Distributed input/output (IO) control and interlock ring architecture

A slit valve assembly comprising:

• a chamber slit valve comprising a position sensor;
• an electro-valve (EV) manifold comprising an EV coupled to the chamber slit valve;
• a clean dry air (CDA) poly line coupled to the EV manifold and to be coupled to a CDA supply ring of a mainframe;
• and
• a chamber interface input/output (IO) sub-module coupled to the position sensor, the EV manifold, and to be coupled to an IO network bus of the mainframe, the chamber interface IO sub-module to:
• relay a position value of the chamber slit valve from the position sensor, over the IO network bus, to a programmable logic control (PLC) module of the mainframe;
• and
• relay a control signal, received over the IO network bus from the PLC module, to the EV manifold to control slit valve pneumatics by driving the EV.

A system comprising:

• a first safety programmable logic control (PLC) module comprising multiple local input/output (IO) ports and a first interlock bus port;
• a first single local IO bus coupled to a first local IO port of the multiple local IO ports;
• multiple IO sub-modules coupled to the first single local IO bus, wherein each IO sub-module of the multiple IO sub-modules is to perform an interlock handshake with the first safety PLC module over the first single local IO bus;
• a second safety PLC module comprising multiple local IO ports and a second interlock bus port;
• and
• an interlock connector to couple the first interlock bus port to the second interlock bus port over an interlock bus.