Photoresist system

• US 20040002773A1
• Filed: 06/26/2002
• Published: 01/01/2004
• Est. Priority Date: 06/26/2002
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company Limited
• Original Assignee: Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company Limited
• Inventors: Yang, Yenni, Yeh, Fu-Kai
• Granted Patent: US 7,477,959 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 700/1
• CPC Class Codes: G03F 7/16 Coating processes; Apparatus therefor applying coatings to base materials in general B05; applying photosensitive compositions to base for photographic purposes G03C1/74
• CPC Class Codes: G03F 7/70541 Tagging, i.e. hardware or software tagging of features or components, e.g. using tagging scripts or tagging identifier codes for identification of chips, shots or wafers

Abstract

A photoresist system is disclosed. A graphical user interface of the system allows an operator to initiate a bottle switching operation, among other operations. Barcode data of a photoresist bottle is obtained by an equipment server from a controller. Photoresist data relating to the bottle is obtained by the equipment server from a database through a constraint server. The equipment server, preferably with assistance from the constraint server, determines whether the bottle contains appropriate photoresist for the semiconductor processing to be performed on semiconductor wafers. If the bottle contains appropriate photoresist, the equipment server, through the constraint server, stores the expiration date of the bottle and the batch identifier of the bottle, as indicated by the barcode data, in the database. If the bottle contains inappropriate photoresist, then the system acts to prevent the semiconductor processing of the semiconductor wafers with the inappropriate photoresist contained in the bottle.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

obtaining barcode data on a photoresist bottle in response to initiation of a photoresist bottle switching operation by an operator;

obtaining photoresist data relating to the photoresist bottle as indicated by the barcode data of the photoresist bottle from a database;

determining whether the photoresist bottle contains appropriate photoresist based on the photoresist data;

in response to determining that the photoresist bottle contains appropriate photoresist, storing an expiration date of the photoresist bottle and a batch identifier of the photoresist bottle as indicated by the barcode data of the photoresist bottle in the database; and

,

in response to determining that the photoresist bottle contains inappropriate photoresist, acting to prevent semiconductor processing of semiconductor wafers utilizing the inappropriate photoresist contained in the photoresist bottle.

2. The method of claim 1, further initially comprising initiating the photoresist bottle switching operation by an operator through a graphical user interface.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein initiating the photoresist bottle switching operation by the operator comprises the operator manually causing the barcode data of the photoresist bottle to be obtained through the graphical user interface.

4. The method of claim 1, further initially comprising detecting the initiation of the photoresist bottle switching operation upon the operator lifting the photoresist bottle for more than a predetermined length of time.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein the predetermined length of time comprises fifteen seconds.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein obtaining the barcode data on the photoresist bottle is performed by an equipment server obtaining the barcode data from a controller.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein obtaining the photoresist data relating to the photoresist bottle is performed by a constraint server obtaining the photoresist data from the database, the constraint server further providing the data to an equipment server.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein determining whether the photoresist bottle contains appropriate photoresist is performed by at least one of a constraint server and an equipment server.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein storing the expiration date of the photoresist bottle and the batch indicator of the photoresist bottle is performed by an equipment server through a constraint server.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the method is performed within a photoresist system comprising a constraint server, an equipment server, a controller, a database, and a graphical user interface.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein the method is implemented as one or more computer programs.

12. A photoresist software system comprising:

a database storing photoresist operation activity records;

a graphical user interface to initiate photoresist operations, activities of which are stored as the records in the database; and

,

an equipment server to process photoresist-related data received from a controller and to process photoresist-related data stored in the database, the equipment server acting to prevent improper photoresist operations from occurring,

the improper photoresist operations comprising at least one of;

using an expired photoresist contained in a bottle, and using an improper type of photoresist contained in a bottle.

13. The system of claim 12, further comprising a constraint server to assist the equipment server in acting to prevent the improper photoresist operations from occurring.

14. The system of claim 13, wherein the constraint server is communicatively coupled between the database and the equipment server, and obtains data from the database for the equipment server.

15. The system of claim 12, further comprising a run manager acting to prevent improper photoresist operations from occurring during receiving of a lot of photoresist bottles.

16. The system of claim 12, further comprising a manufacture execution system to execute operations initiated through the graphical user interface.

17. The system of claim 12, further comprising a report system to provide for querying of the database.

18. A photoresist hardware system comprising:

a photo track in which photoresist bottles can be loaded and unloaded;

a barcode reader to read barcodes of the photoresist bottles;

a bottle sensor to determine whether the photo track has loaded therein one of the photoresist bottles;

a controller communicating with the barcode reader and the bottle sensor; and

,

a computer to prevent improper photoresist operations from occurring based on communications received from the bottle sensor,

the improper photoresist operations comprising at least one of;

using an expired photoresist contained in a bottle, and using an improper type of photoresist contained in a bottle.

19. The system of claim 18, wherein the computer has software running thereon comprising:

a database storing photoresist operation activity records;

a graphical user interface to initiate photoresist operations, activities of which are stored as the records in the database; and

,

an equipment server to process photoresist-related data received from the controller and to process photoresist-related data stored in the database, the equipment server acting to prevent the improper photoresist operations from occurring.

20. The system of claim 19, wherein the software further comprises a constraint server to assist the equipment server in acting to prevent the improper photoresist operations from occurring, the constraint server is communicatively coupled between the database and the equipment server to obtain data from the database for the equipment server.