Managing a semiconductor fabrication facility using wafer lot and cassette attributes
US6449522B1 · kind B1 · utility
Assignee
Inventors
Key dates
| Filing date | Nov 17, 1998 |
| Grant date | Sep 10, 2002 |
| Priority date | — |
| Expiry date | Nov 17, 2018 |
Classification
- Technology area (CPC Y)Emerging Cross-Sectional Technologies
- CPC primaryY10S414/14
- WIPO fieldSemiconductors
- WIPO sectorElectrical engineering
Abstract
Systems and methods for managing automated material handling systems, such as semiconductor fabrication facilities, using material item (e.g., wafer lot) attributes and cassette attributes are provided. A semiconductor fabrication facility typically includes multiple wafer lots and multiple cassettes for storing the wafer lots. A system and method, in one embodiment of the invention, includes setting one or more lot attributes for each wafer lot, setting one or more cassette attributes for each cassette, and selecting a particular cassette for holding a particular wafer lot based on the one or more wafer lot attributes of the particular wafer lot and the one or more cassette attributes of the particular cassette. The wafer lot and cassette attributes may, for example, include an attribute identifying a position in a fabrication sequence and one or more attributes indicative of one or more contaminants. By selecting cassettes in this manner, wafer lots and cassettes may, for example, be classified or logically zoned.
Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.