2004 Publications
2004 Conference Publications.
[1] INTELLIGENT SIMULATION-BASED LOT SCHEDULING OF PHOTOLITHOGRAPHY TOOLSETS IN A WAFER FABRICATION FACILITY, 2004
Amr Arisha and Paul Young
2004 Winter Simulation Conference
2004 Winter Simulation Conference
Abstract
Scheduling of a semiconductor manufacturing facility is one of the most complex tasks encountered. Confronted with a high technology product market, semiconductor manufacturing is increasingly more dynamic and competi-tive in the introduction of new products in shorter time in-tervals. Photolithography, being one of the processes re-peated often, is a fabrication bottleneck. Lot scheduling within photolithography is a challenging activity where substantial improvements in factory performance can be made. The proposed scheduling methodology integrates two common approaches, simulation and artificial intelli-gence. Using detailed simulation modeling within a struc-tured modeling method, a comprehensive model to characterize the photolithography process was developed. An artificial intelligence scheduler was then developed and integrated with the model with the goal of reducing Work-In-Process (WIP), setup time, and throughput time. The re-sults have shown a significant improvement in lot cycle time as well as tool utilization, improved the throughput time by an average of 15% and is currently in use for sche-duling the photolithography process.
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