Patent ID: 6226563
Filing Date: 2001-05-01
Classification: G05B,H01L,Y02P

Abstract:
A method for controlling equipment in a semiconductor fabrication system, the method comprising:automatically receiving operational state data from equipment in a semiconductor fabrication system;determining whether the operational state data corresponding to any of the equipment is abnormal;if the operational state data is abnormal for certain equipment, determining whether any operational state data corresponding to individual units of the certain equipment are abnormal;if all units of the certain equipment have abnormal operational state data, blocking off a process condition data in a host computer corresponding to the certain equipment, wherein the certain equipment is isolated from a fabrication processing flow;if a subset of units of the certain equipment have abnormal operational state data, identifying the subset of units of the certain equipment, and blocking off a process condition data in the host computer corresponding to the subset of units after said identifying, wherein the subset of units are isolated from the fabrication processing flow;wherein, after said blocking off the process condition data corresponding to the certain equipment, said method further comprises:downloading, into the certain equipment, an equipment state message indicative of the abnormal units of the certain equipment; anddownloading a transferring equipment control message into transferring equipment wherein a number of lots delivered to the certain equipment by the transferring equipment is changed.