SUBSTRATE PROCESSING APPARATUS, METHOD FOR EXAMINING SUBSTRATE PROCESSING CONDITIONS, AND STORAGE MEDIUM

Abstract

A substrate processing apparatus includes a substrate processing unit for performing a process on substrates; a recipe protection unit for prohibiting processing conditions for the process from being changed while the process is being performed on a specific number of substrates; a protection cancellation unit for canceling a prohibition of a change in the process to allow the processing conditions to be changed while the process is being performed on the specific number of substrates; and a modifying unit for modifying the processing conditions. Further, a method for examining substrate processing conditions includes a protection cancellation step of canceling a prohibition of a change in the process to allow the processing conditions to be changed while the process is being performed on the specific number of substrates; and a modifying step of modifying the processing conditions.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The above and other objects and features of the present invention will become apparent from the following description of embodiments, given in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 is a plan view for schematically showing a configuration of a substrate processing apparatus in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 2A is a cross sectional view of a second process unit of FIG. 1, which is taken along the line II-II of FIG. 1;

FIG. 2B is an enlarged view of a portion A in FIG. 2A;

FIG. 3 is a perspective view for schematically showing a configuration of a second process ship of FIG. 1;

FIG. 4 describes a schematic configuration of a system controller in the substrate processing apparatus of FIG. 1;

FIG. 5 shows a load port information screen displayed on a display unit of an operation panel when a load start setting function is set to be “valid”;

FIGS. 6A and 6B depict a process unit information screen displayed on the display unit of the operation panel, in which FIG. 6A shows a case where a transfer of wafer into the process unit is not prohibited, and FIG. 6B shows a case where a transfer of wafer into the process unit is prohibited;

FIGS. 7A to 7D illustrate process diagrams for describing a case where the recipe is modified by using a recipe buffering function and a wafer transfer prohibition function;

FIG. 8 is a flow chart illustrating recipe examination procedures performed in the substrate processing apparatus in accordance with a first embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 9 is a flow chart showing recipe examination procedures performed in the substrate processing apparatus in accordance with a modified example of the first embodiment;

FIG. 10 is a flow chart describing recipe examination procedures performed in the substrate processing apparatus in accordance with a second embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 11 is a flow chart illustrating recipe examination procedures performed in the substrate processing apparatus in accordance with a modified example of the second embodiment;

FIG. 12 is a plan view for schematically showing a configuration of a substrate processing apparatus in accordance with a first modified example of the embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 13 is a plan view for schematically showing a configuration of a substrate processing apparatus in accordance with a second modified example of the embodiment of the present invention; and

FIG. 14 presents a block diagram showing a configuration of the EC shown in FIG. 4.

Claims

1. A substrate processing apparatus, comprising: a substrate processing unit for performing a process on substrates;a recipe protection unit for prohibiting processing conditions for the process from being changed while the process is being performed on a specific number of substrates;a protection cancellation unit for canceling a prohibition of a change in the process to allow the processing conditions to be changed while the process is being performed on the specific number of substrates; anda modifying unit for modifying the processing conditions.

2. The substrate processing apparatus of claim 1, further comprising: a transfer recipe protection unit for prohibiting transfer of a substrate into the substrate processing unit,wherein, if the transfer of the substrates into the substrate processing unit has been prohibited, the modifying unit modifies the processing conditions.

3. The substrate processing apparatus of claim 2, further comprising: a substrate transfer unit for transferring the substrates; anda determination unit for determining whether or not a change in substrate transfer conditions, that are required for transferring a substrate, has been prohibited in response to a manipulation from an external device for modifying the processing conditions;wherein, if the change in the substrate transfer conditions has not been prohibited, the determination unit also determines whether or not a transfer of a substrate into the substrate processing unit has been prohibited.

4. The substrate processing apparatus of claim 3, wherein, if the change in the substrate transfer conditions has been prohibited, the manipulation from the external device is not accepted.

5. The substrate processing apparatus of claim 3, wherein, if the change in the substrate transfer conditions has been prohibited, a transmission of the processing conditions to an outside is prohibited.

6. The substrate processing apparatus of claim 1, further comprising: a setting unit for setting the processing conditions for the process to be performed on the specific number of substrates; anda condition decision unit for, when processing conditions are different from the set processing conditions set by the setting unit, determining processing conditions for the process to be performed on the substrates by the substrate processing unit based on a difference between the inputted processing conditions and the set processing conditions set by the setting unit.

7. The substrate processing apparatus of claim 1, further comprising: a process flow rearranging unit for modifying a process flow including a plurality of procedures by changing attributes of the procedures in the process flow.

8. The substrate processing apparatus of claim 7, further comprising: a process information storing unit for storing process information that at least includes process IDs that represent contents of the respective procedures in the process flow;a processing condition storing unit for storing processing conditions that include a sequence of the procedures; anda process flow determination unit for determining whether or not the sequence of the procedures is accepted or whether or not there is any sequence of the procedures for the processing conditions associated with the process IDs and processing condition IDs,wherein, if the sequence of the procedures is not accepted or there is no sequence of the procedures, the process flow rearranging unit modifies the sequence of the procedures by providing a warning, changing the sequence of the procedures, adding procedure(s) or removing any of the procedures.

9. A method for examining substrate processing conditions, which is to be performed by a substrate processing apparatus that includes a substrate processing unit for performing a process on substrates, and a recipe protection unit for prohibiting processing conditions for the process from being changed while the process is being performed on a specific number of substrates, the method comprising: a protection cancellation step of canceling a prohibition of a change in the process to allow the processing conditions to be changed while the process is being performed on the specific number of substrates; anda modifying step of modifying the processing conditions.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein, if a transfer of a substrate into the substrate processing unit has been prohibited, the processing conditions are modified at the modifying step.

11. The method of claim 9, wherein, if an abnormality occurs in the substrate processing unit, the processing conditions are modified at the modifying step.

12. The method of claim 9, further comprising: a first determination step of determining whether or not a change in substrate transfer conditions required for transferring a substrate has been prohibited in response to a manipulation from an external device for modifying the processing conditions; anda second determination step of, if the change in the substrate transfer conditions has not been prohibited, determining whether or not a transfer of a substrate into the substrate processing unit has been prohibited.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein, if the change in the substrate transfer conditions has been prohibited, the manipulation from the external device is not accepted.

14. The method of claim 12, wherein, if the change in the substrate transfer conditions has been prohibited, a transmission of the processing conditions to an outside is prohibited.

15. The method of claim 9, further comprising: a process flow rearranging step of modifying a process flow including a plurality of procedures by changing attributes of the procedures in the process flow.

16. The method of claim 9, further comprising: a process information storing step of storing process information that at least includes process IDs that represent contents of the respective procedures in the process flow;a processing condition storing step of storing processing conditions that include a sequence of the procedures; anda process flow determination step of determining whether or not the sequence of the procedures is accepted or whether or not there is any sequence of the procedures for the processing conditions associated with the process IDs and processing condition IDs,wherein, at the process flow rearranging step, if the sequence of the procedures is not accepted or there is no sequence of the procedures, the sequence of the procedures is modified by providing a warning, changing the sequence of the procedures, adding procedure(s) or removing any of the procedures.

17. A computer-readable storage medium storing a program for executing a method for examining substrate processing conditions to be performed by a substrate processing apparatus that includes a substrate processing unit for performing a process on substrates, and a recipe protection unit for prohibiting processing conditions for the process from being changed while the process is being performed on a specific number of substrates, wherein the program comprises: a protection cancellation module for canceling a prohibition of a change in the process to allow the process conditions to be changed while the process is being performed on the specific number of substrates; anda modifying module for modifying the processing conditions.