JPH06120265A - Manufacture of semiconductor - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To control the whole line, especially the conveyer system of manufacturing equipment by providing host computers that monitor the controllers in stockers for controlling the conveyer system as well as the controllers for a plurality of manufacturing devices. CONSTITUTION:A stocker 200 is provided with an identifier reader 220, which reads identifiers of magazines. An identifier read is sent to host computers 1, 2,..., which in turn perform the lot management of magazines. The host computers are interconnected through communications means to monitor the processing of magazines. Thus, the whole line flows smoothly, and idle time is reduced.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention stores a work piece such as a lead frame, a ceramic package or a substrate in a magazine and carries it into a line head device of a series of lined manufacturing devices. The present invention relates to a semiconductor manufacturing method in which a magazine in which the processed parts are stored again after the step (1) is carried out from the apparatus and sequentially conveyed to each apparatus in the next step in the same procedure.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art A conventional automated manufacturing line having a line arrangement has a transport control mode as follows. That is, as shown in FIG. 4, the parts to be machined (lead frames, etc.) are provided for each manufacturing apparatus that takes charge of each step of the assembly process and between the previous manufacturing apparatus and the next manufacturing apparatus that are arranged between the respective apparatuses. Each of the conveyors for carrying also has a control unit. Then, each control unit independently controls the corresponding device.

For example, when the control section of the conveyer A recognizes that the work piece has been received, it determines whether the manufacturing apparatus B is empty, and if the manufacturing apparatus B is empty, the work piece is manufactured. When it conveys to B, and the conveyor B also recognizes that the workpiece is received, the manufacturing apparatus C
Is determined to be empty, and if the manufacturing apparatus B is in an empty state, the workpiece is transferred to the manufacturing apparatus C, and the control units of the respective conveyors independently control the corresponding conveyors. Was there. It should be noted that the control unit of each manufacturing apparatus only processes the workpiece if it recognizes that the workpiece has been conveyed.
In addition, a predetermined number of parts to be processed are stored in a magazine, and processing is performed in units of this magazine.

For example, one magazine is sent to the manufacturing apparatus A for processing, and when all the processing of the workpieces in the one magazine is completed in the manufacturing apparatus A, that one magazine is transferred to the next manufacturing apparatus B. Was sent to.

[0005]

However, the conventional device as described above has the following drawbacks.

Since the transport system between each device is individually controlled, the loss is increased from the viewpoint of the entire line. Since a control unit is required for each of the plurality of conveyors provided, the cost is high in the line. When one manufacturing apparatus stops, the corresponding conveyer also stops (for example, if the manufacturing apparatus B stops in FIG. 4, the conveyor belt B also stops), the flow of the entire line is Even if the processing of one magazine is completed in a certain manufacturing device (for example, manufacturing device B), the processing of the previous magazine is not completed in the manufacturing device (for example, manufacturing device C) of the next process. In the manufacturing apparatus B, the magazine that has been processed cannot be conveyed, and the manufacturing apparatus B cannot process a new magazine during that time.

Further, as the number of transport conveyors increases with the increase in the number of devices for forming the line, the number of transport conveyors increases with the increase in the number of devices for forming the manufacturing line, and new control of the transport conveyors is performed. A system is required, and a control program is also required according to the transfer control system. Since each magazine is controlled on each conveyor, each magazine needs to be recognized in order to recognize the flow of the entire line (lot management). Along with the provision of an identifier, a device for reading the identifier is required for each device, resulting in a high cost, which requires a great deal of cost and labor, and there is a problem that the line configuration is not flexible. It was

In view of the above problems, an object of the present invention is to provide a semiconductor manufacturing method having flexibility and capable of controlling the whole line, particularly the control of the transfer system, from the viewpoint of the whole line.

[0009]

According to a first aspect of the present invention, there is provided a predetermined number of lead frames, each of which has a series of line-arranged manufacturing apparatuses and a plurality of conveyors for connecting the manufacturing apparatuses. , A magazine containing parts to be processed such as a ceramic package, or a semiconductor manufacturing method for sequentially processing the single parts to be processed by the transfer conveyor to each manufacturing apparatus, wherein the plurality of transfer conveyors are While controlling as a series of transfer processing lines, it is equipped with a host computer that monitors the control unit in the stock device that controls the transfer conveyor and the control unit of the plurality of manufacturing devices, lot management, production management such as device drive management, Also, the conveyance control of the magazine is performed.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, the series of manufacturing apparatuses and a conveyor for connecting the manufacturing apparatuses are divided into several units to form a device group, and a stock device for a magazine is provided for each device group. When a processing process of one magazine is completed in a certain device group by controlling the transfer conveyor provided between the devices by the control unit provided in the stock device, the next device group is When the magazine cannot be received, the magazine is stored in the stock device, and the processing process of the next magazine is started in the certain device group.

[0011]

In the invention described in claim 1, since the control unit and the conveyer of the plurality of manufacturing apparatuses are monitored by the host computer, it is not necessary to exchange data between the respective manufacturing apparatuses and between the conveying conveyors. As a result, the flow as a whole line becomes smooth and time loss can be reduced. In addition, even if the number of transport conveyors is increased along with the addition of manufacturing equipment, it is not necessary to increase the control system of the transport conveyors, and the control of the added transport conveyors by the control unit of the stock device can be controlled together with other transport conveyors. Become.
Further, even if one manufacturing apparatus in the line is stopped, the transport conveyor is not controlled because it is controlled by another system, and the flow of the entire line is not stopped.

Further, in the invention described in claim 2,
For example, when the processing of one magazine is completed in a certain device, even if the next process is in the production process, the magazine containing the processed workpieces is returned to the stock device once On the other hand, a magazine containing new unprocessed parts is supplied, and the processing is continued in the apparatus. Further, when performing lot management of magazines, it is only necessary to provide a device for reading the magazine identifier for each device group, it is not necessary to provide each device, and the number of devices for reading the identifier can be reduced.

[0013]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a system configuration of a semiconductor manufacturing line according to an embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a block diagram of a control unit of the semiconductor manufacturing line, and FIG. It is the figure which showed the state of transfer of the to-be-processed component.

A plurality of manufacturing apparatuses A, B ... (300, 5)
00 ... n00) is, for example, a die bonding device, a wire bonding device, a precoat device, or the like. Between the plurality of manufacturing apparatuses A, B ... (300, 500 ...
+1) 00) is provided. Conveyor A, B ・
.. (400, 600 .. (n + 1) 00) is controlled by the stock device 200. One device group (manufacturing device) is the above manufacturing device A, B ... (300, 50).
0 ... N00) and the conveyors A, B ... (40
0,600 ... (n + 1) 00) and stock device 20
0, and a plurality of these device groups are provided (device groups 1, 2, ...). Each device group 1, 2 ...
Are controlled by the host computers 100, 200, ...
00 ... Can communicate with each other.

Each manufacturing apparatus A, B ... (300, 500)
..N00) are the device control units 310, 510, ...
Equipped with 10. Device control units 310, 510, ... N1
0 is the device mechanical drive unit 320, 520 of the corresponding device.
The n20 is driven to operate the manufacturing apparatus. Each of the device control units 310, 510, ...
Being monitored by.

.. (n +)
1) 00 is controlled by the stock device 200 as described above. The stock device 200 has a control unit 21.
0, a magazine identifier reading unit 220, and a driving unit 230. On the other hand, the transfer conveyors 400, 600, ... (n
+1) 00 is the I / O signal transmitting / receiving unit 410, 610 ...
(N + 1) 00, drive units 420, 620 ... (n + 1)
Equipped with 20. I / O signal transmitting / receiving unit 410, 610
.. (n + 1) 10 is the processing state of the corresponding manufacturing apparatus,
For example, it is for performing communication such as that the manufacturing process is being performed or that the manufacturing process has been completed. Drive unit 420, 62
0 ... (n + 1) 20 are conveyors 400, 600 ...
-Move the magazine by operating (n + 1) 00.
The control unit 210 of the stock device is the host computer 100.
Being monitored by.

A semiconductor manufacturing procedure by the semiconductor manufacturing apparatus configured as described above will be described.

First, each manufacturing apparatus 300, 500 ...
The flow of parts to be processed (lead frame, etc.) inside is as shown in FIG. First, the magazine containing the unprocessed parts is transferred from the conveyor to the magazine setting section in the apparatus and set. Unprocessed parts to be processed are taken out from this magazine to a processing section in the apparatus and processed in a processing stage. When the processing is completed, the processed parts are stored in the processed parts storage magazine set in the apparatus. In this way, the unprocessed components in the unprocessed component storage magazine are sequentially processed and stored in the processed component storage magazine. Note that the magazines that have become empty after the unprocessed workpieces have been sequentially taken out are transferred to the conveyor and transported, and then transferred to the machine as a machined parts storage magazine and set again. It

Manufacturing apparatus A (300), manufacturing apparatus B (50
0) ... In the manufacturing apparatus n (n00), the processed parts in the transported magazine are processed in the above-described procedure. On the other hand, as described above, the plurality of manufacturing devices constitute the device groups 1, 2, ...
Each has a stock device 200. The stock device 200 controls the carrying state of the magazine for each of the device groups 1 ,. For example, the device group 1 will be described as an example. When the manufacturing devices 300, 500 ... N00 have finished processing all parts in the magazine and are ready to process new unprocessed parts (standby state), the manufacturing devices 300, 500.
・ N00 is the I / O signal transmitting / receiving unit 410, 610 ・ (n
+1) 10 is used to notify the control unit 210 of the stock device 200 that manages the transport system of the device group 1 that the processing has been completed by an electrical signal. Receiving this signal, the control unit 210 of the stock device outputs a transport control signal to the drive units 420, 620, ... (n + 1) 20 of the transport conveyor to transport the magazine. First, after the magazine in which the processed parts are stored is transferred to the transfer conveyor at the transfer section, if the device (device group 2) in the subsequent process is in the magazine accepting state, the magazine is transferred to the subsequent process. However, if the device group 2 is in a state where the magazine cannot be received (processing of the previous magazine is being executed), the processed magazine of the device group 1 is returned to the stock device 200. Stock device 20
The magazine of 0 is sent to the device group 2 when the device group 2 becomes ready for receiving. On the other hand, the processed magazine is used as a post-process device (device group 2) or stock device 20.
The device sent to 0 (manufacturing device of device group 1) can receive a new magazine.

The stock device 200 includes a magazine identifier reading device 220, and reads the identifier of the magazine conveyed to the device group. The read identifier is sent to the host computer, and the magazine lot is managed by the host computer. Communication means (electrical communication) is provided between the high-order computers 1, 2, ..., The high-order computers communicate with each other to monitor the processing state of the magazine.

[0021]

According to the present invention, the following effects can be obtained.

Since the control units and the conveyors of a plurality of manufacturing apparatuses are monitored by the host computer, there is no need to exchange data between each manufacturing apparatus and each conveyor, and the flow of the entire line becomes smooth. Therefore, it is not necessary to increase the control system of the transfer conveyor even if the transfer conveyor is expanded along with the increase of the manufacturing equipment, and the cost is low. One manufacturing device in the line is stopped. Even if the transport conveyor is controlled by a separate system, it does not stop and processing can be continued without loss.The number of identifier reading devices for magazine lot management can be reduced and the cost is reduced. .

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a configuration of a semiconductor manufacturing line according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram of a control unit of the semiconductor manufacturing line.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing a flow of a work piece in one manufacturing apparatus.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing a configuration example of a conventional semiconductor manufacturing line.

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. A series of manufacturing apparatuses arranged in a line and a plurality of conveyors for connecting the respective manufacturing apparatuses,
In a semiconductor manufacturing method in which a predetermined number of lead frames, a magazine containing workpieces such as ceramic packages, or a single workpiece to be processed is sequentially transported to each manufacturing apparatus by the transport conveyor and processed. While controlling a plurality of transfer conveyors as a series of transfer processing lines, it is equipped with a host computer that controls the stock device control unit that controls the transfer conveyors and the control units of the plurality of manufacturing devices, and lot management, device drive management A semiconductor manufacturing method, characterized in that production control of a magazine and the like, and conveyance control of a magazine are performed. 2. A series of manufacturing apparatuses and a conveyor for connecting between the manufacturing apparatuses are divided into a plurality of groups to form a group of apparatuses, and a magazine stock device is provided for each group of apparatuses.
When the processing of one magazine in one device group is completed by controlling the conveyer provided between the devices by the control unit provided in the stock device, the next device group is set to A method for manufacturing a semiconductor device, characterized in that, when the magazine cannot be accepted, the magazine is stored in the stock device and the processing of the next magazine is started in the certain device group.