METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR SCHEDULING A STREAM OF PRODUCTS IN A MANUFACTURING ENVIRONMENT BY USING A SIMULATION PROCESS
First Claim
1. A method, comprising:
- initializing a simulation model of a manufacturing environment with process information from a plurality of process tools of said manufacturing environment and a plurality of product entities to be processed or being processed in said manufacturing environment according to a plurality of process recipes;
performing a simulation of a process sequence for said plurality of product entities in said manufacturing environment on the basis of said process information, said one or more process recipes and a model for each of said plurality of process tools to generate a simulation result of said process sequence; and
establishing a schedule for processing said plurality of product entities in said manufacturing environment using said simulation result.
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Abstract
By simulating a manufacturing environment on the basis of appropriate simulation models, a schedule may be established in which process restrictions, tool availability and product entity status are automatically taken into consideration. Moreover, by estimating the process flow efficiency provided by a simulated time progression of the process flow in the environment, an optimized schedule may be established, which may be accomplished by identifying less efficient product entities and re-scheduling one or more product entities in order to obtain an enhanced process flow efficiency. The technique of the present invention may be advantageously applied to the processing of advanced mass products requiring sophisticated process tools and process sequences, such as the processing of semiconductor devices.
36 Citations
21 Claims
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1. A method, comprising:
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initializing a simulation model of a manufacturing environment with process information from a plurality of process tools of said manufacturing environment and a plurality of product entities to be processed or being processed in said manufacturing environment according to a plurality of process recipes; performing a simulation of a process sequence for said plurality of product entities in said manufacturing environment on the basis of said process information, said one or more process recipes and a model for each of said plurality of process tools to generate a simulation result of said process sequence; and establishing a schedule for processing said plurality of product entities in said manufacturing environment using said simulation result. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14)
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15. A product scheduling system, comprising:
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an input section configured to receive process information relating to a plurality of product entities and a plurality of process tools of a manufacturing environment, said plurality of product entities to be processed or being processed in said manufacturing environment according to a plurality of process recipes; a process simulator configured to determine a time progression of a process flow of each of said plurality of product entities in said manufacturing environment on the basis of said process information; and a process scheduler configured to establish a schedule for each of said product entities on the basis of said time progression. - View Dependent Claims (16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21)
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Specification