Semiconductor manufacturing apparatus, failure prediction method for semiconductor manufacturing apparatus, and failure prediction program for semiconductor manufacturing apparatus

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11315812-B2
Application number	US-201815945487-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Apr 4, 2018
Priority date	Apr 5, 2017
Publication date	Apr 26, 2022
Grant date	Apr 26, 2022

Abstract

Provided is a semiconductor manufacturing apparatus, comprising: a first device; one or more sensors that detect physical quantities indicating a state of the first device; a first calculation circuit that calculates one or more feature quantities of the first device from the detected physical quantities; and a failure prediction circuit that monitors a temporal change in the one or more feature quantities calculated in the first calculation circuit, and stops receiving a new substrate when a duration for which a degree of deviation of the one or more feature quantities from those at a normal time is increasing exceeds a first time, and/or when a number of increases and decreases per unit time in the degree of deviation of the one or more feature quantities from those at the normal time exceeds a first number.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A semiconductor manufacturing apparatus, comprising:
a first device;
one or more sensors that detect physical quantities indicating a state of the first device;
a first calculation circuit that calculates one or more feature quantities of the first device from the detected physical quantities; and
a second circuit that monitors a temporal change in the one or more feature quantities calculated in the first calculation circuit, and stops receiving a new substrate when a duration for which a degree of deviation of the one or more feature quantities from those at a normal time is increasing exceeds a first time, and/or when a number of increases and decreases per unit time in the degree of deviation of the one or more feature quantities from those at the normal time exceeds a first number, wherein
the first device is a motor, and
the physical quantities include at least one of a load factor, vibration, sound, and a temperature of the motor.

2. The semiconductor manufacturing apparatus according to claim 1 , further comprising
an identification circuit that evaluates the one or more measured feature quantities of the first device based on a set of the one or more feature quantities at the normal time of the first device, to determine whether the first device is normal or abnormal,
wherein a process of the second circuit is performed when the identification circuit determines that the first device is abnormal.

3. The semiconductor manufacturing apparatus according to claim 2 ,
wherein a determination reference of the identification circuit is updated by adding a set of the one or more feature quantities at the normal time and using accumulated sets of the one or more feature quantities at the normal time.

4. The semiconductor manufacturing apparatus according to claim 1 ,
wherein the feature quantities include at least one of the load factor, the vibration, a waveform amplitude of the sound, an inclination of an asymptote, a frequency spectrum, an overall value, an average value of a waveform peak distribution, and a standard deviation.

5. The semiconductor manufacturing apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein
the first device is a motor for driving a paddle, and
the feature quantities include at least one of a shift amplitude, a shift rate, a shift acceleration, and an inclination of a shaft of the paddle.

6. A method for a semiconductor manufacturing apparatus, the method comprising:
monitoring a temporal change in one or more feature quantities of a first device included in the semiconductor manufacturing apparatus; and
stopping reception of a new substrate when a duration for which a degree of deviation of the one or more feature quantities from those at a normal time is increasing exceeds a first time, and/or when a number of increases and decreases per unit time in the degree of deviation of the one or more feature quantities from those at the normal time exceeds a first number, wherein
the first device is a motor, and
the physical quantities include at least one of a load factor, vibration, sound, and a temperature of the motor.

7. A management system for a first device of a semiconductor manufacturing apparatus installed in a semiconductor factory, wherein
the management system performs a method for the semiconductor manufacturing apparatus according to claim 6 , and
the management system generates an order command signal of the first device before the duration for which the degree of deviation increases reaches the first time, or the number of increases and decreases per unit time in the degree of deviation reaches the first number, and the management system transmits the order command signal from the semiconductor factory to a support center.

8. A storage medium that stores a program for causing a computer to perform actions for a semiconductor manufacturing apparatus, the actions including
monitoring a temporal change in one or more feature quantities of a first device included in the semiconductor manufacturing apparatus, and
stopping reception of a new substrate when a duration for which a degree of deviation of the one or more feature quantities from those at a normal time exceeds a first time, and/or when a number of increases and decreases per unit time in the degree of deviation of the one or more feature quantities from those at the normal time exceeds a first number, wherein
the first device is a motor, and
the physical quantities include at least one of a load factor, vibration, sound, and a temperature of the motor.

9. A semiconductor manufacturing apparatus, comprising:
a first device;
one or more sensors that detect physical quantities indicating a state of the first device;
a first calculation circuit that calculates one or more feature quantities of the first device from the detected physical quantities; and
a second circuit that monitors a temporal change in the one or more feature quantities calculated in the first calculation circuit, and stops receiving a new substrate when a duration for which a degree of deviation of the one or more feature quantities from those at a normal time is increasing exceeds a first time, and/or when a number of increases and decreases per unit time in the degree of deviation of the one or more feature quantities from those at the normal time exceeds a first number, wherein
the first device is a sensor, and
the feature quantities include at least one of a detection delay time, a number of chatterings, and a chattering duration time of the sensor.

10. A method for a semiconductor manufacturing apparatus, the method comprising:
monitoring a temporal change in one or more feature quantities of a first device included in the semiconductor manufacturing apparatus; and
stopping reception of a new substrate when a duration for which a degree of deviation of the one or more feature quantities from those at a normal time is increasing exceeds a first time, and/or when a number of increases and decreases per unit time in the degree of deviation of the one or more feature quantities from those at the normal time exceeds a first number wherein
the first device is a sensor, and
the feature quantities include at least one of a detection delay time, a number of chatterings, and a chattering duration time of the sensor.

11. A storage medium that stores a program for causing a computer to perform actions for a semiconductor manufacturing apparatus, the actions including
monitoring a temporal change in one or more feature quantities of a first device included in the semiconductor manufacturing apparatus, and
stopping reception of a new substrate when a duration for which a degree of deviation of the one or more feature quantities from those at a normal time exceeds a first time, and/or when a number of increases and decreases per unit time in the degree of deviation of the one or more feature quantities from those at the normal time exceeds a first number, wherein
the first device is a sensor, and
the feature quantities include at least one of a detection delay time, a number of chatterings, and a chattering duration time of the sensor.

Assignees

• Ebara Corp

Inventors

• Fujikata Jumpei
• Araki Yuji
• Sato Tensei
• Koizumi Ryuya

Classifications

• H10P72/7602

  the wafers being placed on a robot blade or gripped by a gripper for conveyance · CPC title

• H10P72/3308

  Vertical transfer of a single workpiece · CPC title

• H10P72/0616

  Monitoring of warpages, curvatures, damages, defects or the like · CPC title

• H10P72/0426

  with the semiconductor substrates being dipped in baths or vessels · CPC title

• H10P72/0416

  with the semiconductor substrates being dipped in baths or vessels · CPC title