Wafer scheduling method and semiconductor process equipment

Abstract

The invention discloses a wafer scheduling method and semiconductor process equipment. The method comprises the following steps: acquiring a current slot position of a wafer bearing device corresponding to a current to-be-transmitted wafer; the current target original point position of the wafer bearing device is obtained, the target original point position is one of a plurality of preset original point positions, and the wafer manipulator carrying slot position ranges corresponding to different preset original point positions are not overlapped; and controlling the wafer bearing device and / or the wafer manipulator to move according to the comparison result of the current slot position and the wafer manipulator carrying slot position range corresponding to the target original point position. According to the invention, the stability in the transmission process is improved, the success rate of wafer picking and placing is further improved, and the fragment rate of wafer picking and placing is reduced.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] This application belongs to the field of semiconductor technology, and in particular relates to a wafer scheduling method and semiconductor process equipment. Background Technology

[0002] Due to the height limitation of the transfer chamber in multi-cavity vertical furnace semiconductor equipment, the vertical movement of the wafer robot (i.e., the wafer transfer robot) cannot cover the wafer carrying area on the boat. As a result, the wafer robot cannot complete the transfer of the entire boat of wafers in one go. Therefore, it is necessary to divide the boat into slot positions and move the boat up and down during the transfer process.

[0003] In related technologies, the boat is divided into Home1 and Home2 based on the two origin points. For example... Figure 1 As shown, for a boat with 55 slots, 10 slots are used as dividing points, dividing the boat into two sections: Home1 handles slots 11-55 (corresponding to handling area A1), and Home2 handles slots 1-45 (corresponding to handling area A2). Slots 11-45 are interleaved slots (corresponding to handling area A2). 12 The wafer can be moved between two Home positions. When a wafer needs to be filled (i.e., loaded) into a slot, it can be transferred as long as the slot is reachable from the current Home position, without needing to adjust the position of the boat. However, in practical applications, when the wafer robot picks up and places wafers into the same slot from different Home positions, mechanical position errors can easily cause pick-up and placement failures or breakage. Summary of the Invention

[0004] The purpose of this application is to provide a wafer scheduling method and semiconductor process equipment to solve the problem in related technologies where wafer pick-up and drop-off failures or fragmentation are easily caused by mechanical position errors when wafer robots pick up and drop off wafers in the same slot at different Home positions.

[0005] To achieve the above objectives, the embodiments of this application adopt the following technical solutions: In a first aspect, embodiments of this application provide a wafer scheduling method, the method comprising: obtaining the current slot position of a wafer carrier device corresponding to a wafer to be transferred; obtaining the current target origin position of the wafer carrier device, wherein the target origin position is one of a plurality of preset origin positions, and the range of wafer robot handleable slot positions corresponding to different preset origin positions does not overlap; and controlling the wafer carrier device and / or the wafer robot to move according to the comparison result between the current slot position and the range of wafer robot handleable slot positions corresponding to the target origin position.

[0006] In a second aspect, the embodiments of the present application provide a semiconductor process equipment, comprising a controller, a wafer robot and a plurality of process chambers, wherein a wafer supporting device is arranged in the process chambers, the controller comprises at least one processor and at least one memory, the memory stores a computer program, and the computer program is executed by the processor to implement the steps of the method according to the first aspect.

[0007] The above at least one technical scheme adopted by the embodiments of the present application can achieve the following beneficial effects: In the embodiments of the present application, when scheduling the wafer, the wafer supporting device is divided into a plurality of preset origin positions (i.e. Home positions) according to the movable origin positions, and each corresponds to a plurality of wafer robot transportable slot position ranges that do not overlap in the wafer supporting device. In the slot position range corresponding to the cross slot region in the prior art, the wafer robot corresponds to the same Home position when picking and placing the same slot, and there is no mechanical error, thereby improving the stability in the transmission process, and further improving the success rate of wafer picking and placing, and reducing the wafer picking and placing breakage rate. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS

[0008] The accompanying drawings described herein are used to provide further understanding of the present application, and form a part of the present application. The illustrative embodiments of the present application and their descriptions are used to explain the present application, and do not constitute an improper limitation on the present application. In the drawings: Figure 1 is a schematic diagram of two origin position reachable regions in the related art; Figure 2 is a structural schematic diagram of a semiconductor process equipment provided by an embodiment of the present application; Figure 3 is a schematic diagram of overlapping Home1 and Home2 teaching positions for the same cross slot in the related art; Figure 4 is a flowchart of a wafer scheduling method provided by an embodiment of the present application. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0009] To make the purpose, technical scheme and advantages of the present application clearer, the technical scheme of the present application will be described in detail below with reference to the embodiments of the present application and the corresponding drawings. Obviously, the described embodiments are only a part of the embodiments of the present application, but not all the embodiments. Based on the embodiments in the present application, all other embodiments obtained by those skilled in the art without creative labor fall within the scope of protection of the present application.

[0010] The terms "first", "second", and the like in the present application are used to distinguish similar objects, and are not used to describe a particular order or sequence. It should be understood that the data used in this way can be interchanged under appropriate circumstances, so that the embodiments of the present application can be implemented in an order other than those illustrated or described herein. In addition, "and / or" in the present application means at least one of the connected objects, and the character " / " generally means that the front and rear associated objects are in a "or" relationship. It should be noted that the data involved in the present application are all obtained with the authorization of the user.

[0011] Figure 2 The structure diagram of a typical multi-chamber vertical furnace semiconductor equipment. As shown in Figure 2 , the multi-chamber vertical furnace semiconductor equipment generally includes: 1) multiple load ports (Load Port, LP): corresponding to Figure 2 Load Port A, Load Port B and Load Port M, the load port is a bridge between the outside and the semiconductor equipment, and a Foup can be placed on the load port. The Foup has 25 slots for storing wafers.

[0012] 2) a semiconductor transfer robot (STR): the semiconductor transfer robot is a wafer box taking and placing device, responsible for the transfer of the wafer box. The semiconductor transfer robot can transfer the wafer box between the load port, the load lock (Load Lock, LL) and the shelf of the stocker.

[0013] 3) a stocker: the stocker is used to place the wafer box, and up to 13 wafer boxes can be placed on a stocker. The part of the stocker on which the wafer box is placed is called a shelf.

[0014] 4) multiple load locks (LL): corresponding to Figure 2 LoadLock C and LoadLock D, the load lock can place a wafer box, and the load lock has a door opening mechanism that can open the door of the wafer box. The load lock is a bridge for the wafer to enter the process chamber (Process Module, PM).

[0015] 5) A wafer transfer robot (WTR) is responsible for wafer transfer, and includes a scanning (Map) function, which can scan the wafer cassette on the load lock and the wafer carrier, such as a boat, in the process chamber. During the scanning process, the wafer cassette on the load lock is in a stationary state with the door open, and the boat is in the Home position. The wafer transfer robot has an infrared probe on the single finger arm, which obtains the storage information of the wafer in the wafer cassette and the information of the wafer on the boat by moving the arm up and down. The wafer transfer robot can transfer the wafer between the wafer cassette on the load lock and the boat in the process chamber. The wafer transfer robot has two fingers, each of which can be operated independently.

[0016] 6) A plurality of process chambers (PM) are used for corresponding process operations. Each process chamber has a boat for placing wafers. The number of wafers participating in the process in the process chamber is determined by the number of slots in the boat in the process chamber. The multi-chamber vertical furnace semiconductor equipment is designed to use a boat with 55 slots.

[0017] Figure 1 In the related art, the boat is divided into Home1 and Home2 according to two origin positions, and the 11th-53rd slots and the 1st-43rd slots in the boat correspond to Home1 and Home2 respectively, wherein the 11th-43rd slots are cross slots. In actual application, when the wafer transfer robot takes and places wafers in the same slot at different Home positions, it is easy to cause wafer taking and placing failure or wafer breakage due to mechanical position error. For example, due to the restriction of taking from low and placing from high, the wafers are usually loaded in the Home1 position first and then in the Home2 position during wafer loading, and the wafers are usually unloaded in the Home2 position first and then in the Home1 position during wafer unloading, that is, the wafers are usually loaded in the overlapping position in the Home1 position and unloaded in the overlapping position in the Home2 position. For example, for the overlapping slot 12, the 12th slot is placed into the wafer by the wafer transfer robot in the Home1 position and taken out by the wafer transfer robot in the Home2 position. For the above example, the same slot can be taken and placed in the software technology, but the horizontal and vertical coordinates of the teaching positions of Home1 and Home2 are different in the actual hardware, as shown in Figure 3 That is, the same slot cannot completely overlap at different teaching positions, and the error is affected by the hardware precision. According to the hardware precision of the existing machine, the failure rate of the overlapping wafers will reach more than 60%.

[0018] The technical solutions provided by the embodiments of the present application will be described in detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings.

[0019] Figure 4 A flowchart of a wafer scheduling method provided by an embodiment of the present application is shown in Figure 4 The wafer scheduling method of the embodiment of the present application can specifically include the following steps: S401, acquiring a current slot position of a wafer carrying device corresponding to a wafer to be currently transported.

[0020] In the embodiments of the present application, the execution subject of the wafer scheduling method of the embodiments of the present application is a controller in a semiconductor process equipment (for example, a multi-chamber vertical furnace semiconductor equipment) as shown in the drawings, which can be arranged in an upper computer and / or a lower computer of the semiconductor process equipment. Figure 2

[0021] The wafer to be currently transported is the next wafer to be transported. In the process of loading a wafer into a wafer carrying device (for example, a boat) of a process chamber, the wafer to be transported is the wafer to be loaded into the wafer carrying device; in the process of unloading a wafer from a wafer carrying device of a process chamber, the wafer to be transported is the wafer to be unloaded from the wafer carrying device. The current slot position (i.e., the current slot position), that is, the slot position in which the wafer to be currently transported is to be loaded into the wafer carrying device or the slot position from which the wafer to be currently transported is to be unloaded from the wafer carrying device, for example, in the loading process, wafer A needs to be currently loaded into slot 12 of the wafer carrying device, then the wafer to be currently transported is wafer A, and the current slot position is slot 12.

[0022] S402, acquiring a target origin position at which the wafer carrying device currently locates, the target origin position being one of a plurality of preset origin positions, wafer robots corresponding to different preset origin positions can carry non-overlapping slot position ranges.

[0023] ​In the embodiments of the present application, the wafer carrying device is divided into a plurality of preset origin positions (i.e. Home positions) according to the movable origin positions. For example, when the number of preset origin positions is two, the wafer carrying device can be divided into a first origin position (i.e. Home1) and a second origin position (i.e. Home2). Corresponding to the plurality of preset origin positions, the wafer carrying device is divided into a plurality of wafer mechanical hand transportable slot position ranges corresponding thereto. When dividing, a plurality of continuous slot positions can be divided into a wafer mechanical hand transportable slot position range. For example, when the number of preset origin positions is two, the first origin position Home1 corresponds to a first slot position range B1 which can be transported by the wafer mechanical hand, and the first slot position range B1 includes a plurality of continuous first slot positions. The second origin position Home2 corresponds to a second slot position range B2 which can be transported by the wafer mechanical hand, and the second slot position range B2 includes a plurality of continuous second slot positions. Wherein the wafer mechanical hand transportable slot position ranges corresponding to different preset origin positions do not overlap, for example, when the number of preset origin positions is two, the first slot position range and the second slot position range do not overlap, and each slot position has only one Home position for transportation. When the wafer needs to be loaded into a certain slot position, as long as the slot position is reachable at the current Home position, the wafer can be transported without adjusting the position of the wafer carrying device. The union of the wafer mechanical hand transportable slot position ranges corresponding to the plurality of preset origin positions is consistent with the slot position range of the wafer carrying device. For example, when the number of preset origin positions is two, the union of the first slot position range B1 and the second slot position range B2 is consistent with the slot position range of the wafer carrying device.

[0024] For example, for a wafer carrying device with 55 slots, 10 slots are used as the division points of the wafer carrying device, which can be divided as follows: 1) As shown in Table 1 below, the 11th to 55th slots are transported by Home1 (corresponding to the Home1 transport area: the first slot position range B1), and the 1st to 10th slots are transported by Home2 (corresponding to the Home2 transport area: the second slot position range B2).

[0025] Table 1: Wafer carrying device position division slot transport schematic table one

[0026] 2) As shown in Table 2 below, the 46th to 55th slots are transported by Home1 (corresponding to the Home1 transport area: the first slot position range B1), and the 1st to 45th slots are transported by Home2 (corresponding to the Home2 transport area: the second slot position range B2).

[0027] Table 2: Wafer carrying device position division slot transport schematic table two

[0028] S403, according to the comparison result of the wafer mechanical hand transportable slot position range corresponding to the current slot position and the target origin position, control the wafer carrying device and / or the wafer mechanical hand to move.

[0029] In the embodiment of the application, according to the comparison result of the wafer mechanical hand transportable slot position range corresponding to the current slot position and the target origin position, it is judged whether the wafer mechanical hand can be moved to the current slot position, and then the wafer carrying device and / or the wafer mechanical hand is controlled to move.

[0030] Further, the step S403 can specifically include the following steps: based on the comparison result that the current slot position belongs to the wafer mechanical hand transportable slot position range corresponding to the target origin position, control the wafer mechanical hand to move to the current slot position to transport the wafer. Based on the comparison result that the current slot position does not belong to the wafer mechanical hand transportable slot position range corresponding to the target origin position, control the wafer carrying device to move to the preset origin position corresponding to the wafer mechanical hand transportable slot position range to which the current slot position belongs, and then control the wafer mechanical hand to move to the current slot position to transport the wafer.

[0031] Specifically, if the current slot position is located outside the slot position range corresponding to the target origin position, it is determined that the wafer mechanical hand cannot be moved to the current slot position; if the current slot position is located within the slot position range corresponding to the target origin position, it is determined that the wafer mechanical hand can be moved to the current slot position.

[0032] Taking the division mode of the above table 1 as an example, assuming that the current slot position is 12 and the target origin position is Home1, the current slot position 12 is located within the first slot position range B1 (11~55) corresponding to Home1, it is determined that the wafer mechanical hand can be moved to the current slot position 12; assuming that the current slot position is 12 and the target origin position is Home2, the current slot position 12 is located outside the second slot position range B2 (1~10) corresponding to Home2, it is determined that the wafer mechanical hand cannot be moved to the current slot position 12.

[0033] If the wafer mechanical hand cannot be moved to the current slot position, the wafer carrying device needs to be moved, so after the wafer carrying device is controlled to move to the preset origin position corresponding to the wafer mechanical hand transportable slot position range to which the current slot position belongs, the wafer mechanical hand is controlled to move to the current slot position to transport the wafer.

[0034] Wherein, in the case that the number of preset origin positions is two, and the two preset origin positions include a first origin position and a second origin position, the "controlling the wafer carrying device to move" in the above step S403 can specifically include the following steps: When the target home position is the first home position Home 1, the wafer carrier device is moved from the first home position Home 1 to the second home position Home 2. When the target home position is the second home position Home 2, the wafer carrier device is moved from the second home position Home 2 to the first home position Home 1.

[0035] The "controlling the wafer robot to move" in the step S403 can include the following steps. When the current slot position is 12, the wafer robot is controlled to load the wafer to be transported to the slot position 12 or unload the wafer to be transported from the slot position 12.

[0036] If the wafer robot can move to the current slot position, the wafer carrier device does not need to be moved, and thus the wafer robot only needs to be controlled to move to the current slot position to carry the wafer.

[0037] Further, before the step S401 of "obtaining the current slot position of the wafer carrier device corresponding to the wafer to be transported", the wafer scheduling method of the embodiment of the present application can further include the following step: determining the current slot position according to the slot position of the wafer carrier device corresponding to the wafer last transported and a preset correspondence relationship, the correspondence relationship being a correspondence relationship between the slot position and the transmission priority order.

[0038] Taking the wafer loading example table shown in Table 3 as an example, the correspondence relationship between the slot positions 55~1 and the transmission priority orders 1~55 is shown in Table 3, the slot position 55 corresponds to the transmission priority order 1, the slot position 54 corresponds to the transmission priority order 2, and so on. When the transmission starts, there is no wafer last transported, based on the correspondence relationship in Table 3, the wafer loading of the slot position 55 corresponding to the transmission priority order 1 is preferentially performed according to the transmission priority order, that is, the slot position (i.e., the current slot position) of the wafer to be loaded is determined to be the slot position 55 corresponding to the transmission priority order 1, after the wafer loading of the slot position 55 and the transmission priority order 1 is completed, the slot position 55 corresponding to the wafer last transported, based on the correspondence relationship in Table 3, the slot position 55 corresponds to the transmission priority order 1, and thus the next transmission priority order is determined to be 2, and further, the slot position (i.e., the current slot position) of the wafer to be loaded is determined to be the slot position 54 corresponding to the transmission priority order 2, and so on, until the wafer loading of the slot position 3 and the transmission priority order 55 is completed.

[0039] Table 3 Wafer loading example table

[0040] The correspondence between the slot positions 55~1 and the transmission priority orders 1~55 shown in Table 3 can be generated according to the types of the wafers to be transmitted in each slot position, the preset pick-and-place logic, and the current transmission type. The pick-and-place logic generally adopts a low-pick-high-place logic, which means that when unloading wafers, the wafers in lower slot positions in the wafer carrier are preferentially unloaded, and when loading wafers, the wafers are preferentially loaded into higher slot positions in the wafer carrier.

[0041] Further, the step of "generating the correspondence between the slot positions and the transmission priority orders according to the types of the wafers to be transmitted in each slot position, the preset pick-and-place logic, and the current transmission type" can specifically include the following steps: determining the slot positions corresponding to each wafer to be transmitted according to the types of the wafers to be transmitted; and determining the transmission priority orders corresponding to each slot position according to the types of the wafers to be transmitted, the preset pick-and-place logic, the current transmission type, and the slot positions corresponding to each wafer to be transmitted.

[0042] The step of "determining the transmission priority orders corresponding to each slot position according to the types of the wafers to be transmitted, the preset pick-and-place logic, the current transmission type, and the slot positions corresponding to each wafer to be transmitted" can specifically include the following steps: In the case where the transmission type is loading wafers into the wafer carrier, the preset pick-and-place logic is a low-pick-high-place logic, and the types of the wafers to be transmitted include dummy wafers, product wafers, and monitoring wafers, it is determined that the transmission priority order of the dummy wafers is higher than that of the product wafers, the transmission priority order of the product wafers is higher than that of the monitoring wafers, and for the wafers of the same type, the transmission priority order corresponding to a higher slot position is higher than that corresponding to a lower slot position. In the case where the transmission type is unloading wafers from the wafer carrier, the preset pick-and-place logic is a low-pick-high-place logic, and the types of the wafers to be transmitted include dummy wafers, product wafers, and monitoring wafers, it is determined that the transmission priority order of the dummy wafers is lower than that of the product wafers, the transmission priority order of the product wafers is lower than that of the monitoring wafers, and for the wafers of the same type, the transmission priority order corresponding to a higher slot position is lower than that corresponding to a lower slot position.

[0043] Specifically, in determining the wafer transmission priority order, the following two rules are followed: Rule 1: The wafer transfer priority order is arranged according to the wafer type. The wafer type order can be configured. The typical loading order is: SD (SideDummy) wafer → ED (ExtraDummy) wafer → AD (AdjustDummy) wafer → P (Product) wafer → M (Monitor) wafer. The unloading order is the reverse order: M (Monitor) wafer → P (Product) wafer → AD (AdjustDummy) wafer → ED (ExtraDummy) wafer → SD (SideDummy) wafer.

[0044] In this context, SD is equivalent to Dummy, which stands for dummy wafer. ED and AD are equivalent to Fill Dummy, which is a filled dummy wafer configured to avoid creating empty slots when the number of wafers fed is relatively small compared to the number of wafers that can be processed at one time. ED and AD have the same purpose, but physically AD is a patterned wafer, hence this separate category. "Product" refers to the wafer that becomes the product (product wafer). "Monitor" is a monitoring wafer used to estimate the processing results of the product wafer; it is equivalent to a monitoring wafer used for checking film deposition quality.

[0045] In theory, the wafer type order can be configured according to process requirements. However, from a process perspective, during the charge phase, to protect P and M wafers as much as possible, they are transported last. ED and AD wafers may fill P wafer positions, so SD wafers are transported first. Therefore, the charge order is SD→ED→AD→P→M. During discharge, to ensure that M and P wafers are shipped as quickly as possible and not contaminated by other wafers, they are shipped in reverse order, i.e., the discharge order is M→P→AD→ED→SD.

[0046] Rule 2: The wafer transfer priority order follows a pick-and-place logic, such as low-pick-high-place logic. That is, during the loading process, wafers are first picked up from the bottom of the wafer cassette and placed into the top position of the wafer carrier. The unloading process is the reverse of the loading process, that is, during the unloading process, wafers are first picked up from the bottom position of the wafer carrier and placed into the top position of the wafer cassette.

[0047] Based on the above two rules, if there are multiple wafer boxes of the same wafer type, they are loaded in the order in which the wafer boxes enter the machine.

[0048] Based on the two rules mentioned above, the actual priority order during the loading process is described below using 50 P wafers and 3 M wafers as an example: The maximum number of P wafers is 50, distributed in the middle, for example, in slot positions 51-4, totaling 47 wafers. The number of M wafers is 3, distributed at the top, middle, and bottom positions of the P wafers to ensure accurate measurement. The top and bottom positions are generally close to the P wafers, such as slot positions 52 and 3, while the middle positions are generally random, with little difference between slot positions 29-25, for example, slot position 29. After distributing the P and M wafers, the remaining empty spaces at the top and bottom of the wafer carrier are filled with SD wafers. The number of SD wafers used depends on the P and M wafer situation, for example, 55-47-3=5 wafers. Since ED and AD wafers are filler wafers and are rarely used in practice, they are not used in this example. If ED and AD wafers are used, since they are filler wafers for P wafers, when the actual number of P wafers received is less than the P wafer positions edited in the recipe, ED and AD wafers are used to fill the gaps. When P wafers are missing, there are three distribution methods for P wafers: Top (preferably placed at the top of the wafer carrier editing position), Bottom (preferably placed at the bottom of the wafer carrier editing position), and Central (preferably placed in the middle of the wafer carrier editing position). After the P wafers are placed, ED and AD wafers fill the missing P wafer positions.

[0049] 1) Based on rule 2 above, prioritize loading 5 SD wafers into slots 55-53 and 2-1. Based on rule 1 above, wafers are placed from high to low on the wafer carrier side, therefore slot 55 is priority 1 and slot 1 is priority 5.

[0050] 2) Next, 47 P-wafers are loaded into slots 51-30 and 28-4. Based on the previously arranged SD wafers, whose maximum priority is 5, the priority of the P-wafers increases sequentially from 6. Following rule 1 above, they are placed from highest to lowest priority on the wafer carrier side. Therefore, slot 51-30 has a priority of 6-27, and slot 28-4 has a priority of 28-52.

[0051] 3) Finally, the three M wafers are loaded into slots 52, 29, and 3, with priority increasing from the previous slots, starting from slot 53. Based on rule 1 above, they are placed in the wafer carrier from highest to lowest priority. Therefore, slot 52 has a priority of 53, slot 29 has a priority of 54, and slot 3 has a priority of 55, resulting in the correspondence shown in Table 3.

[0052] During the loading process, the wafer carrier is transferred according to the priority order in Table 3. Whenever the wafer robot cannot place the wafer into the corresponding slot at the current Home position, the wafer carrier undergoes a lifting / lowering movement. The specific lifting / lowering (i.e., movement) process is as follows: 1) After slot 53 with priority order 3 is placed, slot 2 with priority order 4 should be placed. Slot 53 is located in the Home1 area, and slot 2 is located in the Home2 position. Therefore, the wafer carrier needs to be moved from Home1 to Home2 and the transmission is carried out while maintaining the Home2 position.

[0053] 2) After slot 1 with priority order 5 is placed, slot 51 with priority order 6 should be placed. Slot 1 is located in the Home2 area, and slot 51 is located in the Home1 area. Therefore, the wafer carrier needs to be moved from Home2 to Home1 to maintain the Home1 position for transmission.

[0054] 3) After slot 11 with priority order 45 is placed, slot 10 with priority order 46 should be placed. Slot 11 is located in the Home1 area and slot 10 is located in the Home2 area. Therefore, the wafer carrier needs to be moved from Home1 to Home2 and the transmission is carried out while maintaining the Home2 position.

[0055] 4) After slot 4 with priority order 52 is placed, slot 52 with priority order 53 should be placed. Slot 4 is located in the Home2 area and slot 52 is located in the Home1 area. Therefore, the wafer carrier needs to be moved from Home2 to Home1 to maintain the Home1 position for transmission.

[0056] 5) After slot 29 with priority order 54 is placed, slot 3 with priority order 55 should be placed. Slot 29 is located in the Home1 area and slot 3 is located in the Home2 area. Therefore, the wafer carrier needs to be moved from Home1 to Home2 and the transmission should be carried out while maintaining the Home2 position.

[0057] Figure 1 In the related technologies shown, the movement of the wafer carrier during the loading process is the same as in the embodiments of this application, and the movement of the wafer carrier is shown in Table 4 below: Table 4. Movement of the wafer carrier device in the embodiments of this application and related technologies.

[0058] During the unloading process, the wafer carrier is transferred in reverse order of priority as shown in Table 3. During transfer, whenever the wafer robot cannot place the wafer into the corresponding slot at the current Home position, the wafer carrier undergoes a lifting / lowering movement. The specific lifting / lowering (i.e., movement) process is as follows: 1) After slot 3 (priority 55) is retrieved, slot 29 (priority 54) should be retrieved. Slot 3 is located in the Home2 area, and slot 29 is located in the Home1 area. Therefore, the wafer carrier needs to be moved from Home2 to Home1 while maintaining the Home1 position for transmission. Figure 1 The related technology shown is a moving wafer carrier device when moving from slot 29 to slot 52.

[0059] 2) After slot 52 with priority order 53 is taken, slot 4 with priority order 52 should be taken. Slot 52 is located in the Home1 area and slot 4 is located in the Home2 area. Therefore, the wafer carrier needs to be moved from Home1 to Home2 and the transmission should be carried out while maintaining the Home2 position.

[0060] 3) After slot 10 (priority sequence 46) is retrieved, slot 11 (priority sequence 45) should be retrieved. Slot 10 is located in the Home2 area, and slot 11 is located in the Home1 area. Therefore, the wafer carrier needs to be moved from Home2 to Home1, maintaining the Home1 position for transmission. Figure 1 The related technology shown is a moving wafer carrier device when moving from slot 45 to slot 46.

[0061] 4) After slot 51 with priority order 6 is taken, slot 1 with priority order 5 should be taken. Slot 51 is located in the Home1 area and slot 1 is located in the Home2 area. Therefore, the wafer carrier needs to be moved from Home1 to Home2 and the transmission should be carried out while maintaining the Home2 position.

[0062] 5) After slot 2 with priority order 4 is taken, slot 53 with priority order 3 should be taken. Slot 4 is located in the Home2 area and slot 53 is located in the Home1 area. Therefore, the wafer carrier needs to be moved from Home2 to Home1 to maintain the Home1 position for transmission.

[0063] In this embodiment of the application, the movement of the wafer carrier during the unloading process is shown in Table 5 below: Table 5. Movement of the wafer carrier device in the embodiments of this application

[0064] Figure 1 The movement of the wafer carrier during the unloading process, as shown in Table 6 below, illustrates the relevant technologies. Table 6. Movement of wafer carrier devices in related technologies

[0065] As shown in Tables 4, 5, and 6, during the loading and unloading processes, the wafer carrier device in this embodiment moves 5 times compared to related technologies. During loading, the movement of the wafer carrier device is also the same in this embodiment compared to related technologies. However, during unloading, the movement of the wafer carrier device differs in this embodiment compared to related technologies. This results in different Home positions for wafer robotic arm pick-up (unloading) and placement (loading) at cross slots 11-45 in related technologies, leading to unstable transmission due to mechanical errors. In contrast, in this embodiment, the Home positions for wafer robotic arm pick-up (unloading) and placement (loading) are the same, eliminating mechanical errors and improving stability during transmission. This, in turn, increases the success rate of wafer pick-up and placement, and reduces the wafer breakage rate.

[0066] In summary, the wafer scheduling method of this application divides the wafer carrier into multiple preset origin positions (i.e., Home positions) according to the movable origin position when scheduling the wafer. Each Home position corresponds to a range of non-overlapping wafer robot slot positions in the wafer carrier. Within the slot position range corresponding to the cross slot area in the prior art, the wafer robot corresponds to the same Home position when picking up and placing wafers in the same slot, and there is no mechanical error. Therefore, the stability during the transmission process is improved, thereby increasing the success rate of wafer picking and placing and reducing the fragmentation rate of wafer picking and placing.

[0067] This application also provides a semiconductor process apparatus. For example... Figure 2 As shown, the semiconductor process equipment includes: a controller ( Figure 2 (Not shown in the diagram) A wafer manipulator (WTR) and multiple process chambers (PMs) are provided. A wafer carrier is provided in each process chamber (PM). A controller is provided in a host computer and / or a slave computer. The controller includes at least one processor and at least one memory. The memory stores a computer program. When the computer program is executed by the processor, it implements the steps of any of the above-described wafer scheduling method embodiments.

[0068] In the semiconductor process equipment of this application embodiment, when scheduling wafers, the wafer carrier is divided into multiple preset origin positions (i.e., Home positions) according to the movable origin position. Each Home position corresponds to a range of non-overlapping wafer robot slot positions in the wafer carrier. Within the slot position range corresponding to the cross slot area in the prior art, the wafer robot corresponds to the same Home position when picking up and placing wafers in the same slot, and there is no mechanical error. Therefore, the stability during the transmission process is improved, thereby improving the success rate of wafer picking and placing and reducing the fragmentation rate of wafer picking and placing.

[0069] This application also proposes a readable storage medium storing one or more computer programs, the one or more computer programs including instructions. When the program or instructions are executed by a processor in a semiconductor process apparatus including multiple applications, the processor in the semiconductor process apparatus is able to execute the various processes of the above-described wafer scheduling method embodiments, and specifically to execute the steps of any of the above-described wafer scheduling method embodiments.

[0070] In the readable storage medium of this application embodiment, when scheduling wafers, the wafer carrier device is divided into multiple preset origin positions (i.e., Home positions) according to the movable origin position, and each corresponds to a range of non-overlapping wafer robot slot positions in the wafer carrier device. Within the slot position range corresponding to the cross slot area in the prior art, the wafer robot corresponds to the same Home position when picking up and placing wafers in the same slot, and there is no mechanical error. Therefore, the stability during the transmission process is improved, thereby improving the success rate of wafer picking and placing and reducing the fragmentation rate of wafer picking and placing.

[0071] The systems, devices, modules, or units described in the above embodiments can be implemented by computer chips or entities, or by products with certain functions. A typical implementation device is a computer. Specifically, a computer can be, for example, a personal computer, laptop computer, cellular phone, camera phone, smartphone, personal digital assistant, media player, navigation device, email device, game console, tablet computer, wearable device, or any combination of these devices.

[0072] For ease of description, the above devices are described separately by function as various units. Of course, in implementing this application, the functions of each unit can be implemented in one or more software and / or hardware.

[0073] Those skilled in the art will understand that embodiments of this application can be provided as methods, systems, or computer program products. Therefore, this application can take the form of a completely hardware embodiment, a completely software embodiment, or an embodiment combining software and hardware aspects. Furthermore, this application can take the form of a computer program product embodied on one or more computer-usable storage media (including but not limited to disk storage, CD-ROM, optical storage, etc.) containing computer-usable program code.

[0074] This application is described with reference to flowchart illustrations and / or block diagrams of methods, apparatus (systems), and computer program products according to embodiments of this application. It will be understood that each block of the flowchart illustrations and / or block diagrams, and combinations of blocks in the flowchart illustrations and / or block diagrams, can be implemented by computer program instructions. These computer program instructions can be provided to a processor of a general-purpose computer, special-purpose computer, embedded processor, or other programmable data processing apparatus to produce a machine, such that the instructions, which execute via the processor of the computer or other programmable data processing apparatus, generate instructions for implementing the flowchart... Figure 1 One or more processes and / or boxes Figure 1 A device that provides the functions specified in one or more boxes.

[0075] These computer program instructions may also be stored in a computer-readable storage medium that can direct a computer or other programmable data processing device to function in a particular manner, such that the instructions stored in the computer-readable storage medium produce an article of manufacture including instruction means, which are implemented in a process Figure 1 One or more processes and / or boxes Figure 1 The function specified in one or more boxes.

[0076] These computer program instructions may also be loaded onto a computer or other programmable data processing equipment to cause a series of action steps to be performed on the computer or other programmable equipment to produce a computer-implemented process, thereby providing instructions that execute on the computer or other programmable equipment for implementing the process. Figure 1 One or more processes and / or boxes Figure 1 The steps of the function specified in one or more boxes.

[0077] In a typical configuration, a computing device includes one or more processors (CPU), input / output interfaces, network interfaces, and memory.

[0078] Memory may include non-persistent storage in computer-readable media, such as random access memory (RAM) and / or non-volatile memory, such as read-only memory (ROM) or flash RAM. Memory is an example of computer-readable media.

[0079] Computer-readable media includes both permanent and non-permanent, removable and non-removable media that can store information using any method or technology. Information can be computer-readable instructions, data structures, modules of programs, or other data. Examples of computer storage media include, but are not limited to, phase-change memory (PRAM), static random access memory (SRAM), dynamic random access memory (DRAM), other types of random access memory (RAM), read-only memory (ROM), electrically erasable programmable read-only memory (EEPROM), flash memory or other memory technologies, CD-ROM, digital versatile optical disc (DVD) or other optical storage, magnetic tape, magnetic magnetic disk storage or other magnetic storage devices, or any other non-transferable medium that can be used to store information accessible by a computing device. As defined herein, computer-readable media does not include transient computer-readable media, such as modulated data signals and carrier waves.

[0080] It should also be noted that the terms "comprising," "including," or any other variations thereof are intended to cover non-exclusive inclusion, such that a process, method, article, or apparatus that comprises a list of elements includes not only those elements but also other elements not expressly listed, or elements inherent to such process, method, article, or apparatus. Unless otherwise specified, an element defined by the phrase "comprising one..." does not exclude the presence of other identical elements in the process, method, article, or apparatus that includes that element.

[0081] This application can be described in the general context of computer-executable instructions, such as program modules, that are executed by a computer. Generally, program modules include routines, programs, objects, components, data structures, etc., that perform a specific task or implement a specific abstract data type. This application can also be practiced in distributed computing environments where tasks are performed by remote processing devices connected via a communication network. In distributed computing environments, program modules can reside in local and remote computer storage media, including storage devices.

[0082] The various embodiments in this specification are described in a progressive manner. Similar or identical parts between embodiments can be referred to mutually. Each embodiment focuses on describing the differences from other embodiments. In particular, the system embodiments are basically similar to the method embodiments, so the description is relatively simple; relevant parts can be referred to the descriptions in the method embodiments.

[0083] The above are merely embodiments of this application and are not intended to limit the scope of this application. Various modifications and variations can be made to this application by those skilled in the art. Any modifications, equivalent substitutions, improvements, etc., made within the spirit and principles of this application should be included within the scope of the claims of this application.

Claims

1. A wafer scheduling method, characterized in that, include: Obtain the current slot position of the wafer carrier device corresponding to the wafer to be transmitted; The target origin position of the wafer carrier is obtained. The target origin position is one of a plurality of preset origin positions. The range of wafer robot slot positions corresponding to different preset origin positions does not overlap. Based on the comparison results between the current slot position and the target origin position, the wafer carrier and / or the wafer robot are controlled to move.

2. The method according to claim 1, characterized in that, The step of controlling the movement of the wafer carrier and / or the wafer robot based on the comparison result between the current slot position and the range of slot positions that the target origin position can handle includes: Based on the comparison result that the current slot position belongs to the range of slot positions that the wafer robot can handle corresponding to the target origin position, the wafer robot is controlled to move to the current slot position to handle the wafer.

3. The method according to claim 1, characterized in that, The step of controlling the movement of the wafer carrier and / or the wafer robot based on the comparison result between the current slot position and the range of slot positions that the target origin position can handle includes: Based on the comparison result that the current slot position does not belong to the range of wafer robot handle slot positions corresponding to the target origin position, the wafer carrier is controlled to move to the preset origin position corresponding to the range of wafer robot handle slot positions to which the current slot position belongs, and then the wafer robot is controlled to move to the current slot position to handle the wafer.

4. The method according to claim 1, characterized in that, When there are two preset origin positions, and the two preset origin positions include a first origin position and a second origin position, controlling the movement of the wafer carrier includes: When the target origin position is the first origin position, the wafer carrier is moved from the first origin position to the second origin position; When the target origin position is the second origin position, the wafer carrier is moved from the second origin position to the first origin position.

5. The method according to claim 1, characterized in that, The set of wafer robotic arm slot position ranges corresponding to multiple preset origin positions is consistent with the slot position range of the wafer carrier device.

6. The method according to claim 1, characterized in that, Before obtaining the current slot position of the wafer carrier device corresponding to the wafer to be transmitted, the method further includes: The current slot position is determined based on the slot position of the wafer carrier device corresponding to the last wafer that has been transmitted and a preset correspondence. The correspondence is the relationship between the slot position and the transmission priority order.

7. The method according to claim 6, characterized in that, Also includes: The corresponding relationship is generated based on the type of wafer to be transferred at each slot position, the preset pick-and-place logic, and the current transfer type.

8. The method according to claim 7, characterized in that, The process of generating the correspondence based on the type of wafer to be transferred at each slot position, the preset pick-and-place logic, and the current transfer type includes: Based on the type of each wafer to be transferred, determine the slot position corresponding to each wafer to be transferred; Based on the type of each wafer to be transferred, the preset pick-and-place logic, the current transfer type, and the slot position corresponding to each wafer to be transferred, the transfer priority order corresponding to each slot position is determined.

9. The method according to claim 8, characterized in that, The step of determining the transmission priority order corresponding to each slot position based on the type of each wafer to be transmitted, the preset pick-and-place logic, the current transmission type, and the slot position corresponding to each wafer to be transmitted includes: When the transmission type is loading a wafer into the wafer carrier, the preset pick-and-place logic is low-pick-high-place logic, and the types of the wafers to be transmitted include virtual wafers, product wafers, and monitoring wafers, the transmission priority order of the virtual wafers is determined to be higher than that of the product wafers, the transmission priority order of the product wafers is higher than that of the monitoring wafers, and for each type of wafer to be transmitted, the transmission priority order corresponding to the higher slot position is higher than that corresponding to the lower slot position. The low-pick-high-drop logic means that when loading a wafer, the wafer is preferentially loaded into the higher slot position of the wafer carrier device.

10. The method according to claim 8, characterized in that, The step of determining the transmission priority order corresponding to each slot position based on the type of each wafer to be transmitted, the preset pick-and-place logic, the current transmission type, and the slot position corresponding to each wafer to be transmitted includes: When the transmission type is unloading a wafer from the wafer carrier, the preset pick-and-place logic is low-pick-high-place logic, and the types of the wafers to be transmitted include the virtual wafer, the product wafer, and the monitoring wafer, it is determined that the transmission priority order of the virtual wafer is lower than that of the product wafer, the transmission priority order of the product wafer is lower than that of the monitoring wafer, and for each wafer of the same type to be transmitted, the transmission priority order corresponding to the higher slot position is lower than that corresponding to the lower slot position. The low-to-high logic means that when unloading a wafer, the wafer located in the lower slot position in the wafer carrier device is unloaded first.

11. A semiconductor process apparatus, characterized in that, include: The method comprises a controller, a wafer manipulator, and multiple process chambers, each containing a wafer carrier. The controller includes at least one processor and at least one memory, the memory storing a computer program that, when executed by the processor, implements the steps of the method as described in any one of claims 1-10.

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