JPS6365073A - Remote diagnosing system for film forming device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To develop a remote diagnosing system which makes exact and quick diagnos of a vacuum film forming device and resets the device quickly to a normal state by providing an operation monitor controller and remote diagnosing device to the film forming device, connecting both with a communication line at need and transferring the stored data of the operation monitor controller. CONSTITUTION:The film forming device is constituted of a chamber 1 which houses the work to be subjected to a film forming treatment on the surface, a vacuum evacuation system 2 for said chamber, the film forming operation controller 3 which controls the film forming process in the chamber 1 and an operation panel 4 for an operator to give instructions. The operation monitor controller 10 is provided thereto in order to leave the time serial records of the film forming operation. The input and output to and from the film forming controller 3 are stored time serially into the memory of said controller. The film forming device is provided with the remote diagnosing device 12 which diagnoses the abnormality of the film forming device by analyzing the stored data. The device is connected to the operation monitor controller 10 through the communication line at need to transfer the stored data. The abnormality of the film forming device is thus diagnosed and the abnormal part is quickly and exactly reset to the normal state.

Description

[Detailed description of the invention] (Industrial application field) This invention achieves 1! The present invention relates to a remote diagnosis system for remotely diagnosing abnormalities in equipment.

(Conventional technology and its problems) Control of film forming equipment that forms films on the surfaces of workpieces such as substrates and disks involves controlling the degree of vacuum in the vacuum chamber,
It consists of gas release heating control, film formation control, and flow rate and pressure management of cooling water, air, and gas. If an abnormality occurs in these control systems, the film quality will be poor, and due to the complex interrelationships of the control systems as described above, it requires extensive knowledge of film formation and the ability to estimate or discover abnormalities. Equipment operation skills and many years of experience are required. The reality is that there are only a few excellent maintenance engineers who have this kind of knowledge and experience, and once a failure occurs on the user's side, it takes a considerable amount of time for a maintenance engineer to be dispatched, diagnose the abnormality, and restore the system. There was a problem that it required

Furthermore, since the diagnosis of abnormal parts is complicated as described above, there is also the problem that it is difficult for even a maintenance engineer to diagnose quickly and accurately.

(Objective of the Invention) Therefore, the object of the present invention is to solve the problems of the above-mentioned prior art, and to solve the problem in the film forming apparatus easily and quickly without the need for maintenance engineers who require special knowledge and experience when a failure occurs in the film forming apparatus. It is an object of the present invention to provide a remote diagnosis system for a film forming apparatus that can accurately diagnose an abnormal part and, as a result, speed up recovery to a normal state.

(Means for Achieving the Object) In order to achieve the above object, a remote diagnosis system for a film forming apparatus according to the present invention is attached to a film forming apparatus, and has a configuration IQ H
an operation monitor controller that monitors the input/output status of the LIT and stores it in chronological order; and an operation monitor controller that is located at a remote location from the film forming apparatus and analyzes the data stored in the operation monitor controller to detect abnormalities in the film forming apparatus. The operation monitor controller is connected to the remote diagnostic device via a communication line as necessary, and the stored data is transferred to perform the diagnosis. .

(Embodiment) The drawing is a block diagram showing an embodiment of a remote diagnosis system for a film forming apparatus according to the present invention. The film forming apparatus includes a chamber 1 that accommodates a workpiece to be tested, a vacuum evacuation system 2 that evacuates the inside of the chamber 1, and controls the film forming process within the chamber 1 by controlling these chamber 1 and the evacuation system 2. The system is comprised of a film forming operation controller 3, and an operation panel 4 through which an operator gives commands.

The chamber 1 is equipped with an opening/closing door 1n1a on the front, and the chamber interior is equipped with a workpiece rotation jig 1b and an electron gun/crucible 1C, as well as devices necessary for controlling the film-forming process such as a film-forming monitor and air pressure, temperature, and pressure sensors (not shown). Various types of sensors are installed to detect all types of information.

The film deposition operation controller 3 controls the electron gun power supply 6 via the electron gun controller 5, and also controls each other mechanism in the chamber 1 via the data I10 controller 7! 1
1I111. Various data representing the current state of the chamber 1 are taken into the film deposition operation controller 3 via the data I10 controller 7.

The vacuum exhaust system 2 is an oil rotary pump 2 for rough evacuation.
a, and a diffusion pump 2b for performing high vacuum evacuation. Inside the chamber 1, an oil rotary pump 2a and a main valve 2d are connected via a luffing valve 2C.
and the atmosphere through a leak valve 2e, and a vacuum gauge 2f and an oil rotary pump 2 are connected to the exhaust path leading into the chamber.
A vacuum pump 2q is attached to each exhaust path leading to a. The oil rotary pump 2a is connected to the diffusion pump 2b via a foreline valve 2h to exhaust back pressure, and a vacuum gauge 21 is attached to the back pressure exhaust path. The evacuation system 2 further includes a gas source 2j of a necessary gas to be introduced into the evacuated chamber, and the gas source 2j is connected to the chamber via a gas valve 2k.

Pumps 2a, 2b, valves 2c, 2d, 2e.

2h, 2 and the gas source 2j are equipped with sensors to know the respective conditions, and the information is provided as data I10.
The data is taken into the film deposition operation controller 3 via the controller. The film forming operation controller 3 controls the rotation of the pumps 2a and 2b and the valve 2 via the vacuum exhaust control section 8.
G, 2d, 2e.

The opening and closing of 2h is controlled by t. The film forming operation controller 3 also controls the opening and closing of the introduction gas valve 2 via another control unit 9, as well as controlling auxiliary mechanisms (not shown) of the vacuum exhaust system 2, such as cooling water for the oil diffusion pump 2b. Do the following. This auxiliary mechanism is also equipped with a sensor for knowing its current state, and the information is taken into the film deposition operation controller 3 via the data I10 controller 7.

The operation monitor controller 10 stores and accumulates the input/output states of the film forming operation controller 3 in a chronological manner in a memory in order to keep a chronological record of the film forming operation. For this purpose, the operation monitor controller 10 samples the contents of the necessary data exchanged between the film-forming operation controller 3, the operation panel 4, the controllers 5 and 7, and the control section 8.9 at a sampling period of, for example, about 10 m5ec. The time at which each input or output state changes is registered in memory. For example, items and status changes such as main valve - open - output one time X"x'x" main valve - manual power one time Y"Y'Y" main valve - closed - output one time Z"Z'Z" and the time of day are registered in memory. For analog outputs (approximately 0 to 1 cm) of vacuum gauges, electron gun emission currents, film thickness monitors, etc., each preset value is set in consideration of the memory capacity a and the characteristics of changes in each analog output. The time and input voltage (A/D
The converted value) is registered in the memory in the same manner as described above. Examples of input/output items that should be sampled and monitored include the following:

Input sampling Rotation status of oil rotary pump 2a Overheating status of diffusion pump 2b Opening/closing status of roughing valve 2C Opening/closing status of main valve 2C Opening/closing status of leak valve 2e Opening/closing status of foreline valve 2h Opening/closing status of vacuum gauge 2f Vacuum status of vacuum gauge 20 Vacuum status of vacuum gauge 21 Vacuum level of vacuum gauge 21 Pressure of cooling water Flow rate of cooling water Open/close status of gas valve 2 Pressure of introduced gas Flow of introduced gas Open/close status of door 1a Temperature inside chamber chamber Pressure status Work rotation status Electron gun emission setting status Film thickness monitor status output Sampling Oil rotary pump 2a operating output Diffusion pump 2b operating output Roughing valve 2C open/close output Main valve 2d open/close output Leak valve 2e open/close Output Opening/closing of the foreline valve 2h Output Opening/closing of the cooling water valve Output Opening/closing of the gas valve 2 Operation output of the operation panel 4 Opening/closing of the door 1a In this way, the operation monitor controller 1o controls the operation process of the film forming apparatus. Create a sampling file of input/output status and time. On the other hand, a remote diagnostic device 12 is installed in the maintenance database headquarters 11 located far from the film forming apparatus, and the operation monitor controller 10 and the remote diagnostic device 12 can be connected via a communication line 14 via modems 13a and 13b. It has become. If a problem occurs in the film forming apparatus and remote diagnosis is required, for example, the sampling file can be sent to the communication port I by an operator's instruction from the operation panel 4. 14, the data is transferred to the remote diagnosis bag N12.

The remote diagnostic device 12 receives data transferred from the film forming device and creates a file. After the reception is completed, confirm that there are no errors and zero-code the file. If there is an error, receive it again.

The remote diagnostic device 12 determines the response time and operating time of each device from the data of the sampling file, and creates an actual operation sequence of the film forming apparatus. In abnormal areas, operation may be interrupted, the operating time may be longer, or the operating waveform may be different, so it is possible to accurately diagnose the abnormal area. The actual operation sequence is printed on the printer 12a, for example,
This allows the maintenance engineer to accurately know the progress of the abnormality. This result is immediately communicated to, for example, a maintenance engineer who is directly in charge of the device, and the maintenance engineer can take appropriate action in a short time even without special knowledge or experience.

In addition, it is possible to replace parts before a failure occurs based on variations in the operation of the printed out actual operation sequence (a sign of a failure), which significantly improves maintenance techniques and shortens the recovery time in the event of a failure. can.

(Effects of the Invention) As explained above, according to the present invention, the operation monitor controller stores the input/output status of the film forming apparatus in chronological order, and remotely diagnoses the VT device via the communication line as needed. Since abnormalities can be diagnosed by connecting the system to the system and transferring the stored data, it is possible to diagnose abnormalities easily and quickly without the need for maintenance engineers who require special knowledge and experience when a failure occurs in the film deposition equipment. Moreover, it is possible to accurately diagnose the abnormal part, and as a result, recovery to the normal state can be accelerated.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

The drawing is a block diagram showing an embodiment of a remote diagnosis system for a film forming apparatus according to the present invention. 10...Operation monitor controller 12...Remote diagnosis device 14...Communication line

Claims (1)

[Claims] (1) An operation monitor controller that is attached to the film deposition apparatus and that monitors the input/output status of the film deposition apparatus and stores it in chronological order; and an operation monitor controller that is located at a remote location from the film deposition apparatus. and a remote diagnostic device for diagnosing abnormalities in the film forming apparatus by analyzing data stored in the film forming apparatus, and the operation monitor controller is connected to the remote diagnostic device via a communication line as necessary, and the stored data is transmitted to the remote diagnostic device. A remote diagnosis system for a film forming apparatus that performs the above-mentioned diagnosis by transmitting data.