown in the processing flow data 266b (see FIG. 14 and FIG. 15), for the processing units (alternate selection units) C11 and C12 that can execute the same post-bake processing, the order data of the processing unit C11 includes “ “0” and “3” are stored in the order data of the processing unit C12. Therefore, only the processing unit C12 of the alternative selection units C11 and C12 is selected as the transport destination.

<3.1.5. Rule B5>
Furthermore, the control units 25 and 45 set the processing unit C00 to C15 having the processing status data value “0” as the transport destination with the highest priority. For example, as shown in the processing flow data 266b, the substrate processing in the processing unit C10 is completed, and the control unit 50 stores “1” in the bit position D08 of the word data W13. When the substrate information data 60 corresponding to is transferred, the control unit 45 of the substrate transport unit 40 sets the processing unit C12 as the next transport destination.

  Similarly, in the case of the processing flow data 266a, one of the processing units C11 and C12 is set as the next transport destination.

<3.1.6. Substrate transport procedure according to rules B1 to B5>
When the above-described rules B1 to B5 are applied to the process flow data 266a, the control units 25 and 45 cause the substrate transfer units 20 and 40 to execute the next transfer process.

  That is, prior to substrate transport by the substrate transport unit 20, the substrate is carried into the processing unit C00 from the loader 10 side, and cleaning processing is performed in the processing unit C00. When the cleaning process is completed in the processing unit C00 and the substrate is transferred from the processing unit C00 to the substrate transport unit 20, the substrate transport unit 20 transports the received substrate to one of the processing units C01 and C02. The processing units C03, C04, and C05 are conveyed in this order. Subsequently, the substrate transport unit 20 transports the substrate received from the processing unit C05 to one of the processing units C06 and C07, and then transports the substrate to the processing unit C08.

  On the other hand, the substrate transport unit 40 completes the substrate processing in the processing units C08 to C10, transports the substrate received from the processing unit C10 to one of the processing units C11 and C12, and then transports the substrate to the processing unit C13. When the substrate processing in the processing unit C13 is completed, the substrate is carried out to the unloader 90 side.

  As described above, the substrate transfer procedure executed by applying the above-described rules B1 to B5 to the process flow data 266a and the above-described rules A1 to A4 applied to the process flow data 66a of the first embodiment are executed. The substrate transfer procedure to be performed is the same.

  Further, when the above-described rules B1 to B5 are applied to the process flow data 266b, the control units 25 and 45 cause the substrate transfer units 20 and 40 to execute the next transfer process.

  Here, as shown in FIGS. 14 and 15, “0” is stored in the order data of the processing units C01 to C03, and the processing units C01 to C03 are excluded from the substrate transport destination. Yes. Therefore, when the cleaning process is completed in the processing unit C00 and the substrate is transferred from the processing unit C00 to the substrate transport unit 20, the substrate transport unit 20 transports the received substrate to the processing unit C04.

  Subsequently, the substrate transport unit 20 transports the substrate received from the processing unit C04 to one of the processing units C06 and C07 without passing through the processing unit C05, and then transports the substrate to the processing unit C08.

  As described above, the substrate transfer procedure executed by applying the above-described rules B1 to B5 to the process flow data 266b, and the above-described rules A1 to A4 applied to the process flow data 66b of the first embodiment. The substrate transfer procedure to be performed is the same.

  Here, in the processing flow data 266b, only the “order data” of the processing unit C11 among the processing units C11 and C12 that can be used as the alternative selection unit is set to “0”. That is, in the processing procedure based on the processing flow data 266b, the processing unit C12 is always selected from the alternative selection units C11 and C12, and the processing unit C11 is excluded from the substrate transport destination.

  Accordingly, the substrate transport unit 40 completes the substrate processing in the processing units C08 to C10, and transports the substrate received from the processing unit C10 to the processing unit C12. When the substrate processing in the processing unit C12 is completed, the substrate is carried out to the unloader 90 side.

  When the number of alternative selection units is 3 or more, the processing flow data 266 may be set so that the value of “order data” of at least one processing unit is “0”. In this case, some (one or more) processing units of the alternative selection units are selected.

<3.2. Advantages of Substrate Processing Apparatus According to Third Embodiment>
As described above, the substrate processing apparatus 200 according to the third embodiment can determine a procedure for transporting a substrate to each of the processing units C01 to C15 based on the processing flow data 266 (266a, 266b). Therefore, the substrate processing apparatus 200 according to the third embodiment can simplify the calculation for determining the substrate transfer procedure, similarly to the substrate processing apparatuses 1 and 100 according to the first and second embodiments. This can reduce the calculation cost.

  The data size (64 bits) of the processing flow data 266 used in the third embodiment is smaller than the data size (80 bits) of the processing flow data 66 used in the first embodiment. Therefore, the processing load of data communication executed between the control units 25, 30, 45, and 50 is reduced.

<4. Modification>
Although the embodiments of the present invention have been described above, the present invention is not limited to the above embodiments, and various modifications can be made.

  (1) In the present embodiment, the processing units C00 to C08 are controlled by the control unit 30 and the processing units C09 to C15 are controlled by the control unit 50. However, the present invention is not limited to this. For example, the processing units C00 to C08 may be controlled by two or more control units 30, and the processing units C09 to C15 may be controlled by two or more control units 50. In addition, dedicated control units 30 and 50 may be provided for each of the processing units C00 to C15. In this case, the total number of the control units 30 and 50 is 16.

  As described above, when two or more control units 30 are used, each control unit 30 performs substrate processing executed by at least one processing unit among the processing units C00 to C08, and each control unit 50 performs processing unit C09. It suffices that at least one processing unit among C15 can be controlled.

  (2) In the first to third embodiments, the order data of the transport exclusion unit has been described as “0”. However, the value of the order data indicating the transport destination exclusion is limited to this. Not a thing.

  For example, a range of values that can be expressed as order data (in the case of the first embodiment, a range of “0” to “15”, in the case of the second and third embodiments, “0” to “7”). ”(Provided that the order data is an unsigned variable)), a predetermined value is defined in advance as a non-processing constant. Then, when the order data to be noted has the same value as the non-processing constant, the processing units C00 to C15 corresponding to the order data may be excluded from the transport destination. That is, the value of the non-processing constant is not limited to “0”.

  (3) In the third embodiment, the order data of the essential processing unit has been described as “1”. However, the value of the order data indicating that it is always a transfer target is limited to this. Not a thing.

  For example, a predetermined value other than a non-processing constant among a range of values that can be expressed as order data is defined in advance as a single processing constant. When the order data to be focused on has the same value as the single processing constant, the processing units C00 to C15 corresponding to the order data may be necessarily transported. That is, the value of the single processing constant is not limited to “1”.

  (4) In the first and second embodiments, the substrate transferred from the processing units C00 to C08 on the substrate transfer unit 20 side to the processing units C09 to C15 on the substrate transfer unit 40 side is again Although described as what is not conveyed by the board | substrate conveyance unit 20 side, it is not limited to this. The processing units C00 to C15 are configured so that the substrate transported to the substrate transport unit 40 side is transported again to the substrate transport unit 20 side, and processing is performed so that such a substrate transport procedure can be executed. Each order data of the flow data 66 and 166 may be set.

  In this case, for example, the substrate transport unit 20 can transport the substrate processed by the processing unit C11 on the substrate transport unit 40 side to the processing unit C03 on the substrate transport unit 20 side. That is, the substrate transport units 20 and 40 can transport the substrates in a random order regardless of the arrangement of the processing units C00 to C15.

  (5) Furthermore, although the data size of the order data in the first, second, and third embodiments has been described as 4 bits, 3 bits, and 3 bits, respectively, the data size of the order data is However, the present invention is not limited to this, and may be determined according to the total number of processing units or the number of alternative selection units.

1, 100, 200 Substrate processing apparatus 20, 40 Substrate transport unit 25, 45 Control unit (second control unit)
30, 50 control unit (first control unit)
60, 160, 260 Substrate information data 66 (66a to 66c), 166a, 266 (266a, 266b) Processing flow data C00 to C15 Processing units W00 to W04, W11 to W14 Word data

Claims (5)

A substrate processing apparatus,
(a) a plurality of processing units each for processing a substrate;
(b) a substrate transfer unit that transfers a substrate to and from each of the plurality of processing units;
(c) a first control unit that controls substrate processing executed in at least one processing unit of the plurality of processing units;
(d) a second control unit that controls a transfer process executed by the substrate transfer unit;
With
Among the plurality of processing units, when the substrate is transferred between the first processing unit whose substrate processing is controlled by the first control unit and the substrate transport unit, the first and second controls The control unit corresponding to the unit on the delivery side among the units delivers the substrate information data regarding the substrate to be delivered to the control unit corresponding to the unit on the reception side,
The board information data is
Recipe related data on the conditions of each substrate processing,
Process flow data for specifying the processing procedure of each substrate,
The processing flow data is
Each of the plurality of processing units has a one-to-one correspondence with the plurality of processing units, and a plurality of order data indicating the order of substrate processing performed in the corresponding processing units;
Each of the plurality of processing units has a one-to-one correspondence, and a plurality of processing status data indicating the processing status of the substrate in the corresponding processing unit;
Have
The substrate processing apparatus, wherein the second control unit determines a processing unit to be a substrate transfer destination based on the plurality of order data and the plurality of processing status data included in the processing flow data. The substrate processing apparatus according to claim 1,
The second controller is
i) Determine the order in which the substrates are transported to each processing unit based on the magnitude relationship of each order data,
ii) When the target sequence data has the same value as the non-process constant, exclude the processing unit corresponding to the sequence data from the substrate transport destination,
iii) When each of the two or more order data items of interest has a value other than a non-processing constant, and the two or more order data are the same as each other, any of the processing units corresponding to the two or more order data One of them is a substrate processing apparatus for transporting a substrate. The substrate processing apparatus according to claim 1,
The second controller is
i) determining the order in which the substrates are transported to each processing unit based on the predetermined processing order of the processing units and the value of each order data;
ii) If the target sequence data has the same value as the non-processing constant, exclude the processing unit corresponding to the sequence data from the transport destination,
iii) When the target sequence data has the same value as the single processing constant, the substrate is transferred to the processing unit corresponding to the sequence data,
iv) Processing corresponding to two or more order data when each of the two or more order data of interest has a value other than a non-processing constant and the single processing constant, and the two or more order data are the same. A substrate processing apparatus, wherein a substrate is transferred to any one of the units. The substrate processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein:
The processing flow data is
A first data sequence in which the plurality of processing status data are continuously arranged in an order based on the plurality of processing units;
A second data sequence in which the plurality of order data are continuously arranged in an order based on the plurality of processing units;
A substrate processing apparatus comprising: The substrate processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein:
The processing flow data is
When the corresponding processing status data and sequence data are unit data,
A substrate processing apparatus, wherein each unit data is continuously arranged in an order based on the plurality of processing units.

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