WO2024199278A1 - Semiconductor process device and pneumatic valve control method therefor - Google Patents

Abstract

The present application belongs to semiconductor process technology. Disclosed are a semiconductor process device and a pneumatic valve control method therefor. The pneumatic valve control method comprises the following steps: acquiring a plurality of pneumatic valves in the current process step that need to simultaneously execute the same pneumatic valve action instruction, and obtaining a response duration of each pneumatic valve that corresponds to the pneumatic valve action instruction; according to the maximum response duration from among response durations of the plurality of pneumatic valves, calculating an instruction issuance delay value of each pneumatic valve; and according to the instruction issuance delay value of each pneumatic valve, sending the corresponding pneumatic valve action instruction to each pneumatic valve in chronological order, so as to control the plurality of pneumatic valves to simultaneously execute the same pneumatic valve action instruction. The technical solution can well realize the simultaneous opening or simultaneous closing of a plurality of pneumatic valves, and ensure that process gases can synchronously enter a process chamber, such that the process gases can be fully reacted in the process chamber, thereby improving the process quality of an entire process while greatly improving the utilization rate of the process gases.

Description

Semiconductor process equipment and pneumatic valve control method thereof Technical Field

The present application relates to but is not limited to the field of semiconductor process technology, and in particular to a semiconductor process equipment and a pneumatic valve control method thereof.

Background Art

At present, the epitaxial growth of silicon carbide is mainly completed by chemical vapor deposition (CVD), and the specific chemical reaction is _that SiH4 (or _SiHCL3 ) and _C2H4 (or _{C3H8 )} undergo a cracking reaction at high temperature (above 1600 degrees Celsius) to generate Si atoms and C atoms, and then recombine on the surface of the wafer to generate SiC. The atoms of the epitaxial growth chemical reaction are input into the process chamber through the process gas, that is, as shown in FIG1, the gas ratio of the process gas (taking _SiH4 and _C2H4 as examples) _SiH4 and _C2H4 is adjusted by setting the flow value of the gas mass flow controller (MFC) to achieve the target chemical reaction in the process chamber under specific temperature, pressure and other conditions. The pneumatic valves V1 and V2 shown in FIG1 are mainly used to control the corresponding process gases _SiH4 and _C2H4 to enter the process chamber 10 through _their opening and _closing .

However, in the existing pneumatic valve control method, different pneumatic valves have different response times, which causes different process gases to fail to enter the process chamber synchronously, resulting in the process gas being unable to fully react in the process chamber, greatly reducing the utilization rate of the process gas and bringing more process defects to the entire process.

Summary of the invention

The present invention provides a semiconductor process equipment and a pneumatic valve control method thereof, aiming to solve the problem that the existing pneumatic valve control method cannot well realize the simultaneous opening or closing of multiple pneumatic valves, resulting in the process gas not being able to enter the process chamber synchronously, and thus resulting in the process gas not being able to be obtained in the process chamber. Full reaction greatly reduces the utilization rate of process gas and brings more technical problems of process defects to the whole process.

In a first aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a pneumatic valve control method for semiconductor process equipment, which is used to achieve synchronous opening or synchronous closing of multiple pneumatic valves of the semiconductor process equipment, and the pneumatic valve control method includes the following steps:

Acquire multiple pneumatic valves that need to simultaneously execute the same pneumatic valve action instruction in the current process step, and obtain the response time of each pneumatic valve corresponding to the pneumatic valve action instruction;

Calculating a command sending delay value for each of the pneumatic valves according to the longest response time among the response times of the plurality of pneumatic valves;

According to the delay value of each pneumatic valve instruction, the corresponding pneumatic valve action instruction is sent to each pneumatic valve in chronological order, so as to control the multiple pneumatic valves to execute the same pneumatic valve action instruction at the same time.

Optionally, in some embodiments, the pneumatic valve action instruction is a pneumatic valve opening instruction or a pneumatic valve closing instruction; the response duration is a first response duration corresponding to the pneumatic valve opening instruction or a second response duration corresponding to the pneumatic valve closing instruction.

Optionally, in some embodiments, before the step of acquiring multiple pneumatic valves that need to simultaneously execute the same pneumatic valve action instruction in the current process step and obtaining the response time of each pneumatic valve corresponding to the pneumatic valve action instruction, the following steps are also included:

A pneumatic valve action instruction set uniformly sent by a host computer is received, wherein the pneumatic valve action instruction set includes pneumatic valve action instructions of multiple pneumatic valves that need to simultaneously execute the same pneumatic valve action instruction in a current process step.

Optionally, in some embodiments, the step of acquiring multiple pneumatic valves that need to simultaneously execute the same pneumatic valve action instruction in the current process step, and obtaining the response time of each pneumatic valve corresponding to the pneumatic valve action instruction includes:

According to the target pneumatic valve action instruction set, find out the current process steps that need to be executed simultaneously The name of each pneumatic valve of the same pneumatic valve action instruction;

According to the name of each of the pneumatic valves and the pneumatic valve action instructions that need to be executed simultaneously, the response time of each of the pneumatic valves corresponding to the pneumatic valve action instructions is found out in turn in the response time information table.

Optionally, in some embodiments, the response time information table records the first response time and the second response time of all pneumatic valves in the semiconductor process equipment, and the generation method of the response time information table includes the following steps:

The timing starts synchronously when a pneumatic valve opening instruction is issued to a target pneumatic valve, and the timing ends synchronously when the target pneumatic valve completes executing the pneumatic valve opening instruction, so as to collect and record the first response duration of the target pneumatic valve in the response duration information table;

The timing starts synchronously when a pneumatic valve closing instruction is issued to a target pneumatic valve, and the timing ends synchronously when the target pneumatic valve completes executing the pneumatic valve closing instruction, so as to collect and record the second response duration of the target pneumatic valve in the response duration information table.

Optionally, in some embodiments, the step of calculating the instruction issuance delay value of each of the pneumatic valves according to the longest response time among the response times of the plurality of pneumatic valves includes:

The longest response time is sequentially calculated with the response time of the plurality of pneumatic valves to use the sequentially obtained differences as delay values for sending instructions to the corresponding pneumatic valves.

Optionally, in some embodiments, the step of sending a delay value according to the instruction of each pneumatic valve and sending a corresponding pneumatic valve action instruction to each pneumatic valve in chronological order to control the multiple pneumatic valves to simultaneously execute the same pneumatic valve action instruction includes:

When the corresponding pneumatic valve action instruction is issued to the pneumatic valve with the instruction sending delay value of 0, the timing starts synchronously, and when the timing value is equal to the instruction sending delay value of any other pneumatic valve, the corresponding pneumatic valve action instruction is synchronously issued to the corresponding pneumatic valve to control the multiple pneumatic valves to execute the same pneumatic valve action instruction at the same time.

In a second aspect, the present application provides a semiconductor process equipment, including a lower computer, a plurality of A solenoid valve group, a plurality of pneumatic valves and a process chamber with a plurality of gas pipelines, wherein the plurality of solenoid valve groups are arranged in a one-to-one correspondence with the plurality of pneumatic valves, so that each of the pneumatic valves can realize the opening or closing of a gas pipeline under the control of the corresponding solenoid valve group, and the lower computer is respectively connected to the signals of the plurality of solenoid valve groups, and the above-mentioned pneumatic valve control method is executed when the lower computer is working.

Optionally, in some embodiments, a response time acquisition module is further included, and the response time acquisition module is respectively connected to the lower computer and the multiple pneumatic valve signals to acquire and record the response time of each of the pneumatic valves.

Optionally, in some embodiments, the response time acquisition module includes a fast response unit, a timer, and a plurality of pneumatic valve state detection sensors; wherein,

The multiple pneumatic valve state detection sensors are respectively connected to the quick response unit signals and are arranged in the multiple pneumatic valves in a one-to-one correspondence to collect state changes of the corresponding pneumatic valves, so as to feed back corresponding feedback signals to the quick response unit when the state of the corresponding pneumatic valve changes;

The quick response unit is also respectively connected to the lower computer and the timer signal, so that when the lower computer sends a pneumatic valve action instruction to any of the pneumatic valves, a start signal is sent to the timer to start the timing of the timer, and when a feedback signal is received from any of the pneumatic valve status detection sensors, an end signal is sent to the timer to end the timing of the timer.

In the present application, when realizing the synchronous opening or synchronous closing of multiple pneumatic valves of semiconductor process equipment, first obtain multiple pneumatic valves that need to simultaneously execute the same pneumatic valve action instruction in the current process step, and obtain the response time of each pneumatic valve corresponding to the pneumatic valve action instruction. Then, according to the longest response time among the response times of the multiple pneumatic valves, calculate the instruction issuance delay value of each pneumatic valve. Finally, according to the instruction issuance delay value of each pneumatic valve, send the corresponding pneumatic valve action instruction to each pneumatic valve in chronological order to control multiple pneumatic valves to simultaneously execute the same pneumatic valve action instruction. In this way, the present technical solution can change the lower computer to send the instruction by calculating the instruction issuance delay value. The time when different pneumatic valves send corresponding pneumatic valve action instructions can effectively solve the problem in the existing pneumatic valve control method that different pneumatic valves have different response times, which makes it impossible to truly realize the simultaneous opening or closing of different pneumatic valves. That is, it can well realize the simultaneous opening or closing of multiple pneumatic valves, ensuring that the process gas can enter the process chamber synchronously to obtain sufficient reaction in the process chamber, thereby greatly improving the utilization rate of the process gas and improving the process quality of the entire process.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The technical solution and beneficial effects of the present application will be made apparent by describing in detail the specific implementation methods of the present application in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of a gas path of a process gas in the prior art.

FIG. 2 is a flowchart of a pneumatic valve control method for semiconductor process equipment provided in an embodiment of the present application.

FIG. 3 is another flowchart of the pneumatic valve control method of the semiconductor process equipment shown in FIG. 1 .

FIG. 4 is a flowchart of step S110 of the pneumatic valve control method of the semiconductor process equipment shown in FIG. 1 .

FIG5 is a flowchart of a method for generating a response duration information table provided in an embodiment of the present application.

FIG. 6 is a schematic diagram of the structure of a semiconductor process equipment provided in an embodiment of the present application.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

The technical solutions in the embodiments of the present application are clearly and completely described below in conjunction with the accompanying drawings. Obviously, the described embodiments are only part of the embodiments of the present application, not all of the embodiments. Based on the embodiments in the present application, all other embodiments obtained by those skilled in the art without creative work are within the scope of protection of the present application. In the absence of conflict, the following embodiments and their technical features can be combined with each other.

At present, the epitaxial growth of silicon carbide is mainly completed by vapor deposition (CVD). The reaction is that _SiH4 (or _SiHCL3 ) and _C2H4 (or _C3H8 ) undergo _a cracking reaction at high temperature (above 1600 degrees Celsius) to generate Si atoms and C atoms, which then recombine on the wafer surface to generate SiC. _The atoms of the epitaxial growth chemical reaction are input into the process chamber through the process gas, that is, as shown in FIG1, the gas ratio of the process gas (taking _SiH4 and _C2H4 as examples) _SiH4 and _C2H4 is adjusted by setting the flow value of the _gas mass flow meter ( _MFC ) to achieve the target chemical reaction in the process chamber under specific temperature, pressure and other conditions. The pneumatic valves V1 and V2 shown in the figure are mainly used to control the corresponding process gas to enter the process chamber 10 through its opening and closing.

Since the chemical reaction temperature of silicon carbide is usually 1500℃～1800℃ in the process, _SiH4 will decompose Si atoms in this temperature range. If the number of C atoms is small at this time, Si atoms will form Si single crystals. The Si single crystals are deposited on the surface of the silicon carbide substrate, which will bring a large number of defects to the epitaxial layer of the product, and even cause the epitaxial product to be scrapped in severe cases. Therefore, in this process, it is required that the pneumatic valves V1 and V2 can shorten the opening interval time as much as possible to achieve synchronous action to ensure the full mixing of the two gases. However, in the existing pneumatic valve control method, different pneumatic valves are sent by the host computer to the PLC in sequence, and then the PLC simultaneously outputs control instructions to different solenoid valve groups corresponding to different pneumatic valves, so that different solenoid valve groups drive the corresponding pneumatic valves through CDN (compressed nitrogen) to perform switching after receiving the control instructions. In this process, due to the different control instruction transmission paths, there is a certain time error in the control instructions received by different solenoid valve groups, and the air pipes from different solenoid valve groups to the corresponding pneumatic valves are of different lengths, resulting in the hardware actions between different solenoid valve groups being asynchronous. These will ultimately lead to a certain time error in the final switching actions of different pneumatic valves, that is, different pneumatic valves will have different response times, resulting in the pneumatic valve control method of related technology being unable to truly achieve the simultaneous opening or closing of different pneumatic valves, resulting in different process gases being unable to enter the process chamber synchronously, and then resulting in the process gas being unable to fully react in the process chamber, greatly reducing the utilization rate of the process gas and bringing more process defects to the entire process.

Based on this, it is necessary to provide a new solution for pneumatic valve control method to solve the existing The pneumatic valve control method cannot effectively realize the simultaneous opening or closing of multiple pneumatic valves, resulting in the process gas being unable to enter the process chamber synchronously, which in turn causes the process gas to be unable to fully react in the process chamber, greatly reducing the utilization rate of the process gas and bringing more technical problems of process defects to the entire process.

In one embodiment, as shown in FIG. 2 , the present application provides a pneumatic valve control method for semiconductor process equipment, which is used to achieve synchronous opening or synchronous closing of multiple pneumatic valves of semiconductor process equipment. The pneumatic valve control method specifically includes the following steps:

Step S110: acquiring multiple pneumatic valves that need to simultaneously execute the same pneumatic valve action instruction in the current process step, and obtaining the response time of each pneumatic valve corresponding to the pneumatic valve action instruction.

It is understandable that when semiconductor process equipment is performing semiconductor processes such as epitaxial growth of silicon carbide, it is necessary to introduce a variety of different process gases into the process chamber. Different process gases are generally introduced into the process chamber through different gas pipelines. In order to better control the flow rate and introduction time of different process gases, corresponding pneumatic valves are provided in different gas pipelines to achieve the switch control of the corresponding gas pipelines, thereby introducing the corresponding process gas into the process chamber or interrupting the introduction of the corresponding process gas into the process chamber. It can be seen that semiconductor process equipment is generally provided with a plurality of different pneumatic valves, and different pneumatic valves can control the state of different process gases entering the process chamber. Therefore, in the process of semiconductor process equipment carrying out semiconductor process, facing different process steps, it is necessary to issue corresponding pneumatic valve action instructions to different pneumatic valves through the lower computer (specifically, PLC) according to the current process requirements, so as to introduce process gases that meet the current process requirements into the process chamber. This will involve the situation where some different pneumatic valves need to be opened or closed at the same time in a certain process step, that is, these different pneumatic valves need to execute the same pneumatic valve action instruction at the same time, and the pneumatic valve action instruction can specifically be a pneumatic valve opening instruction or a pneumatic valve closing instruction. Based on the above, it can be seen that due to the influence of various factors, different pneumatic valves will have different response times, which will have a serious impact on the simultaneous opening or closing of different pneumatic valves. For this reason, the embodiment of the method will first obtain the pneumatic valve action instructions that need to be executed simultaneously in the current process step before executing each process step. The multiple pneumatic valves of the command are controlled, and the response time of each pneumatic valve corresponding to the pneumatic valve action command is obtained. The response time specifically refers to the time taken by the lower computer to send the pneumatic valve action command to the corresponding pneumatic valve to the corresponding pneumatic valve to complete the execution of the pneumatic valve action command. It can be collected and recorded in advance and stored in the semiconductor process equipment, so that the lower computer of the semiconductor process equipment can be retrieved and used at any time.

In addition, when the pneumatic valve executes different pneumatic valve action instructions, its response time will be slightly different, because the response time can specifically be the first response time corresponding to the pneumatic valve opening instruction or the second response time corresponding to the pneumatic valve closing instruction. At this time, when the same pneumatic valve action instruction that multiple pneumatic valves need to execute simultaneously in the current process step is a pneumatic valve opening instruction, the first response time of each pneumatic valve can be obtained synchronously. When the same pneumatic valve action instruction that multiple pneumatic valves need to execute simultaneously in the current process step is a pneumatic valve closing instruction, the second response time of each pneumatic valve can be obtained synchronously.

Step S120: Calculate the instruction sending delay value of each pneumatic valve according to the longest response time among the response times of the multiple pneumatic valves.

It can be understood that after the response time (first response time or second response time) of each pneumatic valve that needs to simultaneously execute the same pneumatic valve action instruction in the current process step is obtained through the above-mentioned method steps, the response time of these pneumatic valves can be compared to find the longest response time and its corresponding pneumatic valve, and based on this, the instruction issuance delay value of each pneumatic valve is calculated. The instruction issuance delay value specifically refers to the delay time for the lower computer to issue the corresponding pneumatic valve action instruction to each pneumatic valve that needs to execute the same pneumatic valve action instruction simultaneously with the first pneumatic valve after the lower computer issues the corresponding pneumatic valve action instruction to the first pneumatic valve. The reason why this method step uses the longest response time to calculate the delay value for issuing instructions for each pneumatic valve is that the pneumatic valve corresponding to the longest response time takes the longest time to execute the corresponding pneumatic valve action instruction. To ensure that these pneumatic valves can execute the same pneumatic valve action instruction at the same time, it is necessary to use the time taken by the pneumatic valve corresponding to the longest response time as a benchmark to extend the time taken by other pneumatic valves to execute the corresponding pneumatic valve action instructions, that is, the end time point for other pneumatic valves to execute the corresponding pneumatic valve action instructions is also adjusted to the end time point for the pneumatic valve corresponding to the longest response time to execute the corresponding pneumatic valve action instruction.

Step S130: issuing a delay value according to the instruction of each pneumatic valve, and issuing a corresponding pneumatic valve action instruction to each pneumatic valve in chronological order, so as to control multiple pneumatic valves to execute the same pneumatic valve action instruction at the same time.

It is understandable that when the instruction issuance delay value of each pneumatic valve is obtained through the above method steps, the instruction issuance delay value of each pneumatic valve can be used to issue a corresponding pneumatic valve action instruction to each pneumatic valve in chronological order, so as to control multiple pneumatic valves to execute the same pneumatic valve action instruction at the same time. By making the starting time point of issuing the corresponding pneumatic valve action instruction to each pneumatic valve different, the time difference of different pneumatic valves executing the corresponding pneumatic valve action instruction can be compensated, so as to achieve the same end time point of different pneumatic valves executing the corresponding pneumatic valve action instruction.

In this way, in the embodiment of the present application, it is possible to change the time when the lower computer sends corresponding pneumatic valve action instructions to different pneumatic valves by calculating the delay value of the instruction issuance, so as to effectively solve the problem that in the pneumatic valve control method in the related technology, different pneumatic valves have different response times, which makes it impossible to truly realize the simultaneous opening or closing of different pneumatic valves. That is, it can well realize the simultaneous opening or closing of multiple pneumatic valves, ensure that the process gas can enter the process chamber synchronously, so as to be fully reacted in the process chamber, thereby greatly improving the utilization rate of the process gas while improving the process quality of the entire process.

In some examples, as shown in FIG3 , before executing the method step of the example of the present application “obtaining multiple pneumatic valves that need to simultaneously execute the same pneumatic valve action instruction in the current process step, and obtaining the response time of each pneumatic valve corresponding to the pneumatic valve action instruction”, the pneumatic valve control method further includes the following steps:

Step S100: receiving a pneumatic valve action instruction set uniformly issued by a host computer, wherein the pneumatic valve action instruction set includes pneumatic valve action instructions of multiple pneumatic valves that need to simultaneously execute the same pneumatic valve action instruction in the current process step.

It is understandable that, during the semiconductor process performed by the lower computer of the semiconductor process equipment, each process step is generally performed in sequence according to the process menu of the semiconductor process in the upper computer. Then the entire semiconductor process is completed. Therefore, before executing the semiconductor process, the host computer can first perform a preset logical judgment on the process menu of the current semiconductor process to be executed to obtain the pneumatic valve action information table in the semiconductor process. The pneumatic valve action information table can be a virtual table concept or a real table. When the pneumatic valve action information table is a real table, the pneumatic valve action information table can be recorded separately according to each process step of the current semiconductor process to be executed, so as to specifically record the information of the pneumatic valve action instructions that all pneumatic valves in the semiconductor process equipment need to execute when the corresponding process steps are executed, especially multiple pneumatic valves that need to execute the same pneumatic valve action instruction at the same time in the current process step. After obtaining the pneumatic valve action information table, the host computer can, according to the pneumatic valve action information table, send the pneumatic valve action instruction set corresponding to the current process step to the lower computer before each process step in the semiconductor process is executed.

In this way, before executing the method steps of the example of this application "obtaining multiple pneumatic valves that need to simultaneously execute the same pneumatic valve action instruction in the current process step, and obtaining the response time of each pneumatic valve corresponding to the pneumatic valve action instruction", you can first receive the pneumatic valve action instruction set uniformly issued by the upper computer, and the pneumatic valve action instruction set includes the pneumatic valve action instructions of multiple pneumatic valves that need to simultaneously execute the same pneumatic valve action instruction in the current process step.

It can be seen that in the method steps of the example of the present application, the upper computer first completes the logical judgment of all process menus to uniformly send all the pneumatic valve action instructions (i.e., the pneumatic valve action instruction set) to the lower computer, so that the lower computer can receive the pneumatic valve action instruction set uniformly sent by the upper computer. In this way, the control time error caused by the sequential reception of instructions can be effectively avoided by receiving the instructions at the same time.

In some examples, as shown in FIG. 4 , the method step of executing the example of the present application of “obtaining multiple pneumatic valves that need to simultaneously execute the same pneumatic valve action instruction in the current process step, and obtaining the response time of each pneumatic valve corresponding to the pneumatic valve action instruction” may specifically include:

Step S111: Find out the name of each pneumatic valve that needs to execute the same pneumatic valve action instruction simultaneously in the current process step according to the target pneumatic valve action instruction set.

Step S112: According to the name of each pneumatic valve and the pneumatic valve action index that needs to be executed simultaneously In the response time information table, find out the response time of each pneumatic valve corresponding to the pneumatic valve action instruction in turn.

It can be understood that, based on the above description, the target pneumatic valve action instruction set can specifically include the pneumatic valve action instructions of multiple pneumatic valves that need to execute the same pneumatic valve action instruction at the same time in the current process step. Therefore, the name of each pneumatic valve that needs to execute the same pneumatic valve action instruction at the same time in the current process step can be found out according to the target pneumatic valve action instruction set. That is, in the current process step, which pneumatic valves (specifically, the names can be marked by numbers, etc.) need to execute the same pneumatic valve action instruction at the same time. After finding the names of these pneumatic valves, it is possible to further find the response time of each pneumatic valve corresponding to the pneumatic valve action instruction in the response time information table according to the name of each pneumatic valve and the pneumatic valve action instructions that need to be executed simultaneously. Based on the above, it can be known that the response time can be collected in advance and recorded and stored in the semiconductor process equipment so that the lower computer of the semiconductor process equipment can retrieve and use it at any time. In this example, it can be realized through the response time information table, that is, the response time information table records the first response time (corresponding to the pneumatic valve opening instruction) and the second response time (corresponding to the pneumatic valve closing instruction) of all pneumatic valves in the semiconductor process equipment. In this way, the table can be looked up in the example of this application to better implement the method steps of the example of this application "obtaining multiple pneumatic valves that need to execute the same pneumatic valve action instruction at the same time in the current process step, and obtaining the response time of each pneumatic valve corresponding to the pneumatic valve action instruction".

In some examples, in order to better realize the generation of the above-mentioned response duration information table, as shown in FIG5 , it may specifically include the following steps:

S11: When a pneumatic valve opening instruction is issued to a target pneumatic valve, timing is started synchronously, and when the target pneumatic valve completes executing the pneumatic valve opening instruction, timing is ended synchronously, so as to collect and record the first response duration of the target pneumatic valve in a response duration information table.

S12: When a pneumatic valve closing instruction is issued to a target pneumatic valve, timing is started synchronously, and when the target pneumatic valve completes executing the pneumatic valve closing instruction, timing is ended synchronously, so as to collect and record the second response duration of the target pneumatic valve in a response duration information table.

It can be understood that in order to better collect the response time of all pneumatic valves of semiconductor process equipment to generate the response time information table in the above example, a response time collection module can be added to the semiconductor process equipment, and the response time collection module is respectively connected to the lower computer and multiple pneumatic valve signals to collect and record the response time of each pneumatic valve. Its specific structure will be described in detail below. Before executing the semiconductor process, the response time collection module will perform a switch test on all pneumatic valves of the semiconductor process equipment to generate the above response time information table, including starting the timing synchronously when a pneumatic valve opening instruction is issued to the target pneumatic valve, and ending the timing synchronously when the target pneumatic valve completes the execution of the pneumatic valve opening instruction, so as to collect and record the first response time of the target pneumatic valve in the response time information table; and starting the timing synchronously when a pneumatic valve closing instruction is issued to the target pneumatic valve, and ending the timing synchronously when the target pneumatic valve completes the execution of the pneumatic valve closing instruction, so as to collect and record the second response time of the target pneumatic valve in the response time information table. In this way, it can be ensured that the response time information table accurately records the first response time (corresponding to the pneumatic valve opening instruction) and the second response time (corresponding to the pneumatic valve closing instruction) of all pneumatic valves in the semiconductor process equipment.

In some examples, the process of executing the method step of the example of the present application "calculating the instruction issuance delay value of each pneumatic valve according to the longest response time among the response times of multiple pneumatic valves" may specifically include: performing difference calculations on the longest response time and the response times of multiple pneumatic valves in sequence, and using the differences obtained in sequence as the instruction issuance delay value of the corresponding pneumatic valve. In this way, the instruction issuance delay value of the pneumatic valve corresponding to the longest response time is 0, and the instruction issuance delay value of the pneumatic valve corresponding to the shortest response time is the longest. In this way, through the calculation of the instruction issuance delay value, an accurate time basis can be made for the specific time when the subsequent lower computer issues the corresponding pneumatic valve action instruction to each pneumatic valve, so as to ensure that these pneumatic valves can execute the same pneumatic valve action instruction at the same time.

In some examples, the process of executing the method step of the example of the present application "issuing a delay value according to the instruction of each pneumatic valve, and issuing a corresponding pneumatic valve action instruction to each pneumatic valve in chronological order to control multiple pneumatic valves to execute the same pneumatic valve action instruction at the same time" may specifically include: starting the timing synchronously when issuing a corresponding pneumatic valve action instruction to the pneumatic valve with a delay value of 0, and When the timing value is equal to the instruction sending delay value of any other pneumatic valve, the corresponding pneumatic valve action instruction is synchronously sent to the corresponding pneumatic valve to control multiple pneumatic valves to execute the same pneumatic valve action instruction at the same time. In this way, the instruction sending delay value of the pneumatic valve corresponding to the longest response time is 0, which is the first object to which the lower computer sends a pneumatic valve action instruction, and the instruction sending delay value of the pneumatic valve corresponding to the shortest response time is the longest, which is the last object to which the lower computer sends a pneumatic valve action instruction, that is, the above timing can end after the lower computer sends the corresponding pneumatic valve action instruction to the last pneumatic valve. Finally, by sending the corresponding pneumatic valve action instructions to these pneumatic valves in this way, it can be ensured that these pneumatic valves can execute the same pneumatic valve action instruction at the same time.

As another aspect of the present application, as shown in FIG6 , the present application embodiment also separately provides a semiconductor process equipment 100, which includes a lower computer 120 (specifically, it can be a PLC), multiple solenoid valve groups 130, multiple pneumatic valves 140, and a process chamber 150 with multiple gas pipelines 151. The multiple solenoid valve groups 130 are arranged one-to-one with the multiple pneumatic valves 140, so that each pneumatic valve 140 can realize the opening or closing of a gas pipeline 151 under the control of the corresponding solenoid valve group 130. The lower computer 120 is respectively connected to the multiple solenoid valve groups 130 by signal. The lower computer 120 may include at least one processor and at least one memory, and a computer program is stored in the memory. When the lower computer 120 is working, that is, when the computer program is executed by the processor, the pneumatic valve control method in the above embodiment is realized, which will not be repeated here.

Optionally, the semiconductor process equipment 100 may further include a host computer 110 , and the host computer 110 is signal-connected to a slave computer 120 .

Thus, in the embodiment of the present application, when the semiconductor process equipment 100 performs synchronous control on different pneumatic valves 140, the time for the lower computer 120 to send corresponding pneumatic valve action instructions to different pneumatic valves 140 can be changed by calculating the delay value of the instruction issuance, so as to solve the problem that the different pneumatic valves 140 cannot be opened or closed at the same time in the existing pneumatic valve control method because different pneumatic valves 140 have different response times. That is, it can well realize the simultaneous opening or closing of multiple pneumatic valves 140, ensuring that the process gas can enter the process chamber 150 synchronously. In order to obtain a sufficient reaction in the process chamber 150, the utilization rate of the process gas is greatly improved, and the process quality of the entire process is improved.

In some examples, in order to better realize the early collection of the response time of different pneumatic valves 140, the response time is recorded and stored in the semiconductor process equipment 100, so that the lower computer 120 of the semiconductor process equipment 100 can be retrieved and used at any time, as shown in FIG6, the semiconductor process equipment 100 in this example further includes a response time acquisition module 160, and the response time acquisition module 160 is respectively connected to the lower computer 120 and multiple pneumatic valves 140 signals to collect and record the response time of each pneumatic valve 140. Further, the response time acquisition module may specifically include a fast response unit, a timer, and multiple pneumatic valve state detection sensors. Among them, multiple pneumatic valve state detection sensors are respectively connected to the fast response unit signals, and are arranged in a one-to-one correspondence in multiple pneumatic valves 140 to collect the state changes of the corresponding pneumatic valves 140, so that when the state of the corresponding pneumatic valve 140 changes, the corresponding feedback signal is fed back to the fast response unit. The quick response unit is also connected to the lower computer 120 and the timer signal respectively, so that when the lower computer 120 sends a pneumatic valve action instruction to any pneumatic valve 140, a start signal is sent to the timer to start the timer timing, and when a feedback signal from any pneumatic valve status detection sensor is received, an end signal is sent to the timer to end the timer timing.

It can be understood that the pneumatic valve state detection sensor can feedback the opening and closing states of the corresponding pneumatic valve 140. When the pneumatic valve 140 switches from an open state to a closed state, or from a closed state to an open state, the state signal of the pneumatic valve state detection sensor will change. At this time, the feedback signal of the pneumatic valve state detection sensor is received by the rapid response unit (since the rapid response unit has a high receiving frequency, generally up to tens of Hz, the signal acquisition error is almost negligible), and the timer is terminated, which can well realize the response time collection of the corresponding pneumatic valve 140.

Although the present application has been shown and described with respect to one or more implementations, equivalent variations and modifications will occur to those skilled in the art based on a reading and understanding of this specification and the drawings. The present application includes all such modifications and variations and is limited only by the scope of the appended claims. In particular, with respect to the various functions performed by the above-mentioned components, the terms used to describe such components are intended to correspond to Any component that performs the specified functions of the described components (eg, it is functionally equivalent) (unless otherwise indicated), even if not structurally equivalent to the disclosed structure that performs the functions in the exemplary implementations of this specification shown herein.

That is, the above description is only an embodiment of the present application, and does not limit the patent scope of the present application. Any equivalent structure or equivalent process transformation made using the contents of the specification and drawings of the present application, such as the mutual combination of technical features between the embodiments, or direct or indirect application in other related technical fields, are also included in the patent protection scope of the present application.

In addition, in the description of the present application, it should be understood that the terms "center", "longitudinal", "lateral", "length", "width", "thickness", "up", "down", "front", "back", "left", "right", "vertical", "horizontal", "top", "bottom", "inside", "outside" and the like indicate positions or positional relationships based on the positions or positional relationships shown in the drawings, which are only for the convenience of describing the present application and simplifying the description, rather than indicating or implying that the device or element referred to must have a specific orientation, be constructed and operated in a specific orientation, and therefore cannot be understood as a limitation on the present application. In addition, for structural elements with the same or similar characteristics, the present application may use the same or different reference numerals for identification. In addition, the terms "first" and "second" are only used for descriptive purposes, and cannot be understood as indicating or implying relative importance or implicitly indicating the number of technical features indicated. Therefore, the features defined as "first" and "second" may explicitly or implicitly include one or more features. In the description of the present application, the meaning of "multiple" is two or more, unless otherwise clearly and specifically defined.

In this application, the word "exemplary" is used to mean "used as an example, illustration, or description." Any embodiment described in this application as "exemplary" is not necessarily to be construed as being more preferred or more advantageous than other embodiments. In order to enable any technician in the field to implement and use the present application, the present application provides the above description. In the above description, various details are listed for the purpose of explanation. It should be understood that a person of ordinary skill in the art can recognize that the present application can be implemented without using these specific details. In other embodiments, well-known structures and processes will not be elaborated in detail to avoid obscuring the description of the present application with unnecessary details. Therefore, the present application does not describe the present invention in detail. The present disclosure is not intended to be limited to the embodiments shown, but is to be accorded the widest scope consistent with the principles and features disclosed herein.

Claims (10)

A pneumatic valve control method for semiconductor process equipment, wherein the method is used to realize synchronous opening or synchronous closing of multiple pneumatic valves of the semiconductor process equipment, and the pneumatic valve control method comprises the following steps: Acquire multiple pneumatic valves that need to simultaneously execute the same pneumatic valve action instruction in the current process step, and obtain the response time of each pneumatic valve corresponding to the pneumatic valve action instruction; Calculating a command issuance delay value for each of the pneumatic valves according to the longest response time among the response times of the plurality of pneumatic valves; According to the delay value of each pneumatic valve instruction, the corresponding pneumatic valve action instruction is sent to each pneumatic valve in chronological order, so as to control the multiple pneumatic valves to execute the same pneumatic valve action instruction at the same time. According to the pneumatic valve control method according to claim 1, wherein the pneumatic valve action instruction is a pneumatic valve opening instruction or a pneumatic valve closing instruction; the response duration is a first response duration corresponding to the pneumatic valve opening instruction or a second response duration corresponding to the pneumatic valve closing instruction. The pneumatic valve control method according to claim 1, wherein before the step of acquiring multiple pneumatic valves that need to simultaneously execute the same pneumatic valve action instruction in the current process step and obtaining the response time of each pneumatic valve corresponding to the pneumatic valve action instruction, the method further includes the following steps: A pneumatic valve action instruction set uniformly sent by a host computer is received, wherein the pneumatic valve action instruction set includes pneumatic valve action instructions of multiple pneumatic valves that need to simultaneously execute the same pneumatic valve action instruction in a current process step. According to the pneumatic valve control method of claim 3, the step of acquiring multiple pneumatic valves that need to simultaneously execute the same pneumatic valve action instruction in the current process step and obtaining the response time of each pneumatic valve corresponding to the pneumatic valve action instruction comprises: Find out the name of each of the pneumatic valves that need to simultaneously execute the same pneumatic valve action instruction in the current process step according to the pneumatic valve action instruction set; According to the name of each of the pneumatic valves and the pneumatic valve action instructions that need to be executed simultaneously, the response time of each of the pneumatic valves corresponding to the pneumatic valve action instructions is found out in turn in the response time information table. According to the pneumatic valve control method of claim 4, wherein the response time information table records the first response time and the second response time of all pneumatic valves in the semiconductor process equipment, and the generation method of the response time information table includes the following steps: The timing starts synchronously when a pneumatic valve opening instruction is issued to a target pneumatic valve, and the timing ends synchronously when the target pneumatic valve completes executing the pneumatic valve opening instruction, so as to collect and record the first response duration of the target pneumatic valve in the response duration information table; The timing starts synchronously when a pneumatic valve closing instruction is issued to a target pneumatic valve, and the timing ends synchronously when the target pneumatic valve completes executing the pneumatic valve closing instruction, so as to collect and record the second response duration of the target pneumatic valve in the response duration information table. According to the pneumatic valve control method of claim 1, wherein the step of calculating the instruction issuance delay value of each pneumatic valve according to the longest response time among the response times of the plurality of pneumatic valves comprises: The longest response time is sequentially calculated with the response time of the plurality of pneumatic valves to use the sequentially obtained differences as delay values for sending instructions to the corresponding pneumatic valves. According to the pneumatic valve control method of claim 1, wherein the step of issuing a delay value according to the instruction of each pneumatic valve and issuing a corresponding pneumatic valve action instruction to each pneumatic valve in chronological order to control the multiple pneumatic valves to simultaneously execute the same pneumatic valve action instruction comprises: The pneumatic valve with a delay value of 0 sends the corresponding pneumatic valve motion to the pneumatic valve. When a pneumatic valve action instruction is issued, the timing starts synchronously, and when the timing value is equal to the delay value of the instruction of any other pneumatic valve, the corresponding pneumatic valve action instruction is synchronously issued to the corresponding pneumatic valve to control the multiple pneumatic valves to execute the same pneumatic valve action instruction at the same time. A semiconductor process equipment, comprising a lower computer, a plurality of solenoid valve groups, a plurality of pneumatic valves and a process chamber with a plurality of gas pipelines, wherein the plurality of solenoid valve groups are arranged in a one-to-one correspondence with the plurality of pneumatic valves, so that each of the pneumatic valves can realize the opening or closing of a gas pipeline under the control of the corresponding solenoid valve group, and the lower computer is respectively connected to the plurality of solenoid valve groups by signal, and the lower computer executes the pneumatic valve control method described in any one of claims 1 to 7 when working. The semiconductor process equipment according to claim 8, further comprising a response time acquisition module, wherein the response time acquisition module is respectively connected to the lower computer and the plurality of pneumatic valve signals to acquire and record the response time of each of the pneumatic valves. The semiconductor process equipment according to claim 9, wherein the response time acquisition module comprises a fast response unit, a timer, and a plurality of pneumatic valve state detection sensors; wherein, The multiple pneumatic valve state detection sensors are respectively connected to the quick response unit signals and are arranged in the multiple pneumatic valves in a one-to-one correspondence to collect state changes of the corresponding pneumatic valves, so as to feed back corresponding feedback signals to the quick response unit when the state of the corresponding pneumatic valve changes; The quick response unit is also respectively connected to the lower computer and the timer signal, so that when the lower computer sends a pneumatic valve action instruction to any of the pneumatic valves, a start signal is sent to the timer to start the timing of the timer, and when a feedback signal is received from any of the pneumatic valve status detection sensors, an end signal is sent to the timer to end the timing of the timer.