Scheduling cluster tools in semiconductor manufacturing: Recent advances and challenges

CR Pan, MC Zhou, Y Qiao… - IEEE transactions on …, 2017 - ieeexplore.ieee.org
Cluster tools are automated robotic manufacturing systems containing multiple computer-
controlled process modules. They have been increasingly used for wafer fabrication. This …

Integration of scheduling and advanced process control in semiconductor manufacturing: review and outlook

C Yugma, J Blue, S Dauzère-Pérès, A Obeid - Journal of Scheduling, 2015 - Springer
Scheduling in semiconductor manufacturing is of vital importance due to the impact on
production performance indicators such as equipment utilization, cycle time, and delivery …

Scheduling semiconductor testing facility by using cuckoo search algorithm with reinforcement learning and surrogate modeling

ZC Cao, CR Lin, MC Zhou… - IEEE Transactions on …, 2018 - ieeexplore.ieee.org
A semiconductor final testing scheduling problem with multiresource constraints is
considered in this paper, which is proved to be NP-hard. To minimize the makespan for this …

IoT-enabled real-time production performance analysis and exception diagnosis model

Y Zhang, W Wang, N Wu, C Qian - IEEE Transactions on …, 2015 - ieeexplore.ieee.org
The recent developments of technologies in Internet of Things (IoT) provide the opportunities
for smart manufacturing with real-time traceability, visibility, and interoperability in production …

Optimal one-wafer cyclic scheduling and buffer space configuration for single-arm multicluster tools with linear topology

L Bai, N Wu, Z Li, MC Zhou - IEEE Transactions on Systems …, 2016 - ieeexplore.ieee.org
This work studies the scheduling problem of a single-arm multicluster tool with a linear
topology and process-bound bottleneck individual tool. The objective is to find a one-wafer …

Stochastic modeling and quality evaluation of infrastructure-as-a-service clouds

Y Xia, MC Zhou, X Luo, Q Zhu, J Li… - IEEE Transactions on …, 2013 - ieeexplore.ieee.org
Cloud computing is a recently developed new technology for complex systems with massive
service sharing, which is different from the resource sharing of the grid computing systems …

Petri net modeling and scheduling of a close-down process for time-constrained single-arm cluster tools

QH Zhu, MC Zhou, Y Qiao… - IEEE Transactions on …, 2016 - ieeexplore.ieee.org
In wafer fabrication, a robotic cluster tool is required to be closed down in order for
engineers to perform its on-demand and preventive maintenance and switch between …

Noncyclic scheduling of cluster tools with a branch and bound algorithm

HJ Kim, JH Lee, TE Lee - IEEE Transactions on Automation …, 2013 - ieeexplore.ieee.org
Cluster tools, each of which consists of multiple processing modules, one material handling
robot, and loadlocks, are widely used for wafer fabrication processes, such as lithography …

Wafer sojourn time fluctuation analysis of time-constrained dual-arm cluster tools with wafer revisiting and activity time variation

Y Qiao, NQ Wu, FJ Yang, MC Zhou… - IEEE Transactions on …, 2016 - ieeexplore.ieee.org
A robotic cluster tool involves many activities whose time is subject to some disturbance,
thus leading to the activity time variation. It results in wafer sojourn time fluctuation in a …

Reducing wafer delay time by robot idle time regulation for single-arm cluster tools

WQ Xiong, CR Pan, Y Qiao, NQ Wu… - IEEE Transactions …, 2020 - ieeexplore.ieee.org
Nowadays, wafer fabrication in semiconductor manufacturing is highly dependent on cluster
tools. A cluster tool is equipped with several process modules (PMs) and a wafer handling …