Optimal One-Wafer Cyclic Scheduling and Buffer Space Configuration for Single-Arm Multicluster Tools with Linear Topology

Liping Bai, Naiqi Wu, Zhiwu Li, Mengchu Zhou

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

131 Scopus citations

Abstract

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 cyclic schedule such that the lower bound of cycle time is reached by optimally configuring spaces in buffering modules that link individual cluster tools. A Petri net (PN) model is developed to describe the dynamic behavior of the system by extending resource-oriented PNs such that a schedule can be parameterized by robots' waiting time. Based on this model, conditions are presented under which a one-wafer cyclic schedule with the lower bound of cycle time can be found. With the derived conditions, an algorithm is developed to find such a schedule and optimally configure buffer spaces. The algorithm requires only simple calculation to set the robots' waiting time and buffer size. Illustrative examples are presented to demonstrate the proposed method.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Article number7372477
Pages (from-to)1456-1467
Number of pages12
JournalIEEE Transactions on Systems, Man, and Cybernetics: Systems
Volume46
Issue number10
DOIs
StatePublished - Oct 2016

All Science Journal Classification (ASJC) codes

  • Software
  • Control and Systems Engineering
  • Human-Computer Interaction
  • Computer Science Applications
  • Electrical and Electronic Engineering

Keywords

  • Discrete event system
  • Petri net (PN)
  • multicluster tools
  • resource-oriented Petri net
  • scheduling
  • semiconductor manufacturing

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