Method of controlling semiconductor device assignment sequence and apparatus therefor

Abstract

The embodiment of the present disclosure relates to the semiconductor field, and provides a method for controlling the distribution sequence of semiconductor equipment and a device thereof, the method comprising: collecting the number of all chambers capable of performing a preset process and the actual working time of each radio frequency device in a machine table; providing an ideal working time of the radio frequency device to calculate an average interval; sorting all data to form a first queue data group, and obtaining the difference between adjacent data in the first queue data group; the difference between adjacent data is a characteristic value corresponding to the previous or subsequent data in the previous or subsequent data, and the data not corresponding to the difference is a characteristic value corresponding to the data; obtaining a second queue data group and a third queue data group based on the average interval and the characteristic value; and obtaining a distribution sequence for distributing N batches of wafers to all radio frequency devices for performing a preset process based on the second queue data group and the third queue data group. The embodiment of the present disclosure is at least beneficial to improve the stability of the semiconductor equipment productivity.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] This disclosure relates to the semiconductor field, and in particular to a method and apparatus for controlling the allocation order of semiconductor devices. Background Technology

[0002] In the semiconductor manufacturing process, monitoring and controlling processing parameters is crucial for obtaining high-quality semiconductor structures. Semiconductor equipment used to manufacture semiconductor structures typically includes chambers and radio frequency (RF) devices located within these chambers. Even with constant input parameters, the electrical performance of RF devices gradually degrades over time, impacting the throughput of the semiconductor equipment. Therefore, there is usually an upper limit to the actual operating time of RF devices, and maintenance is necessary when this limit is reached.

[0003] However, manufacturing semiconductor structures typically involves multiple machines, most of which use radio frequency (RF) devices. To avoid the actual operating time of multiple RF devices reaching their upper limit at the same moment, resulting in severe instantaneous capacity loss and affecting the stability of semiconductor equipment capacity, there is an urgent need for a method to intelligently control the actual operating time of multiple RF devices in order to improve the stability of semiconductor equipment capacity. Summary of the Invention

[0004] This disclosure provides a method and apparatus for controlling the allocation order of semiconductor devices, which at least helps to improve the stability of semiconductor device production capacity.

[0005] According to some embodiments of this disclosure, one aspect of this disclosure provides a method for controlling the allocation order of semiconductor equipment. The semiconductor equipment includes multiple machines, each machine having at least one chamber and a radio frequency (RF) device corresponding to each chamber. The method includes: before performing a preset process on N batches of wafers, collecting data on the number of all chambers capable of undergoing the preset process and data on all machines, wherein the data is the actual operating time of each RF device in the machine; providing the ideal operating time of the RF device, and calculating an average interval based on the ideal operating time and the number; sorting all the data to form a first queue data group, and obtaining the difference between adjacent data in the first queue data group; and based on the difference... The system acquires feature values ​​corresponding to the data in the first queue data group, and uses the difference between adjacent data as the feature value corresponding to the previous or next data in the preceding or following data. Data that does not correspond to the difference is itself used as the feature value corresponding to the data. Based on the average interval and the feature values, the system acquires a second queue data group and a third queue data group. The second queue data group is composed of data sorted according to the feature values ​​that are less than the average interval, and the third queue data group is composed of data sorted according to the feature values ​​that are greater than or equal to the average interval. Based on the second queue data group and the third queue data group, the system acquires the allocation order for allocating N batches of wafers to all the radio frequency devices for the preset process processing.

[0006] In some embodiments, the step of sorting to form the second queue data group and the third queue data group includes: sorting the data whose feature values ​​are less than the average interval based on the ascending order of the feature values ​​to form the second queue data group; and sorting the data whose feature values ​​are greater than or equal to the average interval based on the ascending order of the feature values ​​to form the third queue data group.

[0007] In some embodiments, the step of obtaining the allocation order based on the second queue data group and the third queue data group includes: obtaining a first allocation order for allocating N batches of wafers to the radio frequency devices corresponding to the data in the second queue data group according to the arrangement order of the data in the second queue data group; if all the radio frequency devices in the second queue data group correspond to a certain batch of wafers, obtaining a second allocation order for allocating the remaining batches of wafers to the radio frequency devices corresponding to the data in the third queue data group according to the arrangement order of the data in the third queue data group.

[0008] In some embodiments, the data corresponds one-to-one with the radio frequency device, and the radio frequency device corresponds one-to-one with the cavity. Before obtaining the allocation order, the method further includes: obtaining the operating status of the cavity corresponding to the data, and retaining the data corresponding to the cavity whose operating status is operable.

[0009] In some embodiments, the data corresponds one-to-one with the radio frequency (RF) devices, and the RF devices correspond one-to-one with the chambers. The step of obtaining the allocation order based on the second queue data group and the third queue data group includes: sequentially marking the chambers corresponding to the data in the second queue data group with a first mark, and sequentially marking the chambers corresponding to the data in the third queue data group with a second mark, wherein the first mark and the second mark follow an ascending order, and the first mark is greater than the second mark; based on the first mark and the second mark, obtaining the identifier of the machine, wherein the smallest first mark in each machine is used as the identifier of the machine, and if the machine does not have the first mark, then the smallest second mark in the machine is used as the identifier of the machine; sorting the machines based on the ascending order of the identifiers; obtaining the allocation order according to the arrangement order of the machines, and in a single machine, obtaining a third allocation order for allocating M batches of wafers to all the RF devices in the single machine according to the ascending order of the first mark or the second mark, wherein M and N are both positive integers greater than 1, and M is less than N.

[0010] In some embodiments, before marking the chamber with the first mark or the second mark, the method further includes: obtaining the operating status of the chambers corresponding to all the data, and retaining the data corresponding to the chambers whose operating status is operable.

[0011] In some embodiments, before forming the first queue data group, the operating status is acquired and the data corresponding to the chamber whose operating status is operable is retained; or, after acquiring the second queue data group, the operating status is acquired and the data corresponding to the chamber whose operating status is operable is retained.

[0012] In some embodiments, the port is used to feed a batch of wafers into the cavity corresponding to the port, the cavity with the first mark is the first cavity, and the cavity with the second mark is the second cavity. The step of obtaining the allocation order according to the arrangement order of the machines includes: obtaining the state of the port, and obtaining the number of ports in each machine that are in an operable state; if a machine contains both the first cavity and the second cavity, and the number of ports is even, then the number of ports corresponding to the first cavity and the number of ports corresponding to the second cavity are set to be equal; if a machine contains both the first cavity and the second cavity, and the number of ports is odd, then the number of ports corresponding to the first cavity is set to be one more than the number of ports corresponding to the second cavity.

[0013] In some embodiments, before setting the number of ports corresponding to the first chamber and the number of ports corresponding to the second chamber, the method further includes: obtaining a preset total number of batches of wafers to be processed within a preset time period, and obtaining the actual total number of batches of wafers that all the machines can process within the preset time period; if the preset total number is greater than or equal to the actual total number, setting the number of ports corresponding to the first chamber and the number of ports corresponding to the second chamber.

[0014] In some embodiments, the machine has multiple ports, each port being used to feed a batch of wafers into a chamber corresponding to the port. The chamber with the first mark is a first chamber, and the chamber with the second mark is a second chamber. The step of obtaining the allocation order based on the arrangement order of the machines includes: obtaining a preset total number of batches of wafers to be processed within a preset time period, and obtaining the actual total number of batches of wafers that all the machines can process within the preset time period; if the preset total number is less than the actual total number, and the machine simultaneously includes both the first chamber and the second chamber, then all ports in the machine are configured to correspond to the first chamber.

[0015] In some embodiments, the steps of sorting all the data and obtaining the feature value corresponding to the data in the first queue data group based on the difference include: sorting all the data in ascending order; taking the difference between adjacent consecutive data as the feature value corresponding to the next data in the preceding and following data, and taking the data at the first position as the feature value corresponding to the data at the first position.

[0016] In some embodiments, the steps of sorting all the data and obtaining the feature value corresponding to the data in the first queue data group based on the difference include: sorting all the data in descending order; taking the difference between adjacent preceding and following data as the feature value corresponding to the preceding data, and taking the data at the end as the feature value corresponding to the data at the end.

[0017] According to some embodiments of this disclosure, another aspect of this disclosure provides an apparatus for controlling the allocation order of semiconductor devices. The semiconductor devices include multiple workstations, each workstation having at least one chamber and a radio frequency (RF) device corresponding to each chamber. The apparatus includes: a data acquisition module for acquiring the number of all chambers capable of performing a preset process and data from all workstations, the data being the actual operating time of each RF device in the workstation; and a data processing module for processing the data, configured to: provide an ideal operating time for the RF devices and calculate an average interval based on the ideal operating time and the number; sort all the data to form a first queue data group, and obtain the difference between adjacent data in the first queue data group; and... Based on the difference, a feature value corresponding to the data in the first queue data group is obtained. The difference between adjacent consecutive data is used as the feature value corresponding to the previous or next data in the preceding and following data. The data that does not correspond to the difference is used as the feature value corresponding to the data itself. Based on the average interval and the feature value, a second queue data group and a third queue data group are obtained. The second queue data group is composed of data sorted according to the feature value corresponding to the feature value less than the average interval, and the third queue data group is composed of data sorted according to the feature value corresponding to the feature value greater than or equal to the average interval. The acquisition module is used to acquire, based on the second queue data group and the third queue data group, the allocation order for allocating N batches of wafers to all the radio frequency devices for the preset process processing.

[0018] In some embodiments, the data corresponds one-to-one with the radio frequency device, and the radio frequency device corresponds one-to-one with the cavity. The device further includes: a marking unit, used to sequentially mark the cavity corresponding to the data in the second queue data group as a first mark, sequentially mark the cavity corresponding to the data in the third queue data group as a second mark, and identify the machine.

[0019] In some embodiments, the machine tool has multiple ports, and the acquisition module is further configured to acquire the operating status of the chamber and / or acquire the status of the ports.

[0020] The technical solutions provided in this disclosure have at least the following advantages:

[0021] In the above technical solution, in the second queue data group, since the feature value is smaller than the average interval, the probability that the RF device represented by the data corresponding to the feature value has a shorter actual working time is relatively high. That is, most of the RF devices in the second queue data group have a shorter actual working time. Therefore, the RF devices in the second queue data group can be prioritized for pre-processing N batches of wafers, avoiding the participation of too many RF devices with actual working times close to their ideal working times, which would affect the quality of the formed semiconductor structure and reduce the semiconductor equipment's production capacity. Furthermore, when the number of wafer batches requiring pre-processing is small, for example, when the number of wafer batches requiring pre-processing is less than the number of data contained in the second queue data group, the RF devices corresponding to the data in the third queue data group can be scheduled for maintenance. This avoids the actual working time of multiple RF devices reaching their upper limit at the same time, causing severe instantaneous production capacity loss. Therefore, the method for controlling the allocation order of semiconductor equipment provided in this disclosure is beneficial for intelligently controlling which RF devices participate in operation, avoiding severe instantaneous production capacity loss, and improving the stability of semiconductor equipment production capacity. Attached Figure Description

[0022] One or more embodiments are illustrated by way of example with reference numerals in the accompanying drawings. These illustrations do not constitute a limitation on the embodiments. Elements with the same reference numerals in the drawings are denoted as similar elements. Unless otherwise stated, the figures in the drawings are not to be limited by scale.

[0023] Figure 1 A flowchart illustrating a method for controlling the allocation order of semiconductor devices according to an embodiment of this disclosure;

[0024] Figure 2 Another flowchart of a method for controlling the allocation order of semiconductor devices provided in an embodiment of this disclosure;

[0025] Figure 3 Another flowchart of a method for controlling the allocation order of semiconductor devices provided in an embodiment of this disclosure;

[0026] Figure 4 A schematic diagram of the functional modules of a device for controlling the allocation order of semiconductor devices provided in another embodiment of this disclosure. Detailed Implementation

[0027] As can be seen from the background technology, the stability of semiconductor equipment production capacity needs to be improved.

[0028] Analysis revealed that semiconductor structure manufacturing typically involves multiple machines, most of which utilize radio frequency (RF) devices. Changes in the electrical performance of these RF devices indirectly alter the temperature of the chamber or semiconductor structure, thus affecting the quality of the resulting semiconductor structure. Furthermore, the electrical performance of RF devices gradually decreases with their actual operating time, which usually has an upper limit. When the operating time of an RF device reaches this limit, maintenance is required. Therefore, it is necessary to collect or monitor relevant parameters of the RF devices, such as recording the actual operating time of each device, to determine the stability of their electrical performance and to control which RF devices are used in production and which require maintenance.

[0029] However, current methods for manually collecting or monitoring relevant data and determining which RF devices are put into production and which require maintenance are time-consuming and labor-intensive. Therefore, there is an urgent need for a method and apparatus to control the allocation sequence of semiconductor equipment, so as to intelligently control which RF devices participate in operation and improve the stability of semiconductor equipment production capacity.

[0030] This disclosure provides a method and apparatus for controlling the allocation sequence of semiconductor devices. In the method, most radio frequency (RF) devices with relatively short actual operating times are grouped into a second queue data group. This allows RF devices in the second queue data group to be prioritized for pre-processing N batches of wafers, preventing too many RF devices with actual operating times close to their ideal operating times from participating in the process, which could affect the quality of the formed semiconductor structure and reduce the semiconductor equipment's throughput. Furthermore, when the number of wafer batches requiring pre-processing is small, RF devices corresponding to data in a third queue data group can be scheduled for maintenance. This prevents multiple RF devices from reaching their maximum operating times simultaneously, avoiding severe instantaneous throughput loss and improving the stability of semiconductor equipment throughput.

[0031] The embodiments of this disclosure will now be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. However, those skilled in the art will understand that many technical details have been provided in the embodiments of this disclosure to facilitate a better understanding of the embodiments. However, the technical solutions claimed in the embodiments of this disclosure can be implemented even without these technical details and various variations and modifications based on the following embodiments.

[0032] This disclosure provides a method for controlling the allocation order of semiconductor devices. The semiconductor structure provided in this disclosure will be described in detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings. Figure 1 A flowchart illustrating a method for controlling the allocation order of semiconductor devices according to an embodiment of this disclosure; Figure 2Another flowchart of a method for controlling the allocation order of semiconductor devices provided in an embodiment of this disclosure; Figure 3 This is another flowchart of a method for controlling the allocation order of semiconductor devices provided in an embodiment of the present disclosure.

[0033] refer to Figures 1 to 3 A method for controlling the allocation sequence of semiconductor devices, the semiconductor devices comprising multiple stations, each station having at least one chamber and a radio frequency (RF) device corresponding to each chamber. It should be noted that the RF device is located within the chamber, with one RF device corresponding to one chamber. Some stations may have only one station, while others may have multiple chambers and multiple RF devices corresponding to each chamber.

[0034] refer to Figures 1 to 3 The method for controlling the allocation order of semiconductor devices includes the following steps:

[0035] S101: Before performing preset process processing on N batches of wafers, collect the number of all chambers that can be processed by the preset process and the data of all equipment. The data is the actual working time of each RF device in the equipment.

[0036] It should be noted that since there is a one-to-one correspondence between data and radio frequency devices, and a one-to-one correspondence between radio frequency devices and cavities, there is also a one-to-one correspondence between data and cavities. That is, the actual working time of a radio frequency device corresponds to a cavity. In the future, based on the different data, different cavities will be marked differently for different data.

[0037] S102: Provides the ideal operating time for the RF devices and calculates the average interval based on the ideal operating time and quantity.

[0038] It should be noted that the ideal operating time of an RF device is the upper limit of its actual operating time. When the actual operating time of an RF device exceeds the ideal operating time, its electrical performance will decrease, as will the other processing parameters in the chamber. For example, when the chamber corresponding to the RF device is used for plasma processing, if the actual operating time of the RF device exceeds the ideal operating time, the plasma density and uniformity will both decrease, thereby affecting the quality and efficiency of the final semiconductor result, reducing the yield of the semiconductor structure, and thus reducing the production capacity of the semiconductor equipment.

[0039] The average interval is the ratio of the ideal operating time to the number of chambers that can be processed by the preset process. For example, if the ideal operating time of the RF device can be 300 hours and the number of all chambers that can be processed by the preset process can be 6, then the average interval can be 50 hours.

[0040] In this step, providing the ideal operating time of the RF devices and obtaining the average interval is beneficial for grouping multiple RF devices by the average interval to form a group in which most RF devices have a relatively short actual operating time. This corresponds to the second queue data group that is formed later. In this way, the RF devices corresponding to the data in the second queue data group can be used as the main force in the preparation of the semiconductor structure. However, if too many RF devices with actual operating times close to the ideal operating time participate in the work, it will affect the quality of the formed semiconductor structure and reduce the production capacity of the semiconductor equipment.

[0041] S103: Sort all the data to form a first queue data group, and obtain the difference between adjacent data in the first queue data group.

[0042] By sorting all the data, the size relationship between the data will only gradually increase or decrease. There will be no two adjacent data that are close to the maximum value in the first queue of data and close to the minimum value in the first queue of data. This helps to avoid the large numerical difference between two adjacent differences and improves the value of subsequent data analysis and classification.

[0043] S104: Based on the difference, obtain the feature value corresponding to the data in the first queue data group. The difference between adjacent data is used as the feature value corresponding to the previous or next data in the preceding or following data. The data that does not correspond to the difference is used as the feature value corresponding to the data itself.

[0044] The sorting of all data and the acquisition of feature values ​​corresponding to the data in the first queue data group based on the difference can include the following two methods:

[0045] In some embodiments, reference Figure 2 The steps of sorting all the data and obtaining the feature values ​​corresponding to the data in the first queue based on the difference include:

[0046] S113: Sort all data in ascending order to form a first queue of data, and obtain the difference between adjacent data in the first queue of data.

[0047] S114: The difference between adjacent preceding and following data is taken as the feature value corresponding to the next data in the preceding and following data, and the data in the first position is taken as the feature value corresponding to the data in the first position.

[0048] For example, the first queue data group can be {5, 37, 80, 87, 225, 285}. Then the feature value corresponding to 5 is 5 itself, the feature value corresponding to 37 is the difference between 37 and 5 (32), the feature value corresponding to 80 is the difference between 80 and 37 (43), the feature value corresponding to 225 is the difference between 225 and 80 (138), and the feature value corresponding to 285 is the difference between 285 and 225 (60).

[0049] Since all data is sorted in ascending order, the actual operating times of multiple RF devices are arranged in a gradually increasing sequence. The RF device corresponding to the first data in the first queue has the smallest actual operating time. Using its own value as a feature value is beneficial for subsequently including this data in the second queue. In addition, the actual operating time of the RF device corresponding to the data near the end of the first queue is closer to the ideal operating time. When assigning the feature value to the next data in adjacent data, if the subsequent judgment of the feature value is greater than the average interval, it is beneficial to include the data with the larger value in the adjacent data in the third queue, that is, to increase the probability of including the RF device with the larger actual operating time in the third queue.

[0050] In other embodiments, reference is made to Figure 3 The steps of sorting all the data and obtaining the feature values ​​corresponding to the data in the first queue based on the difference include:

[0051] S123: Sort all data in descending order to form the first queue data group, and obtain the difference between adjacent data in the first queue data group.

[0052] S124: The difference between adjacent preceding and following data is taken as the feature value corresponding to the preceding data, and the data at the end is taken as the feature value corresponding to the data at the end.

[0053] For example, if the first queue of data can be {285, 225, 87, 80, 37, 5}, then the feature value corresponding to 285 is the difference between 285 and 225, which is 60; the feature value corresponding to 225 is the difference between 225 and 80, which is 138; the feature value corresponding to 80 is the difference between 80 and 37, which is 43; the feature value corresponding to 37 is the difference between 37 and 5, which is 32; and the feature value corresponding to 5 is 5 itself.

[0054] Since all data is sorted in descending order, the actual operating times of multiple RF devices are arranged in a gradually decreasing sequence. The RF device corresponding to the last data in the first queue has the smallest actual operating time. Using its own value as a feature value is beneficial for subsequently including this data in the second queue. In addition, the actual operating time of the RF device corresponding to the data closest to the first position in the first queue is closer to the ideal operating time. When assigning the feature value to the preceding data of adjacent data, subsequent judgments that the feature value is greater than the average interval are beneficial for including the data with the larger value among adjacent data in the third queue, thus increasing the probability of including RF devices with larger actual operating times in the third queue.

[0055] Continue to refer to Figure 1 S105: Based on the average interval and feature values, obtain the second queue data group and the third queue data group. The second queue data group is composed of data sorted according to feature values ​​that are less than the average interval, and the third queue data group is composed of data sorted according to feature values ​​that are greater than or equal to the average interval.

[0056] In some embodiments, the step of sorting to form a second queue data group and a third queue data group includes: sorting data with feature values ​​less than the average interval based on the ascending order of feature values ​​to form a second queue data group; and sorting data with feature values ​​greater than or equal to the average interval based on the ascending order of feature values ​​to form a third queue data group.

[0057] Since the feature values ​​of the data in the second queue data group are less than the average interval, and the feature values ​​of the data in the third queue data group are greater than or equal to the average interval, the probability that the actual working time of the RF device in the first chamber is smaller is greater than the probability that the actual working time of the RF device in the second chamber is smaller. This is beneficial for prioritizing the wafer processing work in the chamber corresponding to the data in the second queue data group.

[0058] For example, with an average interval of 50h, the first queue data group is {5, 37, 80, 87, 225, 285}. Since the characteristic values ​​5, 32, 43, and 7 corresponding to 5, 37, 80, and 87 are all less than the average interval of 50h, the second queue data group is {5, 37, 80, 87}. Since the characteristic values ​​138 and 60 corresponding to 225 and 285 are both greater than the average interval of 50h, the third queue data group is {225, 285}.

[0059] In other embodiments, data whose feature values ​​are equal to the average interval may also be included in the second queue data group. Furthermore, in other embodiments, the arrangement of data in the second and third queue data groups may also be based on a descending order of the feature values ​​corresponding to the data.

[0060] S106: Based on the second queue data group and the third queue data group, obtain the allocation order for allocating N batches of wafers to all RF devices for preset process processing.

[0061] The allocation order based on the second and third queue data groups can include the following two methods:

[0062] In some embodiments, the step of obtaining the allocation order based on the second queue data group and the third queue data group includes:

[0063] Based on the order of data in the second queue data group, obtain the first allocation order for allocating N batches of wafers to the RF devices corresponding to the data in the second queue data group.

[0064] The first allocation order is to allocate N batches of wafers to the radio frequency devices corresponding to the data in the second queue data group in the order of the data arrangement.

[0065] If all the RF devices in the second queue data group correspond to a certain batch of wafers, a second allocation order is obtained based on the data arrangement order in the third queue data group to allocate the remaining batches of wafers to the RF devices corresponding to the data in the third queue data group.

[0066] The second allocation order is to allocate the remaining batches of wafers to the radio frequency devices corresponding to the data in the third queue data group in the order of the data arrangement.

[0067] It should be noted that if the remaining batch of wafers only corresponds to a portion of the data in the third queue data group, then RF devices with actual operating times close to the ideal operating times can be selected from the remaining RF devices that do not correspond to the data of the wafers. Maintaining the selected RF devices helps to avoid the actual operating times of multiple RF devices reaching their upper limit at the same time, and enables batch maintenance of multiple RF devices. This ensures that during the wafer processing, some RF devices with shorter actual operating times can participate in the operation, avoiding severe instantaneous capacity loss. This, in turn, helps to improve the stability of semiconductor equipment capacity throughout the entire semiconductor structure fabrication process.

[0068] It should be noted that, under the premise of obtaining the allocation order through the above embodiments, the method for controlling the allocation order of semiconductor devices before obtaining the allocation order may further include: obtaining the operating status of the chamber corresponding to the data, and retaining the data corresponding to the chamber whose operating status is operable.

[0069] The operational status of a chamber is affected by many factors, such as the condition of each component within the chamber, the condition of each pipeline within the chamber, and the operational status of the radio frequency devices within the chamber. A chamber being operational indicates that it can process wafers to fabricate semiconductor structures. Furthermore, checking the operational status of the chambers before obtaining the allocation sequence helps to eliminate chambers that do not meet the fabrication requirements in advance, reducing the probability of reduced production capacity due to the infeasibility of the operating status of the corresponding chamber, thereby further improving the stability of semiconductor equipment production capacity.

[0070] Furthermore, in one embodiment, the steps of acquiring the operating status of the chamber corresponding to the data and retaining the data corresponding to the chamber with an operating status of operable can not only be performed before acquiring the allocation order, but also further before forming the first queue data group. This helps reduce the amount of data processing required in subsequent steps such as acquiring differences and forming the second and third queue data groups, thereby improving the efficiency of controlling the allocation order of the semiconductor device. In another embodiment, the steps of acquiring the operating status of the chamber corresponding to the data and retaining the data corresponding to the chamber with an operating status of operable can be performed after acquiring the second queue data group and before acquiring the allocation order.

[0071] It should be noted that the steps of acquiring the operating status of the corresponding chamber and retaining the data corresponding to the chambers whose operating status is operable can be carried out at any step before the acquisition and allocation order. This is beneficial to eliminate chambers that do not meet the preparation requirements in advance, reduce the probability of reduced production capacity due to the infeasibility of the operating status of the chamber corresponding to the wafer, and thus further improve the stability of semiconductor equipment production capacity.

[0072] In other embodiments, reference is made to Figure 2 The step of obtaining the allocation order based on the second queue data group and the third queue data group includes:

[0073] S116: The chambers corresponding to the data in the second queue data group are marked with the first mark in sequence, and the chambers corresponding to the data in the third queue data group are marked with the second mark in sequence. The first mark and the second mark follow the rule of increasing from small to large, and the first mark is greater than the second mark.

[0074] The first mark being greater than the second mark means that any first mark is larger than the second mark. Here, "greater" means that when there are wafers that need to be processed later, the chamber with the first mark will be given priority for processing.

[0075] In one embodiment, the first marker may include C11, C12, C13, C14...C120, C121, C122... etc. It is understood that the first marker may include C1#, where # is a positive integer starting from 1 and proceeding sequentially. C11 represents the chamber corresponding to the first data in the second queue data group, and C1# represents the chamber corresponding to the #th data in the second queue data group. The second marker may include C21, C22, C23, C24...C220, C221, C222... etc. It is understood that the second marker may include C2#, where # is a positive integer starting from 1 and proceeding sequentially. C21 represents the chamber corresponding to the first data in the third queue data group, and C2# represents the chamber corresponding to the #th data in the third queue data group.

[0076] It should be noted that, in some embodiments, before marking the chambers with the first or second mark, the method for controlling the allocation order of the semiconductor equipment may further include: acquiring the operating status of all chambers corresponding to the data, and retaining the data corresponding to the chambers whose operating status is operable. This helps to eliminate chambers that do not meet the fabrication requirements in advance, reducing the probability of reduced production capacity due to the infeasibility of the operating status of the chambers corresponding to the wafer, thereby further improving the stability of semiconductor equipment production capacity.

[0077] Furthermore, in one embodiment, the steps of acquiring the operating status of the chamber corresponding to the data and retaining the data corresponding to the chamber with an operating status of "operable" can be performed not only before the chamber is marked with the first or second mark, but also before the formation of the first queue data group. This helps reduce the amount of data processing required in subsequent steps such as acquiring differences and forming the second and third queue data groups, thereby improving the efficiency of controlling the allocation order of the semiconductor device. In another embodiment, the steps of acquiring the operating status of the chamber corresponding to the data and retaining the data corresponding to the chamber with an operating status of "operable" can be performed after acquiring the second queue data group and before the chamber is marked with the first or second mark.

[0078] It should be noted that the steps of acquiring the operating status of the corresponding chamber and retaining the data corresponding to the chambers whose operating status is operable can be carried out at any step before the acquisition and allocation order. This is beneficial to eliminate chambers that do not meet the preparation requirements in advance, reduce the probability of reduced production capacity due to the infeasibility of the operating status of the chamber corresponding to the wafer, and thus further improve the stability of semiconductor equipment production capacity.

[0079] S126: Based on the first mark and the second mark, obtain the identifier of the machine. The smallest first mark in each machine is used as the identifier of the machine. If the machine does not have a first mark, the smallest second mark in the machine is used as the identifier of the machine.

[0080] For some equipment, a single equipment may include multiple chambers and corresponding radio frequency devices for each chamber. Therefore, a single equipment may include multiple first tags and / or multiple second tags. Thus, obtaining the equipment identifier based on the first and second tags is beneficial for sorting the equipment to subsequently determine the order in which N batches of wafers are processed by multiple equipment.

[0081] In one embodiment, if the semiconductor device includes a first machine, a second machine, and a third machine, the first machine includes five chambers marked C141, C23, C14, C11, and C25, and the operation of the chamber marked C11 is infeasible; the second machine includes five chambers marked C12, C17, C21, C29, and C210, and the operation of the chamber marked C21 is infeasible; the third machine includes five chambers marked C13, C15, C28, C16, and C215, and the operation of the two chambers marked C13 and C215 is infeasible, then the first machine is identified as C14, the second machine as C12, and the third machine as C15.

[0082] S136: Sort the machines based on the ascending order of the identifiers.

[0083] In one embodiment, if the identifier of the first machine is C14, the identifier of the second machine is C12, and the identifier of the third machine is C15, then the order of the three machines is the second machine, the first machine, and the third machine.

[0084] S146: Based on the arrangement order of the machines, obtain the allocation order. Within a single machine, based on the ascending order of the first or second marker, obtain a third allocation order to allocate M batches of wafers to all RF devices within that machine, where M and N are both positive integers greater than 1, and M is less than N. This improves the probability of prioritizing the use of chambers with shorter actual working times for wafer processing, thereby enabling intelligent control over which RF devices participate in the operation, avoiding severe instantaneous capacity loss, and improving the stability of semiconductor equipment capacity.

[0085] In one embodiment, if the first machine is identified as C14, the second machine as C12, and the third machine as C15, meaning the three machines are arranged in the order of second machine, first machine, and third machine, N batches of wafers are sequentially allocated to the second machine, the first machine, and the third machine. Furthermore, in the second machine, four batches of wafers are sequentially allocated to the RF devices corresponding to C12, C17, C29, and C210 in the order of C12, C17, C29, and C210; in the first machine, four batches of wafers are sequentially allocated to the RF devices corresponding to C14, C141, C23, and C25 in the order of C14, C141, C23, and C25; and in the third machine, three batches of wafers are sequentially allocated to the RF devices corresponding to C15, C16, and C28 in the order of C15, C16, and C28.

[0086] It should be noted that in some embodiments, the machine has multiple ports, which are used to feed a batch of wafers into the chamber corresponding to the port. The chamber with a first mark is the first chamber, and the chamber with a second mark is the second chamber.

[0087] Based on this, obtaining the allocation order according to the arrangement of the machines may include the following steps:

[0088] Get the port status, and get the number of ports that are in the running state on each machine.

[0089] In one embodiment, if the semiconductor device includes a first stage, a second stage, and a third stage, the first stage includes five chambers labeled C141, C23, C14, C11, and C25, and the chamber labeled C11 is inoperable; the second stage includes five chambers labeled C12, C17, C21, C29, and C210, and the chamber labeled C21 is inoperable; the third stage includes five chambers labeled C13, C15, C28, C16, and C215, and the two chambers labeled C13 and C215 are both inoperable. Furthermore, the first stage includes four operable ports, the second stage includes two operable ports, and the third stage includes three operable ports.

[0090] If a machine tool contains both a first chamber and a second chamber, and the number of ports is even, then the number of ports corresponding to the first chamber and the number of ports corresponding to the second chamber are set to be equal. For example, if the first machine tool contains two first chambers C141 and C14, and two second chambers C23 and C25, then the number of ports corresponding to the first chamber is set to 2, and the number of ports corresponding to the second chamber is also set to 2.

[0091] If a machine contains both a first chamber and a second chamber, and the number of ports is odd, then the number of ports corresponding to the first chamber is set to be one more than the number of ports corresponding to the second chamber. For example, if a third machine contains two first chambers C15 and C16, and one second chamber C28, then the number of ports corresponding to the first chamber is set to 2, and the number of ports corresponding to the second chamber is set to 1.

[0092] The instruction manual requires that, when the port is in an operational state, a batch of wafers must be sent into the chamber corresponding to the port in order to process the wafers.

[0093] By allocating the number of operable ports in each machine according to the above scheme, it is beneficial to eliminate ports that do not meet the preparation requirements in advance, reduce the probability of reduced production capacity due to the infeasibility of the corresponding port of the wafer, and further increase the probability of prioritizing the use of chambers with shorter actual working time for wafer processing. This enables intelligent control over which radio frequency devices participate in the operation, avoids severe instantaneous production capacity loss, and improves the stability of semiconductor equipment production capacity.

[0094] In some embodiments, the method for controlling the semiconductor device allocation order may further include, before setting the number of ports corresponding to the first chamber and the number of ports corresponding to the second chamber:

[0095] Get the preset total number of wafer batches to be processed within a preset time, and get the actual total number of wafer batches that all machines can process within the preset time.

[0096] If the preset total quantity is greater than or equal to the actual total quantity, the number of ports corresponding to the first chamber and the number of ports corresponding to the second chamber are set. If the preset total quantity is less than the actual total quantity, and the machine contains both the first and second chambers, all ports in the machine are set to correspond to the first chamber. Since the probability of the actual operating time of the RF devices in the first chamber being shorter is greater than that in the second chamber, when the semiconductor equipment is in a state of non-full load, having all N rows of wafers processed by the first chamber is beneficial for processing more RF devices with shorter actual operating times, thereby achieving full utilization of the RF devices, improving the quality of the final semiconductor structure, and increasing the production capacity of the semiconductor equipment.

[0097] Understandably, if the preset total quantity is less than the actual total quantity, and the machine only contains the first chamber or the second chamber, the wafers of N rows can be processed by the first chamber or the second chamber.

[0098] It should be noted that when marking the chambers with the first and second marks, and identifying and sorting the machines, but without acquiring the operating status of the chambers or the status of the ports, the step of obtaining the allocation order based on the arrangement order of the machines can also include: obtaining the preset total number of wafer batches to be processed within a preset time, and obtaining the actual total number of wafer batches that all machines can process within the preset time; if the preset total is less than the actual total, and the machine contains both the first and second chambers, then all ports in the machine are set to correspond to the first chamber. Furthermore, if the preset total is greater than or equal to the actual total, the chamber corresponding to the data in the second queue data group can be prioritized for wafer processing, and the remaining batches of wafers can be processed by the chamber corresponding to the data in the third queue data group.

[0099] In summary, the RF devices represented by data in the second queue data group are more likely to have shorter actual operating times. That is, most RF devices in the second queue data group have shorter actual operating times. Therefore, RF devices in the second queue data group can be prioritized for pre-processing N batches of wafers, avoiding the involvement of too many RF devices with actual operating times close to their ideal operating times, which could affect the quality of the formed semiconductor structure and reduce the semiconductor equipment's capacity. Furthermore, when the number of wafer batches requiring pre-processing is small (e.g., less than the number of data in the second queue data group), RF devices corresponding to data in the third queue data group can be scheduled for maintenance. This prevents multiple RF devices from reaching their maximum operating times simultaneously, avoiding severe instantaneous capacity loss. Therefore, the method for controlling the semiconductor equipment allocation order provided in this embodiment facilitates intelligent control of which RF devices participate in operation, avoiding severe instantaneous capacity loss and improving the stability of semiconductor equipment capacity.

[0100] Another embodiment of this disclosure provides an apparatus for controlling the allocation order of semiconductor devices, used to execute the method for controlling the allocation order of semiconductor devices in any of the above embodiments. The apparatus for controlling the allocation order of semiconductor devices provided in another embodiment of this disclosure will now be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. Figure 4 A schematic diagram of the functional modules of a device for controlling the allocation order of semiconductor devices provided in another embodiment of this disclosure.

[0101] refer to Figure 4The device for controlling the allocation order of semiconductor equipment includes: a data acquisition module 201, used to acquire data on the number of all chambers capable of performing preset process processing and data on all equipment, the data being the actual operating time of each RF device in the equipment; and a data processing module 202, used to process the data, configured to: provide the ideal operating time of the RF devices and calculate the average interval based on the ideal operating time and the number; sort all the data to form a first queue data group and obtain the difference between adjacent data in the first queue data group; and based on the difference, obtain the data corresponding to the data in the first queue data group. The feature value is the difference between adjacent consecutive data points, which is used as the feature value corresponding to the previous or next data point in the preceding or following data. Data points that do not correspond to a difference are used as the feature value corresponding to the data itself. Based on the average interval and the feature values, a second queue data group and a third queue data group are obtained. The second queue data group is composed of data sorted according to feature values ​​that are less than the average interval, and the third queue data group is composed of data sorted according to feature values ​​that are greater than or equal to the average interval. The acquisition module 203 is used to obtain the allocation order for allocating N batches of wafers to all RF devices for preset process processing based on the second queue data group and the third queue data group.

[0102] The allocation order obtained by the above-mentioned device, which distributes N batches of wafers to all radio frequency (RF) devices for preset process processing, is beneficial to increasing the probability of prioritizing the use of RF devices with shorter actual working time for wafer processing. Furthermore, while controlling some RF devices to process wafers, the remaining RF devices not involved in wafer processing can be controlled for maintenance. This enables the allocation and maintenance of multiple RF devices, ensuring that some RF devices with shorter actual working time can participate in the wafer processing process. This achieves intelligent control over which RF devices participate in the operation, avoids severe instantaneous capacity loss, and improves the stability of semiconductor equipment capacity.

[0103] In some embodiments, data corresponds one-to-one with radio frequency (RF) devices, and RF devices correspond one-to-one with cavities. The apparatus for controlling the allocation order of semiconductor devices may further include: a marking unit (not shown in the figure), used to sequentially mark the cavities corresponding to data in the second queue of data groups with a first mark, sequentially mark the cavities corresponding to data in the third queue of data groups with a second mark, and identify the machine. This facilitates the preferential use of machines containing RF devices with relatively short actual operating times for wafer processing, and within the same machine, preferential use of RF devices in cavities with smaller first marks further increases the probability of preferentially using cavities with shorter actual operating times for wafer processing.

[0104] In some embodiments, the acquisition module is further configured to acquire the operating status of the chamber. If the operating status is operable, the chamber can be used for wafer processing. This helps to eliminate chambers that do not meet the fabrication requirements in advance, reducing the probability of reduced production capacity due to the infeasibility of the operating status of the corresponding chamber, thereby further improving the stability of semiconductor equipment production capacity. In other embodiments, the machine has multiple ports, and the acquisition module is further configured to acquire the operating status of the chamber and the status of the ports. If the port status is operable, a batch of wafers is sent into the chamber corresponding to the port for wafer processing. This helps to eliminate ports that do not meet the fabrication requirements in advance, reducing the probability of reduced production capacity due to the infeasibility of the corresponding port. It should be noted that in other embodiments, due to different application requirements, the acquisition module may also acquire the status of the ports instead of the operating status of the chambers.

[0105] Those skilled in the art will understand that the above embodiments are specific examples of implementing this disclosure, and in practical applications, various changes in form and detail may be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the embodiments of this disclosure. Any person skilled in the art can make their own modifications and alterations without departing from the spirit and scope of the embodiments of this disclosure; therefore, the scope of protection of the embodiments of this disclosure should be determined by the scope defined in the claims.

Claims

1. A method for controlling a sequence of semiconductor equipment assignment, the semiconductor equipment comprising a plurality of stations, each of the stations having at least one chamber and a radio frequency device corresponding to the chamber, the method comprising: The method comprises the following steps: ​ Before a preset process is performed on N batches of wafers, data of all chambers capable of performing the preset process and all machines are collected, and the data is actual working time of each radio frequency device in the machine; An ideal working time of the radio frequency device is provided, and an average interval is calculated according to the ideal working time and the number, wherein the ideal working time is an upper limit value of the actual working time of the radio frequency device; All the data are sorted to form a first queue data set, and a difference value between adjacent data in the first queue data set is obtained; Based on the difference value, a characteristic value corresponding to the data in the first queue data set is obtained, the difference value between adjacent data is used as the characteristic value corresponding to the previous or subsequent data, and the data itself is used as the characteristic value corresponding to the data; Based on the average interval and the characteristic value, a second queue data set and a third queue data set are obtained, the second queue data set is sorted by the data corresponding to the characteristic value less than the average interval, and the third queue data set is sorted by the data corresponding to the characteristic value greater than or equal to the average interval; Based on the second queue data set and the third queue data set, an allocation sequence of N batches of wafers to all radio frequency devices for performing the preset process is obtained.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein, The steps of sorting the second queue data set and the third queue data set comprise: The data whose characteristic value is less than the average interval is sorted according to the order from small to large to form the second queue data set; The data whose characteristic value is greater than or equal to the average interval is sorted according to the order from small to large to form the third queue data set.

3. The method of claim 1 or 2, wherein, Based on the second queue data set and the third queue data set, the steps of obtaining the allocation sequence comprise: According to the arrangement order of the data in the second queue data set, a first allocation sequence of N batches of wafers to the radio frequency devices corresponding to the data in the second queue data set is obtained; If the radio frequency devices in the second queue data set all correspond to a batch of wafers, according to the arrangement order of the data in the third queue data set, a second allocation sequence of the remaining batches of wafers to the radio frequency devices corresponding to the data in the third queue data set is obtained.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein, The data correspond to the radio frequency devices one by one, and the radio frequency devices correspond to the chambers one by one, before the allocation sequence is obtained, the operating conditions of the chambers corresponding to the data are obtained, and the data corresponding to the chambers with operating conditions are retained.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein, The data correspond to the radio frequency devices one by one, and the radio frequency devices correspond to the chambers one by one, based on the second queue data set and the third queue data set, the steps of obtaining the allocation sequence comprise: sequentially marking the chambers corresponding to the data in the second queue data set with a first mark, and sequentially marking the chambers corresponding to the data in the third queue data set with a second mark, the first mark and the second mark following a rule from small to large, and the first mark being larger than the second mark; based on the first mark and the second mark, obtaining an identification of the machine table, the smallest first mark in each machine table being the identification of the machine table, and if the machine table does not have the first mark, the smallest second mark in the machine table being the identification of the machine table; based on the order of the identifications from small to large, sorting the machine tables; obtaining the distribution order according to the arrangement order of the machine tables, and in a single machine table, obtaining a third distribution order of distributing M batches of wafers to all the radio frequency devices in the single machine table according to the order of the first mark or the second mark from small to large, wherein M and N are both positive integers greater than 1, and M is smaller than N.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein, Before marking the chambers with the first mark or the second mark, the method further comprises: obtaining the running status of the chambers corresponding to the data, and retaining the data corresponding to the chambers with a running status of being operable.

7. The method of claim 4 or 6, wherein, Before forming the first queue data set, the method further comprises: obtaining the running status and retaining the data corresponding to the chambers with a running status of being operable; or after obtaining the second queue data set, the method further comprises: obtaining the running status and retaining the data corresponding to the chambers with a running status of being operable.

8. The method of claim 5, wherein the machine has a plurality of ports for loading a batch of wafers into the chambers corresponding to the ports, the chamber having the first indicia is a first chamber and the chamber having the second indicia is a second chamber. The step of obtaining the distribution order according to the arrangement order of the machine tables comprises: obtaining the state of the ports, and obtaining the number of the ports with a state of being operable in each machine table; if a machine table contains both the first chamber and the second chamber, and the number of the ports is even, setting the number of the ports corresponding to the first chamber to be equal to the number of the ports corresponding to the second chamber; if a machine table contains both the first chamber and the second chamber, and the number of the ports is odd, setting the number of the ports corresponding to the first chamber to be one more than the number of the ports corresponding to the second chamber.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein, Before setting the number of the ports corresponding to the first chamber and setting the number of the ports corresponding to the second chamber, the method further comprises: obtaining a preset total amount of batches of wafers to be processed within a preset time, and obtaining an actual total amount of batches of wafers that can be processed by all the machine tables within the preset time; if the preset total amount is greater than or equal to the actual total amount, setting the number of the ports corresponding to the first chamber and setting the number of the ports corresponding to the second chamber.

10. The method of claim 5 or 9, wherein, The machine table has a plurality of ports, the ports being used to send a batch of wafers into a chamber corresponding to the port, the chamber with the first mark being a first chamber, and the chamber with the second mark being a second chamber, and the step of obtaining the distribution order according to the arrangement order of the machine tables comprises: acquire a preset total amount of batches of wafers that need to be processed within a preset time, and acquire an actual total amount of batches of wafers that can be processed by all machines within the preset time; if the preset total amount is less than the actual total amount, and the machine simultaneously includes the first chamber and the second chamber, set the ports in the machine to correspond to the first chamber.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein, The step of sorting all the data and acquiring the characteristic values corresponding to the data in the first queue data group based on the difference values includes: The data are sorted in ascending order. The difference value between adjacent data is taken as the characteristic value corresponding to the latter data, and the data at the head is taken as the characteristic value corresponding to the data at the head.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein, The data are sorted in descending order. The difference value between adjacent data is taken as the characteristic value corresponding to the former data, and the data at the end is taken as the characteristic value corresponding to the data at the end. It includes:

13. A device for controlling the allocation order of semiconductor devices, characterized in that, A data acquisition module is configured to acquire the number of chambers that can perform a preset process and the data of all machines, and the data is the actual working time of each radio frequency device in the machine; A data processing module is configured to process the data, and the data processing module is configured to provide an ideal working time of the radio frequency device, and calculate an average interval based on the ideal working time and the number, the ideal working time being an upper limit value of the actual working time of the radio frequency device; sort all the data to form a first queue data group, and acquire the difference value between adjacent data in the first queue data group; Based on the difference value, the characteristic values corresponding to the data in the first queue data group are acquired, the difference value between adjacent data is taken as the characteristic value corresponding to the former or latter data, and the data not corresponding to the difference value is taken as the characteristic value corresponding to the data; based on the average interval and the characteristic value, a second queue data group and a third queue data group are acquired, the second queue data group being sorted by the data corresponding to the characteristic values less than the average interval, and the third queue data group being sorted by the data corresponding to the characteristic values greater than or equal to the average interval; An acquisition module is configured to acquire the allocation order of N batches of wafers allocated to all the radio frequency devices for the preset process based on the second queue data group and the third queue data group. The data correspond one-to-one to the radio frequency devices, and the radio frequency devices correspond one-to-one to the chambers, and the device further includes a marking unit configured to sequentially mark the chambers corresponding to the data in the second queue data group, sequentially mark the chambers corresponding to the data in the third queue data group, and identify the machines.

14. The apparatus of claim 13, wherein, ​ 15. The apparatus of claim 13, wherein, The machine table has a plurality of ports, and the acquisition module is further configured to acquire an operating condition of the chamber and / or a state of the ports.

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