An optimization-simulation based scheduling framework for Semiconductor manufacturing systems

AGUIRRE, ADRIÁN MARCELO; BASAN, NATALIA; ZAMARRIPA, MIGUEL; MÉNDEZ, CARLOS ALBERTO; ESPUÑA, ANTONIO

Barcelona

Congreso; 12th Mediterranean Congress of Chemical Engineering; 2011

SEQUI, Fira Barcelona, Expoquimia

Automated Wet-Etch Station (AWS) is a complex operation daily performed in wafer fabrication processes in Semiconductor Manufacturing Systems. In this stage, wafer’s lots are automatically transferred across a predefined sequence of chemical and water baths, where deterministic exposure times and stringent storage policies must be guaranteed. Hence, automated material-handling devices, like robots, are used as shared resources for transferring lots between consecutive baths. In this work, a modelling, simulation and optimization-based tool is developed to validate, test and improve the daily operation of the AWS. To do this, a suitable combination of a discrete-event simulation model, developed in Arena simulation environment, Excel spreadsheets and a mixed integer linear programming formulation (MILP) for the slack time minimization, is proposed. The principal aim is to provide a highly dynamic and systematic methodology to reach alternatives feasible schedules of the entire process by minimizing the total residence time of wafer’s lots in the system.