How to Respond to Process Module Failure in Residency Time-Constrained Single-Arm Cluster Tools

Qiao, Yan; Wu, Naiqi; Pan, Chunrong; Zhou, MengChu

doi:10.1109/tsm.2014.2340858

Cited by 34 publications

(7 citation statements)

References 51 publications

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“…In practice, the PMs in cluster tools are prone to failure [27,28]. Such a PM failure may result in a deadlock such that the WRTCs in PMs are violated.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Scheduling of Single-Arm Cluster Tools with Residency Time Constraints and Chamber Cleaning Operations

Qiao

Zhang

et al. 2021

Applied Sciences

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To ensure wafer quality, engineers have to impose wafer residency time constraints and chamber cleaning operations on cluster tools; this has been widely used in semiconductor manufacturing. Wafer residency time constraints and chamber cleaning operations make the scheduling problem of cluster tools more challenging. This work aims to solve such a scheduling problem for single-arm cluster tools and presents a novel method based on the use of virtual wafers. Under a one-cyclic schedule obtained for single-arm cluster tools without chamber cleaning requirements, virtual wafers are loaded into the tool such that when a process module (PM) processes virtual wafers, a chamber cleaning operation is performed in practice. The key to solve this scheduling problem is to find a wafer loading sequence with the highest performance in terms of cycle time. With this idea, this work constructs a genetic algorithm to search for such a solution. Since the obtained solution is a periodical wafer loading sequence based on a one-wafer cyclic schedule, it can be easily implemented. Therefore, this work has high practical value to numerous semiconductor manufacturers. Experiments were performed to show the efficiency and effectiveness of the proposed method.

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“…In practice, the PMs in cluster tools are prone to failure [27,28]. Such a PM failure may result in a deadlock such that the WRTCs in PMs are violated.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Scheduling of Single-Arm Cluster Tools with Residency Time Constraints and Chamber Cleaning Operations

Qiao

Zhang

et al. 2021

Applied Sciences

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“…Extending the proposed optimization algorithm to close-down transient scheduling for dual-arm cluster tools and satisfy wafer residency constraint is one of our future studies. Doing so for the transient processes caused by disruptive events and faults [25], [26], [31], [51]- [66] is another challenge.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Scheduling and Analysis of Start-Up Transient Processes for Dual-Arm Cluster Tools With Wafer Revisiting

Pan

Qiao

Zhou

et al. 2015

IEEE Trans. Semicond. Manufact.

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The trends of increasing wafer diameter and smaller lot sizes have led to more transient periods in wafer fabrication. For some wafer fabrication processes, such as atomic layer deposition, wafers need to visit some process modules for a number of times, instead of once, thus leading to a so-called revisiting process. Most previous studies on cluster tool scheduling focus on steady state at which cluster tools repeat identical cycles. Research on transient processes of dual-arm cluster tools with wafer revisiting processes becomes urgently needed for high-performance wafer fabrication. In order to speed up start-up transient processes, this paper adopts a program evaluation and review technique for the analysis of start-up transient processes and develops optimization algorithms for their scheduling of dual-arm cluster tools. Then, their complexity is analyzed. Finally, illustrative examples are given to show the applications of the proposed method.

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“…Unlike the researched AMSs (Banaszak and Krogh, 1990;Ezpeleta et al, 1995;Fanti and Zhou, 2004;Hsieh, 2006;Hu, 2011;Liu et al, 2014;Qiao et al, 2014Qiao et al, , 2015Wu, 1999;Wu et al, 2008;Wu and Zhou, 2001, 2005, 2007Wu et al, 2016;Xing et al, 2009), in which each unit of each type of resource is a robot or machine, each type of resource in our system is a workstation that consists of a server and several buffer spaces.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…There are many research studies on control and response policies for AMSs with unreliable resources (Chew and Lawley, 2006;Chew et al, 2009Chew et al, , 2011Hsieh, 2006;Lawley, 2002;Lawley and Sulistyono, 2002;Park and Lim, 1999;Qiao et al, 2014Qiao et al, , 2015Wang et al, 2008;Wang et al, 2016;Wu et al, 2016;Wu and Zhou, 2011;. Hsieh (2006) analysed the robustness of AMSs with assembly processes and unreliable resources based on controlled assembly PNs.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Hsieh (2006) analysed the robustness of AMSs with assembly processes and unreliable resources based on controlled assembly PNs. Qiao et al (2014) applied PNs to describe the dynamic behaviour of a single-arm cluster tool with failure-prone process modules. With the developed PN model, they formulated failure response policies to control the cluster tool such that it may keep working without violating any residency time constraint.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Robust supervisory control policy for automated manufacturing systems with a single unreliable resource

Luo

Xing

2016

Transactions of the Institute of Measurement and Control

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Over the past two decades, the development of supervisory controllers that guarantee deadlock-free operation for automated manufacturing systems (AMSs) has been an active area of research. Most work to date assumes that the system resources are reliable. This paper focuses on the robust supervisory control problem of AMSs with a single unreliable resource. Our objective is to develop a robust supervisory control policy under which the system can continue producing in the face of the unreliable resource’s failure or recovery. To do so, we integrate an optimal deadlock avoidance policy based on a Petri net with a modified Banker’s Algorithm and present a novel robust supervisory control policy. It is proven to be of polynomial complexity and more permissive than two existing policies. Also, experimental results on a set of AMSs generated randomly indicate its superiority over all other existing policies.

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How to Respond to Process Module Failure in Residency Time-Constrained Single-Arm Cluster Tools

Cited by 34 publications

References 51 publications

Scheduling of Single-Arm Cluster Tools with Residency Time Constraints and Chamber Cleaning Operations

Scheduling of Single-Arm Cluster Tools with Residency Time Constraints and Chamber Cleaning Operations

Scheduling and Analysis of Start-Up Transient Processes for Dual-Arm Cluster Tools With Wafer Revisiting

Robust supervisory control policy for automated manufacturing systems with a single unreliable resource

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