公开(公告)号：US10134613B2

公开(公告)日：2018-11-20

申请号：US15272706

申请日：2016-09-22

Applicant: Macau University of Science and Technology

Inventor： Yan Qiao ,  Mengchu Zhou ,  Naiqi Wu ,  Zhiwu Li ,  Qinghua Zhu

IPC: H01L21/677 ,  H01L21/67

Abstract: A system and method for a cluster tool apparatus for processing a semiconductor product including processing modules located adjacent each other and configured to process a semiconductor module, loadlocks configured to retain and dispense unprocessed semiconductor products and each positioned adjacent one of the processing modules, a robot configured to load, transfer and unload a semiconductor product to and from the processing modules, a hardware controller in communication with the robot and executing a method to close down the cluster tool apparatus to an idle state, the method including determining a status of the processing modules, determining if a close down process is required based on the status or based on a close down signal, and, if required, determining a schedule for a close down process based on a semiconductor product residency parameter, and controlling the operation of the robot based on the schedule to perform the close down process.

公开(公告)号：US10103569B2

公开(公告)日：2018-10-16

申请号：US15078367

申请日：2016-03-23

Applicant: Macau University of Science and Technology

Inventor： Zhiwu Li ,  Zhongyuan Jiang ,  Naiqi Wu ,  Mengchu Zhou

IPC: H02J7/00 ,  H02J9/06 ,  G01R31/40

Abstract: A power transmission system includes a plurality of electrical substations and a plurality of transmission lines arranged to connect the plurality of electrical substations to form a power transmission network; and a controller system arranged to control a power transmission within the power transmission network. The controller system includes: a detection module arranged to detect an occurrence of a fault in at least one faulty electrical substation of the plurality of electrical substations; and a restoration module arranged to at least temporally maintain an output power of the at least one faulty electrical substation; and wherein at least one of the plurality of electrical substations is operable to facilitate maintaining of the output of the at least one faulty electrical substation upon the detection of the occurrence of the fault.

公开(公告)号：US10073444B2

公开(公告)日：2018-09-11

申请号：US14919720

申请日：2015-10-21

Applicant: Macau University of Science and Technology

Inventor： Naiqi Wu ,  Fajun Yang ,  Yan Qiao ,  Mengchu Zhou

IPC: G05B19/41 ,  G05B19/418

CPC classification number: G05B19/4187 ,  G05B2219/31429 ,  G05B2219/45032 ,  Y02P90/205 ,  Y10S901/02 ,  Y10S901/41

Abstract: Since single and dual-arm tools behave differently, it is difficult to coordinate their activities in a hybrid multi-cluster tool that is composed of both single- and dual-arm tools. Aiming at finding an optimal one-wafer cyclic schedule for a treelike hybrid multi-cluster tool whose bottleneck tool is process-bound, the present work extends a resource-oriented Petri net to model such system. By the developed Petri net model, to find a one-wafer cyclic schedule is to determine robot waiting times. By doing so, it is shown that, for any treelike hybrid multi-cluster tool whose bottleneck tool is process-bound, there is always a one-wafer cyclic schedule. Then, computationally efficient algorithms are developed to obtain the minimal cycle time and the optimal one-wafer cyclic schedule. Examples are given to illustrate the developed method.

公开(公告)号：US10001772B2

公开(公告)日：2018-06-19

申请号：US14918564

申请日：2015-10-21

Applicant: Macau University of Science and Technology

Inventor： Naiqi Wu ,  Qinghua Zhu ,  Mengchu Zhou ,  Yan Qiao

IPC: G05B19/418

CPC classification number: G05B19/41865 ,  G05B2219/34418 ,  G05B2219/45031 ,  G05B2219/50391 ,  Y10S901/02 ,  Y10S901/30

Abstract: Recent trends of larger wafer and smaller lot sizes bring cluster tools with frequent lot switches. Practitioners must deal with more transient processes during such switches, including start-up and close-down processes. To obtain higher yield, it is necessary to shorten the duration of transient processes. Much prior effort was poured into the modeling and scheduling for the steady state of cluster tools. In the existing literature, no attention has been turned to optimize the close-down process for single-arm cluster tools with wafer residency constraints. This invention intends to do so by 1) developing a Petri net model to analyze their scheduling properties and 2) proposing Petri net-based methods to solve their close-down optimal scheduling problems under different workloads among their process steps. Industrial examples are used to illustrate the effectiveness and application of the proposed methods.

公开(公告)号：US20180082878A1

公开(公告)日：2018-03-22

申请号：US15272706

申请日：2016-09-22

Applicant: Macau University of Science and Technology

Inventor： Yan Qiao ,  Mengchu Zhou ,  Naiqi Wu ,  Zhiwu Li ,  Qinghua Zhu

IPC: H01L21/677

CPC classification number: H01L21/67167 ,  H01L21/67745

Abstract: A system and method for a cluster tool apparatus for processing a semiconductor product including processing modules located adjacent each other and configured to process a semiconductor module, loadlocks configured to retain and dispense unprocessed semiconductor products and each positioned adjacent one of the processing modules, a robot configured to load, transfer and unload a semiconductor product to and from the processing modules, a hardware controller in communication with the robot and executing a method to close down the cluster tool apparatus to an idle state, the method including determining a status of the processing modules, determining if a close down process is required based on the status or based on a close down signal, and, if required, determining a schedule for a close down process based on a semiconductor product residency parameter, and controlling the operation of the robot based on the schedule to perform the close down process.

公开(公告)号：US09618930B1

公开(公告)日：2017-04-11

申请号：US14918557

申请日：2015-10-20

Applicant: Macau University of Science and Technology

Inventor： Naiqi Wu ,  Yan Qiao ,  Mengchu Zhou

IPC: G05B19/418 ,  B25J9/16 ,  H01L21/67 ,  H01L21/677 ,  H01L21/68

CPC classification number: G05B19/41885 ,  B25J9/1669 ,  G05B19/41865 ,  G05B2219/39536 ,  G05B2219/45031 ,  H01L21/67276 ,  H01L21/67745

Abstract: Due to the trend of using larger wafer diameter and smaller lot size, cluster tools need to switch from processing one lot of wafers to another frequently. It leads to more transient periods in wafer fabrication. Their efficient scheduling and control problems become more and more important. It becomes difficult to solve such problems, especially when wafer residency time constraints must be considered. This work develops a Petri net model to describe the behavior during the start-up transient processes of a single-arm cluster tool. Then, based on the model, for the case that the difference of workloads among the steps is not too large and can be properly balanced, a scheduling algorithm to find an optimal feasible schedule for the start-up process is given. For other cases schedulable at the steady state, a linear programming model is developed to find an optimal feasible schedule for the start-up process.

公开(公告)号：US20170083008A1

公开(公告)日：2017-03-23

申请号：US14918577

申请日：2015-10-21

Applicant: Macau University of Science and Technology

Inventor： Naiqi Wu ,  Qinghua Zhu ,  Yan Qiao ,  Mengchu Zhou

IPC: G05B19/418

CPC classification number: G05B19/4187 ,  G05B2219/45031 ,  G05B2219/50291 ,  Y02P90/205 ,  Y02P90/26

Abstract: The scheduling problem of a multi-cluster tool with a tree topology whose bottleneck tool is process-bound is investigated. A method for scheduling the multi-cluster tool to thereby generate an optimal one-wafer cyclic schedule for this multi-cluster tool is provided. A Petri net (PN) model is developed for the multi-cluster tool by explicitly modeling robot waiting times such that a schedule is determined by setting the robot waiting times. Based on the PN model, sufficient and necessary conditions under which a one-wafer cyclic schedule exists are derived and it is shown that an optimal one-wafer cyclic schedule can be always found. Then, efficient algorithms are given to find the optimal cycle time and its optimal schedule. Examples are used to demonstrate the scheduling method.

公开(公告)号：US20170080563A1

公开(公告)日：2017-03-23

申请号：US14918557

申请日：2015-10-20

Applicant: Macau University of Science and Technology

Inventor： Naiqi Wu ,  Yan Qiao ,  Mengchu Zhou

IPC: B25J9/16 ,  H01L21/677 ,  H01L21/68 ,  H01L21/67

CPC classification number: G05B19/41885 ,  B25J9/1669 ,  G05B19/41865 ,  G05B2219/39536 ,  G05B2219/45031 ,  H01L21/67276 ,  H01L21/67745

Abstract: Due to the trend of using larger wafer diameter and smaller lot size, cluster tools need to switch from processing one lot of wafers to another frequently. It leads to more transient periods in wafer fabrication. Their efficient scheduling and control problems become more and more important. It becomes difficult to solve such problems, especially when wafer residency time constraints must be considered. This work develops a Petri net model to describe the behavior during the start-up transient processes of a single-arm cluster tool. Then, based on the model, for the case that the difference of workloads among the steps is not too large and can be properly balanced, a scheduling algorithm to find an optimal feasible schedule for the start-up process is given. For other cases schedulable at the steady state, a linear programming model is developed to find an optimal feasible schedule for the start-up process.

公开(公告)号：US09227318B1

公开(公告)日：2016-01-05

申请号：US14639137

申请日：2015-03-05

Applicant: Macau University of Science and Technology

Inventor： Liping Bai ,  Naiqi Wu ,  Zhiwu Li ,  Mengchu Zhou

IPC: G06F19/00 ,  B25J9/00 ,  G05B19/418 ,  G06F17/50

CPC classification number: B25J9/009 ,  G05B19/41865 ,  G05B2219/45032 ,  G06F17/5013 ,  H01L21/67184 ,  H01L21/67276 ,  Y10S901/02 ,  Y10S901/41

Abstract: A method for scheduling single-arm multi-cluster tools is provided. The present invention studies the scheduling problem of a single-arm multi-cluster tool with a linear topology and process-bound bottleneck individual tool. Its objective is to find a one-wafer cyclic schedule such that the lower bound of cycle time is reached by optimally configuring spaces in buffering modules that link individual cluster tools. A Petri net model is developed to describe the dynamic behavior of the system by extending resource-oriented Petri nets such that a schedule can be parameterized by robots' waiting time. Based on this model, conditions are presented under which a one-wafer cyclic schedule with lower bound of cycle time can be found. With the derived conditions, an algorithm is presented to find such a schedule and optimally configure the buffer spaces.

Abstract translation: 提供了一种用于调度单臂多群集工具的方法。 本发明研究了具有线性拓扑和过程限制瓶颈的单个工具的单臂多群集工具的调度问题。 其目的是找到一个单晶圆循环调度，以便通过在链接各个集群工具的缓冲模块中最佳配置空间来达到循环时间的下限。 Petri网模型被开发用于通过扩展资源导向的Petri网来描述系统的动态行为，使得可以通过机器人的等待时间对时间表进行参数化。 基于该模型，提出了可以找到具有周期时间下限的单晶片循环调度的条件。 使用派生条件，提出了一种算法来查找这样的调度并最佳地配置缓冲区空间。