SUBSTRATE PROCESSING APPARATUS, PARAMETER MANAGEMENT SYSTEM FOR SUBSTRATE PROCESSING APPARATUS, PARAMETER MANAGEMENT METHOD FOR SUBSTRATE PROCESSING APPARATUS, PROGRAM, AND STORAGE MEDIUM

Abstract

A substrate processing apparatus which enables parameters for carrying out processing on substrates to be changed easily by a user. A storage device stores parameters that are for controlling the processing and are categorized into a plurality of categories. A control device carries out the processing on the substrate based on the parameters. A parameter changing device enables each of the parameters to be changed in accordance with the category of that parameter. A parameter category changing device changes the category of some of the parameters. A category change defining device is detachable from the substrate processing apparatus and specifies parameters whose category is to be changed out of the parameters. The parameter category changing device changes the category of each of the parameters specified by the category change defining device.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The accompanying drawings, which are incorporated in and constitute a part of the specification, illustrate an embodiment of the present invention and, together with the description, serve to explain the principles of the present invention.

FIG. 1 is a plan view schematically showing the construction of a substrate processing apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention;

FIGS. 2A and 2B are sectional views of a second processing unit appearing in FIG. 1, FIG. 2A being a sectional view taken along line II-II in FIG. 1, and FIG. 2B being an enlarged view of a portion A shown in FIG. 2A;

FIG. 3 is a perspective view schematically showing the construction of a second process ship appearing in FIG. 1;

FIG. 4 is a diagram schematically showing the construction of a unit-driving dry air supply system for a second load lock unit appearing in FIG. 3;

FIG. 5 is a diagram schematically showing the construction of a system controller for the substrate processing apparatus shown in FIG. 1;

FIG. 6 is a block diagram schematically showing the construction of an EC in the system controller shown in FIG. 5;

FIG. 7 is a drawing showing an example of a parameter definition file stored in a parameter definition file storage area appearing in FIG. 6;

FIG. 8 is a drawing showing an example of display of the parameter definition file shown in FIG. 7 on an operation controller;

FIG. 9 is a drawing showing an example of a category change definition file stored in an external storage medium appearing in FIG. 6;

FIG. 10 is a flowchart of a parameter category changing process carried out by the substrate processing apparatus shown in FIG. 1;

FIG. 11 is a drawing useful in explaining an operation for commencing the parameter category changing process shown in FIG. 10;

FIG. 12 is a drawing showing an example of parameter definition file data that has been changed through the parameter category changing process shown in FIG. 10;

FIG. 13 is a drawing showing an example of an operation of changing a parameter that has become changeable through the parameter category changing process shown in FIG. 10;

FIG. 14 is a flowchart of a parameter category restoring process carried out by the substrate processing apparatus shown in FIG. 1;

FIG. 15 is a flowchart of a variation of the parameter category changing process; and

FIG. 16 is a flowchart of a variation of the parameter category restoring process.

Claims

1. A substrate processing apparatus that carries out processing on a substrate, the substrate processing apparatus comprising: a storage device that stores parameters that are for controlling the processing and are categorized into a plurality of categories;a control device that carries out the processing on the substrate based on the parameters;a parameter changing device that enables each of the parameters to be changed in accordance with the category of that parameter;a parameter category changing device that changes the category of some of the parameters; anda category change defining device that is detachable from the substrate processing apparatus and specifies parameters whose category is to be changed out of the parameters,wherein said parameter category changing device changes the category of each of the parameters specified by said category change defining device.

2. A substrate processing apparatus as claimed in claim 1, wherein said parameter changing device enables changing of ones of the parameters having a predetermined category out of the plurality of categories, and said parameter category changing device changes the category of ones of the parameters having a category other than the predetermined category.

3. A substrate processing apparatus as claimed in claim 1, wherein in response to the substrate processing device being restarted after the categories have been changed, said parameter category changing device restores each of the changed categories to an original category.

4. A substrate processing apparatus as claimed in claim 1, further comprising a parameter category change prohibiting device that, in response to said parameter category changing device having changed the category of each of the parameters specified by said category change defining device, prohibits changing of the categories by said parameter category changing device.

5. A substrate processing apparatus as claimed in claim 1, wherein said storage device stores parameter data indicating each of the parameters, and category data indicating the category for each of the parameters out of the plurality of categories, and said parameter category changing device has a copy storage device, copies and stores in said copy storage device the parameter data and the category data stored by said storage device, searches, from the copied parameter data, parameter data for the parameters specified by said category change defining device, and changes category data corresponding to the searched parameter data out of the copied category data so as to enable changing of the parameters, and, in response to the substrate processing device being restarted, deletes the data stored in said copy storage device so as to restore each of the changed categories to an original category.

6. A substrate processing apparatus as claimed in claim 1, wherein said storage device stores parameter data indicating each of the parameters, and category data indicating the category for each of the parameters out of the plurality of categories, and said parameter category changing device has a copy storage device, copies and stores in said copy storage device the parameter data and the category data stored by said storage device, searches, from the parameter data stored in said storage device, parameter data for the parameters specified by said category change defining device, and changes category data corresponding to the searched parameter data out of the category data stored in said storage device so as to enable changing of the parameters, and, in response to the substrate processing device being restarted, overwrites the data stored in said storage device with the data stored in said copy storage device so as to restore each of the changed categories to an original category.

7. A substrate processing apparatus as claimed in claim 1, wherein said parameter changing device has a user interface that enables the parameters to be changed by a user.

8. A substrate processing apparatus as claimed in claim 1, wherein said category change defining device enables the specified parameters to be changed.

9. A parameter management method for a substrate processing apparatus comprising a storage device that stores parameters categorized into a plurality of categories, and a control device that carries out processing on a substrate based on the parameters, the parameter management method comprising: a category change defining step of specifying parameters whose category is to be changed out of the parameters;a parameter category changing step of changing the category of each of the parameters specified through the category change defining step; anda parameter changing step of enabling each of the parameters to be changed in accordance with the category of that parameter.

10. A parameter management method as claimed in claim 9, wherein said parameter changing step comprises enabling changing of ones of the parameters having a predetermined category out of the plurality of categories, and said parameter category changing step comprises changing the category of ones of the parameters having a category other than the predetermined category.

11. A parameter management method as claimed in claim 9, wherein in response to the substrate processing apparatus being restarted after the categories have been changed, said parameter category changing step comprises restoring each of the changed categories to an original category.

12. A parameter management method as claimed in claim 9, further comprising a parameter category change prohibiting step of, in response to the category of each of the parameters specified through said category change defining step having been changed through said parameter category changing step, prohibiting changing of the categories through said parameter category changing step.

13. A parameter management method as claimed in claim 9, wherein the storage device stores parameter data indicating each of the parameters, and category data indicating the category for each of the parameters out of the plurality of categories, and said parameter category changing step comprises copying and storing in a copy storage device of the substrate processing apparatus the parameter data and the category data stored by the storage device, retrieving, from the copied parameter data, parameter data for the parameters specified through said category change defining step, and changing category data corresponding to the searched parameter data out of the copied category data so as to enable changing of the parameters, and, in response to the substrate processing apparatus being restarted, deleting the data stored in the copy storage device so as to restore each of the changed categories to an original category.

14. A parameter management method as claimed in claim 9, wherein the storage device stores parameter data indicating each of the parameters, and category data indicating the category for each of the parameters out of the plurality of categories, and said parameter category changing step comprises copying and storing in a copy storage device of the substrate processing apparatus the parameter data and the category data stored by the storage device, retrieving, from the parameter data stored in the storage device, parameter data for the parameters specified through said category change defining step, and changing category data corresponding to the searched parameter data out of the category data stored in the storage device so as to enable changing of the parameters, and, in response to the substrate processing apparatus being restarted, overwriting the data stored in the storage device with the data stored in the copy storage device so as to restore each of the changed categories to an original category.

15. A parameter management method as claimed in claim 9, wherein said parameter changing step comprises enabling the parameters to be changed via a user interface of the substrate processing apparatus.

16. A parameter management method as claimed in claim 9, wherein said category change defining step comprises enabling the specified parameters to be changed.

17. A program for causing a computer to implement a parameter management method for a substrate processing apparatus comprising a storage device that stores parameters categorized into a plurality of categories, and a control device that carries out processing on a substrate based on the parameters, the program comprising: a category change defining module for specifying parameters whose category is to be changed out of the parameters;a parameter category changing module for changing the category of each of the parameters specified by the category change defining module; anda parameter changing module for enabling each of the parameters to be changed in accordance with the category of that parameter.

18. A storage medium storing a program for causing a computer to implement a parameter management method for a substrate processing apparatus comprising a storage device that stores parameters categorized into a plurality of categories, and a control device that carries out processing on a substrate based on the parameters, the program comprising: a category change defining module for specifying parameters whose category is to be changed out of the parameters;a parameter category changing module for changing the category of each of the parameters specified by the category change defining module; anda parameter changing module for enabling each of the parameters to be changed in accordance with the category of that parameter.

19. A parameter management system for a substrate processing apparatus comprising a storage device that stores parameters categorized into a plurality of categories, and a control device that carries out processing on a substrate based on the parameters, the parameter management system comprising: a category change defining device that is detachable from the substrate processing apparatus and specifies parameters whose category is to be changed out of the parameters,wherein the substrate processing apparatus comprises a parameter changing device that enables each of the parameters to be changed in accordance with the category of that parameter, and a parameter category changing device that changes the category of each of the parameters specified by said category change defining device.

20. A substrate processing apparatus that carries out processing on a substrate, the substrate processing apparatus comprising: a storage device that stores parameters that are for controlling the processing and are categorized into a plurality of categories;a control device that carries out the processing on the substrate based on the parameters;a parameter changing device that enables each of the parameters to be changed in accordance with the category of that parameter;a parameter category changing device that changes the category of some of the parameters; anda category restoring device that, in response to the substrate processing apparatus being restarted, restores each of the categories that have been changed by said parameter category changing device to an original category.