Distributed control system for semiconductor manufacturing equipment

A semiconductor workpiece processing tool comprising:

• a plurality of process modules for processing the workpiece, where a number of the process modules include a robot loading window and a manual loading window;
• a control system for managing operation of the processing tool including a production route defining movement of the workpiece among a number of the process modules, wherein the control system includes:
• (a) a user interface through which an operator can define the production route and recipes to be performed on the workpiece in each of the process modules;
• (b) a system controller for controlling execution of the production route;
• (c) a process module controller associated with each of the process modules for controlling the processing of the workpiece in the process module;
• and
• (d) a network connecting the user interface, system controller and each process module controller;
• wherein the production route includes a number of online process modules defined in the production route and at least one offline process module not included in the production route;
• and
• an offline process module can accept a workpiece through the manual window and to perform a recipe thereon.