A rigorous mathematical formulation to Automated Wet-Etch Station scheduling with multiple material-handling robots in Semiconductor Manufacturing Systems

AGUIRRE, ADRIÁN MARCELO; MÉNDEZ, CARLOS ALBERTO; CASTRO, PEDRO M.

Chalkidiki

Simposio; 21st European Symposium on Computer-Aided Process Engineering - ESCAPE21; 2011

E.N. Pistikopoulos; M.C. Gerorgiadis; A.C. Kokossis

Track systems have been increasingly utilized in many different stages in theSemiconductor Industry. Most of the manufacturing processes, particularly thoseexecuted in the wafer fabrication, require these transportation devices to perform thetransfers of wafers lots through several process steps. Since these process steps onlyproduce one lot at a time in a single bath, the number of transfer operations betweenconsecutive baths increases drastically with the number of steps and lots in the system.Therefore, the problem to be tackled in this work aims at finding the efficient structureand operation strategy of a particular track system working in an Automated Wet-EtchStation (AWS). A rigorous mathematical formulation (MILP) for the simultaneousscheduling and design of the AWS is developed in order to minimize the residence timeof wafer lots in the system, providing at the same time a better utilization of track’sresources.