Reticle management systems and methods
AssigneeTaiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company, Ltd.
InventorsYung-Ho Chen, Ping-Yung Yen
Life of this patent
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Abstract
Reticle management systems and methods. The system comprises at least one reticle and at least one cabinet with an inert gas environment. The cabinet comprises a plurality of storage spaces. When the reticle is put in a storage space, the cabinet identifies the reticle and the storage space occupied thereby. The cabinet provides inert gas to the reticle. The storage information of the reticle in the cabinet and/or an inert gas status of the reticle are provided to a query system and a dispatch system for reticle location query and lot dispatching.
Claims24
A reticle management system, comprising:
- at least one reticle;
- at least one cabinet with an inert gas environment, comprising a plurality of storage spaces, wherein when the reticle is put in one of the storage spaces, the cabinet detects an identification of the reticle, detects an identification of the storage space with the reticle, and charges inert gas to the reticle;
- at least one photolithography apparatus;
- and
- a dispatch system coupled to the cabinet, receiving an inert gas status of the reticle, querying at least one lot corresponding to the reticle if the inert gas status indicates the reticle has been fully charged with the inert gas, and dispatching the lot to the photolithography apparatus for processing.
A reticle management method, comprising:
- putting at least one reticle in one of storage spaces of at least one cabinet with an inert gas environment;
- detecting identification of the reticle;
- detecting identification of the storage space with the reticle;
- charging inert gas to the reticle;
- querying at least one lot corresponding to the reticle if an inert gas status of the reticle indicating the reticle has been fully charged with the inert gas;
- and
- dispatching the lot to at least one photolithography apparatus for processing.
A reticle management system, comprising:
- at least one reticle;
- at least one cabinet with an inert gas environment, comprising a plurality of storage spaces, wherein when the reticle is put in a storage space, the cabinet identifies the reticle, identifies the storage space occupied thereby, and provides inert gas to the reticle;
- at least one photolithography apparatus;
- and
- a dispatch system coupled to the cabinet, receiving an inert gas status of the reticle, querying at least one lot corresponding to the reticle if the inert gas status indicates the reticle has been fully charged with the inert gas, and dispatching the lot to the photolithography apparatus for processing.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.