JPH10135096A - Scheduling method in semiconductor manufacture - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a scheduling method in semiconductor manufacture, which can reduce the variation of quantity of works in process at respective processing steps and can stabilize the work-in-process balance of an overall manufacture factory. SOLUTION: The scheduling method is to execute scheduling simulation by a scheduler simulator 300, based on various information given from a production control system 100. A processing for using a processing step order determination/number-of-processing lots determination part by individual apparatus 200 is executed between the production control system 100 and the scheduler simulator 300. The processing is to write (202) start time and work-in-process information 103 from the production control system 100, to decide (203) the order of the processing steps after schedule start time, based on the write content and to determine (204) how many lots are to be processed in each processing step.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a scheduling method in semiconductor manufacturing, and more particularly to a scheduling method in semiconductor manufacturing for leveling the amount of work in process.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art A scheduling method in a manufacturing department is generally constructed using a production management system and a scheduler simulator. Here, the above-mentioned production management system is configured based on (a) an apparatus operation state information section, (b) an apparatus reservation state information section, (c) an in-process information section, and (d) a scheduler / simulation result display section. You.

The device operating status information section indicates the operating status of all the manufacturing devices in the semiconductor manufacturing plant, and indicates whether the device is in operation, in failure, in maintenance, or in non-operation (lot waiting). The apparatus reservation status information section is information indicating a fixed lot processing schedule and a maintenance schedule including all the manufacturing apparatuses in the semiconductor manufacturing factory that are operating after the current time.

[0004] The in-process information section is information indicating the progress of the process including the process of the type-specific apparatus at the current time of all lots present in the semiconductor manufacturing plant. Further, the scheduler / simulation result display section is information for displaying a result obtained by the scheduler / simulator.

[0005] The scheduler simulator includes: (i) schedule start time information;
Lot processing order / processing lot number information for each manufacturing apparatus for simulation, and (iii) a scheduling / simulation execution unit. Here, the schedule start time information indicates the scheduled completion time of all states during operation, maintenance, and failure of all the manufacturing apparatuses in the semiconductor manufacturing plant, or the scheduled processing lot, and the scheduled completion time of the maintenance schedule. After the time, the scheduler simulator is created. In addition, the lot processing order and the number of processed lots for each manufacturing device for scheduling / simulation are processed in the order in which the devices are processed, and when there are many front processes, lots of the same type are continuously processed. Furthermore,
The scheduling / simulation execution unit is a basic function of commercially available software, and executes the scheduling / simulation in the order indicated by the information (ii).

[0006]

However, in the above-mentioned conventional example, in the scheduler / simulator, in order of the lot processing order and the number of processing lots for each manufacturing apparatus for scheduling / simulation, the front-end work in-process lots (before and after the scheduling target processing step) are processed. Without evaluating the work-in-progress balance), the number of processing lots is not determined for each processing step.
The work-in-progress balance of the entire semiconductor manufacturing plant was unstable.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made in consideration of the above problems, and has as its object to provide a scheduling method in semiconductor manufacturing that can reduce the variation in the amount of work in process and stabilize the balance of work in the entire manufacturing plant. I have.

[0008]

According to a first aspect of the present invention, there is provided a method for realizing the object of the present invention, wherein apparatus operation state information, apparatus reservation state information and in-process information provided from a production management system are provided. In a scheduling method in semiconductor manufacturing, wherein a scheduling simulation is executed by a scheduler simulator based on a scheduler simulator, a schedule start time for each device is determined based on the device operation status information and device reservation status information, and the in-process information is determined based on the determined value. Based on the written contents, the order of the processing steps after the schedule start time in each manufacturing apparatus for all the manufacturing apparatuses in the semiconductor manufacturing factory is determined, and the number of lots of each processing step based on this determination is determined. Decide whether to process and send this result to the scheduler simulator In the Azukasuru way.

According to this method, a work-in-process front lot (work-in-progress balance) before and after a process to be scheduled is evaluated based on information from a scheduler / simulator, and a process process order for each device is determined based on the evaluation. The number of processing lots is determined for each processing step. Therefore, variation in the amount of work in process is reduced,
The work-in-process balance of the entire semiconductor manufacturing plant is stabilized.

[0010] In a specific method for realizing the object of the invention according to the present application, the determination of the processing step order is a step in which the apparatus to be scheduled can process, and the schedule start time is determined. A process in which the immediately preceding process exceeds the processable process and the number of process front-side processes of the process exceeds the minimum number of lots in each process is defined as a process to be scheduled. Number) ≧ (number of in-process front-end processes), and the process is set in descending order of the calculated value.

According to this method, the processing step to be scheduled is determined by comparing the processing step immediately before the schedule start time with the processable step and comparing the processing step on the front side of the processing apparatus with the minimum number of each processing step. The processing order is determined by comparing the number of front-end processes in the processing step with the number of front-end processes in the next process. Therefore, the order of the processing steps can be determined by a simple method.

A specific method for realizing the object of the invention according to the present application is as described in claim 3, wherein the determination of the number of processing lots is performed when the number of in-process front-end processes exceeds the minimum number of in-process lots. Set the process to the maximum number of work in process lots,
When the front-end work of the processing step is smaller than the maximum number of work-in-process lots, the front-end work of the processing step is set to the number of processed lots.

According to this method, the number of processing lots is calculated based on a comparison between the in-process in-process of the processing step and the minimum number of in-process lots. Therefore, the order of the processing steps can be determined by a simple method.

[0014]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the steps of a scheduling method in semiconductor manufacturing according to the present invention.

The scheduling method according to the present invention includes a production management system 100, a process processing order determining / processing lot number determining unit 200 for each device, a scheduler simulator 30.
It consists of three parts of zero.

The production management system 100 includes an apparatus operating state information section 101, an apparatus reservation state information section 102, a work in progress information section 103, and a scheduling / simulation result display section 104. The device operation state information unit 101 includes:
Information on the operation status of all manufacturing equipment in a semiconductor manufacturing plant.
It indicates which state of non-operation (lot waiting). The apparatus reservation status information section 102 is information indicating a fixed lot processing schedule and a maintenance schedule including all the manufacturing apparatuses in the semiconductor manufacturing factory that are operating after the current time. Further, the in-process information unit 103 is information indicating the progress of the process including the process of the type-specific apparatus at the current time of all lots present in the semiconductor manufacturing factory. Furthermore,
The scheduler / simulation result display unit 104
This is information for displaying the result obtained by the scheduler simulator.

Further, the apparatus-specific process processing order determining / processing lot number determining unit 200 is a feature of the present invention. The apparatus-specific schedule start time determining unit 201, the in-process information writing unit 202, the apparatus-specific process processing order determining unit 203, and a processing lot number determination unit 204. The apparatus-specific schedule start time determination unit 201 is related to the scheduled completion time or scheduled processing time of all states during operation, failure, and maintenance of all the manufacturing apparatuses in the semiconductor manufacturing plant, and scheduled completion time of the maintenance schedule. Schedules after that time are created. The in-process information writing unit 202
The in-process information unit 103 is processed by the device-specific process processing order determination unit 203 and thereafter, and is used for writing on a database for use.

Further, the apparatus-specific step processing order determining unit 203
The order of the processing steps after the schedule start time in each manufacturing apparatus for all the manufacturing apparatuses in the semiconductor manufacturing factory is determined. More specifically, a process that can be performed by the device to be scheduled is extracted for the device to be scheduled. Next, it is checked whether or not the extracted process matches the processing process immediately before the schedule start time, and only the process that does not match is checked. Further, for all the processable processes satisfying the above conditions, the in-process front device of the process is M
Check whether it is more than the number of in lots. A process that satisfies all of the above conditions is a processing step to be scheduled. Here, the process balance of the entire semiconductor manufacturing factory is taken into consideration for the processing steps to be scheduled,
Evaluate the number of front-end in-process lots of the front-end process of the processing process to be scheduled and the front-end in-process of the next process of the process.
That is, it is assumed that the process processing is performed in ascending order of “the number of processes in front of the process step−the number of processes in front of the next process”.

Further, the processing lot number determining unit 204 indicates that for each processing step determined by the apparatus-specific process processing order determining unit 203, how many lots of the process are to be processed is determined. Specifically, for a processing step in which the front-end work of the processing step is equal to or greater than the Max work-in-process lot number,
The ax value is set to the number of processing lots. If the front in process of the processing step is less than the Max in process lot number, the front in process of the processing step at that time is set to the processing lot number.

Next, the scheduler simulator 300
Is composed of a schedule start time determination unit 301, a lot processing order / processing lot number information unit 302 by manufacturing apparatus for scheduling / simulation, and a scheduling / simulation execution unit 303.

Here, schedule start time information 301
Indicates the scheduled completion time of all states during operation, maintenance, and failure of all the manufacturing equipment in the semiconductor manufacturing factory, or the scheduled processing lot, and the scheduled completion time of the maintenance schedule,
After that time, a scheduler simulator is created. In addition, a lot processing order / processing lot number information section 302 for each manufacturing apparatus for scheduling / simulation.
Holds information on the order of processing steps for each manufacturing apparatus for scheduling / simulation and the number of lots obtained by the apparatus-specific process processing order determining unit 203 and the processing lot number determining unit 204. Further, the scheduling / simulation execution unit 303 is a basic function of commercially available software. The scheduling / simulation execution unit 303 performs processing in the order in which the devices are in process, and when there are many front processes, processes the number of lots of the same type process continuously. .

FIG. 2 shows details of the processing of the apparatus-specific process order determining section 203 in FIG. 1, and FIG. 3 shows details of the processing of the processing lot number determining section 204. In the following, “S” means a step.

In FIG. 2, a process-by-apparatus process order determining unit 2
When the process of S03 starts (S203a), first, a device to be scheduled is extracted (S203b), and it is checked whether or not the process is a process that can be performed by the device (S203c), and a process that can be performed by the device is extracted. (S203d). Next, it is checked whether or not the process matches the process immediately before the schedule start time (S203e), and only the process that does not match is targeted.

Next, for all the processable processes satisfying the above conditions, the process device front-end process is performed by each process process Min.
It is checked whether the number of (minimum) lots is exceeded (S20).
3f) Only the process that satisfies all of the above conditions becomes the schedule-targeted process (S203g). If the condition is not satisfied in the middle, the process is extracted and re-executed. Here, for the process to be scheduled, the number of in-process work lots on the front side of the process of the process to be scheduled and the in-process work on the front side of the process are evaluated in consideration of the work-in-process balance of the entire semiconductor manufacturing plant. The number of processes in the process and the number of front processes in the next process are small, that is, “the number of front process in process−the number of front process in the next process” is determined (S203h), and the process is executed in descending order of this value (S203i). This procedure is executed until the scheduling of all the manufacturing apparatuses is completed (S203j).
When the scheduling of all the manufacturing devices is completed, the process of the device-specific process order determining unit 203 ends (S203).
k).

Next, the processing of the processing lot number determination unit 204 will be described with reference to FIG.

When the processing is started (S204a), a comparison is made between the front-end work of the processing step and the number of Max (maximum) work-in-process lots (the front-end work of the processing step ≧ Max work-in-process lot number) (S204b). When it is determined that “the front-end work of the processing step> Max number of work-in-process lots”, the processing step is set to Max.
The number of in-process lots is set (S204c), and the process ends (S204c).
204d). On the other hand, when it is determined in S204b that “the front-end work of the processing step <Max work-in-process lot number”, the front-end work of the processing step is set to the processing lot number (S204e), and the processing is ended (S204f).

Tables 1 and 2 show the amount of work in process at a specific time for each device process. These show the result of writing the in-process information unit 103 by the device-specific process processing order determining unit 203, and are edited into the format shown in Table 1 when the device-specific process processing order determining unit 203 determines the order. Then, the in-process work lot (work-in-progress) before and after the schedule-targeted process is evaluated, and is used to determine a process process order for each device.
Specifically, the steps that can be processed by the manufacturing apparatus A include the steps a,
Step d, Step i, and Step m are four steps. The number of in-process lots in these four processes is 15 lots in process a, 4 lots in process d, 18 lots in process i, and 9 lots in process m. The number of in-process lots for the next process is 3 lots for process a, and
Are 6 lots, step i is 12 lots, and step m is 5 lots. Here, it is assumed that the front-end work in the above four steps exceeds the Min value, and the value of X is calculated.
Step d is 2, step i is 6, step m is 4, and step a →
Processing is performed in the order of step i → step m → step d. In addition, the manufacturing apparatus B is similarly processed, and becomes as shown in Table 2.

[0028]

[Table 1]

[0029]

[Table 2] Table 3 shows Min value-Max value for each process. Min
The -Max value is a value given in advance, and when the number of processes in front of the process is Min or less, the process is not a scheduled process. If the number of processes in front of the process is equal to or greater than Max, the value (Max value) is set as the number of processed lots in the process.

[0030]

[Table 3]

[0031]

As described above, according to the first aspect of the present invention, the schedule start time for each device is determined based on the device operation status information and the device reservation status information provided from the production management system. The in-process information is written based on the value, and the order of the processing steps after the schedule start time in each manufacturing apparatus for all the manufacturing apparatuses in the semiconductor manufacturing factory is determined based on the written contents. Since the number of lots to be processed is determined and the result is provided to the scheduler / simulator, the variation in the amount of work in process is reduced, and the balance of the work in the entire semiconductor manufacturing plant is stabilized. I do.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, an apparatus to be scheduled is a process that can be processed, the processing step immediately before the schedule start time exceeds the processable step, and the front processing step of the apparatus is the minimum lot number of each processing step. The number of processing steps to be scheduled is set as the processing step to be scheduled, and (the number of front-end processing steps) ≧ (the number of front-end processing steps) is calculated for all corresponding steps, and the step processing is performed in descending order of the calculated value. Since the order of the processing steps is determined, the order of the processing steps can be determined by a simple method.

According to the third aspect of the present invention, when the in-process in-process exceeds the minimum number of in-process lots, the process is set to the maximum number of in-process lots. On the other hand, when the in-process in-process lower than the maximum number of in-process lots. Since the number of processing lots is determined by setting the number of processing lots to the number of processing lots in front of the processing steps, the order of processing steps can be determined by a simple method.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing steps of a scheduling method in semiconductor manufacturing according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a flowchart showing details of processing of an apparatus-specific process processing order determination unit in FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing details of processing by a processing lot number determination unit in FIG. 1;

[Explanation of symbols]

 REFERENCE SIGNS LIST 100 Production management system 101 Device operation status information unit 102 Device reservation status information unit 103 Work-in-process information unit 200 Device-based process processing order / processing lot number determination unit 201 Device-based schedule start time determination unit 202 Work-in-process information writing unit 203 Device-based process Processing order determination unit 203 Processing lot number determination unit 300 Scheduler / simulator 301 Schedule start time determination unit 303 Scheduling / simulation execution unit

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. A scheduler / simulator for scheduling / scheduling based on equipment operation status information, equipment reservation status information and in-process information provided from a production management system.
In a scheduling method in semiconductor manufacturing for executing a simulation, a schedule start time for each device is determined based on the device operation state information and the device reservation status information, and the in-process information is written based on the determined value, and Based on this, the order of the processing steps after the schedule start time in each manufacturing apparatus for all the manufacturing apparatuses in the semiconductor manufacturing factory is determined, and how many lots of each processing step are processed by this determination is determined. The result is
A scheduling method in semiconductor manufacturing, which is provided to a simulator. 2. The processing step order is determined in such a manner that the apparatus to be scheduled is a processing-possible step, the processing step immediately before the schedule start time exceeds the processing-possible step, and the apparatus front-side processing step of the processing step is a processing step. Processes exceeding the process minimum lot number are set as process processes to be scheduled. For all the applicable processes, (number of processes in front of process) ≧ (number of front processes in next process) is calculated, and process processes are performed in descending order of the calculated value. 2. The scheduling method according to claim 1, wherein the setting is performed. 3. The number of processing lots is determined when the in-process front of the processing step exceeds the minimum number of in-process lots, the processing step is set to the maximum number of in-process lots, while when the in-process front of the processing step falls below the maximum number of in-process lots. 2. A scheduling method in semiconductor manufacturing according to claim 1, wherein the front-end work of the processing step is set to the number of processing lots.