JPH09205061A - On-line semiconductor aligner and method for dealing with trouble of communication line - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To operate as an on-line system even interruption of Ethernet by switching duplex communication lines of serial connection and Ethernet connection depending on the state thereof. SOLUTION: In an on-line semiconductor aligner 102 connected with an on-line control/supervision system comprising a host computer 101 according to a semiconductor substrate production system communication standard conforming to SEMI, a duplex communication line of a serial connection line 104 comprising an RS-232 and SECS-1 and an Ethernet connection line 103 comprising a TCP/IP and HSMS is employed. The two communication lines 103, 104 detect the state of communication line of semiconductor aligner 102 and switches the communication line depending on the detected state.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an online semiconductor exposure apparatus which is online connected to a host computer such as a factory.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In recent years, semiconductor manufacturing plants have become online, and semiconductor exposure equipment (steppers, etc.)
emiconductor Equipment an
d Material International)
It is more often connected via a compliant protocol (SECS-I / SECS-II) to an online control / monitoring system of a host computer in a semiconductor factory. Also, instead of the conventional combination of RS-232C (American Electronics Industry Association standard) and SECS-I, Ethernet and TCP / IP (Transmission Co.) are used.
ntrol Protocol / Internet P
rotocol) and HSMS (Highspeed)
By using a combination of SECS Message Services, it is often the case that a large size and a large amount of messages are continuously transferred at high speed. In these online systems, only one of SECS-I and HSMS corresponds to the semiconductor exposure apparatus, and even if there is a backup line, the same type of physical layer is used.

[0003]

Conventionally, in such an online system using TCP / IP and HSMS, there is a risk of increasing traffic on the network. In that case, the network is interrupted and the network is restored. Until then, the online system could not be operated.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide an online semiconductor exposure apparatus capable of operating as an online system even when a failure occurs such as when the network of Ethernet is cut off while the online system of HSMS is operating.

[0005]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention, which has been made to achieve the above object, is an online control / monitoring system using a host computer, which is connected using a semiconductor manufacturing equipment communication standard compliant with SEMI. In the corresponding semiconductor exposure apparatus, RS-232C and S
Communication line by serial connection composed of ECS-I, etc., Ethernet, TCP / IP and HSMS
The line is duplicated by the communication line by the Ethernet connection composed of the above. Then, with respect to these two communication lines, a failure occurs on the communication line by means for detecting the state of the communication line included in the semiconductor exposure apparatus and means for switching between the communication lines according to the detected state. However, it is controlled by automatic switching so as not to hinder the operation of the online system.

In the online exposure semiconductor exposure apparatus according to the present invention, the status detecting means includes a failure detecting means for detecting a line failure on the network by the Ethernet connection and a recovery of the line failure on the network by the Ethernet connection. It is desirable to have recovery detection means for detecting. Further, it is desirable that the online semiconductor exposure apparatus according to the present invention has a failure reporting means for reporting the failure occurrence to the host computer when the line failure occurs.

A line failure is usually dealt with by the following procedure by the on-line semiconductor exposure apparatus of the present invention having these communication line control means.

First, the failure detection means of the semiconductor exposure apparatus detects a network failure when a failure occurs in the communication line due to the Ethernet connection, and the line switching means switches the communication line from the Ethernet connection to the serial connection. Next, the fault reporting means reports to the host computer that a line fault has occurred in the network segment to which the semiconductor exposure apparatus belongs via the communication line by the serial connection. When the line failure is recovered, the recovery detecting means detects the recovery of the communication line by the Ethernet connection, and the line switching means switches the communication line from the serial connection to the Ethernet connection.

Therefore, the communication line failure handling method according to the present invention is, in the online semiconductor exposure apparatus, a step of detecting the state of the communication line by the Ethernet connection, and an online operation even if a failure occurs on the communication line. It is a communication line failure handling method including a step of mutually switching the double communication lines according to a detection state in the step so as not to hinder the operation of the system.

Further, the state detecting step includes a step of detecting a line failure when a failure occurs in the communication line due to the Ethernet connection, and the switching step changes the communication line from the Ethernet connection when the line failure is detected. It is preferable that the method includes a step of switching to a serial connection, and the switching step includes a step of switching the communication line from the serial connection to the Ethernet connection when the line failure of the communication line due to the Ethernet connection is recovered. And a step of reporting to the host computer that a line fault has occurred in the network segment to which the semiconductor exposure apparatus belongs via the communication line of the serial connection when the fault of the communication line of the Ethernet connection occurs. desirable.

[0011]

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION The present invention will be described below through embodiments of the present invention.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram for explaining the system configuration of an online-compatible semiconductor exposure apparatus according to the embodiment of the present invention. In FIG. 1, 101 (1011 to 1012)
Is a host computer for accommodating the online system in the factory, and the semiconductor exposure apparatus group 102 (1021 to 1021) in the factory by the SECS or HSMS protocol.
2) is connected. The online control / monitoring system of the semiconductor exposure apparatus group 102 is housed in the host computer 101 via the Ethernet 103 and the RS232C line 104. Ethernet communication network 103
Is installed for LAN communication in the factory. As the form of the Ethernet communication network 103, 10BASE-2 / 5 that uses a coaxial cable, 10BASE-T that is connected in a star shape using a twisted pair wire, and the like are widely used. As the protocol between the host (host computer) and the semiconductor exposure apparatus in this Ethernet communication network 103, HS with TCP / IP as the lower layer is used.
MS is used. Further, in general, in the Ethernet communication network 103, it is often the case that data is simultaneously transmitted / received by a protocol other than TCP / IP. The RS232C communication line 104 connects the host computer 101 and the semiconductor exposure apparatus 102 one to one. Host computer 1
01 and the semiconductor exposure apparatus 102 are RS232C communication line 1
Communication via the SECS-I protocol. The RS232C communication line 104 may be bundled with a plurality of serial lines by a multiplexer (line multiplexer) on the way.

FIG. 2 shows an online semiconductor exposure apparatus 1
It is a hardware block diagram of 02. The online-compatible semiconductor exposure apparatus 102 is different from the standalone one in that an Ethernet LAN interface for online connection and an RS-232C serial interface are added.

In FIG. 2, 201 is a console CP
U controls the display of the console screen of the semiconductor exposure apparatus 102 and the operation of the console panel. 202 is a RAM for the CPU 201 to store an execution program and data, 203 is a ROM for storing programs, 204 is an auxiliary storage device (hard disk etc.) for storing data and programs, and 205 is a host computer 101. A LAN interface for communicating via the Ethernet communication network 103.
0BASE5, 10BASE2 or 10BASE-
Various standards such as T are used. 206 is a serial interface for communicating with the host computer 101 via the RS232C communication line 104. Reference numeral 210 is a main CPU that generally controls various control devices included in the semiconductor exposure apparatus 102. 211
Is an illuminating device that controls a light source for exposing a semiconductor manufacturing wafer, and 212 is for controlling loading and unloading of a reticle (photomask) on which a pattern for exposing a semiconductor manufacturing wafer is drawn. Reticle drive device,
Reference numeral 213 is a stage driving device for driving and controlling a wafer for semiconductor manufacturing in order to expose the wafer for semiconductor manufacturing in a step-and-repeat manner, and 214 is for accurately positioning and controlling the wafer for semiconductor manufacturing. It is a TV system for alignment. These 211,
The devices 212, 213 and 214 are placed under the control of the main CPU 210 by a bus 215 for peripheral devices. The peripheral device bus 215 uses SCSI here, but may be configured by any general-purpose standard bus.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing the operation of this system. In the flowchart, in the online network in the semiconductor factory, the operation when a failure occurs on the Ethernet communication line 103 and the network failure of the Ethernet communication network from the semiconductor exposure apparatus side are detected, and RS-232C and SECS-I Described below is the operation of reporting to the host computer 101 that a network failure has occurred in the network segment to which the semiconductor exposure apparatus 102 belongs after switching to communication in the configuration.

First, the flow step S30 in FIG.
In 1, the network failure is detected. Known procedures for detecting a fault in the network include methods such as detection of a timeout in each communication layer and reception of a packet notifying the occurrence of a network fault. After detecting the network fault in the flow step S301, the stepper (exposure apparatus 102) performs the post-fault processing after step S302. In step S302, first, the flag indicating the communication state is determined, and it is determined whether communication is in progress. If communication is not in progress even in the online connection state, the process proceeds to step S310, the current transmission / reception state is stored in the storage device, and the process proceeds to step S306. If communication is in progress in step S302, it is determined in step S303 whether or not a command is being transmitted. If the command is being transmitted, the transmission process is interrupted (step S307) and the process proceeds to step S310. If the command is not being transmitted in step S303, the process proceeds to step S304 and it is determined whether or not the command is being received. If the command is being received, the data being received is discarded from the buffer (S3
08), the reception waiting state is cleared (S309), and the process proceeds to step S310. If the command is not being received in step S304, it is determined whether or not it is in the command reception waiting state (S305). If it is in the command receiving state in step S305, the process proceeds to step S309 to clear the reception waiting state. After the reception waiting state is cleared in step S309, the process proceeds to step S310.
After the network failure post-processing is completed, step S3
Move to 06.

In step S306, the communication means is set to RS2.
32C is switched to serial communication, and the communication means performs inquiry processing to the host 101. In the past, it was considered to switch to the backup network of the same media when a network error occurred, but even if switching is performed with the same media (here Ethernet), in this case each terminal will switch to the backup network of the same media. If used, it can be said that the same network failure is likely to occur because the traffic on the network remains unchanged. In the present invention, by using another serial communication means, the recurrence of the network failure is prevented and this point is improved.

Next, after making an inquiry to the host 101, the response of the host 101 is judged in step S311, and if the host 101 responds, the host is notified of a network failure. Since the host computer 101 accommodates networks of various segments, it was not possible to detect from the host 101 even if a part of the network segment failed in the related art, but the present invention improves this point. The host can detect the failed network segment.

Then, in step S313, step S
The communication is resumed from the communication state stored in 310 by using the serial communication means. This is the process in the case where there is no response from the host even when using the serial line when making an inquiry to the host in step S311, but here the online process is simply interrupted in step S314.

FIG. 4 is a flow chart showing the operation in another embodiment of the present invention. First, step S40
In 1 and step S402, a loop waiting for network recovery is configured. This is a separate process in implementation. As a method of detecting the recovery of the network in step S402, a known method may be a method of detecting a transmission response of a heartbeat packet on Ethernet, a method of notifying a failure recovery from a host, or the like. When failure recovery is detected in step S402, step S403
Switch to Ethernet connection (TCP / IP + HSM
Inquiry to the host 101 is started by the communication means by S). If the host 101 responds (S404), the host 101 is notified of the completion of the communication means switching and the network restoration (S405). If there is no response from the host 101, switching of the communication means is simply interrupted here (S406).

Conventionally, after switching to another line or backup line, after the network was restored, it was supposed to be restored manually, but in the present invention, failure restoration is automatically detected and automatically restored. Original Ethernet connection (TC
By returning to P / IP + HSMS) communication, the load for dealing with failures is reduced. The present invention improves on this point.

[0022]

As described above, according to the present invention,
Even if the online system is normally operated in the Ethernet network, the semiconductor exposure apparatus can be an online-compatible semiconductor exposure device that is resistant to network failures.

That is, according to the present invention, when a network failure occurs, by using a serial communication means different from the communication means that is normally operated, the recurrence of the network failure that may occur when a backup line of the same medium is used. It has the effect of preventing it.

Further, by detecting the restoration of the network from the semiconductor exposure apparatus side and providing a means for automatically switching to the communication control method during the normal operation, it is possible to reduce the load which is conventionally required for the restoration. There is an effect.

Further, by providing means for reporting to the host computer that a network abnormality has occurred in the network segment to which the semiconductor exposure apparatus belongs, it is possible to grasp in detail the network fault for each segment that the host computer could not know. Then, there is an effect that it can be useful for coping with the obstacle.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating a system configuration of an online semiconductor exposure apparatus according to an embodiment.

FIG. 2 is a hardware configuration diagram illustrating a hardware configuration of an online semiconductor exposure apparatus according to an embodiment.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart illustrating an operation after a network failure according to an exemplary embodiment.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart illustrating an operation after recovery from a network failure according to an embodiment.

[Explanation of symbols]

101 (1011, 1012): host computer,
102 (1021, 1022): semiconductor exposure apparatus, 20
1: CPU for console, 202: RAM, 203: R
OM, 204: auxiliary storage device (HDD), 205: LA
N interface, 206: serial interface,
207: X terminal for console (display and operation), 20
8: Main CPU bus, 209: Ethernet communication network,
210: main CPU, 211: illumination device, 212: reticle drive device, 213: stage drive device, 214:
TV system, 215: Bus for peripheral devices.

Claims (8)

[Claims] 1. An online exposure semiconductor exposure apparatus, which is connected to an online control / monitoring system using a host computer using the SEMI-compliant semiconductor manufacturing equipment communication standard, including a dual communication line by serial connection and Ethernet connection. An online-compatible semiconductor exposure apparatus comprising: a state detection unit that detects a state of the communication line; and a line switching unit that switches the communication line to each other according to the detected state. 2. The online exposure semiconductor exposure apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the state detection means has a failure detection means for detecting a line failure on a network due to an Ethernet connection. 3. The online exposure semiconductor exposure apparatus according to claim 2, wherein said state detecting means further comprises recovery detecting means for detecting recovery from a line fault occurring on the network due to the Ethernet connection. 4. The on-line semiconductor exposure apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising a failure reporting means for reporting a failure occurrence to a host computer when a line failure occurs. Corresponding semiconductor exposure equipment. 5. An online exposure semiconductor exposure apparatus, which is connected by a dual communication line by a serial connection and an Ethernet connection, using a semiconductor manufacturing equipment communication standard compliant with SEMI for an online control / monitoring system using a host computer, The step of detecting the state of the communication line by the Ethernet connection; and the step 2 according to the detection state in the step so that the operation of the online system is not hindered even if a failure occurs on the communication line. A method for coping with a communication line failure, which has a step of switching between heavy communication lines. 6. The state detecting step includes a step of detecting a line failure when a communication line failure occurs due to the Ethernet connection, and the switching step, when the line failure is detected, changes the communication line from the Ethernet connection. The communication line fault handling method according to claim 5, further comprising a step of switching to a serial connection. 7. The communication according to claim 6, wherein the switching step includes a step of switching the communication line from the serial connection to the Ethernet connection when the line failure of the communication line due to the Ethernet connection is recovered. How to deal with line failure. 8. When a communication line failure due to the Ethernet connection occurs, the communication line via the serial connection is used,
7. The communication line fault handling method according to claim 6, further comprising the step of reporting to the host computer that a line fault has occurred in the network segment to which the semiconductor exposure apparatus belongs.