Control apparatus

• US 6,198,981 B1
• Filed: 12/31/1997
• Issued: 03/06/2001
• Est. Priority Date: 01/07/1997
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Tokyo Electron Limited
• Original Assignee: Tokyo Electron Limited
• Inventors: Umeshima, Atsushi, Nakamura, Tsuyoshi
• Primary Examiner(s): Grant, William
• Assistant Examiner(s): RODRIGUEZ, PAUL L
• Application Number:
  US09/001,996
• Time in Patent Office: 1,161 Days
• Field of Search: 709/211, 709/208, 700/121, 700/3, 702/185
• US Class Current: 700/121
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 19/0421 Multiprocessor system
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 2219/2221 Only common memory in host, master, no local memory in slave, local controller
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 2219/31402 Keep log book, for activities of a station, equipment
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 2219/45031 Manufacturing semiconductor wafers

Abstract

A control apparatus comprises at least one slave control units for subjecting a specific control to the corresponding processing unit in a processing system, a master control unit for supervising the slave control unit, and a bus for controlling the slave control units to the master control unit. The master control unit includes a log file for storing the contents of the control of the master control unit and the slave control unit, an abort factor log file for storing the factors aborting the control of the master control unit and the slave control unit, and a display section for displaying the control-abort factors stored in the abort factor log file.

Claims

1. A control apparatus comprising at least one slave control unit for subjecting a processing unit corresponding to said slave control unit in a processing system to a specific control;

a master control unit for supervising said slave control unit; and

a bus for connecting said slave control unit to said master control unit, wherein said master control unit includes

a first storage section for storing the contents of the control of said master control unit and said slave control unit,

a second storage section for storing the factors aborting the control of said master control unit and said slave control unit and

a display section for displaying the control-abort factors stored in said second storage section, and

said first storage section includes a system log file for storing system data of said master control unit and said slave control unit and a machine log file for storing machine data of said master control unit and said slave control unit, and a log control section controls the writing of data into said system log file and said machine log file.

2. A control apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising a plurality of slave control units provided for a plurality of processing units in a semiconductor device manufacturing apparatus, respectively, and controlled by said master control unit.

3. A control apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said slave control unit includes a slave controller for controlling said processing unit in connection with said master control unit and a storage section that stores data including the abort factors bringing said processing unit into an abort state, said slave controller transferring the data stored in said storage section to said master control unit via said bus.

4. A control apparatus according to claim 3, wherein said slave controller deletes the data in said storage section after transferring the data.

5. A control apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said master control unit includes a man-machine interface section that serves as an interface with said display section, a log control section for writing log data including machine data and system data, and a processing control section that controls said man-machine interface section and said log control section and communicates with said slave control unit via said bus.

6. A control apparatus according to claim 5, wherein said processing control section determines whether the abort factor is a normal or abnormal factor and the cause of the abort factor when it is an abnormal factor, and writes data regarding determination into said second storage section.

7. A control apparatus according to claim 6, wherein said processing control section determines whether the abort factor is a normal factor for causing said processing system to abort its operation when the operator has entered an abort instruction or an abnormal factor for causing said processing system to abort its operation when the system has malfunctioned and writes the abort factors into said second storage section.

8. A control apparatus according to claim 7, wherein said processing control section writes the abort factors occurred in said master controller and the abort factors sent from said slave control unit sequentially into said second storage section and, when the amount of the entered abort factors has exceeded the capacity of the second storage section, deletes the abort factors in the order in which they have been stored.

9. A control apparatus comprising:

at least one slave control unit for subjecting a processing unit corresponding to said slave control unit in a processing system to a specific control;

a master control unit for supervising said slave control unit; and

a bus that connects said slave control unit to said master controller, wherein

said slave control unit includes

a holding device configured to temporarily hold an abort factor when the control of said slave control unit has been aborted because of an abnormal factor, and

said master control unit includes

a first storage device configured to store the contents of the control of said master control unit and said slave control unit,

a reading device configured to read the held abort factor when the abort factor has been held in said holding device at the start-up of said processing system,

a second storage device configured to store the factors aborting the control of said master control unit and the abort factor read by said reading device, and

a display configured to display the control-abort factors stored in said second storage device and

said first storage device includes a system log file that stores system data on said master control unit and said slave control unit, and a machine log file that stores machine data on said master control unit and said slave control unit, and said log control section that controls writing of data into said system log file and said machine log file.

10. A control apparatus according to claim 9, wherein said master control unit determines whether said abort factor is a normal or abnormal factor and the cause of the abort factor when it is an abnormal factor.

11. A control apparatus according to claim 10, wherein said display the abort factor at the start-up of said system when the abnormal abort factor has been stored in said second storage device.

12. A control apparatus according to claim 9, further comprising an input device configured to input an instruction to display said abort factor, wherein said display displays the control-abort factor stored in said second storage device when a display instruction has been inputted from said input device.

13. A control apparatus according to claim 9, further comprising a plurality of slave control units provided for a plurality of processing units in a semiconductor device manufacturing apparatus, respectively, and controlled by said master controller.

14. A control apparatus according to claim 9, wherein said slave control units each include a slave controller for controlling a corresponding one of said processing units in connection with said master control unit and stores in said holding device data including the abort factor bringing the corresponding one of said processing units into an abort state, said slave controller transferring the data stored in said holding device to said master controller via said bus.

15. A control apparatus according to claim 14, wherein said slave controller deletes the data in said storage means after transferring the data.

16. A control apparatus according to claim 9, wherein said master control unit includes a man-machine interface section configured to serve as an interface with said display, a log control section that writes log data on the machine data and the system data into said first storage device, and a processing control section for controlling said man-machine interface section and said log control section and communicating with said slave control units via said bus.

17. A control apparatus according to claim 16, wherein said processing control section determines whether the abort factor is a normal factor indicating that said processing system is aborted its operation by an abort instruction entered by an operator or an abnormal factor indicating that said processing system is aborted its operation by a machine trouble, and writes the abort factor in said second storage device.

18. A control apparatus according to claim 16, wherein said processing control section writes the abort factor occurred in said master control unit and the abort factor sent from at least one of said slave control units sequentially into said second storage device and, when the amount of the stored abort factors has exceeded the capacity of the second storage device, deletes the abort factors in the order in which they have been stored.

19. A semiconductor manufacturing apparatus comprising:

a plurality of processing units subjecting a semiconductor wafer to various processes;

at least one slave control unit which subjects at least one of said processing units, that corresponds to said slave controller, to a specific control;

a master control unit which supervises said slave control unit; and

a bus which connects said slave control unit to said master control unit, wherein said master control unit includes

a first storage section for storing the contents of the control of said master control unit and said slave control unit,

a second storage section configured to store a plurality of factors aborting the control of said master control unit and said slave control unit, the factors indicating a normal stop, an abnormal temperature, control timeouts, bus errors and communications inability, respectively, and

a display configured to display the control-abort factors stored in said second storage section.

20. A semiconductor manufacturing apparatus according to claim 19, further comprising a plurality of slave units provided for a plurality of processing units in a semiconductor device manufacturing apparatus, respectively, and controlled by said master control unit.

21. A semiconductor manufacturing apparatus according to claim 19, wherein said slave control unit includes a slave controller for controlling said processing unit in connection with said master control unit and a storage section that stores data including the abort factors bringing said processing unit into an abort state, said slave controller transferring the data stored in said storage section to said master control unit via said bus.

22. A semiconductor manufacturing apparatus according to claim 21, wherein said slave controller deletes the data in said storage section after transferring the data.

23. A semiconductor manufacturing apparatus according to claim 19, wherein said master control unit includes a man-machine interface section that serves as an interface with said display, a log control section configured to write log data including machine data and system data, and a processing control section that controls said man-machine interface section and said log control section and communicates with said slave control unit via said bus.

24. A semiconductor manufacturing apparatus according to claim 23, wherein said processing control section is configured to determine whether the abort factor is a normal or abnormal factor and the cause of the abort factor when it is an abnormal factor, and to write data regarding such a determination into said second storage section.

25. A semiconductor manufacturing apparatus according to claim 24, wherein said processing control section is configured to determine whether the abort factor is a normal factor to cause said processing unit to abort its operation when the operator has entered an abort instruction or an abnormal factor to cause said processing unit to abort its operation when the system has malfunctioned and to write the abort factors into said second storage section.

26. A semiconductor manufacturing apparatus according to claim 25, wherein said processing control section is configured to write the abort factors occurred in said master control unit and the abort factors sent from said slave control unit sequentially into said second storage section, and when an amount of the entered abort factors has exceeded the capacity of the second storage section, to delete the abort factors in the order in which they have been stored.

27. A semiconductor manufacturing apparatus according to claim 23, wherein said first storage section includes a system log file configured to store the system data of said master control unit and said slave control unit and a machine log file configured to store the machine data of said master control unit and said slave control unit, and a log control section which controls the writing of data into said system log file and said machine log file.