Patent Application
20240203768
The present invention relates to a semiconductor manufacturing apparatus and an operation controlling method of a semiconductor manufacturing apparatus. Especially, the present invention relates to controlling performed when a failure has occurred in a semiconductor manufacturing apparatus.
A semiconductor manufacturing apparatus comprises plural processing modules which perform processes peculiar to them, respectively. Further, a processing module may comprise plural submodules. In the case that a failure has occurred in one of submodules, it is necessary to stop operation of the whole of a semiconductor manufacturing apparatus, and perform restoration work such as replacing of a part which is the cause of the failure, and so on. Accordingly, downtime occurs in the semiconductor manufacturing apparatus. In this regard, although it is possible to stop a submodule in which a failure has occurred and continue operation of the semiconductor manufacturing apparatus for avoiding occurrence of downtime, the throughput in the semiconductor manufacturing apparatus is lowered in such a case.
It is desired to suppress lowering of the throughput as much as possible when a failure has occurred.
(Mode 1) According to mode 1, a method for controlling operation of a semiconductor manufacturing apparatus, which comprises one or plural processing modules which respectively comprise plural submodules, is provided, and the method comprises steps for: judging whether a failure has occurred in at least one of the plural submodules; judging, in the case that a failure has occurred in at least one of the plural submodules, whether at least one submodule which is not in a failed state exists in a processing module to which the failed submodule belongs; obtaining, in the case that at least one submodule which is not in a failed state exists in the processing module to which the failed submodule belongs, throughput in a state that the one or plural processing modules are controlled to perform operation while the failed submodule is controlled to stop its operation; judging whether the throughput is larger than a predetermined threshold; and continuing operation of the one or plural processing modules while controlling the failed submodule to stop its operation, in the case that the throughput is larger than the predetermined threshold.
(Mode 2) According to mode 2 comprising the method in mode 1, the method comprises a step for stopping operation of the whole semiconductor manufacturing apparatus for restoration from the failure, in the case that the throughput is smaller than the predetermined threshold.
(Mode 3) According to mode 3 comprising the method in mode 1, the threshold value is calculated based on restoration time that is defined in advance with respect to each of failure modes.
(Mode 4) According to mode 4 comprising the method in mode 3, the threshold value is calculated by adjusting, based on a ratio between the length of a predetermined judgment period and the length of restoration time corresponding to the occurred failure, a value of throughput before occurrence of a failure.
(Mode 5) According to mode 5 comprising the method in mode 4, the predetermined judgment period is a period relating to maintenance that is periodically performed with respect to the semiconductor manufacturing apparatus.
(Mode 6) According to mode 6 comprising the method in mode 1, the step for obtaining throughput in a state that the one or plural processing modules are controlled to perform operation while the failed submodule is controlled to stop its operation comprises steps for: creating a schedule for processing of plural objects by the semiconductor manufacturing apparatus, on the supposition that the one or plural processing modules are controlled to perform operation while the failed submodule is controlled to stop its operation; and calculating the throughput based on the created schedule, wherein the throughput represents the number of the objects with respect to which processing applied thereto in the semiconductor manufacturing apparatus is to be completed within unit time.
(Mode 7) According to mode 7 comprising the method in mode 1, the method further comprises a step for communicating an alarm that represents a state that operation of the one or plural processing modules is continued while the failed submodule is controlled to stop its operation.
(Mode 8) According to mode 8 comprising the method in mode 1, the method further comprises a step for selecting, based on a predetermined condition, whether the step for continuing is to be performed.
(Mode 9) According to mode 9 comprising the method in mode 1, the processing module is a plating module comprising plural plating tanks; and the submodules are the plating tanks.
(Mode 10) According to mode 10, a semiconductor manufacturing apparatus is provided, and the semiconductor manufacturing apparatus comprises: one or plural processing modules, wherein each processing module comprises plural submodules; and a controller constructed to control operation of the one or plural processing modules in accordance with the method in any one of modes 1-9.
In the following description, embodiments of the present invention will be explained with reference to the figures. In the figures which will be explained below, a reference symbol that is the same as that assigned to one component is assigned to the other component which is the same as or corresponds to the one component, and overlapping explanation of these components will be omitted.
As shown in
The load/unload station 120 comprises loading plates 152, wherein each loading plate 152 has a flat plate shape and is able to slide in a lateral direction along rails 150. Two substrate holders 30 are loaded, in parallel with each other in a horizontal state, onto the loading plates 152; and, after completion of delivery of a substrate between one of the substrate holders 30 and the transfer robot 122, the loading plates 152 are slid in a lateral direction, and delivery of a substrate between the other of the substrate holders 30 and the transfer robot 122 is performed.
The plating apparatus 10 further comprises a stocker 124, a pre-wet module 126, a pre-soak module 128, a first rinse module 130a, a blow module 132, a second rinse module 130b, and a plating module 110. In the stocker 124, storing and temporary storing of a substrate holder 30 is performed. In the pre-wet module 126, a substrate is soaked in pure water. In the pre-soak module 128, an oxide film on a surface of an electrically conducting layer such as a seed layer or the like formed on a surface of a substrate is removed by etching. In the first rinse module 130a, a substrate is rinsed together with a substrate holder 30 by using a cleaning solution (pure water or the like) after pre-soaking. In the blow module 132, liquid removal of a substrate is performed after rinsing. In the second rinse module 130b, a plated substrate is rinsed together with a substrate holder 30 by using a cleaning solution. The load/unload station 120, the stocker 124, the pre-wet module 126, the pre-soak module 128, the first rinse module 130a, the blow module 132, the second rinse module 130b, and the plating module 110 are arranged in the above listed order.
For example, the plating module 110 is constructed in such a manner that plural plating tanks 114 are housed in the inside of an overflow tank 136. In the example of
The plating apparatus 10 comprises a transfer apparatus 140 which is arranged in a position on a side of the above respective devices, adopts, for example, a linear motor system, and conveys a substrate holder 30, together with a substrate, between the above respective devices. The transfer apparatus 140 comprises a first transfer apparatus 142 and a second transfer apparatus 144. The first transfer apparatus 142 is constructed to convey a substrate between the load/unload station 120, the stocker 124, the pre-wet module 126, the pre-soak module 128, the first rinse module 130a, and the blow module 132. The second transfer apparatus 144 is constructed to convey a substrate between the first rinse module 130a, the second rinse module 130b, the blow module 132, and the plating module 110. The plating apparatus 10 may be constructed in such a manner that it does not comprise the second transfer apparatus 144, i.e., it comprises the first transfer apparatus 142 only.
In positions on both sides of the overflow tank 136, paddle drivers 160 and paddle followers 162 are arranged, wherein each of the paddle drivers 160 and each of the paddle followers 162 drive a paddle which is arranged in each of the plating tanks 114 and works as a stirring rod for stirring plating liquid in the plating tank 114.
An example of a series of plating processes performed by the plating apparatus 10 will be explained. First, a substrate is taken out by the transfer robot 122 from the cassette 100 loaded on the cassette table 102, and the substrate is conveyed to the aligner 104. The aligner 104 aligns, in a predetermined direction, a position of an orientation flat, a notch, or the like. The substrate, that has been aligned with respect to the direction by the aligner 104, is conveyed by the transfer robot 122 to the load/unload station 120.
Regarding the load/unload station 120, two substrate holders 30, which have been stored in the stocker 124, are gripped at the same time by the first transfer apparatus 142 in the transfer apparatus 140, and conveyed to the load/unload station 120. Thereafter, the two substrate holders 30 are put, at the same time and horizontally, on the loading plates 152 in the load/unload station 120. In the above state, the transfer robot 122 conveys the substrates to the substrate holders 30, respectively, and the conveyed substrates are held in the substrate holders 30, respectively.
Next, the two substrate holders 30, which hold the substrates, are gripped at the same time by the first transfer apparatus 142 in the transfer apparatus 140, and housed in the pre-wet module 126. Next, the substrate holders 30, which hold the substrates processed in the pre-wet module 126, are conveyed to the pre-soak module 128 by the first transfer apparatus 142, and, in the pre-soak module 128, an etching process is applied to an oxide film on each of the substrates. Following thereto, the substrate holders 30, which hold the above substrates, are conveyed to the first rinse module 130a, and the surfaces of the substrates are rinsed by pure water stored in the first rinse module 130a.
The substrate holders 30, which hold the substrates with respect to which the rinsing process applied thereto has been completed, are conveyed from the first rinse module 130a to the plating module 110 by the second transfer apparatus 144, and housed in the plating tanks 114 which have been filled with plating liquid. The second transfer apparatus 144 repeats the above procedures sequentially to thereby sequentially house the substrate holders 30, which hold substrates, in the plating tanks 114 in the plating module 110, respectively.
In each of the plating tanks 114, a surface of the substrate is plated by applying a plating voltage between the substrate and an anode (not shown in the figure) in the plating tank 114, and, at the same time, moving the paddle forward and backward, in parallel with the surface of the substrate, by the paddle driver 160 and the paddle follower 162.
After completion of plating, two substrate holders 30, which hold the plated substrates, are gripped at the same time by the second transfer apparatus 144, and conveyed to the second rinse module 130b, and the surfaces of the substrates are rinsed by pure water by soaking them in the pure water stored in the second rinse module 130b. Next, the substrate holders 30 are conveyed to the blow module 132 by the second transfer apparatus 144, and water droplets remaining on the substrate holders 30 are removed by air-blowing or the like. Thereafter, the substrate holders 30 are conveyed to the load/unload station 120 by the first transfer apparatus 142.
In the load/unload station 120, the processed substrate is taken out from the substrate holder 30 by the transfer robot 122, and conveyed to the spin rinse dryer 106. The spin rinse dryer 106 rotates, at high speed, the plated substrate to thereby dry it. The dried substrate is returned to the cassette 100 by the transfer robot 122.
In the system 400 in
The device controller 440 transmits a request for creation of a timetable to the scheduler 460, and, in response thereto, the scheduler 460 creates a timetable and supplies it to the device controller 440. The timetable creation request is transmitted, before a start of operation of the plating apparatus 10, from the device controller 440 to the scheduler 460 in accordance with an operation instruction from the management computer 480. Further, the timetable creation request is transmitted from the device controller 440 to the scheduler 460, when a failure has occurred in the plating apparatus 10 during operation thereof for performing action corresponding to the failure.
The device controller 440 transmits, according to the timetable, control instructions for controlling respective parts of the plating apparatus 10. The plating apparatus 10 outputs, to the device controller 440, information relating to states of operation of the respective parts (for example, information representing occurrence of a failure). The device controller 440 communicates, according to the state, an alarm (for example, occurrence of a failure) to the management computer 480.
After stopping operation of the plating apparatus 10, a maintenance person checks a part in which the failure has occurred (512), and restores the failed part (514) by replacing a component which is the cause of the failure, or the like, for example. If a long period of time is required for completing restoration, it may be possible to select an option such that restoration is deferred and the plating apparatus 10 is operated without using the failed part (516). For example, in the above-explained example, the plating module 110 may be operated in such a manner that use of the failed single plating tank is discontinued and the remaining seven plating tanks are used. After completing restoration of the failed part (514), or after completing setting of the plating apparatus 10 to make the plating apparatus 10 avoid using the failed part if restoration thereof is to be deferred (516), operation of the plating apparatus 10 is restarted (518). In the case that operation is restarted without using the failed part, the throughput of the plating apparatus 10 (processing capacity per unit time) will decreases; however, long suspension of operation of the whole plating apparatus 10 can be avoided.
However, in the case that operation is performed in accordance with the operation flow shown in
In step 602, the processor judges whether a failure has occurred in the plating apparatus 10. More specifically, the processor judges whether a failure has occurred in at least one submodule in plural submodules which are components of the plating apparatus 10. For example, the device controller 440 continuously receives, at predetermined intervals, from respective processing modules, i.e., the pre-wet module 126, the pre-soak module 128, the first rinse module 130a, the second rinse module 130b, and the plating module 110, in the plating apparatus 10, information relating to operation states (for example, data of current, voltages, temperature, and so on) of them. As shown in
If a failure has occurred in one of submodules in the plating apparatus 10, the processor performs, in next step 604, judgment as to whether an alternative submodule that can be used in place of the failed submodule exists. The alternative module is a submodule which has a function identical with that of the failed submodule (that is, which can perform the same process) and is not in a failed state. That is, the processor performs judgment as to whether a processing module, which includes the submodule in the failed state, includes a submodule which is not in a failed state. For example, in the example in
In the case that an alternative submodule exists, the process proceeds to step 606. In step 606, the processor recalculates an operation schedule of the plating apparatus 10, i.e., an operation schedule in the case that it is assumed that a failed submodule is unusable. For example, before a start of operation of the plating apparatus 10, the processor in the scheduler 460 has already created a timetable of the plating apparatus 10, i.e., a timetable in the condition that no failure has occurred in the plating apparatus 10 and all submodules in the plating apparatus 10 are usable. The timetable is information representing an operation schedule including information such as when each of parts in the plating apparatus 10 will be operated to perform a process, to which substrate the process will be applied, and what kind of process the part will perform. The plating apparatus 10 performs operation according to a timetable which has been created in advance. During operation, if a failure has occurred in the plating apparatus 10, the processor in the scheduler 460 creates a timetable in step 606, i.e., in this time, a timetable in the condition that using of the failed submodule is to be stopped and using of all other submodules, which are not in failed states, is to be continued. In this regard, the above newly created timetable is a tentative timetable, and operation of the plating apparatus 10 based on the above newly created timetable is not performed at this point in time.
Next, in step 608, the processor calculates, based on the schedule (timetable) created in step 606, the throughput of the plating apparatus 10. That is, the processor calculates the throughput of the plating apparatus 10 in the state that the plating apparatus 10 performs operation without using the failed submodule. The throughput of the plating apparatus 10 is an index representing processing capacity per unit time of the plating apparatus 10, and, for example, may be defined as the number of substrates which can be produced by the plating apparatus 10 (i.e., the number of substrates with respect to each of which all processing steps in a series of processing steps performed in the plating apparatus 10 have been completed) during unit time. As explained above, the timetable comprises information such as when each of parts in the plating apparatus 10 will be operated to perform a process, to which substrate the process will be applied, and what kind of process the part will perform, so that the processor (for example, the processor in the scheduler 460 or the device controller 440) can calculate the throughput by analyzing the timetable.
In this regard, instead of obtaining the throughput of the plating apparatus 10 by performing calculation such as that performed in step 608, the throughput may be obtained by performing an experiment, for example, an experiment wherein the plating apparatus 10 is operated for a period of time in the state that using of a submodule in a failed state is stopped, and the throughput is measured during the above period of time.
Next, in step 610, the processor performs judgment as to whether the throughput calculated in step 608 is larger than a predetermined threshold value. If the throughput is larger than the predetermined threshold value, the process proceeds to step 612, and the processor controls the respective parts of the plating apparatus 10 to make them perform operation based on the timetable created in step 606. That is, for example, in step 612, the processor in the device controller 440 provides the plating apparatus 10 with an instruction to operate it in such a manner that the submodule in the failed state stops its operation and the submodules other than the above submodule perform their operation. Thus, in the case that the throughput calculated in step 608, that is, the throughput obtainable in the condition that the submodule in the failed state is not used, is sufficiently large, operation of the plating apparatus 10 using submodules except for the failed submodule is continued, instead of stopping operation of the whole plating apparatus 10. Thus, according to the method of the present embodiment, there is no period of time during that a start of processing of a new substrate is suspended, such as a period of time from the time when loading of a new substrate is stopped (504) to the time when operation of the plating apparatus 10 is stopped; accordingly, higher throughput can be realized.
It is preferable that the threshold value used in judgment in above step 610 be set to a value corresponding to each of contents of failures. For example, it is preferable that a small threshold value be assigned to a failure with respect to that the length of time required for restoration is long, and that a large threshold value be assigned to a failure with respect to that the length of time required for restoration is short. For example, the threshold value may be a value that represents throughput that is obtained by considering total operation that includes a period of time during that operation is stopped, such as a period of time from the time when the whole plating apparatus 10 is stopped to restore a failed submodule to the time when operation of the plating apparatus 10 in a perfect condition is restarted. The following formula is an example of the above.
In the above formula, N denotes the throughput of the plating apparatus 10 before occurrence of a failure (i.e., the number of substrates that can be processed during unit time); T denotes the length of a predetermined judgment period; and tk denotes an expected length of time required for restoration, wherein the expected length of time is defined in advance to correspond to each failure mode k (each of the kinds of failures) or each submodule k (k=1, 2, . . . ).
Threshold value=50×(72−3)/72=47(pieces/time)
and uses the above threshold value in judgment in step 610. In the present case, if the throughput calculated in step 608, i.e., the throughput in the condition that the failed submodule is not used, is larger than the above threshold value, i.e., the numerical value 47, it is determined that it is efficient if the failed submodule is controlled to stop its operation and the plating apparatus 10 is controlled to perform operation. Accordingly, it becomes possible to make the plating apparatus 10 perform operation by using a more efficient method, as a result that step 612 is performed in accordance with result of judgment in step 610.
In this regard, step 612 may be set in such a manner that it is performed only when a predetermined condition is met. For example, step 612 may be performed only when a manager or a maintenance person of the system 300 or 400 is absent (for example, at night or the like).
In step 614 that is subsequent to step 612, the processor performs a notification process for communicating an alarm that represents a state that operation of the plating apparatus 10 is being continued without using one or more failed submodules. For example, the processor in the management computer 480 outputs an alarm similar to that explained above to a user interface (for example, an operation screen for an operator) in the management computer 480. As a result, for example, during the period when operation of the plating apparatus 10 is being continued, a maintenance person in charge of the plating apparatus 10 is allowed to prepare a replacement component which is to be used in the failed submodule.
On the other hand, if it is judged in step 610 that the throughput is smaller than the predetermined threshold value, the process proceeds to step 616. In the case that the calculated throughput is smaller than the predetermined threshold value, it is determined that it is inefficient if operation similar to the operation in step 612 is performed, i.e., if operation of the plating apparatus 10 is continued by using some submodules, which are not in failed states, only. Thus, in step 616, the respective steps in the operation flow shown in
In the above description, embodiments of the present invention have been explained based on some examples; and, in this regard, the above explained embodiments of the present invention are those used for facilitating understanding of the present invention, and are not those used for limiting the present invention. It is obvious that the present invention can be changed or modified without departing from the scope of the gist thereof, and that the present invention includes equivalents thereof. Further, it is possible to arbitrarily combine components or omit a component(s) disclosed in the claims and the specification, within the scope that at least part of the above-stated problems can be solved or within the scope that at least part of advantageous effect can be obtained.
| Number | Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2022-202066 | Dec 2022 | JP | national |
