Method for setting substrate-treatment time, and storage medium

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9389607-B2
Application number	US-201214122987-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jun 18, 2012
Priority date	Jun 24, 2011
Publication date	Jul 12, 2016
Grant date	Jul 12, 2016

Abstract

In a method for setting substrate-treatment time, substrate-treatment time is set by the following method. A predicted supply time of wafers of a following lot to a substrate processing apparatus is calculated based on a predicted plasma-treatment completion time of another substrate processing apparatus. A predicted plasma-treatment completion time of all of wafers of a present lot is calculated. A predicted idle time after the completion of the plasma treatment of all of the wafers of the present lot is calculated based on the predicted supply time of the following lot and the predicted plasma-treatment completion time of the present lot. If the predicted idle time is equal to or longer than the idle time required for dummy treatment, supplementary idle time is added between the plasma treatments of unprocessed wafers of the present lot.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method for setting substrate-treatment time in a substrate processing apparatus for performing predetermined treatment on substrates of a single lot one by one, the method comprising:
a first calculation step of calculating predicted supply time of a second lot to the substrate processing apparatus, the second lot being supplied to the substrate processing apparatus after a first lot including a substrate that is currently subjected to the predetermined treatment in the substrate processing apparatus;
a second calculation step of calculating predicted completion time of the predetermined treatment of all of the substrates of the first lot;
a third calculation step of calculating predicted standby time after the completion of the predetermined treatment of all the substrates of the first lot in the substrate processing apparatus based on the calculated predicted supply time and the calculated predicted completion time;
a determination step of determining whether or not the calculated predicted standby time is longer than a reference standby time required for dummy treatment; and
an additional setting step of additionally setting, when the calculated predicted standby time longer than the reference standby time, supplementary standby time between the predetermined treatments of unprocessed substrates of the first lot.

2. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
another determination step of determining, in the case where the supplementary standby time is additionally set in the additional setting step, whether or not another standby time after the completion of the predetermined treatment of all the substrates of the first lot is longer than the reference standby time; and
a deletion step of deleting, when said another standby time is longer than the reference standby time, the additionally set supplementary standby time.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein each supplementary standby time has the same length.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein when another predetermined treatment of a first substrate of the second lot is completed in another substrate processing apparatus, a predicted supply time of the second lot to the substrate processing apparatus is calculated by executing the first calculation step.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein the supplementary standby time is shorter than the reference standby time.

6. A non-transitory computer readable storage medium storing a program for executing in a computer a method for setting substrate-treatment time in a substrate processing apparatus for performing predetermined treatment on substrates of a single lot one by one,
wherein the method for setting substrate-treatment time comprises:
a first calculation step of calculating predicted supply time of a second lot to the substrate processing apparatus, the second lot being supplied to the substrate processing apparatus after a first lot including a substrate that is currently subjected to the predetermined treatment in the substrate processing apparatus;
a second calculation step of calculating predicted completion time of the predetermined treatment of all of the substrates of the first lot;
a third calculation step of calculating predicted standby time after the completion of the predetermined treatment of all the substrates of the first lot in the substrate processing apparatus based on the calculated predicted supply time and the calculated predicted completion time;
a determination step of determining whether or not the calculated predicted standby time longer than a reference standby time required for dummy treatment; and
an additional setting step of additionally setting, when the calculated predicted standby time is equal to or longer than the reference standby time, supplementary standby time between the predetermined treatments of unprocessed substrates of the first lot.

7. The storage medium of claim 6 , wherein the method for setting substrate-treatment time further includes:
another determining step of determining, in the case where the supplementary standby time is set in the additional setting step, whether or not another standby time after the completion of the predetermined treatment of all the substrates of the first lot is longer than the reference standby time; and
a deletion step of deleting, when said another standby time is longer than the reference standby time, the additionally set supplementary standby time.

Assignees

• Wakabayashi Shinji
• Tokyo Electron Ltd

Inventors

• Wakabayashi Shinji

Classifications

• Y02P90/20

  Cross-Sectional Technologies · mapped topic

• G05B2219/31429

  Predict end of job execution, schedule new job beforehand · CPC title

• G05B2219/45031

  Manufacturing semiconductor wafers · CPC title

• G05B19/41865 Primary

  characterised by job scheduling, process planning, material flow · CPC title

• H10P72/0612 Primary

  Production flow monitoring, e.g. for increasing throughput · CPC title