Alarm Analysis Display for Semiconductor Processing Downtime Reduction
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
In semiconductor manufacturing, managing increasing amounts of data from miniaturized devices becomes challenging for management apparatuses, making it difficult to efficiently handle and quickly identify the cause of abnormalities in substrate processing apparatuses, which affects production efficiency and operating rates.
Innovation Solution
A processing apparatus with an apparatus controller that stores monitor data and alarm information, allowing for alarm analysis by specifying analysis items, determining cause ranks based on threshold values, and displaying data relationships chronologically to facilitate troubleshooting and reduce downtime.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Measurement precision
If data management is performed in more detail to handle increasing data amounts from miniaturized devices, then measurement precision and reliability improve, but device complexity and loss of time increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments the alarm analysis process into distinct modules: alarm reception unit, alarm analysis table storage unit, candidate specification unit, monitor data acquisition unit, rank determination unit, and display unit. Each module handles a specific aspect of data processing, transforming a monolithic complex system into manageable functional segments that can operate independently and efficiently
Solution Approach 2:
The system performs preliminary actions by pre-storing alarm analysis tables that contain predetermined analysis items and thresholds before alarms occur. When an alarm is detected, the system immediately retrieves and processes the corresponding pre-prepared analysis data, eliminating the need for real-time complex calculations and reducing processing time
2Reliability
If comprehensive monitor data is collected and analyzed to identify alarm causes, then reliability improves, but loss of time increases due to complex data processing
Solution Approach 1:
The alarm analysis table is prepared in advance with all necessary analysis items, monitor data types, and threshold values organized by alarm ID. This preliminary organization allows the system to immediately retrieve and process only relevant data when an alarm occurs, rather than analyzing all possible data comprehensively, thus reducing troubleshooting time while maintaining identification accuracy
Solution Approach 2:
The system applies local quality by focusing analysis resources on specific monitor data types relevant to each alarm type. Instead of uniformly processing all monitor data, the system selectively acquires and analyzes only the candidate monitor data specified in the alarm analysis table corresponding to the detected alarm, optimizing the reliability-time tradeoff
3Ease of operation
If automated alarm analysis is implemented to reduce operator dependency, then ease of operation improves, but device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The system implements self-service by enabling the apparatus controller to automatically perform alarm cause identification without external operator intervention. The controller autonomously receives alarms, specifies candidate analysis items, acquires monitor data, determines cause ranks, and displays results, making the troubleshooting process self-sufficient and reducing dependency on operator skill levels
Solution Approach 2:
The patent merges multiple previously separate functions into a single integrated alarm analysis system within the apparatus controller. By combining alarm reception, data retrieval, analysis, ranking, and display functions into one unified system, the patent reduces operational complexity despite increasing internal device functionality, as users interact with a single automated interface rather than multiple separate tools
Data Source
AI summary
According to one aspect of a technique the present disclosure, there is provided a processing apparatus including: an apparatus controller including a memory storing apparatus data containing monitor data containing sensor information and an alarm indicating a failure detected based on the sensor information and an alarm analysis table containing analysis items. The apparatus controller is capable of outputting the alarm containing an alarm ID for specifying a type and an occurrence time of the alarm; specifying candidates of the analysis items from the alarm ID; acquiring monitor data corresponding to the candidates; determining a rank of the cause of the alarm according to a difference between monitor data at the occurrence time and a predetermined threshold value; and displaying a relationship between the monitor data and the threshold value. The display screen displays an occurrence history of the alarm and history of acquiring the monitor data.