Control of lots in a continuous environment
AssigneeMotorola, Inc.
InventorsJeffrey A. Robinson, Udey Chaudhry
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A method for controlling production lots which deals with production lots comprising a plurality of discrete units distributed among a plurality of locations. A first event is triggered when a first unit from a first production lot enters a processing step. A second event is triggered when a last unit from the first production lot leaves the processing step.
Claims8
A method for controlling production lots, comprising the steps of:
- providing a first production lot having a plurality of units identified by a first lot identifier;
- logging in a first unit of said first production lot at a first recordable process step to track a leading edge of said first production lot;
- passing said first unit of said first production lot to subsequent recordable process steps;
- processing other units of said first production lot through said first recordable process step and said subsequent recordable process steps such that said units of said first production lot reside at a plurality of recordable process steps while maintaining identification by said first lot identifier without splitting said lot into sublots;
- and
- logging out a last unit of said first production lot at said first recordable process step to track a trailing edge of said first production lot.
A computer implemented method for controlling production lots, comprising the steps of:
- providing a first production lot having a plurality of units identified by a first lot identifier;
- logging in a first unit of said first production lot at a first recordable process step to track a leading edge of said first production lot;
- passing said first unit of said first production lot to a second recordable process step while other units of said first production lot remain at said first recordable processing step;
- logging in said first unit of said first production lot at said second recordable process step while maintaining identification by said first lot identifier and without splitting said lot into sublots;
- and
- logging out a last unit of said first production lot at said first recordable process step to track a trailing edge of said first production lot.
A computer implemented method of controlling a lot in a semiconductor manufacturing process, comprising the steps of:
- providing a first processing step followed by a second processing step where the first and second processing steps are loggable into a database;
- and
- logging the lot into the second processing step upon arrival of a first semiconductor device of the lot at the second processing step while a second semiconductor device of the lot remains logged at the first processing step, wherein the first and second semiconductor devices are identified by the same lot identifier while the lot resides simultaneously at the first and second processing steps.
A computer implemented method of manufacturing a semiconductor device, comprising the steps of:
- providing a first processing step followed by a second processing step where the first and second processing steps are loggable into a database;
- providing a lot comprising a plurality of semiconductor devices;
- and
- logging the lot into the second processing step upon arrival of a first semiconductor device of the lot at the second processing step while a second semiconductor device of the lot remains logged at the first processing step, wherein the first and second semiconductor devices are identified by the same lot identifier while the lot resides simultaneously at the first and second processing steps.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.