Vacuum process device and vacuum process method

摘要

An efficient method of controlling transportation in a linear tool type vacuum process device in a state that a length of time required for a process is not stable. For each process chamber, the number of unprocessed wafers that are in process or are being transported to the process chamber is counted, and in deciding a transport destination of a wafer, when the number of unprocessed wafers is equal to or larger than a charge limit amount, a transport destination of a wafer is decided excluding the process chamber. Also, a wafer holding mechanism on a transport path to a process chamber is reserved, and a transport destination of a processed member to be transported next is decided according to a status of reservation.

主权项

1. A vacuum process device, the vacuum process device comprising:
a load lock that takes in a work piece placed on an atmosphere-side to a vacuum-side; a plurality of process chambers that are provided on the vacuum-side, and perform a predetermined process on the work piece; a plurality of transport mechanism units provided with a vacuum robot that performs receiving and passing of the work piece; a plurality of transport buffer units that perform relay-transporting of the work piece by interconnecting the transport mechanism units; a holding mechanism unit that is provided in the load lock and the transport buffer unit, and holds a plurality of the work pieces; and a control unit that controls the receiving and passing, and the relay-transporting of the work piece, wherein the control unit holds device state information that shows operation states of the process chambers, the transport mechanism units, the transport buffer units, and the holding mechanism unit, and presence and absence, and a process state of the work piece; computes based on the device state information, for each of the process chambers, the number of work pieces that are in process or are being transported to the process chamber where a process on the work pieces is planned and are not processed in the process chamber as the number of unprocessed work pieces; when the computed number of unprocessed work pieces is equal to or larger than a charge limit amount that is set in advance, computes transport destination candidates excluding a process chamber with the number of unprocessed work pieces equal to or larger than the charge limit amount; and computes a transport destination of the work piece from among the transport destination candidates.