Patent ID: 7715941

Claim:
A method of controlling operation of a plurality of processing tools used to form features on semiconductor workpieces, the processing tools comprising a first processing tool and a plurality of second processing tools that perform a different operation than the first processing tool, the first processing tool being configured to process semiconductor workpieces according to a first process model and provide the processed semiconductor workpiece to any one of the second processing tools for processing according to a corresponding one of a plurality of second processing models, each of the second processing models being defined by at least one parameter that is different for each of the second processing tools, the method comprising: initially selecting, prior to processing at least one semiconductor workpiece in the first processing tool, one of the plurality of second processing tools for processing said at least one semiconductor workpiece after said at least one semiconductor workpiece has been processed in the first processing tool; determining a target output parameter indicative of features to be formed by processing said at least one semiconductor workpiece with said first processing tool and said selected one of the plurality of second processing tools; determining at least one input parameter of the first process model so that processing the semiconductor workpiece in the first processing tool and the selected second processing tool would result in features having the target output parameter; determining, after processing the semiconductor workpiece in the first processing tool, that the selected second processing tool is unavailable for processing; and selecting an alternate second processing tool characterized by an alternate process model parameter that is within a tolerance of an initial process model parameter that characterized the initially selected second processing tool so that processing the semiconductor workpiece in the alternate second processing tool would result in features having the target output parameter.