Communication protocol adaptation method and system

Abstract

The application provides a communication protocol adaptation method and system, which is applied to a control program and comprises the following steps: the control program receives a standard operation request issued by a manufacturing execution system, the request containing a plurality of process parameters required for executing a process operation; after analyzing and extracting the parameters, the parameters are encapsulated into a first instruction according to a preset mapping rule, the first instruction matching a communication protocol supported by a target machine, and the first instruction being used for reserving an operation task for the machine; the first instruction is issued, and a second instruction is issued after receiving a confirmation response of the first instruction from the machine, so as to instruct the machine to start the operation according to the encapsulated process parameters. The communication protocol of the standard operation request is different from the communication protocol supported by the target machine. The application can effectively solve the communication compatibility problem between heterogeneous protocol devices and the manufacturing execution system, realizes the integration of heterogeneous systems without upgrading hardware, and significantly saves the equipment upgrading and shutdown modification time.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] This invention belongs to the field of semiconductor equipment automation technology, and specifically relates to a device communication protocol adaptation method and system based on the SECS / GEM protocol. Background Technology

[0002] In semiconductor photomask manufacturing plants, equipment automation programs are the core middleware connecting the upper-level production execution system and the lower-level production equipment, and must communicate in accordance with the SECS / GEM protocol family. Currently, most mainstream new equipment supports the GEM300 standard, which defines a complete set of complex interaction processes.

[0003] However, many aging photomask production machines in service, such as some inspection, repair, or measurement machines, only support the early GEM200 standard and lack the ability to handle the complex command sequences of GEM300. They typically can only recognize simple single-step commands like S2F41SCHEDULE (schedule) and S2F41 START (start). When a manufacturing execution system operating according to the GEM300 standard directly interfaces with aging GEM200 machines, communication protocol incompatibility issues arise. Forcibly modifying the machine firmware or replacing the control board is not only costly and time-consuming, but also impractical. Existing solutions often require manual input of task parameters at the machine end or the development of special scripts for specific models, resulting in low production efficiency, susceptibility to errors, and difficulty in unified maintenance. Summary of the Invention

[0004] The purpose of this invention is to provide a communication protocol adaptation method and system. By constructing a semiconductor manufacturing system that includes an upper-layer system, a control program, and a target machine, and by utilizing the collaborative work of the communication module and the parsing control module within the control program, the communication compatibility problem between the device and the upper-layer system is effectively solved.

[0005] To address the aforementioned technical problems, this invention provides a communication protocol adaptation method, applied to a control program connecting an upper-layer system and a target machine. The method includes: The control program receives a standard operation request from the upper-level system. The standard operation request contains multiple process parameters required to perform the process operation. The control program parses the standard job request, extracts the multiple process parameters, and encapsulates the multiple process parameters into the data structure of the first instruction according to the preset mapping rules. The first instruction matches the communication protocol supported by the target machine and is used to reserve the job task for the target machine. The control program sends the first instruction to the target machine, and after receiving the target machine's confirmation response to the first instruction, sends a second instruction to the target machine. The second instruction is used to instruct the target machine to start performing the operation according to the process parameters encapsulated in the first instruction. The communication protocol for the standard operation request is different from the communication protocol supported by the target machine.

[0006] In one embodiment of the present invention, the upper-layer system is a manufacturing execution system, the standard job request is a job creation request that conforms to the semantics of a first communication protocol, the target machine is a semiconductor machine that supports a second communication protocol, and the first instruction and the second instruction are reservation instructions and trigger instructions that the target machine can parse.

[0007] In one embodiment of the present invention, the first instruction is an S2F41 scheduling instruction, used to reserve and transmit process parameters to the target machine; the second instruction is an S2F41 start instruction, used to instruct the target machine to start operation after receiving the confirmation response.

[0008] In one embodiment of the present invention, the control program maps and fills the plurality of process parameters into predetermined fields of the scheduling instruction according to preset mapping rules. The predetermined fields include at least one of name field, recipe name field, standard condition name field, and remarks field.

[0009] In one embodiment of the present invention, the plurality of process parameters include at least one of photomask identifier, recipe identifier, process operation identifier, control operation identifier, carrier identifier, slot mapping information, and batch identifier.

[0010] In one embodiment of the present invention, the mapping rule includes: Map the photomask identifier to the name field of the scheduling instruction; Map the recipe identifier to the recipe name field and / or standard condition name field of the scheduling instruction, and set fixed parameters for the scheduling instruction, the fixed parameters including at least one of setting the standard parameter to a preset value and setting the label reading mode to a verification mode; The process operation identifier and the control operation identifier are combined and mapped to the remarks field of the scheduling instruction.

[0011] In one embodiment of the present invention, the standard job request received by the control program is an XML format request.

[0012] In one embodiment of the present invention, before the control program issues the first instruction to the target machine, the method further includes: The control program receives the vehicle identification information reported by the target machine and forwards the vehicle identification information to the upper-level system to trigger the upper-level system to issue the standard operation request.

[0013] The present invention also provides a control program for an automated equipment program, comprising: Communication module; A parsing control module is used to execute the above-described communication protocol adaptation method.

[0014] The present invention also provides a semiconductor manufacturing system, comprising: Manufacturing execution system, used to generate and issue standard job requests containing multiple process parameters required to perform process operations; Semiconductor equipment; The control program described above is communicatively connected to both the manufacturing execution system and the semiconductor machine.

[0015] By adopting the above technical solution, this invention, as an example, has the following advantages and positive effects: By converting complex upper-layer protocol job requests into a two-step instruction sequence (including a first and second instruction) that older equipment can recognize at the middleware level, and through intelligent mapping and encapsulation of multiple process parameters, the communication compatibility issues between the equipment and the upper-layer system are effectively resolved. Automated control can be achieved without any hardware upgrades or firmware modifications to the machines, significantly saving equipment upgrade costs and downtime. Simultaneously, due to full-process automation and automatic parameter mapping, operational errors that may arise from manual parameter input on the equipment panel are eliminated, improving the consistency and accuracy of production task execution. Attached Figure Description

[0016] To more clearly illustrate the technical solutions of the embodiments of the present invention, the accompanying drawings used in the description of the embodiments will be briefly introduced below. Obviously, the drawings described below are only some embodiments of the present invention. For those skilled in the art, other drawings can be obtained based on these drawings without creative effort.

[0017] Figure 1 This is a flowchart illustrating the communication protocol adaptation method provided in an embodiment of the present invention.

[0018] Figure 2 This is a communication timing diagram based on the communication protocol adaptation method provided in an embodiment of the present invention.

[0019] Figure 3 This is a schematic diagram of the control program module for the equipment automation program provided in an embodiment of the present invention.

[0020] Figure 4 This is a schematic diagram of the framework of a semiconductor manufacturing system provided in an embodiment of the present invention. Detailed Implementation

[0021] The following specific examples illustrate the implementation of the present invention. Those skilled in the art can easily understand other advantages and effects of the present invention from the content disclosed in this specification. The present invention can also be implemented or applied through other different specific embodiments, and various details in this specification can also be modified or changed based on different viewpoints and applications without departing from the spirit of the present invention. It should be noted that, unless otherwise specified, the following embodiments and features can be combined with each other. It should also be understood that the terminology used in the embodiments of the present invention is for describing specific implementation schemes and not for limiting the scope of protection of the present invention. Test methods in the following embodiments that do not specify specific conditions are generally performed under conventional conditions or according to the conditions recommended by the respective manufacturers.

[0022] In the description of this invention, the terms "first" and "second" are used for descriptive purposes only and should not be construed as indicating or implying relative importance. Unless otherwise expressly specified and limited, the terms "mapping," "encapsulation," "distribution," etc., should be interpreted broadly. For example, "mapping" can refer to the process of converting source data into corresponding fields in a target data structure. Those skilled in the art can understand the specific meaning of the above terms in this invention according to the specific circumstances.

[0023] The communication protocol adaptation method provided in this invention is mainly applied to the automated control system of a semiconductor photomask manufacturing plant. In this application scenario, the Equipment Automation Program (EAP), as the core middleware connecting the upper-level system and the lower-level production equipment, is responsible for scheduling and controlling production tasks. Currently, manufacturing execution systems (MES) and material control systems (MCS) in factories generally support the GEM300 standard to be compatible with modern production processes. This standard defines a complete process job creation flow, including multiple complex interactive steps such as carrier ID reading, ProcessCarrier / ProcessSlotMap issuance, CreateProcessJob, and CreateControlJob, involving the back-and-forth interaction of multiple instructions such as S3F17, S16F15, and S14F9. However, many older photomask production equipment in service, such as some models of inspection machines, repair machines, or measurement machines, only support the earlier GEM200 standard. These older devices do not have the ability to parse the complex instruction sequences of GEM300 and can only recognize simple single-step commands such as the S2F41 HostCommandSend instruction.

[0024] The communication protocol adaptation method provided in this embodiment of the invention addresses the above-mentioned problems by introducing an adaptation mechanism based on instruction mapping and parameter re-encapsulation. This enables the automatic conversion of upper-layer GEM300 standard job requests to communication protocols of older GEM200 devices. Without changing the hardware and firmware, it achieves standardized and automated integration of older devices, resulting in significant economic benefits and practicality.

[0025] like Figure 1 As shown, based on this, the present invention provides a communication protocol adaptation method, applied to a control program connecting an upper-layer system and a target machine. The method specifically includes the following steps: S1 The control program receives a standard operation request from the upper system. The standard operation request contains multiple process parameters required to perform the process operation. The control program in S2 parses the standard job request, extracts the multiple process parameters, and encapsulates the multiple process parameters into the data structure of the first instruction according to the preset mapping rules. The first instruction matches the communication protocol supported by the target machine and is used to reserve a job task for the target machine. The control program in S3 sends the first instruction to the target machine, and after receiving the target machine's confirmation response to the first instruction, sends a second instruction to the target machine. The second instruction is used to instruct the target machine to start executing the operation according to the process parameters encapsulated in the first instruction. The communication protocol of the standard operation request is different from the communication protocol supported by the target machine.

[0026] Note that the above is only a description of the steps included in the method, and does not represent the actual order of the steps in implementation. The order of the steps can be adjusted according to the actual situation and needs. The following describes specific implementation methods and... Figure 2 Each step in the above technical solution will be explained in detail.

[0027] It should be noted that there are multiple ways to trigger the control program to receive the standard work request in S1. For example, it can be directly issued by the upper-level system; however, in one embodiment of the present invention, this step is driven by an automated device event. Specifically, before step S1, the process may further include: the control program receiving the vehicle identification information reported by the target machine and forwarding the vehicle identification information to the upper-level system to trigger the upper-level system to issue the standard work request. This task issuance mechanism, automatically driven by a device event, can achieve seamless integration of the production process and improve automation efficiency.

[0028] In the following embodiments, for ease of understanding, the control program is specifically embodied as an Equipment Automation Program (EAP), which is common in the semiconductor manufacturing industry. Those skilled in the art will understand that in other implementation scenarios, it can be any middleware program, controller, or software module that executes this communication protocol adaptation method.

[0029] like Figure 2 As shown, the system architecture involved in this embodiment of the invention mainly includes three core entities: upper-layer system, control program, and target machine. In this embodiment, the upper-layer system is the Manufacturing Execution System (MES), the control program is the Equipment Automation Program (EAP), and the target machine is a semiconductor machine that only supports the GEM200 standard.

[0030] The upper-layer system is used to generate and issue standard job requests, which conform to GEM300 semantics but have a simplified format, such as being encapsulated in XML format. The target machine is used to receive and execute S2F41HostCommandSend commands. The control program, as middleware, communicates with both the upper-layer system MES and the target machine GEM200, executing the communication protocol adaptation method of this invention.

[0031] like Figure 2 As shown, the complete communication adaptation process includes the following steps: During the event reporting phase, the target machine, such as a semiconductor machine supporting the GEM200 standard protocol, reports a carrier identification report event (corresponding to CarrierIDReport in the attached figure) to the control program via the SECS / GEM protocol when it detects the carrier in place. This carrier identification report event can be reported, for example, using a custom XML format and includes the carrier's unique identifier, equipment identifier, and loading port identifier. Upon receiving this report event, the control program forwards it to the upper-level system, such as a Manufacturing Execution System (MES). Subsequently, in response to receiving the carrier identification report event, the upper-level system issues a job creation request conforming to GEM300 semantics to the control program (corresponding to CreateProcessJob in the attached figure). This request uses a structured data format, such as XML, and contains all production parameters required to execute the current process task.

[0032] After receiving the standard operation request, the control program EAP begins to execute the core adaptation and conversion logic. Specifically, the control program EAP first parses the XML-formatted standard operation request and extracts several key process parameters. Then, according to preset mapping rules, it reassembles and encapsulates these process parameters into a first instruction that the target machine can recognize, such as the data structure of the S2F41 scheduling instruction. This first instruction is used to reserve the operation task for the target machine.

[0033] The instruction issuance phase includes: First, the control program EAP issues a packaged first instruction, namely the S2F41 SCHEDULE scheduling instruction, to the target machine GEM200. After receiving the scheduling instruction and storing its internal parameters, the target machine GEM200 returns a success confirmation response, namely the S2F42 confirmation message, to the control program EAP. Upon receiving the S2F42 confirmation message, the control program EAP immediately issues a second instruction to the target machine GEM200, which in this embodiment is the S2F41 START start instruction. This start instruction is used to trigger the target machine to execute the task after successful reservation. It is worth noting that the terms 'first' and 'second' here are only used to distinguish the different functions of the instructions and do not constitute a limitation on the specific instruction name or format.

[0034] After receiving the START command, the target machine GEM200 begins executing the process operation according to the preset task parameters in the previous SCHEDULE scheduling command, and returns an S2F42 confirmation message to the control program EAP upon successful startup. Finally, after confirming that the process operation has been successfully issued and executed, the control program EAP sends an ACK confirmation message to the upper-level system MES, which conforms to the semantics of GEM300, to confirm the job creation request.

[0035] Through the above process, the control program EAP, acting as an intelligent adaptation layer, transforms the complex GEM300 job creation process into two simple GEM200 command interactions. The following detailed description of each step of the invention, in conjunction with specific embodiments, further illustrates this process.

[0036] In one specific embodiment of the present invention, upon receiving a carrier identification report event (CarrierIDReport) forwarded by the control program, the upper-layer system issues a job creation request (CreateProcessJob) conforming to GEM300 semantics to the control program. This request is the standard job request and is encapsulated in XML format. This structured data in XML format carries all the production information required to execute this process job. In practical applications of photomask manufacturing, this standard job request in XML format includes, but is not limited to, process parameters such as the photomask identifier (ReticleID), recipe identifier (RecipeID), process job identifier (ProcessJobID), control job identifier (ControlJobID), carrier identifier (CarrierID), slot mapping information (SlotMap), and batch identifier (LotID). These process parameters will be extracted by the control program in subsequent parsing and mapping steps and used as core information in the instruction encapsulation process.

[0037] Upon receiving the job creation request in XML format, the control program initiates a parsing process. Following a preset parsing logic, the control program extracts the aforementioned process parameters required for executing the process operation from the XML request. Since the communication protocol supported by the target machine, such as the GEM200 standard protocol, can only recognize instruction sequences in specific formats, such as the S2F41HostCommandSend instruction, and cannot directly parse the complex structure in the XML file, the control program needs to convert the extracted process parameters into the internal data structure of the first instruction that the target machine can recognize, namely the S2F41 scheduling instruction, according to preset mapping rules. This completes the format conversion from XML structured data to the target machine instruction format.

[0038] After parsing the standard operation request and extracting the multiple process parameters, the control program EAP needs to convert and encapsulate these parameters into a data structure of the communication protocol supported by the target machine, according to a preset mapping rule. In this embodiment, the first instruction supported by the target machine is specifically the S2F41 scheduling instruction, which has specific data structure fields.

[0039] In one specific embodiment of the present invention, different mapping targets are set for different categories of process parameters in the mapping rules. For example, the mapping rules include mapping the photomask identifier ReticleID to the name field of the scheduling instruction, mapping the recipe identifier RecipeID to the recipe name field and / or standard condition name field of the scheduling instruction, and setting fixed parameters for the scheduling instruction. The fixed parameters include setting the standard parameter to a preset value, such as True, or setting the label reading mode to verification mode, at least one of these. Furthermore, to facilitate production traceability, the process operation identifier and the control operation identifier are combined and mapped to the remarks field of the scheduling instruction.

[0040] For example, suppose a photomask exposure task includes the following process parameters: photomask identifier "MSK-001", recipe identifier "RCP-123", process operation identifier "JOB-888", and control operation identifier "CTRL-999". After parsing the above parameters, the control program EAP automatically fills the photomask identifier "MSK-001" into the name field of the scheduling instruction according to the mapping rules; automatically fills the recipe identifier "RCP-123" into the recipe name field of the scheduling instruction; combines the process operation identifier "JOB-888" and the control operation identifier "CTRL-999" into "JOB-888_CTRL-999", and automatically fills it into the remarks field of the scheduling instruction. At the same time, the control program EAP also fills fixed parameters such as setting "TagReadMode" to "Validation" and "Standard" to "True" into the corresponding data structure of the scheduling instruction.

[0041] Through the above mapping process, the control program EAP can encapsulate multiple relatively complex operation parameters of different dimensions into a data structure of relatively simple scheduling instructions supported by the target machine, thus realizing the smooth transmission of information from the upper-level system to the target machine.

[0042] In one specific embodiment of the present invention, after completing the parameter encapsulation of the first instruction, namely the S2F41 scheduling instruction, the control program EAP sends the encapsulated S2F41 scheduling instruction to the target machine GEM200 via the SECS / GEM protocol. Upon receiving the scheduling instruction, the target machine internally parses and stores the data structure and process parameters carried in the instruction, completing the "reservation" action for the job task. After successful reservation, the target machine generates a success confirmation response, namely the S2F42 confirmation message, and returns it to the control program EAP.

[0043] After receiving the S2F42 confirmation message, the control program EAP determines that the target machine has successfully received and stored the process parameters, thus meeting the startup conditions. At this time, the control program EAP immediately issues a second instruction to the target machine, namely the S2F41 startup instruction. In this embodiment, the S2F41 startup instruction is an instruction with an empty parameter list, and its function is to trigger the target machine to start executing the process task encapsulated in the previous scheduling instruction.

[0044] After receiving the start command, the target machine GEM200 begins production according to the pre-stored process parameters in the scheduling command. Once operation begins, the target machine returns an S2F42 confirmation message indicating successful start. This completes a full communication adaptation and automated scheduling process from the upper-level GEM300 standard request to the lower-level GEM200 legacy equipment. Finally, the control program EAP sends a CreateProcessJob ACK message to the upper-level system MES, informing the upper-level system that the process job has been successfully issued and executed.

[0045] This invention, through the intermediate adaptation function of the control program, transforms the job creation process, which originally required multiple complex instructions, such as S3F17, S16F15, and S14F9, and involved multiple interactions, into a simpler process. Figure 1 and 2 The diagram shows a two-step instruction interaction flow containing only the first and second instructions. The control program performs mapping and instruction encapsulation operations from complex protocol semantics to simple instruction sequences, thereby enabling target equipment that only supports the first protocol, such as the GEM200 protocol, to be integrated into an upper-level automation control system based on a second protocol, such as the GEM300 protocol, without hardware or firmware modifications.

[0046] In another embodiment of the invention, such as Figure 2 The preceding part of the process shown, namely before the control program EAP issues the first instruction to the target machine, also includes an event triggering step.

[0047] Specifically, the control program EAP receives a carrier identification report event proactively reported by the target machine GEM200 when it detects the carrier in place. This carrier identification report event carries the carrier identifier CarrierID. The control program EAP forwards this carrier identification information to the upper-level system MES. Upon receiving this signal, the upper-level system MES confirms that a new production task batch has arrived, thereby triggering the upper-level system MES to issue the standard operation request to the control program EAP. This automated triggering mechanism based on carrier arrival event avoids the need for manual pre-entry of tasks or manual triggering instructions, further improving the automation level of the production line.

[0048] In summary, this invention effectively solves the communication compatibility problem between equipment and the upper-level system by converting the complex upper-layer protocol's job requests into a two-step instruction sequence (including a first instruction and a second instruction) that older equipment can recognize at the middleware level. Furthermore, through intelligent mapping and encapsulation of multiple process parameters, it achieves automated control without requiring any hardware upgrades or firmware modifications, significantly saving equipment upgrade costs and downtime. Simultaneously, the full-process automation and automatic parameter mapping eliminate potential operational errors caused by manual parameter input on the equipment panel, improving the consistency and accuracy of production task execution. In addition, for newly added equipment of the same model, rapid deployment can be achieved simply by adding corresponding mapping rules to the control program's configuration file.

[0049] like Figure 3 As shown, the present invention also provides a control program 300 for equipment automation. In some embodiments, the control program 300 can be deployed on a server or integrated into the host computer of the target machine. The control program 300 mainly includes a communication module 301 and a parsing control module 302.

[0050] The communication module 301 is used for bidirectional data transmission with the upper-level system, such as a Manufacturing Execution System (MES), and the target machine, such as a semiconductor machine supporting GEM200. This communication module 301 is responsible for receiving standard job requests from the upper-level system and sending the parsed and generated instruction sequences to the target machine. For example, through the SECS / GEM protocol communication interface, it receives an XML-formatted CreateProcessJob request, sends the generated S2F41 SCHEDULE instruction to the target machine, and receives an S2F42 confirmation response from the target machine.

[0051] The parsing control module 302 is the core processing unit of the control program and is configured to execute the communication protocol adaptation method described above. This parsing control module 302 typically consists of a processor and memory. The processor implements the following functions by running program code in the memory: The received standard operation request is unpacked and semantically parsed to extract multiple process parameters required for performing the process operation, such as, but not limited to, photomask identifier, recipe identifier, process operation identifier, control operation identifier, carrier identifier, slot mapping information, and batch identifier.

[0052] According to the preset mapping rules stored in the control program, the extracted process parameters are automatically mapped to the data structure of the communication protocol supported by the target machine. Specifically, the parameters are filled into specific fields of the first instruction, such as the S2F41 scheduling instruction. For example, the photomask identifier is filled into the name field, the formula identifier is filled into the formula name field, and the process operation identifier and control operation identifier are combined and filled into the remarks field.

[0053] After the first instruction is generated and encapsulated, it is sent to the target machine through the communication module 301.

[0054] Upon receiving the target machine's confirmation response to the first instruction, namely S2F42, the second instruction, namely S2F41 START, is triggered and sent through the communication module 301.

[0055] In practical implementation, the parsing control module 302 can also be configured independently of the communication module 301. For example, when the control program adopts a distributed deployment or microservice architecture, the communication module 301 can act as an independent gateway service, responsible for sending and receiving physical interfaces, while the parsing control module 302 acts as a backend business logic service, responsible for parameter parsing, mapping, and instruction generation. This modular design facilitates flexible system expansion and subsequent maintenance.

[0056] like Figure 4As shown, this invention provides a semiconductor manufacturing system 100, which includes a manufacturing execution system 200, a control program 300, and a target machine 400. Specifically, the manufacturing execution system 200, such as a manufacturing execution system (MES), is used to generate and issue standard job requests containing multiple process parameters required for performing process operations. In actual production scenarios, for example, when a photomask exposure task begins on the production line, the manufacturing execution system (MES) generates a job creation request conforming to GEM300 semantics. This job creation request includes, but is not limited to, process parameters such as a photomask identifier (ReticleID), a recipe identifier (RecipeID), a process job identifier (ProcessJobID), a control job identifier (ControlJobID), a carrier identifier (CarrierID), slot mapping information (SlotMap), and a batch identifier (LotID), to guide the production equipment in performing specific operations.

[0057] The target device 400, described as an example and not a limitation, is a semiconductor device that supports the GEM200 standard protocol. Due to their inherent hardware and software architecture, such target devices lack the ability to process complex GEM300 instruction sequences and can only recognize and respond to single-step commands such as the S2F41 HostCommandSend instruction, including the SCHEDULE reservation instruction and the START start instruction. It should be noted that the above description using a semiconductor device supporting the GEM200 protocol as an example is for ease of understanding of the invention and not a specific limitation on its application scope. Those skilled in the art will understand that in practical applications, as long as there are protocol differences between the target device and the upper-layer system, and the target device supports an interaction mode where reservation and start instructions are executed sequentially, compatibility can be achieved through the communication protocol adaptation method of this invention. For example, the instruction mapping and parameter encapsulation scheme provided by this invention is also applicable to semiconductor devices that only support other early SEMI standards or specific manufacturer-closed protocols.

[0058] The control program 300, such as the Equipment Automation Program (EAP), is communicatively connected to both the Manufacturing Execution System 200 and the target machine 400. The control program 300 acts as middleware, responsible for executing the communication protocol adaptation method described above. Figure 2 The communication interaction flow of the semiconductor manufacturing system described in this embodiment of the invention is illustrated. The system's workflow is as follows: First, when the target machine 400 supporting GEM200 detects that the carrier is in place, it reports a carrier identification report event to the control program 300 via the SECS / GEM protocol. Subsequently, the control program 300 forwards this event and related carrier identification to the manufacturing execution system 200. In response to receiving the carrier identification report event, the manufacturing execution system 200 issues a standard job request containing multiple process parameters required for the operation to the control program 300. Upon receiving the request, the control program 300 parses the XML-formatted request, extracts the process parameters, and encapsulates them into an S2F41 SCHEDULE scheduling instruction according to a preset mapping rule, which is then sent to the target machine 400. After receiving an S2F42 confirmation response from the target machine 400, the control program 300 immediately issues an S2F41 START command, driving the target machine 400 to automatically execute the exposure operation according to the pre-defined parameters. Finally, the control program 300 sends a confirmation message to the manufacturing execution system 200 confirming that the job has been successfully issued.

[0059] Through the above system architecture, the present invention can be compatible with different communication protocols between manufacturing execution systems and semiconductor equipment, and realize the automated interconnection of heterogeneous systems without hardware upgrades, effectively improving the level of automation control of production lines.

[0060] It should be noted that, in the above embodiments, the functional descriptions of the semiconductor manufacturing system and the control program correspond one-to-one with the steps of the communication protocol adaptation method described above. Those skilled in the art should understand that the control program can be implemented using computer program instructions or dedicated hardware circuits, and the semiconductor manufacturing system can also be implemented by integrating corresponding computer hardware, firmware, and network communication equipment.

[0061] Furthermore, the communication protocol adaptation method, control program, and manufacturing system of the present invention are not limited to specific scenarios of GEM300 to GEM200. Their core multi-parameter re-encapsulation and two-step instruction mapping are also applicable to other heterogeneous system integration scenarios with protocol differences.

[0062] In summary, this invention constructs a semiconductor manufacturing system comprising an upper-level system, a control program, and target equipment. By utilizing the collaborative work of the communication module and the analysis control module within the control program, it effectively achieves seamless integration between different semiconductor devices. This significantly reduces the economic cost of automation upgrades, shortens the production line upgrade cycle, avoids production errors caused by manual operation, and improves the overall efficiency and reliability of the production line. It has significant industrial practical value and promising prospects for widespread application.

[0063] It will be apparent to those skilled in the art that the present invention is not limited to the details of the exemplary embodiments described above, and that the invention can be implemented in other specific forms without departing from its spirit or essential characteristics. Therefore, the embodiments should be considered in all respects as exemplary and non-limiting, and the scope of the invention is defined by the appended claims rather than the foregoing description. Thus, all variations falling within the meaning and scope of equivalents of the claims are intended to be included within the present invention. No reference numerals in the claims should be construed as limiting the scope of the claims.

[0064] Furthermore, it should be understood that although this specification describes embodiments, not every embodiment contains only one independent technical solution. This narrative style is merely for clarity. Those skilled in the art should consider the specification as a whole, and the technical solutions in each embodiment can also be appropriately combined to form other embodiments that can be understood by those skilled in the art.

Claims

1. A communication protocol adaptation method, applied to a control program connecting an upper-layer system and a target machine, characterized in that: The method includes: The control program receives a standard operation request from the upper-level system. The standard operation request contains multiple process parameters required to perform the process operation. The control program parses the standard job request, extracts the multiple process parameters, and encapsulates the multiple process parameters into the data structure of the first instruction according to the preset mapping rules. The first instruction matches the communication protocol supported by the target machine and is used to reserve the job task for the target machine. The control program sends the first instruction to the target machine, and after receiving the target machine's confirmation response to the first instruction, sends a second instruction to the target machine. The second instruction is used to instruct the target machine to start executing the operation according to the process parameters encapsulated in the first instruction. The communication protocol of the standard operation request is different from the communication protocol supported by the target machine.

2. The communication protocol adaptation method according to claim 1, characterized in that: The upper-level system is a manufacturing execution system, the standard job request is a job creation request that conforms to the semantics of the first communication protocol; the target machine is a semiconductor machine that supports the second communication protocol, and the first instruction and the second instruction are reservation instructions and trigger instructions that the target machine can parse.

3. The communication protocol adaptation method according to claim 2, characterized in that: The first instruction is an S2F41 scheduling instruction, used to reserve and transmit process parameters to the target machine; the second instruction is an S2F41 start instruction, used to instruct the target machine to start operation after receiving the confirmation response.

4. The communication protocol adaptation method according to claim 3, characterized in that: The control program maps the multiple process parameters into predetermined fields of the scheduling instruction according to preset mapping rules. The predetermined fields include at least one of the following: name field, recipe name field, standard condition name field, and remarks field.

5. The communication protocol adaptation method according to claim 4, characterized in that: The process parameters include at least one of the following: photomask identifier, formula identifier, process operation identifier, control operation identifier, carrier identifier, slot mapping information, and batch identifier.

6. The communication protocol adaptation method of claim 5, wherein: The mapping rules include: Map the photomask identifier to the name field of the scheduling instruction; Map the recipe identifier to the recipe name field and / or standard condition name field of the scheduling instruction, and set fixed parameters for the scheduling instruction, the fixed parameters including at least one of setting the standard parameter to a preset value and setting the label reading mode to a verification mode; The process operation identifier and the control operation identifier are combined and mapped to the remarks field of the scheduling instruction.

7. The communication protocol adaptation method according to claim 1, characterized in that: The standard operation request received by the control program is an XML format request.

8. The communication protocol adaptation method according to any one of claims 1 to 7, characterized in that: Before the control program issues the first instruction to the target machine, the method further includes: The control program receives the vehicle identification information reported by the target machine and forwards the vehicle identification information to the upper-level system to trigger the upper-level system to issue the standard operation request.

9. A control program of a plant automation program, characterized by, include: Communication module; A parsing control module, wherein the parsing control module is used to execute the communication protocol adaptation method as described in any one of claims 1 to 8.

10. A semiconductor manufacturing system, characterized by comprising: include: Manufacturing execution system, used to generate and issue standard job requests containing multiple process parameters required to perform process operations; Semiconductor equipment; And a control program for the equipment automation program as described in claim 9, wherein the control program is communicatively connected to the manufacturing execution system and the semiconductor machine.

Images