Material Processing Path Selection for Bottleneck Tank Utilization
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Solution Overview
Problem
In semiconductor manufacturing processes, optimizing the material processing path to maximize yield is challenging due to the complex arrangement of transportation sequences and process times across multiple process tanks, with existing methods failing to adequately identify and utilize bottleneck resources effectively.
Innovation Solution
A method and device that calculate candidate material processing paths, determine the bottleneck process tank with the highest use frequency, and select the path with the highest bottleneck process tank utilization rate to optimize resource usage, ensuring efficient transfer and processing of materials across all tanks.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Productivity
If traditional material route control methods are used to arrange transportation sequences and process times, then the complexity of coordinating multiple process tanks is reduced, but the yield and productivity of the processing apparatus are insufficient
Solution Approach 1:
The patent extracts and identifies the bottleneck process tank from the system of multiple process tanks by calculating use frequencies. By focusing control efforts on the single most critical bottleneck resource rather than attempting to coordinate all tanks equally, the system achieves higher yield without proportionally increasing control complexity
Solution Approach 2:
The patent changes the control parameter from general transportation sequence arrangement to specific bottleneck process tank utilization rate optimization. By calculating and optimizing the utilization rate of the bottleneck tank specifically, the system achieves improved productivity while maintaining manageable control complexity through focused parameter optimization
2Loss of time
If the bottleneck process tank utilization rate is optimized to improve yield, then the processing time is reduced, but the calculation and selection of optimal paths becomes more complex
Solution Approach 1:
The patent performs preliminary calculation of use frequencies for all process tanks before optimization begins. This preliminary action identifies the bottleneck tank in advance, allowing subsequent path optimization to focus exclusively on maximizing that single tank's utilization rather than simultaneously optimizing multiple tanks, thereby reducing processing time while keeping calculation complexity manageable
Solution Approach 2:
The patent segments the optimization problem into distinct steps: first calculating use frequencies to identify the bottleneck tank, then separately optimizing paths to maximize that bottleneck tank's utilization. This segmentation transforms a complex multi-variable optimization problem into a more manageable sequence of focused calculations
Data Source
AI summary
A material processing path selection method includes calculating a plurality of candidate material processing paths, determining a bottleneck process tank, and for each of the plurality of candidate material processing paths, calculating a bottleneck process tank utilization rate to select a candidate material processing path with a highest bottleneck process tank utilization rate in the plurality of candidate material processing paths as a target material processing path. The bottleneck process tank is a process tank having a highest use frequency among all process tanks, A use frequency of the process tank is equal to a total process time length of all materials that need to be transferred to the process tank divided by a number of all the materials that need to be transferred to the process tank.