Abstract
Due to the different behavior of single-arm and dual-arm cluster tools, it is challenging to schedule a hybrid multi-cluster tool containing both of them. This paper aims to find an optimal one-wafer cyclic schedule for such a multi-cluster tool. It is assumed that the bottleneck individual cluster tool in it is process-bound, thereby making it process-dominant. To do so, this paper models a hybrid multi-cluster tool with Petri nets. With this model, it derives the conditions under which individual cluster tools can operate in a paced way. Based on these conditions, this paper shows that for any process-dominant hybrid multi-cluster tool there is always a one-wafer cyclic schedule. Then, it develops the algorithms to find the minimal cycle time and the optimal one-wafer cyclic schedule. It is computationally efficient and easy-to-implement in practice. Examples are given to show the application and effectiveness of the proposed method.
Original language | English (US) |
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Article number | 6815731 |
Pages (from-to) | 1598-1610 |
Number of pages | 13 |
Journal | IEEE Transactions on Systems, Man, and Cybernetics: Systems |
Volume | 44 |
Issue number | 12 |
DOIs | |
State | Published - Dec 1 2014 |
All Science Journal Classification (ASJC) codes
- Software
- Control and Systems Engineering
- Human-Computer Interaction
- Computer Science Applications
- Electrical and Electronic Engineering
Keywords
- Hybrid multi-cluster tools
- Petri net (PN)
- Scheduling
- Semiconductor manufacturing