TW202307918A - Control device, system, substrate processing device, method for manufacturing article, control method, and program - Google Patents

Abstract

A control device for controlling a controlled device. The control device is provided with a communication unit for communicating a data frame via a network at a constant communication period. The communication unit communicates, at a first period, a data frame to which instruction data for controlling the controlled device or response data corresponding to the instruction data is written, and communicates, at a second period shorter than the first period, a data frame to which state data indicating a state of the controlled device is written.

Description

Control device, system, substrate processing device, manufacturing method of article, control method and program

The present invention relates to a control device, a system, a substrate processing device, a manufacturing method of an article, a control method and a program.

In a system in which a master device (controller) controls a slave device (controlled device), there is a data communication between the master device and the slave device at a fixed communication cycle. In such a system, there is known a technique of individually setting a cycle for each slave device to be controlled. Japanese Patent No. 6729746 discloses a system that executes a plurality of programs in parallel, and the plurality of programs execute control processing for controlling a plurality of slave devices at different cycles from each other. [Prior Art Literature] [Patent Document]

[Patent Document 1] Japanese Patent No. 6729746

[Problem to be Solved by the Invention]

In the system of Japanese Patent No. 6729746, the communication period of data communication between a specific slave device among a plurality of slave devices is shortened compared with the communication cycle of data communication between other slave devices, so that it can be quickly carried out with a specific slave device. Communication of data from slave devices.

However, the data communicated between the master device and the slave device includes not only instruction data and response data communicated for control processing of the slave device, but also status data showing the status of the slave device. In the master device, the time required for the control process of the slave device is longer than the time required for obtaining the status data of the slave device, so the period of data communication is set according to the time required for the control process of the slave device. On the other hand, the state data of the slave device is desired to be acquired as quickly as possible, for example, from the viewpoint of rapid abnormality detection and the like.

The present invention is made in view of such problems of the prior art, and an exemplary object thereof is to provide a control device, a system, and a substrate processing device capable of quickly acquiring status data of a slave device. [Means used to solve problems]

In order to achieve the foregoing object, a control device according to an aspect of the present invention is a control device that controls a controlled device, the control device has a communication unit that performs data frame communication via a network at a fixed communication cycle, and the communication unit is configured as follows: The first cycle executes the communication in which the instruction data for controlling the aforementioned controlled device or the data frame of the response data corresponding to the aforementioned instruction data is written, and the communication written in the second cycle shorter than the aforementioned first cycle is executed. Communication of the data frame of the state data displaying the state of the aforementioned controlled device. [compared to the effect of prior art]

According to the present invention, for example, it is possible to provide a control device, a system, and a substrate processing device that can quickly obtain status data of a slave device.

Embodiments will be described in detail below with reference to the drawings. In addition, the following embodiments do not limit the inventors of the claims. Although plural features are described in the embodiments, all of these plural features are not limited to being essential to the invention, and plural features may be combined arbitrarily. In addition, in the drawing, the same reference numerals are assigned to the same or similar configurations, and overlapping explanations are omitted.

<First Embodiment> FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram illustrating the configuration of a system 100 as one aspect of the present invention. In this embodiment, as shown in FIG. 1, the system 100 has: a master device 110 (control device); a plurality of slave devices 120 (controlled devices) communicably connected to the master device 110; Unit 130. In the system 100 , the master device 110 controls the slave device 120 , and the slave device 120 controls the unit 130 .

The master device 110 and the slave device 120 are constituted by, for example, a computer (information processing device) including a CPU, a memory, etc., but they may also be constituted by a tablet computer, or may be configured to be used together with a tablet computer. In addition, the unit 130 includes mechanisms such as a servo motor, for example.

A plurality of slave devices 120 are communicably connected to the master device 110 in a daisy-chain manner. The master device 110 communicates data with a plurality of slave devices 120 via the network 140 at a certain period. In addition, the plurality of slave devices 120 controls each of the plurality of units 130 according to the data received from the master device 110 .

In this embodiment, although three slave devices 121, 122, and 123 are illustrated in terms of the slave device 120 communicably connected to the master device 110, the number of slave devices 120 is not limited to three, and may be one, 2 or more than 3. In addition, in this embodiment, three units 131 , 132 , and 133 are exemplified in terms of unit 130 controlled by slave device 120 . Units 131, 132 and 133 are controlled by slave devices 121, 122 and 123, respectively.

As shown in FIG. 1 , the master device 110 includes a sequence control unit 111 , a plurality of generation units 112 and a communication unit 113 , and the communication unit 113 includes a control unit 114 , a monitoring unit 115 and a calculation unit 116 . In addition, in this embodiment, although the communication unit 113 is configured to include the control unit 114, the monitoring unit 115, and the calculation unit 116, at least one of the control unit 114, the monitoring unit 115, and the calculation unit 116 may also be connected to the communication unit 113. constituted individually.

The sequence control unit 111 controls the sequence of processing in the slave device 120 (for example, processing for controlling the unit 130 ). In the present embodiment, the sequence control unit 111 controls the plurality of generating units 112 according to a predetermined (set) sequence, procedure, or recipe.

The plurality of generation units 112 each generate instruction data (control data) for controlling the slave device 120 , specifically, instruction data for instructing processing in the slave device 120 to be controlled. For example, the generation unit 112 is provided with the same number of slave devices 120 as the number of slave devices 120 . In the present embodiment, three generation units 112a, 112b, and 112c are provided, each of the three slave devices 121, 112, and 123 being controlled. The generating unit 112 a takes the slave device 121 as a control target, and generates instruction data for controlling processing in the slave device 121 (for example, processing for controlling the unit 131 ). In addition, the generation unit 112 b takes the slave device 122 as a control target, and generates instruction data for controlling processing in the slave device 122 (for example, processing for controlling the unit 132 ). In addition, the generating unit 112c takes the slave device 123 as a control target, and generates instruction data for controlling processing in the slave device 123 (for example, processing for controlling the unit 133).

The communication unit 113 communicates data with a plurality of slave devices 120 via the network 140 at a certain period. In addition, the communication unit 113 sends the instruction data generated by the generation units 112a, 112b, and 112c to the slave devices 121, 122, and 123 at regular intervals, and receives response data corresponding to the instruction data from the slave devices 121, 122, and 123. Here, the response data is, for example, data showing whether the processing indicated by the instruction data is normally completed.

The control unit 114 writes the instruction data generated by the generating units 112a, 112b, and 112c into the data frame, and at the same time executes the process of obtaining the response data from the slave device 120 from the data frame at a preset cycle (control cycle, first cycle). . The monitoring unit 115 executes a process of reading the status data of the slave device 120 from the data frame at a preset cycle (monitoring cycle, second cycle). Here, the status data of the slave device 120 refers to the data showing the status of the slave device 120 or the unit 130 . The status data of the slave device 120 may include, for example, data showing the status of the slave device 120 or the unit 130 operating normally, and data showing the status of the slave device 120 or the unit 130 being abnormal.

The calculation unit 116 calculates a control period for processing executed by the control unit and a monitoring period for processing executed by the monitoring unit 115 . The details of the processing performed by the control unit 114 , the monitoring unit 115 , and the calculation unit 116 will be described later.

Here, EtherCAT (registered trademark), which is one of Industrial Ethernet (registered trademark), will be described as an example of the network 140 shown in FIG. 1 . In terms of EtherCAT (registered trademark), the master device connected to the network sends data frames to multiple slave devices, and multiple slave devices read and write data on the data frame received from the master device on the fly. . At this time, PDO communication and SDO communication are used for communication between the master device and the plurality of slave devices. PDO communication is a communication method in which communication is performed at a fixed cycle using data called process data objects (PDO: Process Data Object). In addition, the SDO communication is a communication method that uses data called Service Data Object (SDO: Service Data Object) to perform communication according to a request from a host device. In PDO communication, data frame communication is performed at a certain period (for example, 1m second), so the arrival time of data is guaranteed. On the other hand, in SDO communication, the communication may not be completed within one cycle, so the arrival time of the data is not guaranteed.

When EtherCAT (registered trademark) is used for the network 140 , among the nodes connected to the network 140 , at least one node functions as the master device 110 , and the other nodes function as the slave devices 120 . The node functioning as the master device 110 manages (controls) the timing and the like of communication of data frames in the network 140 .

In the system 100 shown in FIG. 1 , the master device 110 (communication unit 113 ) writes the instruction data generated by the generation units 112a, 112b, and 112c into the data frame of PDO communication, and sends the data frame to the slave device 121. The slave device 121 that has received the data frame from the master device 110 reads the command data assigned to itself from the command data written in the data frame, and writes response data to the command data in the data frame. And, the slave device 121 sends to the slave device 122 a data frame in which the response data corresponding to the instruction data allocated to itself is written. The slave device 122 that has received the data frame from the slave device 121 reads the command data assigned to itself from the command data written in the data frame, and writes the response data corresponding to the command data in the data frame. And, the slave device 122 sends to the slave device 123 a data frame in which the response data corresponding to the instruction data assigned to itself is written. The slave device 123 that has received the data frame from the slave device 122 reads the instruction data assigned to itself from the instruction data written in the data frame, and writes the response data corresponding to the instruction data in the data frame. And, the slave device 123 sends the data frame in which the response data to the instruction data allocated to itself is written to the master device 110 via the slave devices 121 and 122 .

Specifically, the slave device 121 reads the instruction data generated by the generator 112 a from the data frame received from the master device 110 , and sends the data frame to the slave device 122 after writing the response data. The slave device 122 reads the instruction data generated by the generator 112 b from the data frame received from the slave device 121 , and sends the data frame to the slave device 123 after writing the response data. The slave device 123 reads the instruction data generated by the generator 112 c from the data frame received from the slave device 122 , and sends the data frame to the master device 110 via the slave devices 121 and 122 after writing the response data. In addition, the data communicated between the master device 110 and the slave device 120 includes not only instruction data and response data, but also status data of the slave device 120 .

Here, execution of communication processing in the prior art will be described. FIG. 7 is a diagram illustrating an example of execution of communication processing in the prior art. As shown in FIG. 7, in the master device 110, the control process C for controlling the processing in the slave device 120 and the monitoring process M for monitoring the state of the slave device 120 are executed in the same communication cycle _TMC . In addition, in FIG. 7 , the slave device 121 is described as slave 1 , the slave device 122 is described as slave 2 , and the slave device 123 is described as slave 3 . In addition, the horizontal axis represents time, and the time required for the execution of the control process C and the monitoring process M of the individual slave device 120 is displayed.

The control process C reads the response data of the data frame received in the preceding cycle, and writes the instruction data into the data frame transmitted in the next cycle. In addition, the monitoring processing M performs reading processing of the state data of the data frame received in the previous cycle. In addition, the control processing C and the monitoring processing M are executed by the slave device 120 . Accordingly, the communication cycle T _MC needs to be set longer than the total time required to execute the control process C and the execution time required to execute the monitor process M by the number of slave devices 120 . In addition, for example, the number of slave devices 120 and units 130 may increase with the advent of multi-axis industrial robots with many joints. The number of slave devices 120 and units 130 increases, so that the communication cycle T _MC needs to be further set to a longer time. In addition, in general, the execution time required for the execution of the control processing C in the master device 110 is longer than the execution time required for the execution of the monitoring processing M.

For this reason, when the control processing C and the monitoring processing M corresponding to each of the slave devices 120 are continuously executed in the communication processing, the communication cycle T _MC is set depending on the processing time of the control processing C, so it becomes difficult to Communication of status data is performed promptly.

Therefore, in the present embodiment, the control processing C executed by the control unit 114 and the monitoring processing M executed by the monitoring unit 115 are executed in parallel at different cycles. In addition, the monitoring period of the monitoring process M is set to be shorter than the control period of the control process C. FIG. According to this, communication of status data can be performed promptly.

Next, execution of communication processing in this embodiment will be described. FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating an example of execution of communication processing in this embodiment. As shown in FIG. 2 , in the master device 110 , a control process C for controlling processing in the slave device 120 is executed by the control unit 114 at a control cycle T _C . In addition, in parallel with the execution of the control process C by the control unit 114 , the monitoring process _M for monitoring the state of the slave device 120 is executed by the monitoring unit 115 at a monitoring cycle TM. Here, in FIG. 2 , a detailed description of the same contents as those in FIG. 7 is omitted.

The calculation unit 116 calculates the control cycle T _C in which the control process C is executed and the monitoring cycle _TM in which the monitoring process M is executed. In addition, the calculation unit 116 calculates the control period T C and the monitoring period T M from the processing time (first time) of the control process _C and the processing time (second time) of the monitoring process _M corresponding to each of the slave devices 120. . Here, the processing time of the control process C and the monitoring process M is measured in advance, for example, by executing the control process C and the monitoring process M, and stored in a memory device (not shown) of the host device 110 . In addition, the processing time of the control process C and the monitoring process M can be calculated from, for example, the number of steps of the program for executing the control process C and the monitoring process M and the calculation capability of the host device 110 (such as the clock frequency, which becomes the calculation capability of the host device 110). index value) is calculated.

The calculation unit 116 calculates the control cycle T _C so as to be longer than the total processing time of the control processing C corresponding to each of the slave devices 120 . In addition, the calculation unit 116 calculates the monitoring cycle _TM so as to be longer than the total time of the processing time of the monitoring process M corresponding to each of the slave devices 120 . In addition, the calculation unit 116 calculates the control period _TC and the monitoring period _TM so that the control period _TC is N times (N is an integer greater than or equal to 1, that is, a natural number) the monitoring period _TM .

In addition, in order to shorten the monitoring period _TM as much as possible, the calculation unit 116 sets _the monitoring period _TM as calculated in the smallest possible way. In the example of FIG. 2, the case where it calculates so that control period T _C may become 3 times of monitoring period _TM is shown.

As shown in FIG. 2 , in the master device 110 , the control process C for controlling the processing in the slave device 120 and the monitoring process M for monitoring the status of the slave device 120 are executed in parallel at different cycles. The control process C is executed at a control cycle _TC that is three times the monitoring cycle _TM , and the monitoring process M is executed at a monitoring cycle _TM . That is, the control process C by the control unit 114 is performed 1/3 of the number of times the data frame communication is performed, and the monitoring process M by the monitoring unit 115 is performed equal to the number of times the data frame communication is performed. times. Accordingly, the communication of the status data is performed at a shorter cycle than the communication of the instruction data and the response data, and the communication of the status data is performed more quickly.

Next, the process of calculating the control period _TC and the monitoring period _TM will be described. FIG. 3 is a flow chart illustrating the process of calculating the control period T _C and the monitoring period _TM .

In S11, the calculating part 116 acquires the execution time of the control process C and the monitoring process M. As mentioned above, the processing time of the control process C and the monitoring process M is measured or calculated in advance and stored in the memory device of the host device 110 , so the calculation unit 116 acquires it from the memory device of the host device 110 . Here, the processing time of the control process C is the total time of the processing time of the control process C corresponding to each of the slave devices 120, and the processing time of the monitoring process M is the total time of the processing time of the monitoring process M corresponding to each of the slave devices 120. The sum of the processing times for .

In S12, the calculation unit 116 calculates the control period T _C . Here, the control period T _C is calculated based on the execution time of the control process C acquired in S11. In addition, the control cycle T _C is calculated as a time obtained by adding a predetermined time to the execution time of the control process C. When the control period T _C is shorter than the execution time of the control process C, the control process C is not executed within the control period T _C , and when the control period T _C is equal to the execution time of the control process C, when the processing time suddenly becomes longer Process C is not executed within the control period T _C . Accordingly, the predetermined time added to the execution time of the control process C is preferably set in consideration of the possibility of the processing time becoming longer and the prompt execution of the control process. The predetermined time added to the execution time of the control process C is desirably set to a time of 50% to 0% of the execution time of the control process C. Furthermore, the predetermined time added to the execution time of the control process C is set to a time of 30% to 20% of the execution time of the control process C more than desired.

In S13, the calculation part 116 divides the control period T _C by the integer N, and calculates the division time _TD (third time). Here, the initial value of the integer N is set to 1.

In S14, the calculation unit 116 determines whether the division time T _D is shorter than the execution time of the monitoring process M or not. In S14, when it is determined that the division time T _D is not shorter than the execution time of the monitoring process M, the calculation unit 116 advances the process to S15. In addition, when it is determined in S14 that the division time T _D is shorter than the execution time of the monitoring process M, the calculation unit 116 advances the process to S16.

In S15, the calculation part 116 adds 1 to the integer N, and returns a process to S13. In addition, in S16, the calculating part 116 calculates the monitoring cycle _TM based on the result of determination in S14. The calculation unit 116 calculates the previous division time T _D as the monitoring period _TM . That is, the divided time T _D obtained by dividing the control cycle T _C by an integer (N-1) is calculated as the monitoring cycle _TM .

From the above, the control cycle _TC and the monitoring cycle _TM are calculated so that the control cycle TC is longer than the processing time of the control process C and the monitoring cycle _TM is longer than the processing time of the monitoring process _M. In addition, the control period T _C is a time obtained by multiplying the monitoring period T _M by a natural number, and the control period T _C is calculated so that the monitoring period T _M becomes the minimum within the range in which the monitoring period T _M is longer than the processing time of the monitoring process M. with the monitoring period T _M .

Next, communication of data in this embodiment will be described. FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating an example of communication of data in this embodiment. In addition, in FIG. 4, the communication of the data in the case where the control cycle T _C is set to 3 times the monitoring cycle _TM is shown. In addition, FIG. 4 shows the communication of data for any one slave device 120 among the plurality of slave devices 120 . That is, communication of data related to any one of the slave devices 121, 122, and 123 in the example of FIG. 1 is shown.

In S101 , the sequence control unit 111 sends a control command for the generation unit 112 to generate instruction data to the generation unit 112 according to a preset control sequence. Here, the control sequence is a program or procedure set for controlling the slave device 120 (unit 130 ), and stored in advance in the memory device of the master device 110 or the like. In addition, control sequences are sometimes included in information called recipes.

In S102 , the generation unit 112 having received the control command from the sequence control unit 111 generates instruction data for causing the slave device 120 to execute processing based on the received control command, and sends it to the control unit 114 .

In S103 , the control unit 114 having received the instruction data from the generation unit 112 executes the control process C to write the received instruction data in the data box.

In S104, the monitoring unit 115 executes the monitoring process M to write an instruction to write the status data into the data box. In addition, in the communication of the monitoring cycle _TM , it is not necessary to write the writing instruction of the status data in the monitoring process M every time the status data is transmitted. In addition, when the status data of the master device 110 is transmitted to the slave device 120, the status data of the master device 110 is written in the data box in the monitoring process M. In addition, in the data frame, the state data area of the master device 110 and the state data area of the slave device 120 are written in different areas. In addition, in the data frame, the area of the status data of the master device 110 and the area of the status data of the slave device 120 can be preset, or can be written in different areas each time by giving an index or the like.

In S105 , the communication unit 113 sends the data frame in which the instruction data and status data are written into the slave device 120 via the network 140 . In addition, the slave device 120 acquires the instruction data from the data frame and starts the processing indicated by the instruction data. In addition, in S106 , the slave device 120 sends the data frame in which the state data of the slave device 120 is written to the communication unit 113 via the network 140 . Here, the communication of the data frames in S105 and S106 is performed at the same timing as the control cycle T _C and the monitoring cycle _TM , so the data frames written with instruction data and status data are executed for communication.

In S107, the monitoring unit 115 executes the monitoring process M to acquire the status data from the data frame.

In S108, the monitoring unit 115 executes the monitoring process M to write an instruction to write the status data into the data box.

In S109 , the communication unit 113 acquires the data frame in which the write instruction of the state data is written, and sends the data frame to the slave device 120 via the network 140 .

In S110 , the slave device 120 sends the data frame in which the status data of the slave device 120 is written to the communication unit 113 via the network 140 . Here, the timing at which data frame communication is executed in S109 and S110 is the timing at which the monitoring period _TM elapses from the timing at which data frame communication is executed at S105 and S106.

Here, since the processing of S111 to S117 overlaps with the processing of S107 to S109, detailed description is omitted.

In S118 , the slave device 120 sends the data frame in which the response data and the status data of the slave device 120 are written to the communication unit 113 via the network 140 . Here, the slave device 120 completes the processing instructed by the instruction data received in S105 and writes information related to the processing indicated by the instruction data in the data box as response data. The response data includes, for example, information on whether or not the processing indicated by the instruction data has been completed normally.

Here, the timing at which the data frame communication is executed in S117 and S118 is the timing at which the control period T _C (three times the monitoring period _TM ) elapses from the timing at which the data frame communication is executed at S105 and S106. That is, in S118 , since the control period T _C passes through, the slave device 120 executes the communication in which the data frame of the response data and status data is written. On the other hand, in S109 and S110 or in S113 and S114, because the monitoring period _TM has passed but the control period _TC has not passed (the timing of the control period _TC and the monitoring period _TM are inconsistent), the instruction data or response data is not written. That is, in S109 and S110 or in S113 and S114, communication in which only data frames with stateful data are written is performed.

In S119 , the monitoring unit 115 executes the monitoring process M to obtain the status data from the data frame and writes an instruction to write the status data into the data frame.

In S120, the control unit 114 executes the control process C to acquire the response data from the data frame.

In S121 , the control unit 114 sends the obtained response data to the generation unit 112 , and in S122 the generation unit 112 sends the received response data to the sequence control unit 111 .

Here, in S118, when the execution time of the slave device 120 for the processing of the instruction data received in S105 is longer than the control cycle T _C , the response data is written in the data box at the timing of the next control cycle T _C .

In addition, FIG. 4 shows data communication to one slave device 120 , so for example, instruction data or response data of other slave devices 120 may be written in the data frames communicated in S105 and S106 . In addition, similarly, instruction data or response data of other slave devices 120 may be written in the data frames communicated in S117 and S118. That is, at least one of instruction data and response data may be included in the data frame communicated in the control period T _C .

In addition, in this embodiment, an example in which the control period T _C and the monitoring period T _{M are calculated such that the control period T C is three times the communication period T MC and the} monitoring period T _M is one time the communication period T _MC is described. , but not limited to this example. For example, it is also possible to calculate the time when the monitoring period _TM becomes twice the communication period T _MC and the control period T _C becomes 3 times the communication period T _MC . That is, the control cycle _TC and the monitoring cycle _TM are times obtained by multiplying the communication cycle T _MC by different natural numbers, and the monitoring cycle _TM may be calculated to be shorter than the control cycle _TC .

As described above, according to the control device of this embodiment, the status data of the slave device can be received at a monitoring cycle shorter than the control cycle, so that the status data of the slave device can be quickly acquired.

<Second Embodiment> Next, a control device according to a second embodiment will be described. In addition, matters not mentioned here can follow 1st Embodiment. In the second embodiment, communication of data related to the case where an abnormality is detected will be described. FIG. 5 is a diagram illustrating an example of communication of data in this embodiment. In addition, in FIG. 5, the communication of the data in the case where the control period T _C is set to 3 times the monitoring period _TM like FIG. 4 is shown. In addition, S201 to S209 in FIG. 5 are the same as S101 to S109 in FIG. 4 , and S213 to S223 in FIG. 5 are the same to S112 to S122 in FIG. 4 , so detailed descriptions are omitted.

In S210 , the slave device 120 sends the data frame in which the state data of the slave device 120 is written to the communication unit 113 via the network 140 . Here, the status data of the slave device 120 written in the data box includes data indicating that an abnormal state has occurred in the slave device 120 (or unit 130 ).

In S211 , the monitoring unit 115 executes the monitoring process M to acquire status data from the data frame and write an instruction to write the status data into the data frame.

In S212, the monitoring unit 115 transmits the acquired status data to the sequence control unit because the acquired status data includes data indicating that an abnormal state has occurred in the slave device 120 (or the unit 130). The sequence control unit 111 performs processing according to the content of the abnormal data included in the status data. For example, the sequence control unit 111 controls to stop the abnormal slave device 120 (or the unit 130 ) or to stop all the slave devices 120 (or the unit 130 ).

In addition, for example, the sequence control unit 111 can also perform control to stop the system 100 including the master device 110 . In this case, the status data of the master device 110 may also write the display stop information into a data frame and send it to the slave device 120 .

Accordingly, in the slave device 120 , the processing for stopping can be started more quickly than the processing for stopping is started according to the instruction data from the sequence control unit 111 .

In addition, for example, the sequence control unit 111 may cause the display device (not shown) of the main device 110 to display information related to the abnormality that has occurred. Here, the abnormality-related information may include a message notifying the occurrence of the abnormality, information on the slave device 120 (or unit 130 ) where the abnormality occurred, and information on the content, cause, or countermeasure of the abnormality that occurred.

As described above, according to the control device of this embodiment, the status data of the slave device can be received at a monitoring cycle shorter than the control cycle, so that the status data of the slave device can be quickly acquired. In addition, when the data indicating abnormality is included in the status data of the slave device, the status data including the data indicating abnormality can be quickly acquired.

<Embodiments of substrate processing apparatus> An embodiment of a substrate processing apparatus to which the system 100 is applied will be described. In this embodiment, the substrate processing apparatus to which the system 100 is applied is described as an example of an exposure apparatus that exposes a substrate to form a pattern on the substrate, but is not limited thereto. For example, the system 100 can also be applied to a substrate processing apparatus such as an imprint apparatus that forms a pattern of an imprint material on a substrate using a mold, or a drawing apparatus that irradiates a substrate with a charged particle beam to form a pattern on the substrate. In addition, the system 100 can also be applied to substrate processing apparatuses such as a coating apparatus for applying a photosensitive medium on the surface of a substrate, a developing apparatus for developing a substrate on which a pattern has been transferred, and the like to substrate processing apparatuses to which the system 100 is applied. . In addition, the system can also be applied to substrate processing equipment such as film forming equipment (CVD equipment, etc.), processing equipment (laser processing equipment, etc.), inspection equipment (stack inspection equipment, etc.) to which the system 100 is applied. 100.

FIG. 6 is a diagram illustrating the configuration of the exposure apparatus 10 . The exposure apparatus 10 is an exposure apparatus which projects the pattern of the mask M onto the board|substrate W via the projection optical system 14, and exposes this board|substrate W. As shown in FIG. The exposure apparatus 10 has a light source 11 , an illumination optical system 12 , a mask stage 13 , a projection optical system 14 , a substrate stage 15 , and a main control unit 16 . Moreover, the exposure apparatus 10 has the 1st drive part 21 which drives the mask stage 13, the 2nd drive part 22 which drives the lens 14a of the projection optical system 14, and the 3rd drive part 23 which drives the board|substrate stage 15. The first driving unit 21, the second driving unit 22, and the third driving unit 23 are mechanisms that perform at least part of the process of forming a pattern on the substrate W, and are controlled by the mask stage control unit 31, the projection control unit 32, and the substrate stage, respectively. Section 33 performs control. In addition, the main control unit 16 has, for example, a CPU (processing unit), a memory device, etc., and is controlled by the mask stage control unit 31, the projection control unit 32, and the substrate stage control unit 33 to control the entire exposure apparatus 10 (the exposure apparatus 10). Each part).

The light source 11 emits exposure light. The illumination optical system 12 illuminates the mask M using the light emitted from the light source 11 . The mask table 13 can be configured to move, for example, in the XY direction through the first drive unit 21 while holding the mask M. The projection optical system 14 projects the pattern of the mask M illuminated through the illumination optical system 12 onto the substrate. The projection optical system 14 includes a lens 14 a that can move in, for example, the X direction through the second drive unit 22 . The substrate stage 15 can be configured to hold the substrate W while moving in, for example, the XY direction through the third drive unit 23 .

When the system 100 is applied to the exposure apparatus 10 shown in FIG. 6 , the main control unit 16 can be configured as a main device 110 . In addition, the mask stage control unit 31 , the projection control unit 32 , and the substrate stage control unit 33 may each be configured as a slave device 120 . The first drive unit 21 , the second drive unit 22 , and the third drive unit 23 are each configured as a unit 130 . Communication among the main control unit 16 , the mask stage control unit 31 , the projection control unit 32 , and the substrate stage control unit 33 is performed at regular intervals via the network 140 .

Here, as an example of applying the system 100 to the exposure apparatus 10, a case where the main device 110 communicates with the mask stage control unit 31, the projection control unit 32, and the substrate stage control unit 33 will be described. The communication unit 113 transmits the instruction data generated by the generation units 112a, 112b, and 112c to the mask stage control unit 31, the projection control unit 32, and the substrate stage control unit 33 at a control cycle T _C. In addition, the communication unit 113 receives response data to the instruction data from the mask stage control unit 31 , the projection control unit 32 , and the substrate stage control unit 33 .

In addition, the monitoring unit 115 executes a process of reading the state data of the mask stage control unit 31, the projection control unit 32, and the substrate stage control unit 33 from the data frame at a monitoring period _TM shorter than the control period T _C. The state data may include, for example, data indicating that an abnormal state has occurred in the mask table control unit 31 or the first drive unit 21 .

As described above, according to the control device of this embodiment, the status data of the slave device can be received at a monitoring cycle shorter than the control cycle, so that the status data of the slave device can be quickly acquired.

<Embodiments of the manufacturing method of the article> The method of manufacturing an article according to the embodiment of the present invention is suitable for manufacturing articles such as microdevices such as semiconductor devices and elements having a fine structure, for example. The method of manufacturing an article according to the present embodiment includes: a process of processing a substrate using the substrate processing apparatus described above; and a process of manufacturing an article from the substrate processed by the process. Furthermore, the manufacturing method may include known procedures (exposure, oxidation, film formation, vapor deposition, doping, planarization, etching, resist stripping, dicing, bonding, packaging, etc.). The method of manufacturing an article according to this embodiment is advantageous in at least one of article performance, quality, productivity, and production cost compared to conventional methods.

＜Other Embodiments＞ In addition, the individual embodiment can be implemented not only individually but also in any combination among all the embodiment.

The present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiments, and various changes and modifications can be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the present invention. Accordingly, claims are drafted to disclose the scope of the invention.

In this case, priority is claimed on the basis of Japanese Patent Application No. 2021-058488 filed on March 30, 2021, and all of its contents are hereby cited.

10: Exposure device 11: Light source 12: Illumination optical system 13: Mask stage 14: Projection optical system 14a: Lens 15: Substrate stage 16: Main control unit 21: First driving unit 22: Second driving unit 23: Third Drive unit 31: mask stage control unit 32: projection control unit 33: substrate stage control unit 100: system 110: main device 111: sequence control unit 112: generation unit 112a: generation unit 112b: generation unit 112c: generation unit 113: Communication unit 114: Control unit 115: Monitoring unit 116: Calculation unit 120: Slave device 121: Slave device 122: Slave device 123: Slave device 130: Unit 131: Unit 132: Unit 133: Unit 140: Network M: Mask T _C : Control cycle T _M : Monitor cycle T _MC : Communication cycle W: Board C: Control process M: Monitor process

[FIG. 1] It is a schematic diagram which shows the structure of the system which is one aspect of this invention. [ Fig. 2 ] is a diagram illustrating an example of communication processing in the first embodiment. [FIG. 3] It is a flow chart which shows the process of calculation of a control cycle and monitoring control. [FIG. 4] It is a figure which shows an example of the communication of the data in 1st Embodiment. [FIG. 5] It is a figure which shows an example of the communication of the data in 2nd Embodiment. [FIG. 6] It is a schematic diagram which shows the structure of the exposure apparatus which is one aspect of this invention. [ Fig. 7 ] is a diagram showing an example of communication processing in the prior art.

100: system

110: main device

111: Sequence Control Department

112a: Generation Department

112b: Generation Department

112c: Generation Department

113: Department of Communications

114: control department

115: Surveillance Department

116: calculation department

120:Slave device

121:Slave device

122: Slave device

123:Slave device

130: unit

131: unit

132: unit

133: unit

140: Network

Claims (20)

a control device that controls a controlled device, The aforementioned control device has a communication unit that performs communication of the data frame at a fixed communication cycle via the network, The communication unit executes communication in a data frame in which instruction data for controlling the controlled device or response data corresponding to the instruction data is written in a first cycle, and is executed in a second cycle shorter than the first cycle. Communication written to the data box of the status data showing the status of the aforementioned controlled device. As in the control device of claim 1, wherein, The aforementioned communications department has: The control unit executes a control process in the first cycle, and the control process includes writing instruction data for controlling the controlled device into the data frame and writing response data corresponding to the instruction data from the data frame. At least one of the processing of frame reads; and The monitoring unit executes a monitoring process including a process of reading status data indicating a status of the controlled device from the data frame in the second cycle. The control device according to claim 2, wherein the monitoring unit determines whether the status data includes information indicating an abnormality. The control device according to claim 3, wherein the control is performed so as to stop the controlled device when it is determined by the monitoring unit that the state data includes information indicating abnormality. The control device according to claim 2, which includes a calculation unit that calculates the first cycle based on a first time required for execution of the control process. The control device according to claim 5, wherein the calculation unit calculates the second cycle based on the first cycle and a second time required for execution of the monitoring process. The control device according to claim 6, wherein the calculation unit calculates the second period based on a result of determining that a third time obtained by dividing the first period by a natural number is smaller than the second time. The control device according to claim 6, wherein the calculation unit calculates the second cycle so that the second cycle becomes the minimum within a range corresponding to a length longer than the second time. The control device according to claim 5, wherein the calculation unit calculates the first period and the second period so that the communication period is multiplied by different natural numbers. The control device according to claim 1, wherein at least one of the instruction data and the response data is included in the data frame that is communicated in the first cycle. The control device according to claim 1, wherein the status data is included in the data frame that is communicated in the second cycle. The control device according to claim 1, wherein the aforementioned network is EtherCAT (registered trademark). The control device according to claim 1, wherein the controlled device reads and writes data on the data frame received from the control device by means of writing on the fly. A system comprising a controlled device connected via a network and a master device controlling the controlled device, The said master device has a communication part which performs the communication of a data frame via the said network at a fixed communication period, The communication unit executes communication in a data frame in which instruction data for controlling the controlled device or response data corresponding to the instruction data is written in a first cycle, and is executed in a second cycle shorter than the first cycle. Communication written to the data box of the status data showing the status of the aforementioned controlled device. A substrate processing apparatus that processes a substrate, The aforementioned substrate processing apparatus has a system according to claim 12, The system includes a unit that is controlled by a control device to perform at least part of the processing of the substrate. An exposure device for exposing a substrate, The foregoing exposure device has a system as claimed in item 12, The controlled device included in the system controls at least one of the first driving unit that drives the mask table, the second driving unit that drives the lens of the projection optical system, and the third driving unit that drives the substrate table. A method of manufacturing an article, comprising: A program for processing a substrate using the substrate processing device as claimed in claim 15; and A procedure for fabricating articles from the processed aforementioned substrates. A method of manufacturing an article, comprising: A procedure for exposing a substrate using an exposure apparatus according to claim 16; and It has: a procedure for fabricating an article from the exposed aforementioned substrate. A control method that controls a controlled device, The aforementioned control method has a communication program for performing communication of the data frame via the network at a certain communication cycle, The aforementioned communication program executes communication in a data frame in which instruction data for controlling the aforementioned controlled device or response data corresponding to the aforementioned instruction data is written in a first cycle, and is executed in a second cycle shorter than the aforementioned first cycle. Executes the communicator written in the data box of the state data showing the state of the aforementioned controlled device. A program for causing a computer as a host device to execute each program of the control method of claim 19.

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