JP2003099112A - Method for preparing and executing schedule of substrate treating apparatus and its program - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To reduce a standby time by executing treating based on a preliminarily prepared time table, and to improve the reproducibility of a process by absorbing any fluctuation by adding a correction time. SOLUTION: The issue timing of a command is quickened, and a time table in which a correction time S1a is added to a treating process is preliminarily prepared so that a standby time can be reduced by overlapping a step S2 of a treating process and a previous step S1. When treating is executed by a time table system, any deviation can be absorbed by the correction time S1a, and the following treating processes can be synchronized. Thus, it is possible to reduce the influence of any fluctuation, and to execute the treating according to the time table. Therefore, it is possible to improve the reproducibility of the process.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a method and program for creating a schedule for a substrate processing apparatus for performing a predetermined process on a semiconductor wafer or a glass substrate (hereinafter simply referred to as a substrate) for a liquid crystal display device, In particular, it relates to a technique for performing control while communicating between devices having a master and slave relationship.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, as a method of creating and executing a schedule for a substrate processing apparatus of this type, there is an event-driven type in which a next processing step is performed upon completion of a certain processing step. In other words, while the sequencer that directly controls resources such as the pure water cleaning processing unit and the transport mechanism and the computer that controls this sequencer communicate with each other, the next process is performed based on the completion of the previous process based on the recipe. Substrates are sequentially processed as they are performed.

For example, when there is a substrate that has been subjected to pure water cleaning processing in the pure water cleaning processing section, the sequencer sends a processing completion report to the computer indicating that the pure water cleaning processing has ended. Upon receipt of this, the computer refers to the recipe and issues a preparation start command for the drying processing unit to the sequencer. Then, the sequencer starts preparation for the processing in the drying processing unit based on the instruction. And when the preparation of the drying processing unit is completed,
The sequencer reports to the computer that it is ready.

[0004]

However, the conventional example having such a structure has the following problems. That is, in the conventional method, it takes time for the processing completion report to be transmitted from the sequencer to the computer and the computer receiving the report to issue the next command to the sequencer. There is a problem that this time becomes a waiting time and the throughput is lowered. Note that this waiting time is short, but since the recipe generally includes many processing steps, the waiting time becomes long by accumulating. Therefore, suppressing the waiting time is an important issue.

Furthermore, the waiting time depends on the communication time between the computer and the sequencer and the processing time in the computer. Therefore, these may fluctuate, and the waiting time fluctuates from lot to lot, which may reduce the reproducibility of the process.

The present invention has been made in view of such circumstances, and suppresses waiting time by executing processing based on a time table created in advance, and also adds fluctuations by adding correction time. It is an object of the present invention to provide a method for creating and executing a schedule of a substrate processing apparatus and a program thereof that can be absorbed to improve the reproducibility of the process.

[0007]

The present invention has the following constitution in order to achieve such an object. That is, the invention according to claim 1 includes a slave that controls each resource, and a master that controls the slave,
In the method of creating and executing a schedule of a substrate processing apparatus, which performs processing on a substrate using each resource while performing communication including command issuance and a completion report corresponding to the command between these, before actually starting the processing on the substrate In addition, the use timing of each resource is created in advance as a timetable, the command issuance timing related to the resource processing process is advanced in consideration of the communication delay time between the master and slave, and the correction time is set for the resource processing process. In addition, when the processing is actually executed based on the time table, the deviation from the time table due to the communication time and the execution time of the resource processing step is adjusted using the correction time. To do.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, in the method of creating and executing a schedule for a substrate processing apparatus according to the first aspect, the correction time has a processing step having an allowable time for waiting a processed substrate. It is characterized by being added to.

According to a third aspect of the present invention, in the method of creating and executing a schedule of the substrate processing apparatus according to the second aspect, the resource processing step includes a pure water cleaning processing step. The correction time is added after the.

The invention according to claim 4 is provided with a slave for controlling each resource and a master for controlling this slave, and while performing communication including a command issue and a completion report corresponding to the command between them, In the schedule creation / execution program of the substrate processing apparatus that performs processing on substrates using resources, the timing of using each resource is created as a timetable in advance before actually starting processing on the substrate, In anticipation of the communication time in, the command issuance timing related to the resource processing process is accelerated, and
A correction time is added to the processing step of the resource, and when the processing is actually executed based on the time table, the deviation from the time table due to the communication time and the execution time of the processing step is used by using the correction time. It is characterized by controlling the computer to make adjustments.

[0011]

The operation of the invention described in claim 1 is as follows. That is, the command issuance timing is advanced in anticipation of the delay in the communication time between the master and slave, and the correction time is added to the processing step to create a time table that defines the usage timing of each resource before processing the board. . By creating a time table in advance, it is possible to know at what point in time the preparation of the processing step of the resource should be started, and therefore the preparatory work for the processing step and the preceding processing step can be arranged in an overlapping manner. When processing is actually performed based on the timetable, the actual execution timing deviates from the timetable due to delays in communication time and fluctuations in the execution time of processing steps. Since this deviation is absorbed by the correction time, the processing steps after the correction time are synchronized with the time table.

The master is, for example, a computer, and the slave is, for example, a sequencer or a programmable controller controlled by the computer. Further, the resources include, for example, a transport mechanism that transports the substrate, a pure water cleaning processing unit that cleans the substrate with a processing liquid containing ozone, a hot water unit that supplies heated pure water,
It includes a chemical treatment part for cleaning the substrate with a treatment liquid containing a chemical, a heat treatment part for heating the substrate, and the like.

According to the second aspect of the present invention, since the processing step having the allowable time has a very small effect on the process even if the processing time is extended, a correction time for adjustment is added.

According to the third aspect of the present invention, the pure water cleaning processing step in which the substrate is allowed to stand by in pure water after the processing is a processing step having an allowable time, and a correction time is added after that. The processing steps after the pure water cleaning processing are in synchronization with the timetable.

According to the invention described in claim 4, as a program, the same operation as in claim 1 is produced.

[0016]

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION An embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. 1 and 2 relate to an embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 1 is a plan view showing a schematic configuration of a substrate processing apparatus according to the embodiment, and FIG. 2 is a block diagram thereof.

This substrate processing apparatus is, for example, an apparatus for subjecting a substrate W to chemical treatment, pure water cleaning treatment and drying treatment. A plurality of (e.g., 25) substrates W are stored in the cassette 1 in an upright posture. The cassette 1 containing the unprocessed substrate W is placed on the loading unit 3.
The loading unit 3 includes two mounting tables 5 on which the cassette 1 is mounted. A payout unit 7 is provided on the opposite side of the input unit 3 with the central portion of the substrate processing apparatus sandwiched therebetween. This payout section 7
Stores the processed substrate W in the cassette 1 and dispenses the cassette 1 together. The payout unit 7 functioning in this way is provided with two mounting bases 9 for mounting the cassette 1 similarly to the loading unit 3.

At a position along the input section 3 and the payout section 7, a first transport mechanism 11 is arranged so as to be movable between them. The first transport mechanism 11 transports a plurality of substrates W together with the cassette 1 placed on the loading unit 3 to the second transport mechanism 13.

The second transfer mechanism 13 takes out all the stored substrates W from the cassette 1, and then transfers all the substrates W to the third transfer mechanism 15. After receiving the processed substrate W from the third transfer mechanism 15, the substrate W is accommodated in the cassette 1 and transferred to the first transfer mechanism 11.

The third transfer mechanism 15 is constructed so as to be movable in the longitudinal direction of the substrate processing apparatus, and has the above-mentioned second transfer mechanism.
The substrate W is transferred to and from the transport mechanism 13. On the most front side in the moving direction of the third transport mechanism 15,
A drying processing section 17 is provided. This drying device 1
7 stores the substrate W in a low-pressure chamber and dries it, for example.

A first processing unit 19 is provided at a position adjacent to the drying processing unit 17 in the moving direction of the third transport mechanism 15. The first processing unit 19 is a pure water cleaning processing unit 2 for performing a pure water cleaning process on a plurality of substrates W.
1, and a chemical liquid processing unit 23 for performing chemical liquid processing on a plurality of substrates W.

The first sub transfer mechanism 25 transfers the substrate W between the third transfer mechanism 15 and the substrate transfer inside the first processing section 19.
Hand over. At the non-processing position located above the pure water cleaning processing unit 21, the operation of transferring the substrate W to and from the third transport mechanism 15 is performed, while at the non-processing position located above the chemical solution processing unit 23, The substrate W is not transferred. Further, when processing the substrate W, the substrate W is lowered to a processing position located in the bath of the pure water cleaning processing unit 21 or the chemical liquid processing unit 23. The second sub-transport mechanism 53 has a function similar to that of the first sub-transport mechanism 25 described above, and performs substrate transport in the second processing unit 47 including the pure water cleaning processing unit 49 and the chemical liquid processing unit 51. To do.

A buffer device 71 is provided at a position adjacent to the first transport mechanism 11 and the second transport mechanism 13.
The buffer device 71 has a function of transferring the substrate W to and from the second transport mechanism 13, and temporarily accommodates a plurality of substrates W (hereinafter, referred to as a lot) that are not subject to the schedule. Then, when the lot becomes the target of the schedule, the lot is received and transported by the second transport mechanism 13.

The substrate processing apparatus configured as described above is controlled by a sequencer 73 and a computer 74 as a whole as shown in the block diagram of FIG. In addition,
The sequencer 73 corresponds to the slave in the present invention, and the computer 74 corresponds to the master in the present invention.

The sequencer 73 (also called a programmable controller) includes a CPU and the like, and communicates with the computer 74 to control the above-mentioned components based on the instructions. Further, the instruction from the computer 74 is given in the form of “command issuance” related to the processing step, and the sequencer 73 controls the resources of each component based on this instruction. Then, the completion of the control is reported from the sequencer 73 to the computer 74 in the form of "completion report". There is a "communication delay time" in the communication between the computer 74 and the sequencer 73, and there is a "fluctuation" in that time, so the communication delay time is not always the same.

The computer 74 predetermines the use timing of each resource in the form of a "timetable" according to the recipe based on a procedure corresponding to a schedule creating program described below. After that, when actually processing the lot, the processing according to the recipe is performed on the lot using each resource based on the created timetable. Since the processing steps are predetermined according to the recipe, it is possible to know what hour, minute, and second the processing should be started when a certain processing step is carried out, and how many minutes and seconds later the processing should be completed. . However, there are actually “fluctuations” in the processing steps. For example, in the transfer process,
The movement of the third transport mechanism 15 takes longer than usual,
In the pure water cleaning process, drainage in the pure water cleaning processing section 21 may take longer than usual.

The computer 74 issues a command early in anticipation of the above-mentioned communication delay time, and at the same time, in order to synchronize the deviation between the time table and the actual timing due to fluctuations in processing steps and communication delay time, The feature is that a correction time is added. In the processing, the “deviation” is absorbed and corrected using the correction time. The correction time is preferably added to a processing step having an “allowable time” for allowing the processed lot to wait. For example, in the deionized water cleaning step, the lot can be made to stand by in deionized water after the cleaning process, so that the correction can be performed using the correction time during that time.

In the storage unit 75, a plurality of types of recipes created in advance by the user of this substrate processing apparatus and defining how to process a lot, a schedule creation program, a created schedule, and a schedule Processing programs for executing the above are stored in advance.

The procedure corresponding to the schedule creation program will be described with reference to the time charts showing a part of the time tables shown in FIGS. 3 and 4, but a part of the recipe will be taken as an example for easy understanding. Explain.

<Example 1> Referring to FIG. Part of the recipe shown in this example is to wash the lot with pure water, and then carry it to the drying processing section 17 by the third carrying mechanism 15 to perform the drying process.

First, the time t0 to t for the pure water cleaning process.
During step 4, it is planned to use the pure water cleaning processing unit 21 as a resource in step S1. This step S1
Is added with step S1a as a correction time from t4 to t7. This correction time is, for example, about 5 seconds.

Further, after this step S1, the recipe shows that the transportation by the third transport mechanism 15 is being refrained from and the drying processing by the drying processing unit 17 is being refrained from. Therefore, it is necessary for the processing by the drying processing unit 17. Plan to carry out preparations in parallel. That is, during the period from time t3 to t4, the drying processing unit 17 is arranged so as to be prepared in step S2. This step S2 includes steps S1
Similar to step S1a which is the correction time of step S2a, step S2a is added as the correction time.

The processing is planned in this way, and the preparation is started from the computer 74 to the sequencer 73 at time t2 in which a delay of the communication time is expected in advance so as to meet the time t3 at which the preparation of the drying processing section 17 is desired to start. It is planned that command C1 will be issued. In addition, step S2b is a correction time (time t1 to t3) that is arranged slightly before the issuance timing of the preparation start command C1 in the sense that the resources of the drying processing unit 17 are reserved so as not to be used for other lots. ).

As a result, the drying processing section 17 starts preparation by issuing the preparation start command C1, and the preparation completion report R2 is sent from the sequencer 73 to the computer 74 at the time t4 when preparation should be completed.
At the time t4 when the pure water cleaning process is completed, a process completion report R1 is issued.

At times t7 to t10, step S3 is arranged to use the third transport mechanism 15 as a resource. Before this step S3, it is planned that the transport command C2 is issued at time t6, which allows for a delay in communication time, so that the third transport mechanism 15 can start operating at time t7. Step S3a is a correction time (time t7 to t10) arranged a little before the issuance timing of the transfer command C2 in the sense that the third transfer mechanism 15 is reserved so as not to be used for another lot.

The transfer by the third transfer mechanism 15 takes time t10.
The transfer completion report R3 is sent from the sequencer 73 to the computer 74 at time t10. Subsequently, step S for the drying process is performed so that the drying processing unit 17 is used for the time t10 to t14.
Place 4

Further, the operation associated with the dry processing work which is the direct processing on the substrate in the dry processing unit 17 is defined as a branch resource. This branch resource has a time t as an operation associated with step S4.
Arrange as used in step S5 over 10-t12. Further, step S5a is set as a correction time from time t9 to t10 so as not to be used for another lot.
And step S5b is set as the correction time at time t12.
~ T13. The processing command C3 is issued at time t8 so that the command arrives at the sequencer 73 at time t9 in accordance with the timing of using the branch resource and the communication delay time.

The time table thus created is stored in the storage unit 75 and is executed by the computer 74 as a schedule. When this schedule is actually executed, fluctuations may occur in the communication delay time related to the preparation command C1 and the execution times of steps S1 and S2, so that actual processing does not always proceed according to the timetable. Absent. For example, assume that steps S1 and S2 are later than the timetable. Even in such a case, the correction times S1a, S2a, and S3a can be absorbed, and the synchronization can be achieved at the start time t7 of step S3.

Although there may be a delay in the time table due to fluctuations in steps S3, S4, etc., it is necessary to provide the above-described correction times at several places in a recipe having a plurality of processing steps as described above. By doing so, it is possible to prevent the "deviation" from accumulating.

Since the time table in which the command issuance timing is advanced and the correction time is added to the processing step is created in advance in this way, step S2, which is the preparatory work for the processing step, and step S1, which is the previous processing step, are performed. It is possible to overlap and arrange. Therefore, the waiting time can be suppressed or eliminated.

When the processing is performed by the time table method as described above, the actual execution timing is deviated from the time table due to fluctuations in the communication delay time and the execution time of the processing steps, but the correction time S1a, S2a, S3a
By being absorbed by, it is possible to synchronize step S3, which is a processing step after the correction time, with the time table. Therefore, the influence of fluctuation can be suppressed, and each processing step can be executed almost according to the timetable, so that the reproducibility of the process can be improved.

<Example 2> Referring to FIG. In a part of the recipe shown in this example, after cleaning the lot with pure water, the lot is transported to the chemical liquid processing unit 23 by the first sub-transport mechanism 25 to perform the chemical liquid processing.
After that, a pure water cleaning process is performed.

First, the pure water cleaning processing section 21 as a resource is used in step S10 from time t0 to t1. After this step S10, the correction time S10a
Are added over time t1 to t5. At time t1, the sequencer 73 sends a processing completion report R11 to the computer 74 and the computer 7
The processing command C11 is issued from 4 to the sequencer 73 at time t2. For convenience of explanation, the command issuance to step S10 is omitted.

The first sub transport mechanism 25 is planned to be used in step S11 for a time t5 to t6,
Before that, step S11a is arranged as a correction time for the purpose of resource reservation. Further, before the operation of the first sub-transport mechanism 25 starts at time t5, the transport command C is sent to the sequencer 73 at time t3.
12 are issued.

The chemical liquid processing unit 23 is used as a resource for a period of time t6 to t9 so that the processing of the chemical liquid processing unit 23 is started at the time t6 when the substrate transfer by the first sub-transport mechanism 25 is completed. Are placed. Further, step S13 in which the first sub-transport mechanism 25 is used is arranged from time t9 to t11, and step S14 in which the pure water cleaning processing section 21 is used is time t1.
It is arranged from 1 to t13. Also, the chemical treatment unit 2
The processing completion report R12 of No. 3 is performed at time t9, and
The transport completion report R13 of the sub transport mechanism 25 is given at time t11. The processing start command C13 to the pure water cleaning processing section 21 is arranged to be issued in advance at time t7.

The processing is actually executed according to the time table created in this way, and the correction time S10a, S1
1a is synchronized. As a result, even with a part of the recipe shown in Example 2, the waiting time can be suppressed and fluctuations can be absorbed by the correction time to improve the reproducibility of the process, as in Example 1 described above.

<Comparison with Conventional Example> Reference is made to the time chart of FIG. 5 comparing the conventional example with the embodiment (Example 1). This is part of the same recipe as in Example 1 above, which is shown by the double-dashed line.

In the conventional example, step S is performed at times t0 to t1.
30 is executed, and the processing in the pure water cleaning processing section 21 is completed at time t1, so the processing completion report R31 is sent to the computer 74 at this point. Receiving this, the computer 74 refers to the recipe and issues the preparation start command C31 of the drying processing unit 17 corresponding to the next processing to the sequencer 7
Give to 3. That is, the times t1 to t4 are waiting times. Step S31 is executed from time t4 to t5, and the preparation completion report R32 is performed at time t5 when the preparation of the drying processing unit 17 is completed. The computer 74 receiving this,
The transfer command C32 is issued at time t7, and the time t
Step S32 is executed from 8 to t9. And the third
At the time t9 when the conveyance by the conveyance mechanism 15 is completed, the conveyance completion report R33 is performed. Next, the computer 74 issues a process start command issue C33. This gives time t
While using the drying processing unit 17 as a resource in step S33 from 12 to t14, the time t12 to t
The branch resource is used in step S34 over 13.

In the conventional example which performs such an operation, it can be seen that the waiting time indicated by hatching occurs for each process, and the throughput is reduced. On the other hand,
According to the present invention shown by the chain double-dashed line, although the same processing is performed, the waiting time is suppressed by adopting the timetable method, and the processing is completed by T minutes earlier than the conventional example. . Further, since the fluctuation is absorbed by adding the correction time, the reproducibility of the process is also improved.

In the above description, for ease of understanding, only a part of the processing steps of the recipe has been described as an example for processing a single lot. The present invention is
This is applicable if the schedule is created in advance before the processing and then the actual processing is performed. However, when processing a plurality of lots in parallel, the following schedule creation method is preferable.

That is, when a plurality of lots are processed by a substrate processing apparatus having a plurality of processing units for processing a substrate, each lot is sequentially processed by each processing unit based on a recipe including a plurality of processing steps. In the method of creating a schedule for a substrate processing apparatus that determines the processing order of each lot for processing, after arranging the first processing step for any lot, the next processing step of each lot The processing step for the lot having the earliest scheduled end time in the processing step is arranged as the next processing step.

The processing steps in this method are, for example,
Processing in the pure water cleaning processing section 21 and the third transport mechanism 15
And the processing in the drying processing unit 17 and the like.

According to this method, it is possible to arrange the post-work of the previous processing step and the pre-work of the subsequent processing step in an overlapping manner by pre-scheduling, and to arrange the pre-processing of the process steps that can be arranged. By selecting and arranging the processing step of the lot whose processing step ends early as the next processing step, the time until the completion of the next processing step can be shortened. Therefore, since the processing unit of the substrate processing apparatus can be effectively used, the standby time can be suppressed and the operating rate can be improved.

[0054]

As is apparent from the above description, according to the first aspect of the invention, since the command issuance timing is advanced and the time table in which the correction time is added to the resource processing step is created in advance, It is possible to arrange the preparatory work for the processing step and the preceding processing step so as to overlap. Therefore, the waiting time can be suppressed or eliminated.

Further, when the processing is performed by the timetable method, the actual execution timing deviates from the timetable due to the delay of the communication time or the fluctuation of the execution time of the processing steps, but this is absorbed by the correction time. The processing steps after the correction time can be synchronized with the timetable. Therefore, the influence of fluctuation can be suppressed, and each processing step can be executed almost according to the timetable, so that the reproducibility of the process can be improved.

According to the second aspect of the invention, by adding the correction time for adjustment to the processing step having the allowable time, it is possible to perform the synchronization while suppressing the adverse effect on the process.

According to the third aspect of the present invention, by adding the correction time after the processing step related to the pure water cleaning, the processing steps after the pure water cleaning processing can be synchronized with the time table.

According to the invention described in claim 4, as a program, the same effect as in claim 1 can be obtained.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a plan view showing a schematic configuration of a substrate processing apparatus according to an embodiment.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing a schematic configuration of a substrate processing apparatus according to an embodiment.

FIG. 3 is a time chart showing a part of a time table of a schedule example.

FIG. 4 is a time chart showing a part of a time table of a schedule example.

FIG. 5 is a time chart compared with a conventional example.

[Explanation of symbols]

W ... Substrate 1 ... Cassette 11 ... First transport mechanism 13 ... Second transport mechanism 15 ... Third transport mechanism 17 ... Drying processing section 19 ... First processing unit 21 ... Pure water cleaning unit 23 ... Chemical processing section 25 ... First sub-transport mechanism 47 ... Second processing unit 49 ... Pure water cleaning unit 51 ... Chemical processing section 53 ... Second sub-transport mechanism 73… Sequencer (slave) 74 ... Computer (master) 75 ... Storage unit S1a ... Step (correction time)

   ─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continued front page    (72) Inventor Jun Kawai             4-chome Tenjin, which runs up to Teranouchi, Horikawa-dori, Kamigyo-ku, Kyoto             1 Kitamachi No. 1 Dai Nippon Screen Manufacturing Co., Ltd.             Inside the company (72) Inventor Kiyoshi Akao             4-chome Tenjin, which runs up to Teranouchi, Horikawa-dori, Kamigyo-ku, Kyoto             1 Kitamachi No. 1 Dai Nippon Screen Manufacturing Co., Ltd.             Inside the company (72) Inventor Osamu Horiguchi             4-chome Tenjin, which runs up to Teranouchi, Horikawa-dori, Kamigyo-ku, Kyoto             1 Kitamachi No. 1 Dai Nippon Screen Manufacturing Co., Ltd.             Inside the company F term (reference) 3B201 AA02 AA03 AB23 BB03 BB92                       BB93 CB15 CC01 CC11                 3C100 AA03 AA32 BB03 BB14 BB22                       BB31 CC02 EE06                 5F046 AA28

Claims (4)

[Claims] 1. A slave for controlling each resource, and a master for controlling this slave are provided to a board using each resource while performing communication including command issuance and a completion report corresponding to the command between them. In the method of creating and executing the schedule of the substrate processing apparatus that performs the processing, before the actual processing of the substrate is started, the use timing of each resource is created in advance as a timetable, and the communication delay time between the master and slave is estimated. When the command issuance timing related to the resource processing process is advanced, and the correction time is added to the resource processing process, the communication time and the resource processing process Deviation from the timetable due to the execution time is calculated using the correction time. A method of creating and executing a schedule of a substrate processing apparatus, which comprises adjusting. 2. The method of creating and executing a schedule for a substrate processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the correction time is added to a processing step having a permissible time during which a processed substrate can be put on standby. A method for creating and executing a schedule for a substrate processing apparatus, comprising: 3. The method of creating and executing a schedule for a substrate processing apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the resource processing step includes a pure water cleaning processing step, and a correction time is added after the pure water cleaning processing step. A method for creating and executing a schedule for a substrate processing apparatus, comprising: 4. A slave for controlling each resource and a master for controlling this slave are provided to a board using each resource while performing communication including a command issue and a completion report corresponding to the command between them. In the schedule creation / execution program of the substrate processing equipment that performs processing, the timing of using each resource is created in advance as a timetable before the actual processing of the board is performed, and the resource is created by considering the communication time between the master and slave. The command issuance timing related to the processing step of (1) is advanced, the correction time is added to the processing step of the resource, and when the processing is actually executed based on the time table, the communication time and the execution time of the processing step are The deviation from the resulting time table is adjusted using the correction time. A schedule creation / execution program for a substrate processing apparatus, which controls a computer as described above.