Arrangement for identifying uncontrolled events at the process module level and methods thereof

A process-level troubleshooting architecture configured to facilitate substrate processing in a plasma processing system, comprising:

• a process module controller configured, to control operation of the plasma processing system, the process module controller further configured to collect and provide first data, wherein the first data corresponds to chamber event data associated with the plasma processing system;
• a plurality of sensors, wherein first sensors of said plurality of sensors collect second data from said process module controller, wherein said second, data corresponds to sensed data about process parameters of said process module controller sensed by said first sensors, wherein said first sensors transmit said sensed data directly to said process module controller without preprocessing by a computing module;
• and
• a process-module-level analysis server that is located remotely from the process module controller and the plurality of sensors, wherein said process-module-level analysis server communicates directly with said first sensors and said process module controller, wherein said first sensors transmit said sensed data collected from said process module controller directly to said process-module-level analysis server in real-time, and wherein said process-module-level analysis server is configured for
• receiving data, wherein said received data includes (i) said second data from said first sensors and (ii) said first data from said process module controller, and wherein said second data and said first data are separately received by said process-module-level analysis server from said first sensors and said process module controller, respectively,
• analyzing said received data, and
• sending interdiction data directly to said process module controller when a problem associated with operation of the process module controller is identified during said substrate processing, wherein said process-module-level analysis server is configured to identify said problem based on said first data received from said process module controller and said second data collected from said process module controller by said first sensors;
• wherein said process-module-level analysis server includes a shared memory backbone, wherein said shared memory backbone is accessed by a plurality of processors, wherein each processor of said plurality of processors is configured at least for interacting with one sensor of said plurality of sensors through said shared memory backbone.

A system configured to perform evaluation during substrate processing in a plasma processing system, comprising:

• a plurality of processors for processing data, wherein said data includes (i) sensed data collected by and received from a plurality of sensors in real-time and (ii) chamber event data collected by a process module controller, wherein the sensed data corresponds to data about processing parameters of said process module controller sensed by said plurality of sensors, and wherein said sensed data and said chamber event data are separately received by said plurality of processors from said plurality of sensors and said process module controller, respectively,
• wherein said system is located remotely from and is coupled directly to said process module controller and said plurality of sensors, and wherein first sensors of said plurality of sensors transmit said sensed data directly to said system without preprocessing by a computing module;
• wherein said processing includes at least one of
• receiving said sensed data,
• analyzing said sensed data,
• performing data correlation on said sensed data, and
• sending interdiction data to said process module controller when a problem associated with operation of the process module controller is identified, wherein said system is configured to identify said problem based on said chamber event data received from said process module controller and said sensed data collected from said process module controller by said plurality of sensors;
• a shared memory backbone, wherein said shared memory backbone is accessed by said plurality of processors;
• a network interface, wherein said network interface is configured at least for receiving said sensed data;
• and
• a direct digital output line, wherein said direct digital output line is a communication path between said plurality of processors and said process module controller.