Material path establishment method, material scheduling method and semiconductor process equipment

Abstract

The present invention provides a material path establishment method, a material scheduling method and a semiconductor process equipment, the method comprising: obtaining a process path; the process path is composed of a plurality of chambers that the material passes through sequentially during the process; judging whether there is a parallel process chamber, and if there is a parallel process chamber, splitting the process path into a basic path and N spare paths; wherein the parallel process chambers included in the basic path and the N spare paths are different, the parallel process chambers in the basic path are connected to the first transfer chamber, and the first transfer chamber is a transfer chamber directly connected to the loading and unloading chamber; and the parallel process chamber in the i-th spare path is connected to the i+1-th transfer chamber arranged after the first transfer chamber. This solution is compatible with the situation where the parallel process chambers perform the same process, thereby improving production capacity.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The present invention relates to the field of semiconductor technology, and in particular to a material path establishment method, a material scheduling method, an electronic device and a semiconductor process equipment. Background Art

[0002] As the scale of the semiconductor industry gradually expands and production capacity demand gradually increases, the topological structure of multi-chamber thin film deposition equipment (such as chemical vapor deposition equipment, atomic layer deposition equipment) has gradually expanded from a single vacuum transfer robot to a multi-vacuum transfer robot (VTR), cascading the transfer chambers to obtain more types and more numbers of process chambers to improve the overall process production capacity of the equipment.

[0003] As the topology becomes more complex, the scheduling calculation logic of the software also becomes more complex and challenging in order to achieve the same process requirements and effects under more complex material transfer paths. The transfer and process of materials (such as wafers) are generally defined by a route (Route / Sequence), and each step (Step) in the route corresponds to a step. When executing the step, the location of the material is, for example, a process chamber, a loading and unloading chamber, etc. For equipment equipped with two transfer chambers, if there are process chambers connected to two transfer chambers in the path that perform the same type of process, then the process chambers that perform the same process and are connected to different transfer chambers are called parallel modules (Parallel Model) or parallel process chambers (Parallel Chamber).

[0004] However, since the two transfer chambers are connected through a connecting chamber (PassThrough), the material is transferred to one of the transfer chambers without passing through the connecting chamber, while it needs to pass through the connecting chamber when transferred to the other transfer chamber. This makes the number of steps required to transfer the material to the two transfer chambers different, resulting in a different number of steps in the path for transferring the material to the process chambers respectively connected to the two transfer chambers. As a result, the material transfer path is incompatible with the parallel process chambers, making it impossible to implement the same process in the parallel process chambers, thereby affecting the improvement of production capacity. Summary of the invention

[0005] The present invention aims to solve at least one of the technical problems existing in the prior art, and proposes a material path establishment method, a material scheduling method, an electronic device and a semiconductor process equipment, which can solve the problem in the prior art that parallel process chambers cannot execute the same process because the material transmission path is incompatible with the parallel process chambers.

[0006] To achieve the purpose of the present invention, a material path establishment method is provided. The method is applicable to semiconductor process equipment, wherein the semiconductor process equipment includes a loading and unloading chamber and N+1 transmission chambers connected in sequence, and each of the transmission chambers is connected to at least one process chamber. The method includes:

[0007] Obtaining a process path; the process path is composed of a plurality of chambers that the material passes through sequentially during the process;

[0008] Determining whether there is a parallel process chamber, wherein the parallel process chamber is the process chamber in the process path that performs the same process and is connected to a different transfer chamber;

[0009] In the case where the parallel process chamber exists, the process path is divided into a basic path and N backup paths; wherein,

[0010] The parallel process chambers included in the basic path and the N backup paths are different, the transfer chamber connected to the parallel process chamber in the basic path is the first transfer chamber, and the first transfer chamber is the transfer chamber directly connected to the loading and unloading chamber; and the transfer chamber connected to the parallel process chamber in the i-th backup path is the i+1-th transfer chamber arranged after the first transfer chamber, i=1,2,...,N, N is an integer greater than 0.

[0011] Optionally, the semiconductor process equipment further includes a plurality of connecting chambers, and two adjacent transmission chambers are connected through the connecting chambers; the plurality of chambers in the process path further include N+1 transmission chambers and a plurality of connecting chambers;

[0012] The basic path includes the first transfer chamber and the parallel process chamber connected to the first transfer chamber;

[0013] The i-th backup path includes the 1st transfer chamber to the i+1th transfer chamber, the connecting chamber connected between each adjacent two of the 1st transfer chamber to the i+1th transfer chamber, and the parallel process chamber connected to the i+1th transfer chamber.

[0014] Optionally, the determining whether there are parallel process chambers includes:

[0015] According to the chamber process information of the material in the process path passing through each chamber, determining whether there are multiple process chambers performing the same process;

[0016] If yes, judging whether there is a process chamber with a different transfer chamber connected to the plurality of process chambers performing the same process according to the pre-stored number i of the transfer chamber connected to each process chamber; if yes, determining whether there is the parallel process chamber in the process path;

[0017] In the case where the parallel process chamber exists, splitting the process path into a basic path and N backup paths comprises:

[0018] According to the number i of the transfer chamber connected to the parallel process chamber, the process path is split into the basic path and N backup paths.

[0019] Optionally, the obtaining of the process path includes:

[0020] An editing interface for displaying the process path; the editing interface displays the sequence number of each chamber through which the materials in the process path pass and the chamber process information;

[0021] When receiving an editing instruction of the serial number and chamber process information, storing the edited serial number and chamber process information and displaying them on the editing interface;

[0022] The chamber process information includes chamber name, slot information and process recipe information; the process recipe information of the multiple parallel process chambers is the same.

[0023] Optionally, after splitting the process path into a basic path and N backup paths, the method further includes:

[0024] Displaying a first editing interface of the basic path and a second editing interface of each of the backup paths; the first editing interface displays the serial number and chamber process information of each chamber that the material sequentially passes through in the basic path; the second editing interface displays the serial number and chamber process information of each chamber that the material sequentially passes through in the corresponding backup path;

[0025] When an editing instruction of the chamber process information is received, the edited chamber process information is displayed on the first editing interface or the second editing interface where the chamber process information is located.

[0026] As another technical solution, the present invention also provides a material scheduling method, comprising:

[0027] Acquire material information, wherein the material information includes path information, wherein the path information includes the basic path and the N backup paths obtained by using the material path establishment method provided by the present invention in the presence of the parallel process chamber;

[0028] According to the material information, when the material at the loading position starts to move, in the case where the basic path is in an idle state, the basic path is set as the material path;

[0029] When the basic path is in an occupied state, each of the N backup paths that is in an idle state is set as a material path;

[0030] The material path is executed.

[0031] Optionally, when all the backup paths are in an occupied state, when the basic path is in an idle state, the basic path is set as the material path.

[0032] Optionally, in the absence of the parallel process chamber, the path information includes the process path;

[0033] After acquiring the material information, the material scheduling method further includes:

[0034] The process path is set as the material path.

[0035] As another technical solution, the present invention further provides an electronic device, comprising:

[0036] at least one processor;

[0037] a storage device having at least one program stored thereon;

[0038] When the at least one program is executed by the at least one processor, the at least one processor implements the material path establishment method provided by the present invention; or, the material scheduling method provided by the present invention.

[0039] As another technical solution, the present invention further provides a semiconductor process equipment, comprising a plurality of process chambers, a loading and unloading chamber, a plurality of sequentially connected transfer chambers, and a controller, wherein each of the transfer chambers is connected to the plurality of process chambers;

[0040] The controller comprises:

[0041] at least one processor;

[0042] a memory having at least one program stored therein;

[0043] When the at least one program is executed by the at least one processor, the at least one processor implements the material path establishment method provided by the present invention; or, the material scheduling method provided by the present invention.

[0044] The present invention has the following beneficial effects:

[0045] In the technical scheme of the material path establishment method, material scheduling method, electronic equipment and semiconductor process equipment provided by the present invention, when there are parallel process chambers in the process path, the process path is split into a basic path and N spare paths, wherein the parallel process chambers included in the basic path and the N spare paths are different, the transmission chamber connected to the parallel process chamber in the basic path is the first transmission chamber, and the transmission chamber connected to the parallel process chamber of the i-th spare path is the i+1-th transmission chamber arranged after the first transmission chamber. After the split, when there are parallel process chambers, the materials can be scheduled according to multiple paths, that is, when the materials at the loading position start to move, when the basic path is in an idle state, the basic path is set as the material path; when the basic path is in an occupied state, each spare path in the N spare paths that is in an idle state is set as the material path, thereby being compatible with the situation where the parallel process chambers perform the same process, thereby improving the production capacity. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0046] Figure 1 A structural diagram of a semiconductor process equipment equipped with two cascaded and superimposed transfer chambers;

[0047] Figure 2 A flow chart of a material path establishment method provided by an embodiment of the present invention;

[0048] Figure 3 A flow chart of step S102 of the material path establishment method provided in an embodiment of the present invention;

[0049] Figure 4 A flow chart of step S101 of the material path establishment method provided in an embodiment of the present invention;

[0050] Figure 5 A display diagram of the editing interface used in the embodiment of the present invention;

[0051] Figure 6 Another flow chart of the material path establishment method provided by the embodiment of the present invention;

[0052] Figure 7 This is a display diagram of the first editing interface used in an embodiment of the present invention;

[0053] Figure 8 This is a display diagram of the second editing interface used in the embodiment of the present invention;

[0054] Fig. 9 A flow chart of a material scheduling method provided in an embodiment of the present invention. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0055] In order to enable those skilled in the art to better understand the technical solution of the present invention, the material path establishment method, material scheduling method, electronic device and semiconductor process equipment provided by the present invention are described in detail below in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.

[0056] There are many structures of semiconductor process equipment that cascade multiple transfer chambers. For example, two transfer chambers that are cascaded and stacked are provided. Figure 1 , semiconductor process equipment includes at least:

[0057] 6 process chambers (Ch1 to Ch6), each with dual chambers;

[0058] 4 loading and unloading chambers (LA, LB, LC, LD), each loading and unloading chamber LoadLock is connected to the atmospheric transfer chamber for converting the atmospheric environment into a vacuum environment. The atmospheric transfer chamber is provided with an atmospheric manipulator ATR for transferring materials (such as wafers) between the wafer boxes Foup in the three storage chambers (LP1, LP2, LP3) and the loading and unloading chamber LoadLock;

[0059] The first transfer chamber Buffer is connected to four loading and unloading chambers (LA, LB, LC, LD), two process chambers (Ch1 and Ch2), and two connection chambers (ChA, ChB); each connection chamber PassThrough is connected between the first transfer chamber Buffer and the second transfer chamber Transfer; the first transfer chamber Buffer is provided with a first robot VTR1 for transferring materials between the loading and unloading chamber and the two process chambers (Ch1 and Ch2), and between the loading and unloading chamber and the two connection chambers (ChA and ChB);

[0060] The second transfer chamber Transfer is connected to two connecting chambers (ChA and ChB) and to four process chambers (Ch3 to Ch6); a second robot VTR2 is provided in the second transfer chamber Transfer for transferring materials between the two connecting chambers (ChA and ChB) and the four process chambers (Ch3 to Ch6).

[0061] In some embodiments, the two process chambers (Ch1 and Ch2) connected to the first transfer chamber Buffer are of different types and are used to respectively complete two different types of processes, that is, to perform two different process steps, wherein the type of the process chamber Ch1 is, for example, the same type as two of the four process chambers (Ch3 to Ch6) connected to the second transfer chamber Transfer, such as process chambers Ch3 and Ch5, that is, the three process chambers Ch1, Ch3 and Ch5 complete the same type of process, that is, to perform the same process step; the type of the process chamber Ch2 is the same type as the other two of the four process chambers (Ch3 to Ch6) connected to the second transfer chamber Transfer, such as process chambers Ch4 and Ch6, that is, the three process chambers Ch2, Ch4 and Ch6 complete the same type of process, that is, to perform the same process step. The above-mentioned process chambers that perform the same process and are connected to different transfer chambers are called parallel process chambers. For example, the process chamber Ch1 and process chamber Ch3, process chamber Ch1 and process chamber Ch5 are all parallel process chambers; the process chamber Ch2 and process chamber Ch4, process chamber Ch2 and process chamber Ch6 are all parallel process chambers.

[0062] By using multiple process chambers to complete the same process step, the capacity of the process step can be increased. For example, if a process step takes 30 minutes, if the process step is performed by one process chamber, 2 materials can be processed per hour; if the process step is performed by a parallel process chamber consisting of two process chambers, 4 materials can be processed per hour. It can be seen that forming a parallel process chamber with multiple process chambers of the same process type can increase the capacity exponentially.

[0063] However, since a connecting chamber PassThrough is provided between the first transfer chamber Buffer and the second transfer chamber Transfer, the material is transferred to the first transfer chamber Buffer without passing through the connecting chamber PassThrough, while it is transferred to the second transfer chamber Transfer through the connecting chamber PassThrough. This makes the number of steps required for transferring the material to the first transfer chamber Buffer different from the number of steps required for transferring the material to the second transfer chamber Transfer, resulting in different number of path steps to reach the process chambers respectively connected to the first transfer chamber Buffer and the second transfer chamber Transfer. For example, the pre-step before transferring the material to the process chamber Ch1 is to transfer the material to the loading and unloading chamber LoadLock; the pre-step before transferring the material to the process chamber Ch3 is The material is transferred to the loading and unloading chamber LoadLock, and then the material is transferred to the connecting chamber PassThrough. It can be seen that the number of path steps to reach the process chamber connected to the second transfer chamber Transfer is one step more than the number of path steps to reach the process chamber connected to the first transfer chamber Buffer. At present, the software can only establish a path to transfer materials to the process chamber connected to the second transfer chamber Transfer, or a path to transfer materials to the process chamber connected to the first transfer chamber Buffer. However, these paths are not compatible with transferring multiple materials to the process chamber connected to the first transfer chamber Buffer and the process chamber connected to the second transfer chamber Transfer. As a result, the material transfer path is incompatible with the parallel process chambers and the parallel process chambers cannot execute the same process steps, thereby affecting the improvement of production capacity.

[0064] To solve the above technical problems, please refer to Figure 2 An embodiment of the present invention provides a material path establishment method, which is applicable to a semiconductor process equipment, wherein the semiconductor process equipment includes a loading and unloading chamber and N+1 transmission chambers connected in sequence, where N is an integer greater than 0. Each transmission chamber is connected to at least one process chamber.

[0065] The material path establishment methods include:

[0066] S101, obtaining a process path;

[0067] The process route (Route / Sequence) is composed of multiple chambers that the material passes through in sequence during the process. Specifically, each step (Step) in the process route corresponds to a chamber, that is, the process route includes chambers that the material passes through in sequence when it is transported, such as process chambers, loading and unloading chambers LoadLock, connection chambers PassThrough, etc.

[0068] S102, determining whether there are parallel process chambers.

[0069] The parallel process chambers are process chambers that perform the same process in a process path and are connected to different transfer chambers.

[0070] S103 . In the case where there are parallel process chambers, split the process path into a basic path and N backup paths.

[0071] The basic path and the N backup paths include different parallel process chambers.

[0072] Multiple cascaded and superimposed transmission chambers refer to multiple transmission chambers that are connected in sequence through the connecting chamber PassThrough, wherein the transmission chamber directly connected to the loading and unloading chamber LoadLock is the first transmission chamber, the adjacent transmission chamber arranged after the first transmission chamber is the second transmission chamber, the second transmission chamber is connected to the first transmission chamber through the connecting chamber PassThrough, the adjacent transmission chamber arranged after the second transmission chamber is the third transmission chamber, the third transmission chamber is connected to the second transmission chamber through the connecting chamber PassThrough, it can be seen that the adjacent transmission chamber arranged after the i-th transmission chamber is the i+1-th transmission chamber, the i+1-th transmission chamber is connected to the i-th transmission chamber through the connecting chamber PassThrough, wherein i=1,2,...,N, N is the number of transmission chambers except the first transmission chamber.

[0073] The transfer chamber connected to the parallel process chamber in the above basic path is the 1st transfer chamber; the transfer chamber connected to the parallel process chamber in the i-th backup path is the i+1th transfer chamber arranged after the 1st transfer chamber. Considering multiple connection chambers and N+1 transfer chambers, the basic path includes the 1st transfer chamber and the parallel process chamber connected to the 1st transfer chamber; the i-th backup path includes the 1st transfer chamber to the i+1th transfer chamber, the connection chambers connected between each adjacent two of the 1st transfer chamber to the i+1th transfer chamber, and the parallel process chamber connected to the i+1th transfer chamber.

[0074] by Figure 1Taking the semiconductor process equipment shown as an example, the basic path includes the first transfer chamber Buffer, the process chamber Ch1 for executing the first process step (Step1), and the process chamber Ch2 for executing the second process step (Step2); the first backup path includes the first transfer chamber Buffer, the second transfer chamber Transfer, the process chambers Ch3 and Ch5 for executing the first process step (Step1), and the process chambers Ch4 and Ch6 for executing the second process step (Step2). In some embodiments, taking the example of two process chambers (Ch1 and Ch2) connected between a first transfer chamber Buffer and a second transfer chamber Transfer, the basic path includes the first transfer chamber Buffer, the process chamber Ch1 for executing the first process step (Step1), and the process chamber Ch2 for executing the second process step (Step2); the first backup path includes the first transfer chamber Buffer, two process chambers (Ch1 and Ch2), the second transfer chamber Transfer, the process chambers Ch3 and Ch5 for executing the first process step (Step1), and the process chambers Ch4 and Ch6 for executing the second process step (Step2).

[0075] By splitting the above-mentioned process paths, in the presence of parallel process chambers, materials can be scheduled according to multiple paths (including a basic path and N backup paths), that is, when the material at the loading position starts to move, if the basic path is in an idle state, the basic path is set as the material path; when the basic path is in an occupied state, each of the N backup paths that is in an idle state is set as the material path. In other words, in the presence of parallel process chambers, the basic path and the N backup paths can be executed sequentially according to the occupancy of the basic path and the N backup paths, so as to realize the execution of the same process (that is, the same process step) in process chambers with different transfer chambers, thereby being compatible with the execution of the same process in parallel process chambers, thereby improving production capacity.

[0076] In some embodiments, the above step S102 can be implemented by software, such as Figure 3 As shown, the above step S102, i.e., determining whether there is a parallel process chamber, specifically includes:

[0077] S1021, judging whether there are multiple process chambers executing the same process according to the chamber process information of the materials in the process path passing through each chamber;

[0078] The chamber process information includes, for example, the chamber name, slot information, and process recipe information. The chamber process information can be used to determine whether there are multiple process chambers that perform the same process. Figure 1Taking the semiconductor process equipment shown as an example, the process chambers for executing the same process, that is, executing the first process step (Step 1), include process chambers Ch1, Ch3 and Ch5; and the process chambers for executing the second process step (Step 2) include process chambers Ch2, Ch4 and Ch6.

[0079] S1022, if yes, that is, there are multiple process chambers performing the same process, then according to the pre-stored number i of the transfer chamber connected to each process chamber, it is determined whether there are process chambers with different connected transfer chambers among the multiple process chambers performing the same process; if yes, it is determined that there are parallel process chambers in the process path;

[0080] by Figure 1 Taking the semiconductor process equipment shown as an example, the first transfer chamber Buffer is the first transfer chamber, that is, numbered 1; the second transfer chamber Transfer is the second transfer chamber, that is, numbered 2; according to the number, it can be determined that the process chamber Ch1 performing the same process is connected to a different transfer chamber with process chambers Ch3 and Ch5, and the process chamber Ch2 performing the same process is connected to a different transfer chamber with process chambers Ch4 and Ch6, thereby determining that there are parallel process chambers in the process path.

[0081] Furthermore, the above step S103 can be implemented by software, specifically including:

[0082] According to the number i of the transfer chamber connected to the parallel process chamber, the process path is divided into a basic path and N backup paths.

[0083] That is, the transfer chamber connected to the parallel process chamber in the basic path is the first transfer chamber; the transfer chamber connected to the parallel process chamber in the i-th backup path is the (i+1)-th transfer chamber arranged after the first transfer chamber.

[0084] In some embodiments, when there are no parallel process chambers in the process path, there is no need to split the process path.

[0085] In some embodiments, the above step S101, i.e. obtaining the process path, can be implemented by software, such as Figure 4 As shown, specifically including:

[0086] S1011, displaying the editing interface of the process path;

[0087] The editing interface displays the sequence number of each chamber in the process path and the chamber process information;

[0088] The sequence number of the order in which the material passes through each chamber is the sequence number of each step in the process path.

[0089] S1012, when an editing instruction of the serial number and chamber process information is received, the edited serial number and chamber process information are stored and displayed on the editing interface.

[0090] In a specific embodiment of the present invention, Figure 1 Taking the semiconductor process equipment shown in the figure as an example, the editing interface of the above process path is as follows Figure 5 As shown, on this editing interface, the sequence number of the order in which the materials in the process path pass through each chamber is the "step", where step 1 represents the chamber with sequence number 1, specifically 2 loading and unloading chambers (LA, LB); step 2 represents the chamber with sequence number 2, specifically the process chamber Ch1; step 3 represents the chamber with sequence number 3, specifically the connecting chamber ChA; step 4 represents the chamber with sequence number 4, specifically the process chambers Ch3 and Ch4; step 5 represents the chamber with sequence number 5, specifically the connecting chamber ChA; step 6 represents the chamber with sequence number 6, specifically 2 loading and unloading chambers (LA, LB). It can be seen that the chambers in the process path are 2 loading and unloading chambers (LA, LB), process chamber Ch1, connecting chamber ChA, process chambers Ch3 and Ch4, connecting chamber ChA and 2 loading and unloading chambers (LA, LB) in the order in which the materials pass. On the editing interface, the chamber process information includes, for example, "chamber" (ie, chamber name), "slot" (ie, slot information) and "recipe" (ie, process recipe information).

[0091] The above-mentioned editing interface can be used to receive the editing instructions of the serial number and chamber process information input by the user to realize the editing function of the process path.

[0092] In some embodiments, Figure 6 As shown, after completing the above step S103, it also includes:

[0093] S104, displaying a first editing interface of the basic path and a second editing interface of each backup path;

[0094] The first editing interface displays the serial number and chamber process information of each chamber that the material sequentially passes through in the basic path; the second editing interface displays the serial number and chamber process information of each chamber that the material sequentially passes through in the corresponding backup path;

[0095] S105 . When an editing instruction of the chamber process information is received, the edited chamber process information is displayed on the first editing interface or the second editing interface where the chamber process information is located.

[0096] The first editing interface showing the basic path is as follows: Figure 7 As shown, the second editing interface of each backup path is as follows Figure 8 The editable options displayed on the first editing interface and the second editing interface are the same as Figure 5 Take the case where three process chambers (Ch1, Ch3, Ch5) are used to perform one process type, and the remaining three process chambers (Ch2, Ch4, Ch6) are used to perform another process type. On the first editing interface, Figure 7 As shown in the figure, the chambers in the basic path are 4 loading and unloading chambers (LA, LB, LC, LD), process chamber Ch1, process chamber Ch2 and 4 loading and unloading chambers (LA, LB, LC, LD) in the order in which the materials pass. Figure 8 As shown, the chambers in the first backup path are, in the order in which the materials pass, 4 loading and unloading chambers (LA, LB, LC, LD), connecting chambers ChA and ChB, process chambers Ch3 and Ch5, process chambers Ch4 and Ch6, connecting chambers ChA and ChB, and 4 loading and unloading chambers (LA, LB, LC, LD).

[0097] The first editing interface and the second editing interface can be used to respectively display the split basic path and the backup path, and receive the editing instructions of the chamber process information input by the user to implement the editing function of the basic path and the backup path.

[0098] It should be noted that, in the present embodiment, the acquisition, splitting, and determination of parallel process chambers of the process paths are all implemented by software; however, the embodiments of the present invention are not limited thereto, and in actual applications, at least one of the acquisition, splitting, and determination of parallel process chambers of the process paths can be implemented by obtaining relevant information input by the user on the first editing interface and the second editing interface, that is, the basic path and the backup path can be directly obtained by receiving the corresponding information input by the user.

[0099] As another technical solution, see Figure 6 , an embodiment of the present invention further provides a material scheduling method, comprising:

[0100] S301, obtaining material information;

[0101] The material information includes path information, and the path information includes a basic path and N backup paths obtained by using the material path establishment method provided by an embodiment of the present invention in the presence of parallel process chambers;

[0102] S302. When the material at the loading position starts to move according to the above material information, if the basic path is in an idle state, step S303 is executed; if the basic path is in an occupied state, step S304 is executed;

[0103] S303, setting the basic path as the material path;

[0104] S304: If there are idle paths among the N backup paths, set each idle path among the N backup paths as a material path;

[0105] S305: When all backup paths are occupied and the basic path is idle, the basic path is set as the material path;

[0106] S306, executing the material transmission path.

[0107] The material scheduling method provided in the embodiment of the present invention can schedule materials according to multiple paths when there are parallel process chambers. That is, when the material in the loading position starts to move, if the basic path is in an idle state, the basic path is set as the material path; if the basic path is in an occupied state, each of the N spare paths that is in an idle state is set as the material path. This can be compatible with the situation where the parallel process chambers execute the same process, thereby improving production capacity.

[0108] In some embodiments, when there is no parallel process chamber in the process path, the process path does not need to be split. In this case, in the above step S301, the acquired material information includes the above process path; and after the above step S301, the material scheduling method provided by the embodiment of the present invention further includes:

[0109] Set the process path as the material path.

[0110] As another technical solution, an embodiment of the present invention further provides an electronic device, including:

[0111] at least one processor;

[0112] a storage device having at least one program stored thereon;

[0113] When at least one program is executed by the at least one processor, the at least one processor implements the material path establishment method provided by the embodiment of the present invention; or, the material scheduling method provided by the embodiment of the present invention.

[0114] As another technical solution, an embodiment of the present invention further provides a semiconductor process equipment, comprising a plurality of process chambers, a loading and unloading chamber, a plurality of sequentially connected transfer chambers, and a controller, wherein each transfer chamber is connected to a plurality of process chambers; the controller comprises:

[0115] at least one processor;

[0116] a storage device having at least one program stored thereon;

[0117] When at least one program is executed by the at least one processor, the at least one processor implements the material path establishment method provided by the embodiment of the present invention; or, the material scheduling method provided by the embodiment of the present invention.

[0118] by Figure 1 Taking the semiconductor process equipment shown above as an example, it at least includes:

[0119] 6 process chambers (Ch1 to Ch6), each with dual chambers;

[0120] 4 loading and unloading chambers (LA, LB, LC, LD), each loading and unloading chamber LoadLock is connected to the atmospheric transfer chamber for converting the atmospheric environment into a vacuum environment. The atmospheric transfer chamber is provided with an atmospheric manipulator ATR for transferring materials (such as wafers) between the wafer boxes Foup in the three storage chambers (LP1, LP2, LP3) and the loading and unloading chamber LoadLock;

[0121] The first transfer chamber Buffer is connected to four loading and unloading chambers (LA, LB, LC, LD), two process chambers (Ch1 and Ch2), and two connection chambers (ChA, ChB); each connection chamber PassThrough is connected between the first transfer chamber Buffer and the second transfer chamber Transfer; the first transfer chamber Buffer is provided with a first robot VTR1 for transferring materials between the loading and unloading chamber and the two process chambers (Ch1 and Ch2), and between the loading and unloading chamber and the two connection chambers (ChA and ChB);

[0122] The second transfer chamber Transfer is connected to two connecting chambers (ChA and ChB) and to four process chambers (Ch3 to Ch6); a second robot VTR2 is provided in the second transfer chamber Transfer for transferring objects between the two connecting chambers (ChA and ChB) and the four process chambers (Ch3 to Ch6).

[0123] The flow chart and block diagram in the accompanying drawings illustrate the possible architecture, function and operation of the system, method and computer program product according to various embodiments of the present disclosure. In this regard, each box in the flow chart or block diagram can represent a module, a program segment or a part of the code, and the aforementioned module, program segment or a part of the code contains one or more executable instructions for realizing the specified logical function. It should also be noted that in some alternative implementations, the functions marked in the box can also occur in a different order from the order marked in the accompanying drawings. For example, two boxes represented in succession can actually be executed substantially in parallel, and they can sometimes be executed in the opposite order, depending on the functions involved. It should also be noted that each box in the block diagram and / or flow chart, and the combination of the boxes in the block diagram and / or flow chart can be implemented with a dedicated hardware-based system that performs the specified function or operation, or can be implemented with a combination of dedicated hardware and computer instructions.

[0124] It is to be understood that the above embodiments are merely exemplary embodiments used to illustrate the principles of the present invention, but the present invention is not limited thereto. For those of ordinary skill in the art, various modifications and improvements can be made without departing from the spirit and essence of the present invention, and these modifications and improvements are also considered to be within the scope of protection of the present invention.

Claims

1. A material path establishment method, the method is applicable to semiconductor process equipment, the semiconductor process equipment comprises a loading and unloading chamber and N+1 transmission chambers connected in sequence, and each of the transmission chambers is connected to at least one process chamber, characterized in that: The method comprises: Obtaining a process path; the process path is composed of a plurality of chambers that the material passes through sequentially during the process; Determining whether there is a parallel process chamber, wherein the parallel process chamber is the process chamber in the process path that performs the same process and is connected to a different transfer chamber; In the case where the parallel process chamber exists, the process path is divided into a basic path and N backup paths; wherein, The parallel process chambers included in the basic path and the N backup paths are different. The transfer chamber connected to the parallel process chamber in the basic path is the first transfer chamber, and the first transfer chamber is the transfer chamber directly connected to the loading and unloading chamber; and the transfer chamber connected to the parallel process chamber in the i-th backup path is the i+1-th transfer chamber arranged after the first transfer chamber, i=1,2,...,N, N is an integer greater than 0, so as to be compatible with transferring multiple materials to the process chamber connected to the first transfer chamber and the process chamber connected to the i+1-th transfer chamber.

2. The material path establishment method according to claim 1, characterized in that: The semiconductor process equipment further includes a plurality of connecting chambers, and two adjacent transmission chambers are connected by the connecting chambers; the plurality of chambers in the process path further include N+1 transmission chambers and a plurality of connecting chambers; The basic path includes the first transfer chamber and the parallel process chamber connected to the first transfer chamber; The i-th backup path includes the 1st transfer chamber to the i+1th transfer chamber, the connecting chamber connected between each adjacent two of the 1st transfer chamber to the i+1th transfer chamber, and the parallel process chamber connected to the i+1th transfer chamber.

3. The material path establishment method according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that: The determining whether there are parallel process chambers includes: According to the chamber process information of the material in the process path passing through each chamber, determining whether there are multiple process chambers performing the same process; If yes, judging whether there is a process chamber with a different transfer chamber connected to the plurality of process chambers performing the same process according to the pre-stored number i of the transfer chamber connected to each process chamber; if yes, determining whether there is the parallel process chamber in the process path; In the case where the parallel process chamber exists, splitting the process path into a basic path and N backup paths comprises: According to the number i of the transfer chamber connected to the parallel process chamber, the process path is split into the basic path and N backup paths.

4. The material path establishment method according to claim 3, characterized in that: The obtaining process path includes: An editing interface for displaying the process path; the editing interface displays the sequence number of each chamber through which the materials in the process path pass and the chamber process information; When receiving an editing instruction of the serial number and chamber process information, storing the edited serial number and chamber process information and displaying them on the editing interface; The chamber process information includes chamber name, slot information and process recipe information; the process recipe information of the multiple parallel process chambers is the same.

5. The material path establishment method according to claim 3, characterized in that: After the process path is divided into a basic path and N backup paths, the method further includes: Displaying a first editing interface of the basic path and a second editing interface of each of the backup paths; the first editing interface displays the serial number and chamber process information of each chamber that the material sequentially passes through in the basic path; the second editing interface displays the serial number and chamber process information of each chamber that the material sequentially passes through in the corresponding backup path; When an editing instruction of the chamber process information is received, the edited chamber process information is displayed on the first editing interface or the second editing interface where the chamber process information is located.

6. A material scheduling method, characterized in that: include: Acquiring material information, the material information including path information, the path information including the basic path and the N backup paths obtained by using the method according to any one of claims 1 to 5 in the presence of the parallel process chamber; According to the material information, when the material at the loading position starts to move, in the case where the basic path is in an idle state, the basic path is set as the material path; When the basic path is in an occupied state, each of the N backup paths that is in an idle state is set as a material path; The material path is executed.

7. The material dispatching method according to claim 6, characterized in that: In the case that all the backup paths are in an occupied state, when the basic path is in an idle state, the basic path is set as the material path.

8. The material dispatching method according to claim 6, characterized in that: In the case where the parallel process chamber does not exist, the path information includes the process path; After acquiring the material information, the material scheduling method further includes: The process path is set as the material path.

9. An electronic device, characterized in that: include: at least one processor; a storage device having at least one program stored thereon; When the at least one program is executed by the at least one processor, the at least one processor implements the material path establishment method as described in any one of claims 1 to 5; or, the material scheduling method as described in any one of claims 6 to 8.

10. A semiconductor process equipment, characterized in that: It comprises a plurality of process chambers, a loading and unloading chamber, a plurality of transmission chambers connected in sequence, and a controller, wherein each of the transmission chambers is connected to a plurality of the process chambers; The controller comprises: at least one processor; a memory having at least one program stored therein; When the at least one program is executed by the at least one processor, the at least one processor implements the material path establishment method as described in any one of claims 1 to 5; or, the material scheduling method as described in any one of claims 6 to 8.

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