CN110783236B - Chamber offline control method and system - Google Patents

Abstract

The invention provides a chamber offline control method and a system, wherein the chamber offline control method comprises the following steps: when receiving notification information that a chamber is in an abnormal process state, judging whether the chamber contains a wafer or not; if yes, sending a wafer outgoing instruction to the chamber so as to try to control the chamber to send the wafer out of the chamber; judging whether the wafer is contained in the chamber again; and if the judging result is negative, sending an offline instruction to the chamber so as to control the chamber to be in an offline state. By the invention, the loss of the machine is reduced.

Description

Chamber off-line control method and system

technical field

The present invention relates to the field of semiconductor manufacturing, in particular to a chamber off-line control method and system.

Background technique

At present, in the field of semiconductors, the factory automation system monitors the status of the equipment, especially the various parameters of the equipment during the process. Once a certain parameter of a certain chamber of the equipment is out of control (Out Of Control, hereinafter referred to as OOC), That is, when a certain parameter index exceeds the preset range, personnel are required to stop the work of the chamber. Even if the chamber is offline, the way to make the chamber offline is greatly influenced by human factors. It takes 1-4 hours, so the chamber cannot be taken offline at the first time, and subsequent wafers will continue to enter the chamber for processing, which may cause the wafer process to fail to meet the standard or even cause the wafer to be scrapped.

Further, artificially taking the chamber offline may cause other chambers of the entire equipment to be temporarily unavailable, which is time-consuming and laborious, and also affects the normal operation and output of the machine.

Contents of the invention

The present invention aims to solve at least one of the technical problems existing in the prior art, and proposes a chamber off-line control method and system.

To achieve the object of the present invention, a chamber off-line control method is provided, the method comprising:

When receiving notification information that a chamber is in an abnormal process state, judging whether the chamber contains wafers;

If the judgment result is yes, sending a wafer transfer command to the chamber to try to control the chamber to transfer the wafer out of the chamber;

Judging again whether wafers are accommodated in the chamber;

If the result of the re-judgment is negative, an offline command is sent to the chamber to control the chamber to be in an offline state.

Preferably, after the step of controlling the chamber to go offline, it also includes:

Judging whether there are wafers to be processed belonging to the same batch as the wafers in the chamber in the current process task;

If the judgment result is yes, other wafers to be processed are scheduled to enter the online chamber for processing, so as to complete the current processing task.

Preferably, after the step of controlling the chamber to go offline, it also includes:

Send troubleshooting information and/or alarm information to designated terminals.

Preferably, after the step of receiving the notification information that a chamber is in an abnormal process state, and before the step of judging whether wafers are accommodated in the chamber, it further includes: reacquiring a new material transmission path to completing the process task corresponding to the wafer; and after the step of trying to control the chamber to transfer the wafer out of the chamber and before the step of judging again whether a wafer is contained in the chamber, The method includes: transporting the wafer according to the acquired new material transport path capable of completing the process task of the wafer.

Preferably, said controlling said chamber to turn off-line includes:

Control the chamber to stop the current process; and within a preset period of time, control the online chamber or other equipment other than the chamber to refuse to receive the information sent by the chamber in the abnormal process state .

Preferably, the notification information of the abnormal process state includes:

At least one power supply value, power value, pressure value and process gas flow value are out of the preset index range.

Preferably, after the step of controlling the chamber to go offline, it also includes:

judging whether there are unloaded wafers in the FOUP loaded with the wafers before the wafers enter the chamber;

If the determination result is yes, stop picking up wafers from the FOUP.

Preferably, after the step of judging whether the chamber contains wafers,

If the judgment result is no, an offline command is directly sent to the chamber to control the chamber to be in an offline state.

An off-line control system for a chamber, comprising: a state judging module and an off-line control module;

The state judging module, when receiving a notification that a chamber is in an abnormal process state, judges whether the chamber contains a wafer; if the judgment result is yes, then sends a wafer outgoing instruction to the off-line control module ;

The state judging module is also used to judge again whether wafers are accommodated in the chamber; if no wafers are accommodated in the chamber, send an offline command to the offline control device;

The off-line control module is configured to attempt to control the chamber to transfer the wafer out of the chamber when receiving the wafer-out instruction; when receiving the off-line instruction, control the chamber to turn Offline status.

Preferably, it also includes:

The alarm module is configured to send troubleshooting and/or alarm information to a designated terminal after the chamber is turned off-line.

The present invention has the following beneficial effects:

In the technical scheme of the chamber off-line control method and system provided by the present invention, when receiving the notification information that a chamber is in an abnormal process state, it is judged whether the chamber contains a wafer; if so, the wafer is sent out to the chamber command to try to control the chamber to transfer the wafer out of the chamber; judge again whether there is a wafer in the chamber; if the result of the judgment again is no, then send an offline command to the chamber to control the chamber to go offline. Therefore, after the process OOC, the equipment can automatically accept the order, identify whether there are still undischarged wafers in the chamber, and if there are any, the wafers will not be discharged, and at the same time wait for the wafers with OOC problems to pass out of the chamber and immediately offline the chamber Therefore, there is no need for personnel to manually terminate the current running work. More importantly, it can ensure that subsequent wafers will not enter the OOC chamber process to affect the quality of subsequent wafer processes or even be scrapped, reducing the loss of the machine. Increased machine output.

Description of drawings

FIG. 1 is a flowchart of a chamber off-line control method provided in Embodiment 1 of the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a flowchart of a chamber off-line control method provided in Embodiment 2 of the present invention;

FIG. 3 is a flowchart of a chamber off-line control method provided in Embodiment 3 of the present invention;

FIG. 4 is a flowchart of a chamber off-line control method provided in Embodiment 4 of the present invention;

FIG. 5 is a flowchart of a chamber off-line control method provided in Embodiment 5 of the present invention;

FIG. 6 is a schematic structural diagram of a chamber off-line control system provided by Embodiment 6 of the present invention;

FIG. 7 is a schematic structural diagram of an off-line chamber control system provided by Embodiment 7 of the present invention.

Detailed ways

In order for those skilled in the art to better understand the technical solutions of the present invention, the chamber off-line control method and system provided by the present invention will be described in detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings.

Embodiment one

As shown in FIG. 1 , it is a flow chart of the chamber off-line control method provided in Embodiment 1 of the present invention. In Embodiment 1 of the present invention, the chamber off-line control method includes:

Step 101 : When receiving notification information that a chamber is in an abnormal process state, determine whether the chamber contains wafers; if yes, perform step 102 .

Specifically, the notification information of the abnormal process state includes: at least one power supply value, power value, pressure value, and process gas flow value exceeding a preset index range.

Further, the preset index ranges are different parameter index range values set for different parameter indexes, and the different parameter index range values are determined by different process requirements and different machine models.

Step 102: Send a wafer transfer command to the chamber to attempt to control the chamber to transfer the wafer out of the chamber.

Step 103: judge again whether there is a wafer in the chamber; if not, go to step 104.

Step 104: Send an offline command to the chamber to control the chamber to go offline.

Specifically, the control chamber is turned offline, including: the control chamber stops the current process; and within a preset period of time, the chambers or other equipment in the online state other than the control chamber refuse to receive the abnormal process state information from the chamber.

Specifically, the preset time may be determined by process requirements.

The chamber off-line control method provided by the embodiment of the present invention, when receiving a notification information that a chamber is in an abnormal process state, judges whether the chamber contains a wafer; if so, sends a wafer outgoing instruction to the chamber to try The control chamber transfers the wafer out of the chamber; judges again whether there is a wafer in the chamber; if the result of the judgment again is no, then sends an offline command to the chamber to control the chamber to be in an offline state. Therefore, after the process OOC, the equipment can automatically accept the order, identify whether there are still undischarged wafers in the chamber, and if there are any, the wafers will not be discharged, and at the same time wait for the wafers with OOC problems to pass out of the chamber and immediately offline the chamber Therefore, there is no need for personnel to manually terminate the current running work. More importantly, it can ensure that subsequent wafers will not enter the OOC chamber process to affect the quality of subsequent wafer processes or even be scrapped, reducing the loss of the machine. Increased machine output.

Embodiment two

As shown in FIG. 2 , it is a flow chart of the chamber off-line control method provided in Embodiment 2 of the present invention. In Embodiment 2 of the present invention, the chamber off-line control method includes:

Step 201 : When receiving a notification that a chamber is in an abnormal process state, determine whether the chamber contains wafers; if yes, perform step 202 ; if not, perform step 204 .

Step 202: Send a wafer transfer command to the chamber to attempt to control the chamber to transfer the wafer out of the chamber.

Step 203: judge again whether there is a wafer in the chamber; if not, go to step 204.

Step 204: Send an offline command to the chamber to control the chamber to go offline.

Step 205: Determine whether there are wafers to be processed belonging to the same batch as the wafers in the chamber in the current process task; if yes, execute step 206.

Step 206: Scheduling the wafers to be processed to enter the online chamber for processing, and the current processing task has been completed.

In the chamber off-line control method provided by Embodiment 2 of the present invention, the wafers that have not been discharged from the cassette are no longer discharged from the cassette, and the wafers that have been discharged from the same chamber and the same batch of wafers to be processed in the cassette are controlled. The foundry wafers enter the chamber in a prior state for processing of the wafers to be processed. On the one hand, the chamber can be designated offline in time to prevent the released wafers from entering the problematic chamber again. For the released wafers, the online chamber is used to complete the process until the on-duty personnel comes to the equipment to check the problematic chamber That is, the loss of the machine is reduced; on the other hand, it is guaranteed that the machine will not stop working because of the problematic chamber, which will affect the output of the machine.

Embodiment Three

As shown in FIG. 3 , it is a flow chart of the chamber off-line control method provided by Embodiment 3 of the present invention. In Embodiment 3 of the present invention, the chamber off-line control method includes:

Step 301 : When receiving a notification that a chamber is in an abnormal process state, determine whether the chamber contains wafers; if yes, perform step 302 ; if not, perform step 304 .

Step 302: Send a wafer transfer command to the chamber to attempt to control the chamber to transfer the wafer out of the chamber.

Step 303: judge again whether there is a wafer in the chamber; if not, go to step 304.

Step 304: Send an offline command to the chamber to control the chamber to go offline.

Step 305: Send troubleshooting information and/or alarm information to a designated terminal.

Specifically, the designated terminal may be the terminal of the maintenance personnel, and sending troubleshooting information and/or alarm information to the designated terminal can facilitate the maintenance personnel to obtain information in time.

In the chamber off-line control method provided by Embodiment 3 of the present invention, further, after the designated chamber is controlled offline, a notification message and/or an alarm indicating that the designated chamber is inspected is issued to effectively prompt the operator to perform maintenance on the designated chamber, further Improve the work efficiency of the machine.

Embodiment Four

As shown in FIG. 4 , it is a flow chart of the chamber off-line control method provided by Embodiment 4 of the present invention. In Embodiment 4 of the present invention, the chamber off-line control method includes:

Step 401: Receive notification information that a chamber is in an abnormal process state.

Step 402: re-acquire a new material transmission path to complete the process task corresponding to the wafer.

Step 403: Determine whether the chamber contains wafers; if yes, perform step 404; if not, perform step 407.

Step 404: Send a wafer transfer command to the chamber to attempt to control the chamber to transfer the wafer out of the chamber.

Step 405: Transfer the wafer according to the acquired new material transfer path that can complete the process task of the wafer.

Step 406 : Determine again whether there are wafers in the chamber; if not, go to Step 407 .

Step 407: Send an offline command to the chamber to control the chamber to go offline.

The chamber off-line control method provided by Embodiment 4 of the present invention recalculates a new material transmission path when receiving the chamber off-line command, and completes the process task corresponding to the wafer according to the new material transmission path, so that the machine can When the designated chamber is about to go offline, the chambers other than the designated chamber will continue to participate in the work, ensuring the working efficiency of the machine.

Embodiment five

As shown in FIG. 5, it is a flow chart of the chamber off-line control method provided by Embodiment 5 of the present invention. In Embodiment 5 of the present invention, the chamber off-line control method includes:

Step 501 : When receiving notification information that a chamber is in an abnormal process state, determine whether the chamber contains wafers; if yes, perform step 502 .

Step 502: Send a wafer transfer command to the chamber to try to control the chamber to transfer the wafer out of the chamber.

Step 503 : Determine again whether there is a wafer in the chamber; if not, go to Step 504 .

Step 504: Send an offline command to the chamber to control the chamber to go offline.

Step 505: Determine whether there are unloaded wafers in the FOUP loaded with the wafer before the wafer enters the chamber; if yes, execute step 506.

Step 506: Stop picking up wafers from the FOUP.

In the chamber off-line control method provided by Embodiment 5 of the invention, after the control chamber is turned into an offline state, by judging whether there are unloaded wafers in the FOUP loaded with the wafer before the wafer enters the chamber, if so, then Stop picking wafers from this FOUP. Through this embodiment, the security of wafer transmission in the cassette transfer box is improved.

Embodiment six

As shown in FIG. 6 , it is a schematic structural diagram of the chamber off-line control system provided by Embodiment 6 of the present invention. In Embodiment 6 of the present invention, the chamber off-line control system includes: a state judging module 1 and an off-line control device 2 .

The state judging module 1, when receiving a notification message that a chamber is in an abnormal process state, judges whether the chamber contains a wafer; if the judgment result is yes, then sends a wafer outgoing instruction to the offline control module;

The state judging module 1 is also used for judging again whether wafers are accommodated in the chamber; if wafers are not accommodated in the chamber, an offline command is sent to the offline control device;

The offline control module 2 is used for trying to control the chamber to transfer the wafer out of the chamber when receiving the wafer transfer instruction; when receiving the offline instruction, the control chamber is turned into an offline state.

In the chamber off-line control system provided by Embodiment 6 of the present invention, the equipment can automatically accept commands after encountering a process OOC, and identify whether there are still undischarged wafers in the chamber. Immediately after the chamber is released, the chamber is offline. Therefore, there is no need for personnel to manually terminate the current running work. More importantly, it can ensure that subsequent wafers will not enter the OOC chamber again, which will affect the process quality of subsequent wafers or even be scrapped. In the case of the machine, the loss of the machine is reduced and the output of the machine is improved.

Embodiment seven

As shown in FIG. 7 , the schematic structural diagram of the chamber off-line control system provided by Embodiment 7 of the present invention is equivalent to the embodiment shown in FIG. 6 . In this embodiment 7, the chamber off-line control system further includes: an alarm module 3 .

The alarm module 3 is used to send troubleshooting and/or alarm information to a designated terminal after the chamber is turned off-line.

In the chamber off-line control system provided by Embodiment 7 of the present invention, after the alarm module controls the designated chamber to go offline, it sends a notification message and/or an alarm indicating that the designated chamber is inspected, so as to effectively prompt the operator to perform maintenance on the designated chamber, and further Improve the work efficiency of the machine.

To sum up, the chamber off-line control method and system provided by the embodiments of the present invention can automatically accept commands after encountering process OOC, perform scheduling calculations again, and identify whether there are still undischarged wafers at the equipment end, and if there are, no wafers will be produced. , and at the same time wait for the wafers with OOC problems to pass out of the chamber and immediately go offline. For the wafers that have been released, use other chambers to complete the process and finally return to the cassette. The on-duty personnel will come to the equipment to check the problematic chamber. It only needs to be in the OOC chamber, and there is no need for personnel to manually terminate the current running work. More importantly, it can ensure that the subsequent wafers will not enter the OOC chamber process to affect the quality of the subsequent wafer process or even be scrapped.

It can be understood that, the above embodiments are only exemplary embodiments adopted for illustrating the principle of the present invention, but the present invention is not limited thereto. For those skilled in the art, various modifications and improvements can be made without departing from the spirit and essence of the present invention, and these modifications and improvements are also regarded as the protection scope of the present invention.

Claims (10)

1. A chamber off-line control method, characterized in that the method comprises: When receiving notification information that a chamber is in an abnormal process state, automatically determine whether the chamber contains wafers; If the result of the automatic judgment is yes, then automatically send a wafer transfer instruction to the chamber to attempt to automatically control the chamber to transfer the wafer out of the chamber; Automatically judge again whether wafers are contained in the chamber; If the result of the automatic judgment again is negative, an offline instruction is automatically sent to the chamber to automatically control the chamber to be turned into an offline state. 2. The chamber off-line control method according to claim 1, characterized in that, after the step of automatically controlling the chamber to be in an offline state, further comprising: Judging whether there are wafers to be processed belonging to the same batch as the wafers in the chamber in the current process task; If the judgment result is yes, other wafers to be processed are scheduled to enter the online chamber for processing, so as to complete the current processing task. 3. The chamber off-line control method according to claim 1, characterized in that, after the step of automatically controlling the chamber to be in an offline state, further comprising: Send troubleshooting information and/or alarm information to designated terminals. 4. The chamber off-line control method according to claim 1, characterized in that, After the step of receiving the notification information that a chamber is in an abnormal process state, and before the step of automatically judging whether wafers are contained in the chamber, the method further includes: reacquiring a new material transmission path to complete the process. process task corresponding to the wafer; and After the step of trying to automatically control the chamber to transfer the wafer out of the chamber, and before the step of automatically judging again whether the chamber contains a wafer, it also includes: according to the obtained information that can complete the The new material delivery path of the process task corresponding to the wafer is used to transport the wafer. 5. The method for offline control of a chamber according to claim 1, wherein the automatic control of the chamber into an offline state comprises: Control the chamber to stop the current process; and within a preset period of time, control the online chamber or other equipment other than the chamber to refuse to receive the information sent by the chamber in the abnormal process state . 6. The chamber off-line control method according to claim 1, the notification information of the abnormal process state includes: At least one power supply value, power value, pressure value and process gas flow value are out of the preset index range. 7. The chamber off-line control method according to claim 1, characterized in that, after the step of automatically controlling the chamber to be in an offline state, further comprising: judging whether there are unloaded wafers in the FOUP loaded with the wafers before the wafers enter the chamber; If the determination result is yes, stop picking up wafers from the FOUP. 8. The chamber off-line control method according to claim 1, characterized in that, after the step of automatically judging whether the chamber contains wafers, If the judgment result is no, an offline command is directly sent to the chamber to control the chamber to be in an offline state. 9. An off-line control system for a chamber, comprising: a state judgment module and an off-line control module; The state judging module, when receiving a notification that a chamber is in an abnormal process state, automatically judges whether the chamber contains a wafer; if the result of the automatic judgment is yes, then automatically sends the wafer to the off-line control module Outgoing command; The state judging module is also used to automatically judge whether there is a wafer in the chamber again; if there is no wafer in the chamber, then automatically send an offline command to the offline control device; The off-line control module is configured to attempt to automatically control the chamber to transfer the wafer out of the chamber when receiving the wafer-out instruction; to automatically control the chamber when receiving the off-line instruction Go offline. 10. The chamber off-line control system according to claim 9, further comprising: The alarm module is configured to send troubleshooting and/or alarm information to a designated terminal after the chamber is turned off-line.

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