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US 11,507,067 B2Granted
System and method for dispatching lot
AssigneeTaiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company, Ltd.
InventorsRen-Chyi You, An-Wei Peng, Chang-Zong Liu, Yuang-Tsung Chen
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Abstract
A method is disclosed that includes the operations below: determining, by a processing unit, that arrival times of a lot arrived at N process stages are less than processing times of the lot predetermined to be processed at the N process stages, N being a positive integer; comparing, by the processing unit, idle times of multiple tools in the N process stages; and processing the lot with a first tool of the tools at each one of the N process stages, wherein the first tool of the tools has a shortest idle time.
Claims20
A method, comprising:
- when a lot is processed at a first process stages of N process stages that are for the lot, before dispatching the lot to a second stage, following the first process stage, of the N process stages,
- determining, by a process unit, whether an arrival time of the lot arrived at each of the second to an N-th process stage is less than a corresponding process time of the lot predetermined to be processed at a corresponding process stage;
- in response to the determination, when the arrival times of the lot arrived at the second to the N-th process stages are less than the corresponding processing times of the lot at the corresponding process stages, comparing, by the processing unit, idle times of a plurality of tools in each one of the N process stages;
- and
- processing the lot with a first tool of the plurality of tools at each one of the N process stages, wherein the first tool of the plurality of tools has a shortest idle time.
2 more elements
A system, comprising:
- a plurality of tools in a plurality of process stages including N process stages, wherein the plurality of tools are configured to process a lot;
- and
- a processing unit configured to assign an idle tool of the plurality of tools in each of the plurality of the process stages,
- wherein when a first arrival time of the lot arrived at a first stage of the plurality of process stages is less than a first processing time of the lot predetermined to be processed at the first stage, the processing unit is further configured to dispatch the lot to the first stage,
- wherein when first and second tools of the plurality of tools in the first stage of the process stages are idle as the lot arrives at the first stage, the processing unit is further configured to assign, according to a shortest idle time of the first and second tools, the first tool in the plurality of tools to process the lot;
- wherein when the lot is at the first stage and a M-th arrival time of the lot arrived at a M-th process stage of the N process stages is greater than a M-th processing time of the lot predetermined to be processed at the M-th process stage, the processing unit is further configured to determine that a number (M−1) of the N process stages to which the lot is able to be pre-dispatched, wherein N and M are positive integers.
3 more elements
A non-transitory computer readable medium for performing a method, the method comprising:
- when a super hot run is processed at an initial stage of N process stages for the super hot run, determining by a processing unit a number M of the process stages, in the N process stages, to which the super hot run is able to be pre-dispatched, wherein N and M are positive integers,
- wherein when an arrival time of the super hot run arrived at one of the N process stages is greater than a corresponding processing time of the super hot run predetermined to be processed at the one of the N process stages, M is less than N;
- after determining the number M of the process stages, determining, by the processing unit, whether a plurality of tools are idle when the super hot run arrives at each of the N process stages;
- in response to determining, comparing a first idle time of a first tool with a second idle time of a second tool in the plurality of tools before the super hot run arrives;
- and
- when the first idle time is shorter than the second idle time, assigning the first tool of the plurality of tools to process the super hot run.
3 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.