Method and apparatus for the monitoring and control of a semiconductor manufacturing process
First Claim
1. An Advanced Process Control (APC) system for controlling a processing tool in a semiconductor processing environment, the APC system comprising:
- an APC server providing a plurality of APC related applications;
an Interface Server (IS) coupled to the APC server;
a database coupled to the IS and APC server; and
a GUI component coupled to the APC server, wherein the IS comprises means for coupling to a processing tool, means for coupling to a plurality of process modules, and means for coupling to a plurality of sensors.
1 Assignment
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
An Advanced Process Control (APC) system including Graphical User Interfaces (GUIs) is presented for monitoring and controlling a semiconductor manufacturing process that is performed by a semiconductor processing system. The semiconductor processing system includes a number of processing tools, a number of processing modules (chambers), and a number of sensors, and the APC system comprises an APC server, database, interface server, client workstation, and GUI component. The GUI is web-based and is viewable by a user using a web browser.
197 Citations
34 Claims
-
1. An Advanced Process Control (APC) system for controlling a processing tool in a semiconductor processing environment, the APC system comprising:
-
an APC server providing a plurality of APC related applications;
an Interface Server (IS) coupled to the APC server;
a database coupled to the IS and APC server; and
a GUI component coupled to the APC server, wherein the IS comprises means for coupling to a processing tool, means for coupling to a plurality of process modules, and means for coupling to a plurality of sensors. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33)
-
-
34. A method for using an Advanced Process Control (APC) system for controlling a processing tool in a semiconductor processing environment, the method comprising:
-
providing an APC server providing a plurality of APC related applications;
providing an Interface Server (IS) coupled to the APC server;
providing a database coupled to the IS and APC server; and
providing a GUI component coupled to the APC server, wherein the IS comprises means for coupling to a processing tool, means for coupling to a plurality of process modules, and means for coupling to a plurality of sensors.
-
Specification