Method and apparatus for controlling the flow of wafers through a process flow

Abstract

A method for controlling the flow of wafers through a process flow includes monitoring operating states of a plurality of processing tools adapted to process wafers; measuring a characteristic of a particular incoming wafer; identifying a particular processing tool having an operating state complimentary to the measured characteristic; and routing the particular incoming wafer to the particular processing tool for processing. A manufacturing system includes a plurality of processing tools adapted to process wafers and a process control server. The process control server is adapted to access metrology data related to a characteristic of a particular incoming wafer, identify a particular processing tool having an operating state complimentary to the characteristic, and route the particular incoming wafer to the particular processing tool for processing.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.