KR100257904B1 - System for evaluating environment of cleanroom - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE: An environment evaluating system of a clean room is provided to improve the efficiency of the environment evaluating system by connecting a signal transmitting section to a measuring device and connecting a signal receiving section to a host computer. CONSTITUTION: An environment evaluating system comprises a plurality of measuring devices(52) which are installed at predetermined positions in a clean room for measuring the environment condition of the clean room. A plurality of signal transmitting sections(54) are connected to the measuring devices(52) so as to transmit the measuring data in a wireless manner. A signal receiving section is installed in the clean room so as to receive the wireless signal from the signal transmitting sections(54). A host computer(60) is connected to the signal receiving section so as to analyze the measuring data.

Description

Clean Room Environmental Evaluation System

The present invention relates to an environmental evaluation system of a clean room, and more particularly, the environmental conditions of the clean room are often measured by the movement of the measuring device, and the difficult part of the measurement uses an automatic transport robot, and particularly, wireless measurement data. The present invention relates to an environmental evaluation system of a clean room that transmits and receives an environmental evaluation.

Clean rooms in which semiconductor manufacturing processes are performed are classified into various grades according to their cleanliness. Cleanliness is divided by the number of particles of a certain size per unit area, which must be measured from time to time to maintain a certain level of cleanliness.

In addition to the particles, maintaining a constant temperature, humidity and pressure is also very important for clean room management.

In particular, accidental accidents are expected to determine the point where it may affect the cleanliness, and the measurement must be made at all times, and continuous cleanliness measurement is required while moving inside the floating clean room.

The environmental evaluation of a conventional clean room includes appropriate firmware for connecting the sensors, counters and analyzers connected to the host computer for environmental evaluation by cable, and setting up the data in advance. This was done using the adopted FMS (Facility Monitoring System). In addition, the environmental evaluation was performed by accessing the area where the problem directly occurred by using a mobile evaluation facility by a worker's operation.

However, this method of evaluation has some problems as follows.

First, since most sensors and analyzers used in the system are fixed, it is easy to grasp the overall level of the clean room for the installed area, but the operator directly uses the mobile evaluation equipment for the parts that the system cannot reach. It was measured by. This has a problem in that a separate system must be built during long-term monitoring.

In addition, the evaluation of a manufacturing facility for manufacturing a highly integrated product to minimize the impact from external pollutants should be made within a range that does not interfere with the process progress conditions, such as by opening the door of the manufacturing facility or measuring the actual process The internal evaluation of the manufacturing equipment, such as the measurement is performed without proceeding was not made in the actual situation that the process is progressed, there was a problem that the measurement is limited.

As described above, in the related art, a new system for long-term monitoring is required for environmental evaluation, such as cleanliness of clean rooms and manufacturing facilities, and there is a problem in that accurate evaluation cannot be performed due to limited environmental evaluation of local parts and the like.

An object of the present invention is to connect a transmitter to a measuring device for measuring the environment of a clean room, and to connect a receiver to a host computer for managing the clean room. To provide an environmental assessment system.

Another object of the present invention is to provide an environmental evaluation system of a clean room in which a measurement facility is mounted on a vehicle to be automatically transported so that the environment of a predetermined area can be evaluated while moving.

It is still another object of the present invention to provide an environmental evaluation system of a clean room in which a measuring device and a host computer that perform environmental measurement while moving are wirelessly transmitted and received to each other to control operation.

1 is a block diagram schematically showing an embodiment according to an environmental evaluation system of a clean room according to the present invention.

Figure 2 is a block diagram showing an embodiment of an environmental evaluation system of a clean room by transfer according to the present invention.

3 is a plan view showing a part of a clean room for implementing FIG.

Figure 4 is a partial view showing a state in which the measuring device is installed on the conveying apparatus installed on the rail according to the present invention.

5 is a view showing an embodiment of the environmental evaluation using the automatic transport robot according to the present invention.

6 is a block diagram showing an embodiment of environmental evaluation by radio and automatic transfer according to the present invention.

FIG. 7 is a diagram illustrating a specific embodiment of FIG. 6.

※ Explanation of codes for main parts of drawing

10, 22, 36, 40, 46, 52, 66, 80: measuring device 12: transmitter

14: receiver 16, 24, 60, 76: host computer

18, 32, 62: rail 20, 34, 64: transport vehicle

26: Clean Room 28: Equipment Area

30: service area 38, 44, 78: automatic return robot

42 filter 48 manufacturing equipment

50: vehicle driver 54, 58, 68, 74, 82: transceiver

56: relay unit 72: the first computer

Clean room environmental evaluation system according to the present invention for achieving the above object, a plurality of measuring means which is installed at a specific location of the clean room to measure the environmental conditions of the clean room, respectively connected to the plurality of measuring means and measured A plurality of transmitters for converting signals and transmitting them wirelessly; a receiver installed in the clean room and receiving and converting a radio signal transmitted from the transmitter; and a receiver connected to the receiver and analyzing the measurement data in a predetermined range. A host computer is provided for comparison and evaluation of the values.

Then, the measuring means is installed in an automatic transport robot moving by a preset program and the environmental conditions are measured.

The plurality of measuring means includes a particle measuring device, a temperature measuring device, a humidity measuring device, a pressure measuring device, and the like.

In addition, the plurality of transmitters may be transmitted including an identification code for distinguishing the position and the measurement item of each measuring means.

Clean room environmental evaluation system according to the present invention for achieving the above object, the rail is installed in the clean room to form a predetermined path, the transport means installed on the rail and moving the predetermined path as set in the installation, the transport means And a plurality of measuring means for measuring environmental conditions in the clean room and a host computer connected to the measuring means by wire and evaluating according to predetermined setting criteria of the measured result.

Preferably, the predetermined path forms one closed loop.

And, the rail is composed of rails having two or more different paths.

In addition, the rail is preferably installed on the upper layer of the clean room to maintain a predetermined height.

The conveying means moves on the rail while maintaining a constant speed.

And, it is preferable that the transfer means to move on the rail at an irregular speed.

And, the conveying means is to be stopped for a predetermined time at a specific position of the rail.

In addition, the environmental evaluation can be made by installing the measuring means in the automatic transport robot separately in the clean room.

Clean room environmental evaluation system according to the present invention for achieving the above object, the rail is installed in the clean room to form a predetermined path, the transport means installed on the rail and moving the predetermined path as set in the installation, the transport means A plurality of measuring means for measuring environmental conditions in the clean room, a plurality of transmitters connected to the plurality of measuring means in a one-to-one manner, respectively, for converting signal and wirelessly transmitting the measured data; And a host computer connected to the receiver and receiving and converting a radio signal to be transmitted. The host computer analyzes the measurement data and compares and evaluates the measured data.

And, the rail is formed of two or more.

In addition, the conveying means is preferably made to set the feed rate freely.

Then, the magnitude of the magnetic field generated by the output signal of the transmitter is less than 1 milli gauss (mG).

In addition, the plurality of transmitters preferably include transmission data, an identification symbol for distinguishing each transmission data, a position of the measurement means, and a measurement field.

Further, a relay transceiver may be further provided between the transmitter and the receiver for extending and relaying a transmission / reception distance.

The host computer is further configured to monitor and evaluate the clean room.

In addition, the host computer is preferably configured to output a control feedback signal to the measuring means and the transfer means by the environmental evaluation results.

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

Referring to FIG. 1, according to the first embodiment of the present invention, the transmitter 12 is connected to a measuring device 10 fixedly installed in a specific area, and the receiver 14 receives the radio transmission of the transmitter 12. Through the host computer 16 is configured to be connected.

Specifically, the transmitter 12 is fixedly installed in a specific area of the clean room and connected to a measuring device 10 for measuring the environment of the clean room and receiving the measurement data and modulating it together with the carrier wave for wireless transmission.

The signal wirelessly transmitted through the transmitter 12 is input to the host computer 16 through the receiver 14. The signal conversion method in the transmitter 12 and the receiver 14 is by modulation and demodulation of the transmission and reception method which performs a normal communication method.

A second embodiment according to the present invention will be described with reference to Figs.

According to FIG. 2, the conveying vehicle 20 is installed on the rail 18 which has a predetermined | prescribed path | route in a clean room, and the measuring apparatus 22 is provided here. The host computer 24 is finally connected to the measuring device 22.

By such a configuration, the measuring device 22 is installed in the transport vehicle 20 moving on the rail 18, so that the measuring operation is performed while moving. The measured data is connected to a host computer 24 connected through a wire and analyzed to take appropriate measures based on predetermined setting criteria.

FIG. 3 shows an example of an automatic transfer in the clean room 26. In the clean room 26, the facility area 28 in which the facility is placed and the service area 30 for service are divided and symmetrically. Divided.

Double rails 18 and 32 are provided between symmetrical regions. The rails 18 and 32 are provided with transport vehicles 20 and 34 for moving the object, and the transport vehicles 20 and 34 are provided with measuring devices 22 and 36 for measuring environmental elements.

In the service area 30, an automatic transport robot 38 driven by a program is provided with the measurement device 40 mounted thereon.

In the environmental evaluation system of the clean room by the automatic transfer configured as described above, the measuring devices 22 and 36 installed in the transport vehicles 20 and 34 circulating the clean room 26 along the rails 18 and 32 are moved. While the environmental factors are continuously measured, the automatic transport robot 38 is made by measuring the environmental factors of the local parts of the equipment is not easy to measure.

Specifically, the conveying vehicles 20 and 34 are equipped with particle measuring instruments, temperature and humidity measuring instruments, pressure measuring instruments and differential pressure measuring instruments, and the degree of contamination on any copper wire in which the rails 18 and 32 are installed and moved. Is measured. The measuring devices 22 and 36 are set by the operator in advance for measuring time, period and place, and in particular, when a measurement of a specific part of the moving line is required, the rail 18 or the rail 32 is selected to transfer the vehicle 20. Alternatively, the measurement may be continuously performed while the transport vehicle 34 is stopped.

In addition, the measuring device 40 is mounted on the automatic transport robot 38 to measure local parts or to measure areas where measurement is not easy, so that the measurement area is enlarged, and the overall environmental evaluation inside the clean room 26 is performed.

According to Fig. 4, a part of Fig. 3 is viewed from the side, and the transport vehicle 20 is installed on the rail 18 at a lower portion separated from the filter 42 by a predetermined distance, and moves with the measuring device 22 mounted thereon. The measurement is taken.

5, the measuring device 46 mounted on the automatic transport robot 44 enters the local part of the manufacturing facility 48, and the environmental elements are measured. That is, the measurement of the environmental elements of the corners of the facility or the area that is not easy to measure the measurement is carried out by mounting the measuring device 46 to the automatic transport robot (44).

In this way, the measurement using the transport vehicles 20 and 34 moving on the rails 18 and 32 and the measurement by the automatic transport robot 44 are performed to monitor every corner of the clean room 26 to always provide an appropriate level of environmental elements. It is to be evaluated and monitored to maintain.

6 and 7, the vehicle driving unit 50 and the measuring device 52 are connected to the first transceiver 54 according to the block diagram of FIG. The first transmission / reception unit 54 transmits to the relay unit 56 via radio. The relay unit 56 transmits and receives a signal to the second transceiver 58 via wireless communication, and is finally connected to the host computer 60.

By the above-described configuration, the driving of the vehicle and the transmission of the measurement data of the measuring device 52 are wirelessly transmitted and received and controlled by the host computer 60, and the transmission distance is extended through the relay unit 56.

This will be described in detail with reference to FIG. 7.

The measuring device 66 installed in the transport vehicle 64 moving on the rail 62 installed under the filter 42 has a transceiver 68 for transmitting measurement data and transmits radio waves transmitted from the transceiver 68. The receiving repeater 70 is installed in the upper part of the clean room.

The repeater 70 receives the radio wave transmitted from the transceiver 68 and transmits it back to the first computer 72. The first computer 72 includes a transceiver 74 and is connected to a host computer 76 that monitors the clean room via wire.

The measuring device 80 mounted on the automatic transfer robot 78 also includes a transceiver 82, and transmits the measurement data to the first computer 72 through the repeater 70, and eventually the host computer 76. It is configured to be delivered to.

In the embodiment according to the present invention configured as described above, the measurement data obtained through the measuring device 80 is transmitted over the air, and is transmitted to the first computer 72 through the repeater 70, the host computer via a wire Entered (76) to make an environmental assessment.

Specifically, the measurement is carried out on the rail 62 and the automatic transport robot 78 to measure the environmental elements of the clean room according to a pre-programmed command. The measurement data obtained through the measuring device 80 is modulated into a suitable signal through a built-in transceiver 68, and then sent to the repeater 70. The radio wave transmitted at this time has an output of 1 milli Gauss (mG) or less as an electric field reference.

The repeater 70 transmits the signal transmitted from the measuring device 66 to the first computer 72 again. The first computer 72, which has a built-in transmitter / receiver 74, demodulates the signal having only the measurement data and transmits the received signal to the host computer 76 connected through a wire. The host computer 76 then grasps the measurement data and takes appropriate action.

Here, since each of the measuring devices 66 and 80 is different from each other, the transmitted radio wave includes not only the measurement data but also an identification code unique to each of the measuring devices 66 and 80, so that the first computer 72 is unique. After demodulating and recognizing the identification code of, the measurement data is transmitted to the host computer 76 connected through a wire with a code for distinguishing each of the measuring devices 66 and 80.

In addition, the host computer 76 analyzes and evaluates the input and received data from each measuring device 66 and 80 to generate an alarm when a predetermined setting standard is exceeded, and transfers the vehicle to each measuring device 66 and 80 if necessary. The control signal may be generated at 64 or the automatic transfer robot 78 to instruct the measurement for environmental evaluation.

As described above, according to the embodiment of the present invention, environmental evaluation such as cleanliness can be always managed, and facility cost can be reduced by wirelessly evaluating measurement data.

Therefore, according to the present invention, a continuous environmental evaluation is performed in a state where the measuring device is free, and the environmental cost is reduced by sending measurement data over the air, thereby reducing facility costs, thereby maximizing the use of clean rooms. It maintains a certain level of environment and increases the production efficiency.

Although the present invention has been described in detail only with respect to the described embodiments, it will be apparent to those skilled in the art that various modifications and variations are possible within the technical scope of the present invention, and such modifications and modifications are within the scope of the appended claims.

Claims (20)

A plurality of measuring means installed at a specific location of the clean room to measure environmental conditions of the clean room; A plurality of transmitters connected to the plurality of measuring means, respectively, for converting measurement data and transmitting them wirelessly; A reception unit installed in the clean room and receiving and converting a radio signal transmitted from the transmission unit; And A host computer connected to the receiving unit and analyzing the measured data and comparing the measured data with a predetermined range of values; Clean room environmental evaluation system comprising: a. The method of claim 1, The environmental evaluation system of the clean room, characterized in that the environmental conditions are measured by being installed in the automatic transport robot moving the measuring means by a predetermined program. The method of claim 1, wherein the plurality of measuring means, Environmental evaluation system of the clean room, characterized in that the particle measuring device, temperature measuring instrument, humidity measuring instrument, pressure measuring instrument and the like. The method of claim 1, wherein the plurality of transmitters, The environmental evaluation system of the clean room, characterized in that the transmission comprises an identification code for distinguishing the position and the measurement item of each measuring means. A rail installed in the clean room to form a predetermined path; A transfer means installed on the rail and moving according to the predetermined path; A plurality of measuring means installed in the transfer means for measuring environmental conditions in the clean room; And A host computer connected to the measuring means by wire and evaluating according to a predetermined setting criterion of the measured result; Environmental evaluation system of a clean room characterized in that it comprises a. The method of claim 5, wherein the predetermined path, The environmental evaluation system of the clean room, characterized in that to form a closed loop. The method of claim 5, wherein the rail, Environmental evaluation system of the clean room, characterized in that consisting of rails having two or more different paths. The method of claim 5, wherein the rail, The environmental evaluation system of the clean room, characterized in that installed on the upper floor of the clean room to maintain a predetermined height. The method of claim 5, wherein the transfer means, Environmental evaluation system of the clean room, characterized in that to move on the rail at a constant speed. The method of claim 5, wherein the transfer means, Environmental evaluation system of the clean room, characterized in that to move on the rail at an irregular speed. The method of claim 5, wherein the transfer means, Environmental evaluation system of the clean room, characterized in that stopped for a predetermined time at a specific position of the rail. The environmental evaluation system of claim 5, wherein the environmental evaluation is performed by separately installing the measurement means in an automatic transport robot in the clean room. A rail installed in the clean room to form a predetermined path; A transfer means installed on the rail and moving according to the predetermined path; A plurality of measuring means installed in the transfer means for measuring environmental conditions in the clean room; A plurality of transmitters connected to the plurality of measuring means in a one-to-one manner and converting measurement data into a wireless transmission; A reception unit installed in the clean room and receiving and converting a radio signal transmitted from the transmission unit; And A host computer connected to the receiving unit to analyze the measured data and compare and evaluate the measured data with a predetermined standard; Environmental evaluation system of a clean room characterized in that it comprises a. The method of claim 13, wherein the rail, Environmental evaluation system of the clean room, characterized in that formed in two or more. The method of claim 13, wherein the transfer means, Environmental evaluation system of the clean room, characterized in that the feed rate is set freely. The method of claim 13, The environment evaluation system of the clean room, characterized in that the magnitude of the magnetic field generated by the output signal of the transmitter is less than 1 milli gauss (mG). The method of claim 13, wherein the plurality of transmitters, The environmental evaluation system of the clean room, characterized in that the transmission is made by including each transmission data, the location of the measurement means and the identification field for the measurement. The method of claim 13, An environmental evaluation system of the clean room, further comprising a relay transceiver for extending and relaying a transmission / reception distance between the transmitter and the receiver. The method of claim 13, wherein the host computer, Environmental evaluation system of the clean room, characterized in that the clean room is made to monitor and environmental evaluation. The method of claim 13, wherein the host computer, And a control feedback signal is output to the measuring means and the conveying means by the environmental evaluation result.

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