Method and apparatus for fault detection of a processing tool and control thereof using an advanced process control (APC) framework

A system comprising:

• a processing tool adapted to manufacture a processing piece;
• a first interface, coupled to the processing tool, the first interface adapted to receive operational state data of the processing tool related to the manufacture of the processing piece;
• a fault detection unit adapted to determine if a fault condition exists with the processing tool based on said operational state data;
• a framework adapted to perform a predetermined action on the processing tool in response to the presence of a fault condition;
• wherein the first interface comprises a data collection unit adapted to receive and accumulate the state data as the data is received by the first interface, translate the state data from a first communications protocol to a second communications protocol compatible with the fault detection unit, and to send the translated state data from the data collection unit to the fault detection unit;
• wherein the fault detection unit is further adapted to send an alarm signal indicative of the fault condition to the framework from the fault detection unit providing that a fault condition of the processing tool was determined by the fault detection unit;
• and
• wherein the framework is further adapted to send a control signal to the first interface reflective of the predetermined action providing that a fault condition exists.

An apparatus, comprising:

• an interface adapted to receive operational state data from a processing tool and to provide the operational state data;
• a controller adapted to:
• receive the operational state data from the interface;
• determine if a fault condition exists with the processing tool based on the operational state data received from the interface;
• and
• perform a corrective action on the processing tool in response to the presence of a fault condition,
• wherein the controller is adapted to perform the predetermined action comprises the controller adapted to send a signal to the interface reflective of the predetermined action.