KR102315878B1 - A transfer unit controller and a substrate processing apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

The present invention relates to a transfer unit control unit and a substrate processing apparatus, in the transfer unit control unit for controlling the operation of the transfer unit for transferring the substrate to a plurality of modules, the transfer unit control unit, the operation that can be performed in the transfer unit an object generating unit generating each of the objects as each object, and an object group generating unit generating each object group by connecting two or more executable objects corresponding to the continuous operation of the transfer unit among the respective objects; An object state determination unit for determining the state of an object of, a condition setting unit for receiving a setting condition, an object group update unit for updating an object group based on the state of the object group and the setting condition It includes an object group execution unit that executes any one of the groups.

Description

A TRANSFER UNIT CONTROLLER AND A SUBSTRATE PROCESSING APPARATUS

The present invention relates to a transfer unit control unit and a substrate processing apparatus including the same, and more particularly, to a transfer unit control unit capable of changing a schedule order and a substrate processing apparatus including the same.

In general, a substrate processing apparatus includes a plurality of modules capable of processing a process, and includes a transfer unit for transferring a substrate to the plurality of modules. In processing a specific substrate, a recipe corresponding to the process corresponding to the specific substrate is applied. The transfer unit control unit controls the transfer unit according to the recipe. In controlling the transfer unit, an event method is used.

1 is a view for explaining a process in which a conventional index arm robot controls substrate transfer according to an event method.

Referring to FIG. 1 , the index arm robot is responsible for transferring the substrate between the load ports 1 (LoadPort1, LP1) and the index arm and the buffer.

When a wafer is present in load port 1 (LP1), the index arm is controlled to pick the wafer to Arm1. After that, if the buffer is empty, it is controlled to place the wafer in the buffer. For example, according to the event method, if there is a substrate in the target module, the robot arm immediately takes the substrate and transfers it to the target module.

However, in the case of the event method, if the intermediate step is completed first, a phenomenon that deviates from the maximum transferable throughput from the first step to the last step occurs.

That is, since the unit processing time is different between the process steps, the intermediate step may be terminated first. For this reason, there is a problem that the robot arm controlled by the event method stays in a standby state, and thus process performance is deteriorated.

In addition, since the control method according to the event method is stored in the form of a program in the control unit, it is impossible to temporarily change it according to the user's need. In addition, as the semiconductor manufacturing process develops, a method different from the conventional event method is required.

An object of the present invention is to provide a transfer unit control unit and a substrate processing apparatus that can be changed by a user and increase throughput by reducing waiting time to solve the above problems.

A transfer unit control unit for controlling an operation of a transfer unit for transferring a substrate to a plurality of modules according to an embodiment of the present invention for achieving the above object, a condition setting unit receiving a set condition input, and to be performed in the transfer unit An object generating unit generating possible operations as each object, and an object group generating unit generating each object group by connecting two or more executable objects corresponding to the continuous operation of the transfer unit among the respective objects; , an object state determination unit for determining the state of each object, an object group update unit for updating an object group based on the state of the object group and the setting condition, and executing any one of the respective object groups and a transfer unit control unit including an object group execution unit.

Also, in an embodiment, the object group update unit may change or release the connection of objects constituting the respective object groups based on at least one of the setting condition and the state of each of the object groups.

In an embodiment, the condition setting unit includes: a condition input unit for receiving a setting condition from the outside; a condition result estimating unit for predicting whether the processing time is increased or decreased according to the input set condition; It may include a condition result output unit for outputting the expected calculation result.

Also, in an embodiment, the object group execution unit may execute any one of the respective object groups in consideration of at least one of a preset priority for each of the objects and a processing time for each of the objects.

A substrate processing apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention for achieving the above object comprises: a condition setting unit receiving a setting condition; an object generating unit generating operations that can be performed in the transfer unit as respective objects; An object group generating unit generating each object group by connecting two or more executable objects corresponding to the continuous operation of the transfer unit among the respective objects, an object state determining unit determining the state of each object; a transfer unit control unit including an object group update unit for updating an object group based on the state of the object group and the setting condition; and an object group execution unit for executing any one of the respective object groups; and a plurality of modules; , and a transfer unit controlled by a transfer unit control unit for transferring the substrate to the plurality of modules.

The transfer unit control unit according to the present invention uses a method in which one of the object groups in which a continuous object is grouped is executed, not a programmed event method, but by including a condition setting unit, it is easy to change the object group by the user has the advantage of

In addition, the transfer unit control unit according to the present invention can reduce the waiting time by using a method in which one of the updated object groups is executed.

1 is a diagram for explaining a process in which a conventional index arm controller controls substrate transfer using an index arm event method.
2 is an exemplary view of a substrate processing apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention.
3 is a diagram schematically illustrating the configuration of a transfer unit control unit according to an embodiment of the present invention.
4 is a view showing an object group created by the transfer unit control unit.
FIG. 5 is a diagram schematically illustrating the configuration of the condition setting unit shown in FIG. 3 .

Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described in more detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. Embodiments of the present invention may be modified in various forms, and the scope of the present invention should not be construed as being limited to the following embodiments. This example is provided to more completely explain the present invention to those of ordinary skill in the art. Accordingly, the shapes of elements in the drawings are exaggerated to emphasize a clearer description.

The equipment of this embodiment may be applied to any equipment that performs a process on a substrate such as a semiconductor wafer or a flat panel display panel, and is not limited to the substrate processing apparatus illustrated in FIG. 2 .

Hereinafter, a substrate processing apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIG. 2 .

2 is an exemplary view of a substrate processing apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention.

The substrate processing apparatus 10 includes an index unit 100 and a process processing unit 200 .

The index unit 100 includes a load port unit 110 , an index transfer unit 120 , and a buffer unit 130 .

The load port unit 110 includes at least one mounting table 111 on which the cassette C in which the substrates are accommodated is seated.

The index transfer unit 120 transfers the substrate between the cassette C placed on the mounting table 111 and the buffer unit 130 .

The index transfer unit 120 includes a first guide rail 121 and a first transfer unit 122 .

The first transfer unit 122 transfers the substrate between the cassette C placed on the mounting table 111 and the buffer unit 130 . The first transfer unit 122 may be a substrate transfer robot. The first transfer unit 122 may include a plurality of forks for supporting the substrate. The plurality of forks may be driven simultaneously or individually. The first transfer unit 122 is controlled by the first transfer unit control unit 125 .

The buffer unit 130 provides a passage for the substrate between the index unit 100 and the processing unit 200 . The buffer unit 130 may be composed of one or may be composed of an input buffer unit 131 and an output buffer unit 132 . The input buffer unit 131 is a unit that provides a place where the substrate proceeding to the process processing unit 200 waits, and the output buffer unit 132 is a unit that provides a place where the substrate proceeding to the index unit 100 waits. am.

The processing unit 200 includes at least one processing module 210 and a processing transfer unit 220 .

The at least one processing module 210 processes the substrate according to the recipe of the corresponding step. In this case, the processing time and the processing method may be different for each corresponding step. In addition, each of the at least one process treatment module 210 may be a module that performs different types of process treatment, or may be a module that performs the same type of process treatment.

The process transfer unit 220 includes a second guide rail 221 and a second transfer unit 222 . The second transfer unit 222 may be a substrate transfer robot. The second transfer unit 222 may include a plurality of forks for supporting the substrate. The plurality of forks may be driven simultaneously or individually. The process processing robot 222 is controlled by the transfer unit control unit 225 . At this time, the second transfer unit control unit 225 controls the processing robot 222 .

Hereinafter, with reference to FIGS. 3 to 5 , the transfer unit control unit 1000 will be described in detail.

3 is a diagram schematically illustrating the configuration of a transfer unit control unit according to an embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating an object group created by the transfer unit control unit.

The transfer unit control unit 1000 shown in FIG. 3 may be a first transfer unit control unit 125 for controlling the first transfer unit shown in FIG. 2 or a second transfer unit control unit 225 for controlling the second transfer unit. have. The first transfer unit control unit 125 and the second transfer unit control unit 225 may be combined into one. 4 is an example of the object group generated by the first transfer unit control unit shown in FIG. 2 will be described.

Referring to FIG. 3 , the transfer unit control unit 1000 includes an object generation unit 1100 , an object group generation unit 1200 , an object state determination unit 1300 , a condition setting unit 1400 , and an object group update unit 1500 . ), and an object group execution unit 1600 .

The object generating unit 1100 generates operations that can be performed in the transfer unit as each object, and the object group generating unit 1200 creates two or more consecutive objects as each object group. In addition, the object state determination unit 1300 determines the state of each created object group, and the condition setting unit 1400 receives a setting condition from the user or has a preset condition. The object group update unit 1500 updates the object group based on the state of the object group and the set condition, and the object group execution unit 1600 executes any one of each object group.

For example, referring to Fig. 4, the object generating unit 1100 generates operations that can be performed in the transfer unit as respective objects o1, o2, o3, .... The object generating unit 1100 is Actions that the transfer unit can perform Move LP1 (Load Port 1) to object ㅇ1, Pick Arm1 LP1 to object ㅇ2, Pick Arm2 LP1 to object ㅇ3, Place Arm1 LP1 to object ㅇ4, Place Arm2 LP1 into object o5, Place Arm1 Buffer1-1 into object o6, Place Arm2 Buffer1-2 into object o7, Pick Arm1 Buffer2-1 into object o8, Pick Arm2 Buffer2-2 into object o9 can be expressed as

The object group generation unit 1200 connects two or more executable objects corresponding to a continuous operation among the generated objects to create each object group G1, G2, G3, ... Object group generation unit 1200 connects consecutive objects to create an object group, and does not connect non-continuous objects, that is, the object group generator 1200 directly picks Pick Arm1 LP1 ( o 2 ) rather than continuous operation. Do not connect Arm1 with Buffer2-1 (ㅇ8), because when object ㅇ2 is executed, Arm1 has the board (W), so it is not possible to pick up another board (W) from Buffer2-1.

The object group generator 1200 connects two or more objects to create an object group, and the number of objects included in one object group may be different from each other or may be created in a predetermined number.

For example, the object group generator 1200 sets ㅇ1-ㅇ2-ㅇ6 as object group G1, sets ㅇ1-ㅇ2-ㅇ3-ㅇ6-ㅇ7 as object group G2, and ㅇ Set 1-ㅇ3-ㅇ6 as object group G3, set ㅇ1-ㅇ3-ㅇ7 as object group G4, set ㅇ1-ㅇ4-ㅇ8 as object group G5, and set ㅇ1- ㅇ5-ㅇ6 can be created as object group G6, etc. In addition, the object group generating unit 1200 may establish an object group by connecting objects starting from an object other than the object o1 as the starting point. In addition, if the cassette is loaded on LP2 (Loar Port2), the object group can be created with the starting point of the object group starting from the object Move LP2 (not shown). In addition, the starting point of the object group may start from a specific unit, for example, Buffer2-1, not the object corresponding to LP1 or LP2, and object groups with different starting points may exist simultaneously. Place Arm1 Buffer1-1 Multiple object groups with object ㅇ6 as the starting point of the object group and multiple object groups with object ㅇ1 performing Move LP1 as the starting point of the object group may exist simultaneously. In addition, the connection line may be connected even in a portion where there is no connection line, and the arrow direction of the connection line may be generated in the opposite direction or in both directions. The number of objects constituting each object group may be the same or different.

The object state determination unit 1300 determines the state of each object. The state of the object may mean whether the object is executable or not. For example, when the object is not executable, it means that an alarm has occurred in the target unit of the object, or the target unit of the object is changed to maintenance mode, or is changed by the condition by the condition setting unit 1400. can

For example, the target unit of the object is object Move LP1(ㅇ1)-Pick Arm1 LP1(ㅇ2)-Place Arm1 For object group G1 including Buffer1-1(ㅇ6), Buffer1-1 is maintenance (maintanence) ) mode, it can be determined that the object Place Arm1 Buffer1-1 (ㅇ6) is in an unexecutable state. In addition, when the object Place Arm1 Buffer1-1 ( o 6 ) is set to be excluded by the condition setting unit 1400 , it can be determined that the object Place Arm1 Buffer1-1 ( o 6 ) is in an unexecutable state.

The object state determination unit 1300 may determine the object state whenever processing of each object in each unit is completed, whenever a process is completed, whenever an alarm occurs, or periodically. The determination result of the object state, together with the condition set in the condition setting unit 1400 , becomes the basis for determining the object group update in the object group update unit 1500 .

5 is a diagram schematically illustrating the configuration of a condition setting unit. Referring to FIG. 5 , the condition setting unit 1400 includes a condition input unit 1410 that receives a setting condition input from the user, and a condition result prediction unit 1420 that predicts whether the processing time is increased or decreased according to the input setting condition. ) and a condition result output unit 1430 for outputting an expected calculation result.

The condition input unit 1410 stores a preset condition or receives a set condition input by a user. The setting condition input by the user may be whether to exclude, change, or add a unit or object.

The condition result prediction unit 1420 predicts whether the processing time is increased or decreased according to the set condition input by the user. In this case, the time required to perform the operation corresponding to each object is measured and determined in advance, and the time of each object group may be expressed as the sum of the time required to perform the operation on each object.

For example, when the condition input by the condition input unit 1410 is unusable of Place Arm2 Buffer1-2, which is object ㅇ7, when transferring the substrate W to Buffer1-1 and Buffer1-2, which is the case before condition input By calculating the first time consumed and the second time required to transfer the substrate W only to Buffer1-1, which is the case after condition input, the difference between the first time and the second time is calculated to increase or decrease the processing time. It can be expected.

Meanwhile, the setting condition input to the condition input unit 1410 may include a priority for each object. In particular, in microprocessing, when the waiting time in a specific unit exceeds a certain time, process defects may occur. Therefore, even if it is an object group with a long processing time among object groups, process defects can be prevented by executing the object group with high priority first.

The condition display unit 1430 may display the condition input result to the user so that the user can recognize the result when the condition is input.

Accordingly, when a condition is input to the condition input unit 1410 from the user, whether the process processing time is increased or decreased according to the condition input result is calculated by the condition result prediction unit 1420, and the calculation result is output to the user. can make you aware

Since the control method according to the conventional event method is stored as a program in the transfer unit control unit, there is a problem in that it is not easy for the user to change the detailed operation of the transfer unit. However, according to the transfer unit control unit 1000 according to the embodiment of the present invention, it is executed based on an object group grouping consecutive objects rather than a programmed event method, and by including a condition setting unit, the object group by the user is It has the advantage of being easy to change, such as creation and cancellation.

In particular, it is easy when the state of a specific unit is a normal driving state but requires inspection, when a substrate input to a specific unit is blocked, or when a change is required according to the setting of a new process recipe.

The object group update unit 1500 updates the object group based on the state of the object group or based on the setting condition set by the setting condition unit 1400 . Specifically, based on the object state of the object ( o1, o2, o3, ...) determined by the object state determining unit or the setting condition set in the setting condition unit 1400, the object group update unit 1500 selects the object group. Release, create, or modify.

For example, if the o7 object, which is the Place Arm2 Buffer1-2 action, cannot be performed, the object group update unit 1500 is an object group including the o7 object indicated by a dotted line, object ㅇ1-ㅇ2-ㅇ3 Object group G2 including -ㅇ6-ㅇ7 and object group G4 including object ㅇ1-ㅇ3-ㅇ7 can be released. The object group execution unit 1600 may select and execute an object group in consideration of the processing time required to execute each object group or the priority of each object among object groups except for G2 and G4.

The object group execution unit 1600 selects and executes an object group in consideration of the priority, and may select and execute an object group having a short processing time among object groups having the same priority. For example, when a substrate liquid-processed in the liquid processing unit requires rapid processing in the bake unit, an object (not shown) corresponding to the transfer of the substrate from the liquid processing unit to the bake unit has a high priority, and other The object corresponding to the case may have a lower priority. In the case of an object group including an object having a high priority, it may be executed first. When the priorities are the same, the object group execution unit 1600 may execute the object groups in the order of the smallest processing time. When the object group execution unit 1600 selects and executes an object group based on the processing time, the processing time required to execute each object group may be calculated based on the same number of objects in each object group. In the above example, except for G2, each object group includes three objects. In this case, the processing time required to execute G2, which is an object group composed of ㅇ1-ㅇ2-ㅇ3-ㅇ6-ㅇ7, can be calculated as the processing time for executing ㅇ1-ㅇ2-ㅇ3. In addition, a known calculation method may be used.

According to the conventional event method, even when the Place Arm2 Buffer1-2 operation cannot be performed because the substrate is placed on Buffer1-2, the transfer unit can perform the Pick Arm2 operation on LP1. In this case, since Arm2 is occupied until the substrate is removed from buffer1-2, other operations cannot be performed, resulting in waiting time and processing time loss. However, according to the present invention, after object grouping of two or more consecutive objects, the object group update unit 1500 updates the object groups to execute the executable object group, thereby preventing the above problem.

In this case, the object group execution unit 1600 may select and execute an object group including an object having a high priority, or may select and execute an object group having a short processing time or a short waiting time.

The control method by the transfer unit control unit according to the present invention may be executed on a computer program. That is, the control method stored in the memory can be executed using the CPU of the main computer that manages the substrate processing apparatus.

In particular, when there are a plurality of transfer units, the object groups of the transfer unit controller 1 and the object groups of the transfer unit controller 2 are selected and executed by selecting the object groups in the order of high priority or short processing time or waiting time. can

The transfer unit control unit according to the present invention uses a method in which one of the object groups in which a continuous object is grouped is executed, not a programmed event method, but by including a condition setting unit, it is easy to change the object group by the user has the advantage of

In addition, the transfer unit control unit according to the present invention can reduce the waiting time by using a method in which one of the updated object groups is executed.

Although the embodiment of the present invention has been described, the above-described embodiment of the present invention is for facilitating the understanding of the present invention and does not limit the present invention. It goes without saying that the present invention can be modified and improved without departing from the spirit thereof, and that equivalents thereof are included in the present invention. In addition, within the range which can solve at least a part of the above-mentioned subject, or the range which exhibits at least a part of an effect, arbitrary combinations or omission of each component described in a claim and the specification are possible.

10: substrate processing apparatus 100: index unit
110: load port unit 120: index transfer unit
121: first guide rail 122: first transfer unit
125: first transfer unit control unit 130: buffer unit
200: process processing unit 210: process processing module
220: process transfer unit 221: first guide rail
222: second transfer unit 225: second transfer unit control unit
1000: transfer unit control unit 1100: object generation unit
1200: object group generation unit 1300: object state determination unit
1400: condition setting unit 1500: object group update unit
1600: object group execution unit

Claims (5)

In the transfer unit control unit for controlling the operation of the transfer unit for transferring the substrate to a plurality of modules,
The transfer unit control unit,
An object generating unit for generating the operations that can be performed in the transfer unit as each object;
an object group generating unit for creating each object group by connecting two or more executable objects corresponding to the continuous operation of the transfer unit among the respective objects;
an object state determination unit for determining the state of each object;
a condition setting unit that receives setting conditions;
an object group update unit for updating an object group based on the state of the object group and the set condition;
an object group execution unit executing any one of the respective object groups;
The condition setting unit,
a condition input unit for receiving a setting condition including a priority for each object from the outside;
a condition result estimating unit for predicting whether the processing time is increased or decreased according to the input set condition; and
and a condition result output unit for outputting the expected calculation result,
The object group execution unit executes any one of the respective object groups in consideration of the priority set for each of the objects and the processing time for each of the objects, the object group including the high-priority object run first,
The priority is a transfer unit control unit, characterized in that set high for an object related to a specific unit that may cause a process defect due to transfer delay.
According to claim 1,
The object group update unit,
Based on at least one of the setting condition and the state of each object group, the transfer unit control unit, characterized in that for changing or releasing the connection of the objects constituting the respective object groups.
delete delete a plurality of modules;
a transfer unit for transferring the substrate to a plurality of modules; and
It includes a transfer unit control unit for controlling the transfer unit,
The transfer unit control unit,
An object generating unit for generating the operations that can be performed in the transfer unit as each object;
an object group generating unit for creating each object group by connecting two or more executable objects corresponding to the continuous operation of the transfer unit among the respective objects;
an object state determination unit for determining the state of each object;
a condition setting unit for receiving a setting condition including a priority for each object;
an object group update unit for updating an object group based on the state of the object group and the set condition;
an object group execution unit executing any one of the respective object groups;
The condition setting unit,
a condition input unit for receiving a setting condition including a priority for each object from the outside;
a condition result estimating unit for predicting whether the processing time is increased or decreased according to the input set condition; and
and a condition result output unit for outputting the expected calculation result,
The object group execution unit executes any one of the respective object groups in consideration of the priority set for each object and the processing time for each object, the object group including the high-priority object run first,
The priority is set high for an object related to a specific unit that may cause a process defect due to a transfer delay.

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