TWI284793B - Methods for improvement of material handling efficiency and manufacturing systems using the same - Google Patents

Abstract

A method for improvement of material handling efficiency. An appointment counting value and warehouse counting value are defined. A monitor program checks the appointment counting and warehouse counting values. When the appointment counting and warehouse counting values equal 0, a manufacturing system loads a wafer lot stored in an appointment storage to a process tool and add one to the appointment counting and warehouse counting values respectively. When the appointment counting value equals 0 and the warehouse counting value is greater than 1, the manufacturing system loads a wafer lot to the process tool and adds one to the appointment counting value. When the appointment counting value is greater than 1, the manufacturing system reserves and moves a wafer lot to the process tool.

Description

1284793 5. VIRCULAR DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION (1) Technical Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a semiconductor manufacturing process, and more particularly to a method for improving material handling efficiency in semiconductor flow. [Prior Art] The Manufacturing Execution System (MES) assists the management personnel in collecting on-site data and controlling the on-site manufacturing process. • f is a tool to provide enterprises with improved processes and improved production efficiency. The Automatic Material Handling System (AMHS) is used to carry a batch of packaged circuit (IC) wafers (Front 〇pening Unified Pod, F0UP), which is not available in the fab process. Transfer between. Traditionally, Wafer Fab's material handling is a trolley-type system, but as the wafer size is increased from six to eight pairs to 12 inches, manual handling is no longer possible, plus Considerations such as yield rate and cleanliness of the product make the automated material handling system the necessary development of the above-mentioned manufacturing execution system and automatic material handling system in the fab or TFT factory in recent years. In order to reduce the burden of manpower, improve the quality of the process, and reduce the cost of manufacturing. The semiconductor manufacturing process is described below. Referring to FIG. 1 , it is a schematic diagram showing the architecture of a semiconductor manufacturing system, including a process machine (t〇〇l) 1〇〇, an output input port 150, and a machine control system. (Tool Control System, TCS) 200, a manufacturing execution system (MES) 300, a Real-Time Dispatching System 'RTD 400, and a handling control system (Materiai Control)

0532-A40382TWF(nl);pt.ap-343;ALEXCHEN.ptd Page 7 1284793 V. Description of invention (2)

System, MCS) 5 00, an automatic material handling system (AMHS) 60 0, a buffer stock (Stocker) 700, and a track 80 0. When the process machine 100 is in an idle state, that is, when no wafer is executed in the semiconductor process of the process machine 100, it returns a ready message to the machine control system 200, and then the machine control system 2 〇〇 The message is then sent to the manufacturing execution system 300 to inform it that another batch of wafers can be transported to the private machine 100 > [亍 semiconductor process. When the manufacturing execution system 3 receives the load ready message, it will ask the immediate dispatch system 4 哪 which batch of wafers to be transported next to the process machine 1 〇〇, and then immediately dispatch the system 4 〇 〇 will give the Manufacturing Execution System 300 - Process List, which contains a list of wafers for which semiconductor packaging is to be performed. After the manufacturing execution system 3 determines one of the crystals, a conveyance request message is transmitted to the handling control system 5 〇. Then, when the handling control system 500 receives the handling request message, it commands the automatic material handling system 60 to transfer the designated wafer to the output of the processing machine 1 via the track 800 from the buffer storage 7埠(p〇rt) I". After the processing machine 100 takes the batch of wafers, it returns the load and completes it to the machine control system 2000, and then the machine control system 2 回报 returns the load. The message is sent to the manufacturing execution system 300. When the manufacturing execution system 3 receives the load completion message, it sends a control command to the process machine 100 via the machine control system 2 to inform it. What kind of semiconductor process (such as yellow light process). Then, the process machine 100 executes the corresponding semiconductor process according to the control command and returns an unloading ready message to the machine control system 20 0 after the execution is completed, and then the machine The control system 2 transmits the message to the manufacturing execution system 3 to notify the company that the batch can be moved.

0532-A40382TWF(nl);pt.ap-343;ALEXCHEN.ptd Page 8 — — 1284793 V. Description of Invention (3) Out of the process machine 100. When the Manufacturing Execution System 3 receives the Unload Ready message, it will ask the Instant Dispatch System 4 〇 〇 which batch of wafers will be shipped to which process. After inquiring that the immediate dispatching system 4 replies to the manufacturing execution system 300, the manufacturing execution system 3 transmits a handling request message to the handling control system 50 0, and then the handling control system 5 commands the automated handling system 6 0 0 Unload the batch of wafers and then move them back to the warehouse 70 0. In the current semiconductor storage management, the process machine is currently idle, and the manufacturing execution system will carry the semiconductor process wafer to the process machine through the automatic material handling system. When the machine to be executed is currently processing the other batches of wafers, the batch must be transferred to the buffer storage for temporary storage. When the process is completed and is idle, The batch of wafers is transferred to the process machine. However, if there is no empty storage location for the buffer storage of the processing machine: the wafer must be transported to other buffer storage first, and then the batch is executed and is idle, then the batch is Wafers are transported from other buffer bins to the process machine. For the province column, refer to Figure 2, which shows the relationship between the wafer in the process machine and the machine: storage. $ A batch of wafers is to be transported to the process machine port 3 to perform a semiconductor process. When the process machine 3 is currently processing other batches of wafers, the batch of wafers must be first transferred to the buffer bin 2 for waiting. The process machine 3 is completed. If the buffer storage Α is currently benefiting from the storage level, and the buffer storage B is available, the storage location is buffered. When the process machine 3 is completed, it will be shipped.

1284793 V. INSTRUCTIONS (4) The warehouse B is directly transported to the buffer storage. The Chengziyu animal handling system is a one-way handling system. The above-mentioned handling flow & 晶圆 ί wafer is removed from the buffer storage 6 and then must be stored along the arrow side i/ • Α, so it will take a lot of time The handling of the wafer t2 I曰 is stored in a further buffer storage, which will result in ^ mu, so that the process machine 3 is always idle, which causes the increase and the process efficiency to decrease. Because of &, the present invention has been a method to improve the efficiency of material handling. SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention is disclosed in an embodiment of the invention - an improved material handling molybdenum crucible.疋yi a reservation count value and a warehouse count value. A monitor ίη ΛΛ the reserved count value and the stock value. When the (four) count value ΓΛ Λ count value is 0'_ the manufacturing execution system will be stored in a reservation to a process machine*, and the reservation count value 2 to the warehouse count value will be added i. When the reservation count value is 〇 and the warehouse meter value is greater than 0', the manufacturing execution system loads an in-process product into the process machine and increments the reservation count value. When the = line system reserves an in-process, and the value is: = = [Embodiment] For the purposes of the above: and the other (four), features and understanding, the following is a preferred embodiment' The explanation is as follows. The invention discloses a method for improving the material moving < biennial to 0532-A40382TWF(nl); pt.ap-343; ALEXCHEN.ptd page 10 1284793 '5, invention description (5) and use The manufacturing system of the method. In order to improve the efficiency of material handling, the embodiment of the present invention reserves a plurality of storage locations in the buffer storage for each processing machine, and achieves its purpose through software control. The architecture of the semiconductor manufacturing system of the embodiment of the present invention is shown in FIG. 3 as compared with the architecture of the conventional semiconductor manufacturing system, and further includes a monitoring program 90 0 for monitoring the processing machine 10 and manufacturing execution system 3 〇〇, 、 、 、 、 、 、 、 、 、 、 、 、 、 、 、 、 、 、 、 、 、 、 、 、 、 、 、 、 、 、 、 、 、 、 、 、 、 、 、 、 、 、 、 、 、 、 、 、 In-process to the process machine. Referring to Fig. 2', it is a schematic diagram showing the workflow of the manufacturing process of the semiconductor manufacturing system. Moreover, as described above, embodiments of the present invention reserve a number of storage locations in the buffer storage for each processing machine. For example, referring to Figure 3, the buffer warehouse has 20 storage locations, where storage 1, storage 2, and storage 3 are reserved. In the machine group to which the buffer storage A belongs, the process machine 1, the process machine 2, and the process machine 3 are included, and the number of storage positions required for each process machine is not constant, usually only one or two storage is required. The position is in line with the current manufacturing process of the semiconductor manufacturing system, but it is not limited to this. Therefore, in the embodiment of the present invention, one storage location (reserved storage location, reserved storage location 2, and reserved storage location) is reserved for each of the processing machine platform, the processing machine 2, and the processing machine 3. 3). In addition, in order to manufacture the execution system 300 and the buffer storage unit 1 (in the embodiment of the present invention, only the processing machine 1 is taken as an example), a reservation meter, a value and a storage count value (hereinafter referred to as MES, respectively) are respectively defined. —(;〇111^与

1284793

Stocker - Count) is used to record the change in the number of work in process of the reserved storage 1 of the manufacturing execution system 30 0 during operation and buffer storage 700. ° The current semiconductor manufacturing process applies a “reserve mechanism” in the material handling system, which is when the process machine is idle, the manufacturing execution system will reserve a batch of WIP for the process machine, and - and inform the automatic material handling system to carry the batch in-process to the process machine. Before the batch of work in progress is transferred to the process machine, if other parts are manually loaded into the process machine, the process machine will not perform the process operation. However, the embodiment of the present invention proposes a "pre-reservation-pre-reserve mechanism", which is still performing process operations on a batch of work-in-progress in the process machine, and the manufacturing execution system first executes the process operation on the process machine. The next batch of in-process products is transported to the reserved storage location of the buffer storage to which the processing machine belongs, so that the next batch of work-in-progress is loaded into the processing machine after the processing machine completes the current process operation. This will effectively save material handling time. The concept of "pre-reserve mechanism" will be briefly described below. Referring to Figure 4, there is shown a schematic diagram showing the relationship between the reserved storage location and the processing machine in the embodiment of the present invention. Taking the process machine 1 as an example, when it is performing a process operation, and the current reserved storage location is empty, and the other storage locations in the buffer storage A are not waiting to be loaded to the process machine 1 to perform the process operation. In the product, the manufacturing execution system reserves a batch of work-in-progress for the process machine 1 (the batch of work in progress may be stored in the buffer storage B or other buffer storage), and informs the automatic material handling system to carry the batch in-process to the reserve. Storage • 1 storage, and then wait until the process machine has completed the current process operation,

1284793· Jade, invention description (7) ίί made to the processing machine 1. The embodiment of the present invention only considers that the above-mentioned y storage machine 1 is performing the process operation, and buffering the storage in the storage A: Ϊ To be loaded into the processing machine 1 to perform the process operation, the manufacturing system does not The above "pre-booking" operation will be performed. Ur 1TM 'Next, a semiconductor fabrication process of the embodiment of the invention will be described in detail: a part of the system may not be described in the description of the operation and the description in the figure j. The operation is the same. The initial value of -C〇unt is set to 1, respectively, which is not reserved for one-stage machine 1〇〇 in the buffer storage 7〇〇. When the processing machine 100 is performing a process operation, the value of the monitoring program 9 is detected; the value of τ〇1^Γ, (the monitoring program 900 executes the second time, every other time) 1 ' indicates that the manufacturing execution system 300 1 does not perform the pre-reservation operation (the value of St〇cker-c〇unt is also: 30. The execution: - control command, the manufacturing execution - ^ pre-booking knowledge, and Will be in the process machine 10 0 = the next batch of WIP is transported to the buffer warehouse 700. After the manufacturing operation completes the pre-operating operation, the value of MEs-c〇unt is reduced by 1 := Then, the manufacturing execution system 300 issues a handling request message to the transportation system 500, and when the handling control system 50 0 carries the control system 500 to receive the request message 'it orders the automatic material handling system 600, the finger is transferred to the product. The reserved storage location 75 in the buffer storage m. When the batch ϋίη to the reserved storage location 750, the value of Stocker-c〇unt is decremented by 1 to 0 (at this time MES_C〇unt and St〇Cker_C〇unt The values are all 〇). The value of the MES Count is when the batch is loaded into the process machine.

1284793

Adding 1 to the value of 1' Stocker_Count also becomes i because the batch is incremented by the reserved storage location 750. The table is moved. The above describes the changes in the values of MES — Count and Stock er — Count. Next, the operation flow of the monitoring program will be explained. The monitor 90 0 checks the value of the MES-Count and responds to different operations depending on the change in the value and whether the process machine 1 is performing a process operation. The first condition is that the process machine 1 is performing the process operation, and the second condition is when the process machine 1 completes the current process operation and issues a load completion message to the manufacturing execution system 3 (ie, when the process machine 100 is in an idle state). In the first case, if the value of the MES-Count is 〇, the monitoring program 900 does not perform any operation. If the value of jjES_Count is 1, then the monitoring program 900 causes the manufacturing execution system 30 0 to perform a pre-reservation operation (as described above). In the first case, the value of the Stocker-Count is not considered. In the second case, if the value of MES_Count is 〇, and if the value of Stocker-Count is 〇, it means that the manufacturing execution system 3 has reserved a batch of WIP in advance and has stored it in the reserved storage 750. The manufacturing execution system 30 0 loads the work-in-process stored in the reserved storage location 75 into the processing machine 100 to perform a process operation. At this time, the values of MES_Count and Stocker-Count are incremented by one to become 1. If the value of MES_Count is 0, and if the value of Stocker-Count is 1, it means that the manufacturing execution system 300 has reserved a batch of WIP in advance but has not yet stored it in the reserved storage area 75, so the batch is directly The WIP is loaded into the process machine 1 to perform the process operation, and the value of MES_Count is incremented by 1 to become 1.

0532-A40382TWF(nl);pt.ap-343;ALEXCHEN.ptd Page 14 1284793 V. Description of invention (9) If the value of MES_Count is ! (At this time, the value of St〇cker_c〇unt should also be 1), and the table is not executed by the manufacturing execution system 300 to perform the current process operation in advance, and thus the manufacturing execution system 30 is performed. A batch of work in process' and the batch is transported to the process machine through the automated material handling system 600 and loaded. As described above, the monitoring program 900 checks the value of MES_C〇Unt every predetermined time, and causes the system 300 to perform a corresponding operation according to the change in its value. When the value of MES_c〇unt is i, the monitoring program 900 causes the manufacturing execution system 30 to perform a pre-reservation operation, subtracting the value of & two, MES_C〇Unt, and making the automatic material handling system 6 The pre-booked WIP is transported to a reserved storage location in the buffer storage 7 to reduce the time required to transport the materials, thereby improving the process efficiency. When the winter ΪΜ pre-ES is about C, when the A" process machine (10) is loaded, the manufacturing execution system: 3 〇 ° increases the value of MES -Count by 1, and then monitors the program 9 〇〇 continuously checks the value of MES - Count. The method for carrying out the handling efficiency of the present invention will be described. Fig. 5 is a flow chart showing the steps of improving material handling in the embodiment of the present invention. From thousand 4 / no first, define an appointment count value and a storage. Counting values (referred to as MES-Count and Stocker-Count), and providing an age-old, manufacturing execution system, a processing machine, and a storage location (step S". Next, performing a monitoring two), the monitoring The program determines whether the processing machine is executing one (step S3), and if the processing machine is performing a process operation, then determining

Claims (1)

J284793 VI. Patent application scope 1 · A modified manufacturing system, the formula, a manufacturing and a reserved storage location, defining a pre-adjusted monitoring value; when the pre-determined value is above, the upper in-process product is loaded into the above-mentioned pre-sale When the predetermined value is pre-programmed, the method for pre-processing the above-mentioned pre-good material handling efficiency is used in a semiconductor. The semiconductor manufacturing system includes at least a monitoring process system, a processing machine, and a buffer storage. The method includes the following steps: an approximate count value and a storage count value; the program checks the above-mentioned reserved count value and the above-mentioned storage count approximate count value is a predetermined value and the above-mentioned storage count value is stored in the reserve reserve One of the above-mentioned processing machines; the approximate count value and the above-mentioned storage count value are respectively increased by 1; the approximate count value is the predetermined value and the above-mentioned storage count value is greater than the above-mentioned manufacturing execution system loading an in-process product to the above-mentioned constraint count value plus 1; When the pre-measurement & ^ approximate count value is greater than the predetermined value, the above-mentioned manufacturing execution system, the death reservation one in-process; The above method is as follows: in the application method, wherein, in a process operation, the application method is carried out, wherein the product is transported to the above-mentioned process machine by more than the predetermined value. The above-mentioned operation step of improving material handling efficiency according to the first aspect of the patent is performed on the above-mentioned process machine to perform the above-mentioned predetermined count value for improving material handling efficiency and the initial value of the above-mentioned storage count value. Ο 1284793 VI. Scope of application for patents. · If the material handling efficiency is improved as described in item 3 of the patent application, the above process machine does not perform any process operation and the second. When the approximate count value is the predetermined value, the above-mentioned monitoring program does not perform any operation, and the method for improving the material handling efficiency as described in claim 4 of the patent scope is 'in the case where the above-mentioned processing machine does not perform any process operation and When the reservation count value is greater than the predetermined value, the monitoring program causes the manufacturing license system to perform a predetermined reservation operation. 6. The method of improving material handling efficiency according to claim 5, wherein the above-mentioned reservation execution value is decreased by one when the above-described manufacturing execution system performs the above-described predetermined reservation operation. 7. The method of improving material handling efficiency as set forth in claim 6 wherein the predetermined value is 〇. 8. The method of improving material handling efficiency of claim 3, wherein said storage execution system subtracts said storage count value by one when said manufacturing execution system transports an in-process product to said reserved storage location. a manufacturing system for performing a manufacturing process using an improved material handling efficiency method and including at least one monitoring program, a manufacturing execution system, a processing machine, and a reserved storage location in a buffer storage The method for improving material handling efficiency includes the following steps: defining an appointment count value and a warehouse count value; the monitoring program checks the reservation count value and the storage count value; when the reservation count value is a predetermined value and the storage Count value is the 1284793 -6. When the patent application scope is fixed, μ, +, also I, ± Μ ^ ^ X The system is stored in one of the above reserved storage positions and loaded into the above-mentioned processing machine at the mouth of the watch. ; ^ ^ ^ The reserved count value is incremented by 1 with the above stored count value; 兮 both the reserved count value is the predetermined value and the above stored count value is greater than Ϊ :: The manufacturing execution system will - the in-process product is loaded into the above system. The count value is incremented by one; the pre-completion: the upper count value is greater than the predetermined value, and the manufacturing execution system reserves an in-process product; and the above-mentioned work product is transported to the above-mentioned processing machine. ^ The manufacturing system according to claim 9, wherein the step 1 is performed when the process machine is performing a process operation. The manufacturing system according to claim 10, wherein the predetermined value of the predetermined amount and the value of the stock are greater than the value of 0 to 1 2 · If the patent application scope is item 1 The manufacturing system, wherein the monitoring program does not perform when the process machine does not perform any process operation and the predetermined value is performed. (4) Operation H ten value I3. Manufacturing as described in claim 12 The system, wherein, when the process machine does not perform any process operation and the upper leaf value is greater than the predetermined value, the monitoring program performs a pre-reservation operation. The manufacturing system according to claim 13 wherein the manufacturing execution system performs the above-mentioned pre-reservation operation, and the above-mentioned pre-preparation 0532-A40382TWF(nl);pt.ap-343;ALEXCHEN.ptd 1284793 VI. Scope of application for patents The approximate count value is reduced by 1. The manufacturing system of claim 14, wherein the predetermined value is zero. The manufacturing system of claim 11, wherein the manufacturing execution system subtracts the storage count value by one when the manufacturing execution system transfers the product to the reserved storage location. a storage medium for storing a computer program, the computer including a plurality of code for loading into a computer system and The above computer system is configured to perform a method for improving material handling efficiency, the method comprising the steps of: defining an appointment count value and a warehouse count value; wherein the monitoring program checks the reservation count value and the storage count value; - although the reservation count value When the value is a predetermined value and the storage count value is the same value, the manufacturing execution system stores the work in the reserved storage location into the processing machine; and the predetermined counting value and the storage counting value Adding 1 respectively; when the above-mentioned reserved count value is the predetermined value and the above-mentioned storage count value is greater than the value of ^, the above-mentioned manufacturing execution system loads the manufactured product into the predetermined value, and the above-mentioned manufacturing executes the processing machine. Adding the above-mentioned reserved count value to 1; when the above-mentioned reserved count value is greater than the reservation of a work-in-progress; and transferring the above-mentioned work-in-progress to the above 0532-A40382TWF(nl);pt.ap-343;ALEXCHEN.ptd Page 21 1284793 VI. Application for patents The above-mentioned operation #步申晴 Patent scope 17th storage medium, where, when. "', executed in the above-mentioned processing machine is performing a process operation. 1 9 The storage medium described in item 18 of the reservation count range, wherein the upper value of the above 20, the above storage count value is greater than the predetermined value. value. When the storage medium 'where' described in the above-mentioned process patent scope 19 performs any process operation for the predetermined value and the above-mentioned reservation count value, the above-mentioned monitoring program does not perform any operation. In the case of the storage medium described in item 20 of the patent application, the external disk does not perform any process operations and the above-mentioned reservations are "valued". First, a pre-reservation operation is performed first, wherein, in the above-mentioned pre-reservation operation, the above-mentioned manufacturing execution system of the storage medium field as described in claim 21 of the patent application scope is executed, Decrease the count value by 1. 23. The storage medium as described in claim 22 of the patent application is set to a value of zero. [24] The storage medium of claim 9, wherein the manufacturing execution system moves the in-process product to the reserved position ▼ to decrement the storage count value by one. f ’ 0532-A40382TWF(nl);pt.ap-343;ALEXCHEN.ptd第22页