Abstract:
The present invention provides a system and method for real-time batch dispatching in a manufacturing process. The system includes a bottleneck equipment, a real-time dispatching module for calculating a time point of forming a batch and deciding the lot numbers of a plurality of products which are included in the batch at the time point, and a manufacturing execution system electronically connected to the bottleneck equipment and the real-time dispatching module for receiving the batch transmitted from the real-time dispatching module so as to choose the plurality of products according to the lot numbers and controlling the plurality of products to be simultaneously processed by the bottleneck equipment at the same time point.

Description:
BACKGROUND OF INVENTION  
       [0001]     1. Field of the Invention  
         [0002]     The invention relates to a system and a method thereof for batch dispatching in a manufacturing process, and more particularly, to a system and a method thereof for real-time batch dispatching in a manufacturing process.  
         [0003]     2. Description of the Prior Art  
         [0004]     In a manufacturing process of a product, many types of equipment are required to execute the manufacturing process. Because the execution time of each piece of equipment is different, a product cannot enter into the next equipment to undergo another procedure of the process until the next equipment is available. Therefore, there is a bottleneck in the process due to the equipment that has the longest execution time for executing a corresponding procedure of the process. For example, in a semiconductor process, semiconductor products are produced by using many equipment types to process a wafer. The wafer is processed by a plurality of equipment types, and finally enters the furnace to undergo thermal oxidation. Because the execution time of the furnace to perform the thermal oxidation is longer than the execution time of any other equipment, the procedure of the furnace is a bottleneck of the process of the wafer. Therefore, a dispatch system is used to control the delivery of the wafers that enhances the whole efficiency of process.  
         [0005]     Please refer to  FIG. 1 .  FIG. 1  is a schematic diagram of a manufacturing dispatching system  10  according to the prior art. The manufacturing dispatching system  10  includes a manufacturing execution system (MES)  14 , an automatic material handling system (AMHS)  16 , a terminal control system (TCS)  18 , a plurality of equipment  20 , and a furnace  22 . The wafers are processed from each equipment  20  to the furnace  22  in sequence. The execution time of the furnace  22  is longer than the execution time of any other equipment  20 , so the furnace  22  is a bottleneck during the process of the wafer. The MES  14  controls the equipment  20  and the furnace  22 . The AMHS  16  communicates with the MES  14 , the equipment  20 , and the furnace  22  to receive orders from the MES  14  to move the wafer in and out of the equipment  20  and the furnace  22 . The TCS  18  communicates with the MES  14 , the equipment  20 , and the furnace  22  to receive orders from the MES  14  to control the equipment  20  and the furnace  22  to process the wafers.  
         [0006]     Additionally, when the furnace  22  finishes the thermal oxidation of the wafers, the furnace  22  transmits a finished signal to the MES  14  to announce to the MES  14  that the furnace  22  is standing by and can accept a dispatch. When the MES  14  gets the standby announcement of the furnace  22 , the MES  14  controls each equipment  20  and the furnace  22  in sequence to execute another batch wafer process via the AMHS  16  and the TCS  18 .  
         [0007]     However, the MES  14  will not control the equipment  20  and the furnace  22  to execute other batch wafer processes unless the standby announcement of the furnace  22  is received. When the MES  14  generates orders to control the equipment  20  and the furnace  22 , the MES  14  does not consider the required execution time of the various pieces of equipment  20  and the furnace  22 . Therefore, the quality-time management of the equipment  20  and the furnace  22  cannot be optimized, and the efficiency of the manufacturing dispatching system  10  during semiconductor process is difficult to improve.  
       SUMMARY OF INVENTION  
       [0008]     It is therefore a primary objective of the claimed invention to provide a system and method for real-time batch dispatching in a manufacturing process to solve the above-mentioned problem.  
         [0009]     According to the claimed invention, a system for real-time batch dispatching in a manufacturing process includes a bottleneck equipment, a real-time dispatching module for calculating a time point of forming a batch and deciding lot numbers of a plurality of products which are included in the batch at the time point, and a MES electronically connected to the bottleneck equipment and the real-time dispatching module for receiving the batch transmitted from the real-time dispatching module so as to choose plurality of products according to the lots numbers and control the plurality of products to be simultaneously processed by the bottleneck equipment at the same time.  
         [0010]     The present invention further provides a method for real-time batch dispatching in a manufacturing process including calculating a time point to form the batch and deciding the lot numbers of products at the time point, receiving the batch to choose the corresponding products, and controlling the products entering the bottleneck equipment to be processed at the same time.  
         [0011]     The present invention can detect in real-time the state of the equipment and the furnace to produce the batch, control the moving and processing of the wafers in the equipment and the furnace, decrease the standby time and enhance the utilization of the equipment and the furnace, and enhance the efficiency of the system for dispatching in a manufacturing process. In addition, the method of the present invention is useful for any process having a bottleneck procedure, such as a process of manufacturing a liquid crystal display (LCD).  
         [0012]     These and other objectives of the present invention will no doubt become obvious to those of ordinary skill in the art after reading the following detailed description of the preferred embodiment is illustrated figures and drawings. 
     
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS  
       [0013]      FIG. 1  is a schematic diagram of a system for dispatching in a manufacturing process according to the prior art.  
         [0014]      FIG. 2  is a schematic diagram of a system for batch dispatching in a manufacturing process according to the present invention.  
         [0015]      FIG. 3  is a flow chart of the system shown in  FIG. 2 . 
     
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION  
       [0016]     Please refer to  FIG. 2 .  FIG. 2  is a schematic diagram of a system  30  for dispatching batches in a manufacturing process according to the present invention. The system  30  includes a real-time dispatching module  32 , a MES  34 , a AMHS  36 , a TCS  38 , a plurality of equipment  40 , and a furnace  42 . The wafers are processed from the equipment  40  and the furnace  42  in sequence. Each of the pieces of equipment  40  performs a specific procedure to perform on the wafers, and the furnace  42  is used to perform thermal oxidation of the wafers. The execution time of the furnace  42  to perform the thermal oxidation is usually longer than the execution time of one of the pieces of equipment  40  to perform the specific procedure, so the furnace  42  is a bottleneck during the process of the wafers. To optimize the efficiency of the equipment  40  and the furnace  42 , the whole process of wafers must use a method of quality-time control to control the equipment  40  and the furnace  42 .  
         [0017]     The real-time dispatching module  32  communicates with the MES  34  to form a batch according to the state of the equipment  40  and the furnace  42  to control and manage the dispatching of the equipment  40  and the furnace  42 . The real-time dispatching module  32  utilizes a rule editor  44  to edit at least a dispatching rule, and calculates a time point to form the batch according to the dispatching rule. The real-time dispatching module  32  produces the batch including the lot numbers of a plurality of products at the time point wherein the real-time dispatching rule is accordance with real-time module  30  such as the execution time of the procedures for the manufacturing process, the time intervals between the procedures of the manufacturing process, the product types, the status of the equipment, the materials used to perform the procedures, and the management plans of the factory to define the optimum rule. The real-time dispatch module  32  produces the batch and transmits the batch to the MES  34  to start the process flow of the products in the batch.  
         [0018]     The MES  34  saves the batch to control the movement and processing of the wafers in the equipment  40  and the furnace  42 . The AMHS  36  connected the MES  34 , the equipment  40 , and the furnace  42 , is controlled by the MES  34  to move the wafers in and out of the equipment  40  and the furnace  42 .  
         [0019]     According to the present invention, the system for real-time batch dispatching in a manufacturing process will elect the most appropriate wafers to proceed with batch dispatching in order to obtain maximum efficiency of each equipment  40  and the furnace  42 . When the MES  34  receives the batch that is produced by the real-time dispatching module  32 , the MES  34  orders the AMHS  36  to move wafers according to the batch and orders the TCS  38  to control each equipment  40  and the furnace  42  to process the wafers. When the MES  34  controls the AMHS  36  and the TCS  38 , the MES  34  transmits a moving requirement signal to the AMHS  36  according to the batch, and makes the AMHS  36  move the wafers in or out of the equipment  40  or of the furnace  42  according to the requirement signal, and the AHMS  36  returns a moving confirmation signal to the MES  34  after moving the wafers. Next, the MES  34  transmits a processing requirement signal to the TCS  38  according to the batch, and the TCS  38  controls the equipment  40  and the furnace  42  to process the wafers according to the processing requirement signal. The TCS  38  finishes controlling the equipment  40  and the furnace  42  and returns a processing confirmation signal to the MES  34 . In addition, when each equipment  40  or the furnace  42  finishes processing, the MES  34  returns a processing confirmation signal to the real-time dispatching module  32 , and the real-time dispatching module  32  obtains the locating state of the equipment  40  and the furnace  42  in real-time. On the other hand, each of the equipment  40  can be wet-etching or washing equipment, and relies on liquid to wet-etch or wash the wafers.  
         [0020]     Please refer to  FIG. 3  and  FIG. 2 .  FIG. 3  is a flow chart of the system  30  shown in  FIG. 2 , which includes the following steps: 
        Step  50 : The real-time module  32  decides the content of the batch according to the dispatching rule, and transmits the batch to the MES  34 ;     Step  52 : The MES  34  transmits a moving requirement signal to the AMHS  36  according the batch;     Step  54 : The AMHS  36  selects and moves the corresponding wafers according to the moving requirement signal;     Step  56 : The AMHS  36  returns the moving confirmation signal to the MES  34  after moving the wafers;     Step  58 : The MES  34  transmits a processing requirement signal to the TCS  38  according to the batch, and the TCS  38  controls the process wafer of the equipment  40  according to the processing requirement signal;     Step  60 : The equipment  40  processes the wafers;     Step  62 : The equipment  40  returns a processing confirmation signal to the TCS  38  after processing the wafers, and the TCS  38  returns a processing confirmation signal to the MES  34 ;     Step  64 : The MES  34  transmits a moving requirement signal of the furnace  42  to the AMHS  36  according to the batch;     Step  66 : The AMHS  36  moves the selected wafers to the furnace  42  according to the moving requirement signal of the furnace  42 ;     Step  68 : The AMHS  36  returns a moving confirmation signal of the furnace  42  to the MES  34  after moving the wafers;     Step  70 : The MES  34  transmits a processing requirement signal of the furnace  42  to the TCS  38  according to the batch, and the TCS  38  controls the furnace  42  to process the wafers according to the processing requirement signal of the furnace  42 ;     Step  72 : The furnace  42  performs thermal oxidation on selected wafers; and     Step  74 : The furnace  42  returns a processing confirmation signal of the furnace  42  to the TCS  38  after thermal oxidation, and the TCS  38  returns a processing confirmation signal of the furnace  42  to the MES  34 .        
 
         [0034]     In contrast to the prior art, the present invention system and method for real-time batch dispatching in semiconductor furnace manufacturing processes can produce the batch in real-time according to a dispatching rule, and makes the MES control the movement and processing of the wafers in the equipment and the furnace according to the batch for decreasing the unused time of the equipment and the furnace and for increasing efficiency. In addition, the above-mentioned dispatching rule enables each equipment and the furnace to obtain maximum efficiency according to the time required for the manufacturing process, the interval time between execution of the manufacturing process, product types, the status of the equipment, the material of the manufacturing process, and the plan of the factory management. On the other hand, any process that contains a bottleneck, such as the liquid crystal display (LCD) or semiconductor process, can use the present invention method according to a dispatching rule to produce the corresponding dispatching file in real-time, and to dispatch the process of producing the products for enhancing the efficiency of the whole manufacturing process  
         [0035]     Those skilled in the art will readily observe that numerous modifications and alterations of the device may be made while retaining the teachings in the invention. Accordingly, the above disclosure should be construed as limited only by the metes and bounds of the appended claims.