DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT

[0016] In an exemplary embodiment, an automated material handling system (AMHS) is integrated with a manufacturing execution system as illustrated in manufacturing system 100 of FIG. 1 . Manufacturing entities generally employ materials storage and transport equipment located within processing bays of its manufacturing plant (FAB) as well as communications hardware and software for automating the handling and control of these transport equipment devices and materials. System 100 includes a host system 102 comprising one or more servers 150 which are in communication with one or more client systems 152 via a wired or wireless communications network 154 . Server 150 may be one or more mainframe computers or other similar high-speed servers. Further, additional servers may be included in host system 102 in order to realize the advantages of the invention. However, in the simplified diagram of FIG. 1 , only one server 150 is shown. Server 150 executes software applications including, but not limited to enterprise resource planning (ERP), manufacturing execution system (MES), material control system (MCS), scheduling system, and other suitable applications.

[0017] Also included in FIG. 1 is production equipment 120 that performs one or more processes on manufacturing materials and/or components for the manufacturing entity. Production equipment 120 includes an equipment controller, or microprocessor, for communicating with cell controller 105 . Cell controller 105 (also referred to as equipment integration controller and station controller) represents an interface that allows host system 102 to communicate with production equipment 120 . Cell controller 105 communicates with the equipment controller of production equipment 120 via RS232, HSMS, or ethernet ports. Production equipment 120 includes fixed buffer type tools and internal buffer tools and may further include process, measurement, metrology, and test tools typically used in a manufacturing facility. It will be understood that cell controller 105 may be integrated with host system 102 wherein host system 102 comprises one or more servers and/or workstations used as production equipment controllers (e.g., cell controllers, station controllers, or equipment integration controllers) that interface between the MES and the semiconductor and production equipment 120 , allowing and supporting integrated communications.

[0018] Host system 102 also includes a data storage component that comprises any form of mass storage configured to read and write database type data maintained in a file store (e.g., a magnetic disk data storage device). Information stored in the data storage component is retrieved and manipulated by host system 102 and may be made accessible to employees of system 100 who have proper access permissions.

[0019] System 100 further includes an automated material handling system (AMHS) 103 in communication with host system 102 via communications network 154 and material control system software operating on server 150 . AMHS systems track and control the movement of carriers in a manufacturing system such as system 100 . It will be understood that AMHS 103 may be installed as an additional integrated system or component of an existing MES application or it may be a separate system and application that interfaces between an MES and MCS. It will be understood that the AMHS/MCS may be purchased commercially as a separate system that can be integrated into an existing MES and FAB, or it may be developed internally. For example, during the 1970's IBM® developed their own AMHS as part of the QTAT Line (Quick Turn Around Time). Although this was only a 80 mm 3-inch wafer line, it had a fully automated material handling system and was a scaled down version of the automated 300 mm FABs that are currently being built.

[0020] Also included in system 100 are an intrabay transport system controller 106 , a stocker system controller 108 , and an interbay transport system controller 110 , each of which is linked to AMHS 103 by using communication standards defined by Semiconductor Equipment and Materials International™ (SEMI). These communication standards are E82 (Specification for Interbay/Intrabay Specific Equipment Model (IBSEM)) for the Intrabay and Interbay equipment 112 and 116 , respectively, and E88 (Specification for stocker SEM) for stocker equipment 114 . Intrabay transport vehicles 112 , stockers 114 , and interbay transport vehicles 116 are in communication with system controllers 106 , 108 , and 110 respectively. Movement and tracking of transport equipment 112 and 116 and the materials they transport are facilitated by system controllers 106 and 110 respectively, as well as the MCS. It will be noted that any number of equipment devices and transport vehicles may be utilized by system 100 in order to realize the advantages of the invention. Although the invention as described above employs SEMI™ standards, it will be understood and appreciated by those skilled in the art that other standards may be utilized in addition to, or in lieu of, SEMI™ standards in order to realize the advantages of the invention.

[0021] Carrier/Material handoff operations between active equipment (e.g., transport equipment 112 and 116 ) and passive equipment (e.g., production equipment 120 and stocker equipment 114 ) may be accomplished via enhanced parallel I/O interface signals utilizing SEMI™ E84 standards. E84 signals are transferred among intrabay transport vehicles 112 , stockers 114 , and interbay transport vehicles 116 which allow direct communication between them. This will be described further herein.

[0022] Client system 152 is linked to host system 102 via network 154 . Client system 152 may comprise one or more general-purpose wired or wireless computers and may include such pervasive devices as PDAs, hand-held PCs, pocket PCs, web-enabled cell phones, or any other type of device connected to the network. Network 154 may include wireless technology, radio-based communications, telephony-based communications, or a combination of the above. For purposes of illustration, however, network 154 is a high speed Ethernet LAN. Host system 102 is running suitable communications software such as email which allows information relating to production processes to be presented to end users such as system support personnel on client system 152 via business applications utilizing data management components (e.g., IBM's DB2™). System 100 may also be running a groupware application such as Lotus Notes™, or some other commercially available or internally developed e-mail system.

[0023] A framework for the flow of information associated with the implementation of the MES and MCS/AMHS and integrated transport facilitation system is described in FIG. 2A with respect to the execution of a manufacturing production process. Although other types of manufacturing environments may benefit from the invention, the semiconductor manufacturing environment is described herein for illustrative purposes.

[0024] A manufacturing process is initiated via the MES of host system 102 at step 202 . A lot and/or carrier is selected for processing at step 204 . This selection may be accomplished manually by a human operator or automatically by an automated dispatch system in the MES. The dispatching system may be part of the MES or may be a separate integrated application or system provided by a third party vendor. Real time dispatching systems and applications are commercially available and will be understood by those skilled in the art. The MES creates a Start Lot Reservation (also referred to as carrier reservation) at step 206 , which involves creating a control job ID at step 208 , and transfer job ID at step 214 . A control job is a unit tracked by the MES that contains one or more process jobs and specifies the order of the process jobs as well as the source and destination of the materials. The control job ID is associated with a specific equipment ID and load port at step 210 . The cell controller system 105 reserves the load port via a ‘Bind’ command transmitted to the equipment 120 at step 212 . The transfer job ID is transmitted to the MCS at step 214 and contains the information necessary to initiate the automated move or transport job from the stocker 114 or equipment 120 to the equipment load port. Automated moves include two types: from a stocker to production equipment, and from one piece of equipment to another piece of equipment. The source and destination of the moves can either be the stocker 114 or equipment 120 . In some MES's and MCS's, each of the systems will create a uniquely identified transfer job ID which is associated with the move or transaction to execute a move from source to destination. The MCS initiates the transport at step 216 . A transport vehicle 112 , such as an AGV, RGV, or other type of OHT/OHV or similar device proceeds to stocker 114 or equipment 120 at step 218 . The transport vehicle 112 picks up the reserved carrier from stocker 114 or equipment 120 at step 220 and brings it to the reserved equipment load port at step 222 . Delivery is initiated at the load port which involves communications between the E84 sensors and the load port. If the delivery is successful at step 224 , the material is processed at step 226 and the process ends for the selected lot at step 228 . If the delivery is not successful (step 224 ), delivery may be reinitiated a fixed number of times at step 230 before the aborting the job. In this instance, the carrier is returned to the stocker 114 at step 232 and an event report is generated by the MCS at step 234 . A sample event report 300 is shown in FIG. 3 .

[0025] The process continues in FIG. 2B wherein the event report is received by MES and may include some type of report sent from the MCS/AMHS to the MES documenting the ‘Carrier Job State Changed’ message, informing the MES that this specific transfer job ID and carrier job ID was unable to be loaded to the reserved destination at step 236 . The integrated transport facilitation system, either integrated into the MES or developed as a separate integrated application, parses the data in the event report, generates a notification, and distributes the notification to system support personnel at client system 152 at step 238 . The integrated transport facilitation system or MES sends the notification to the system support personnel in one of various formats depending on the user selected criteria. For example, the notification could be sent as an e-mail message to the system support personnel or the notification information could be transmitted to a collaborative workplace used by designated support personnel assigned to the task. FIG. 4 illustrates a sample email notification 400 generated by the integrated transport facilitation system. Notification 400 includes a brief description of the failure encountered 402 , the lot ID 404 , carrier ID 406 , and source equipment ID 408 . The notification also includes the source stocker 410 , destination equipment ID 412 , port ID 414 , source bay ID 416 , source OHV/OHT ID 418 , and other information that may be relevant 420 . It will be understood that other information may be provided in the automatic notification in addition to, or in lieu of the above, particularly as the supporting systems and structures evolve over time and new parameters and fields of information become relevant. This information assists the system support personnel in determining the type of mechanical or electrical corrective actions to perform at the destination equipment ID 412 and/or port ID 414 . Corrective action can be as simple as clearing or removing an unexpected obstacle blocking the delivery, or may be as complicated as troubleshooting an electrical or RF communication problem. The support personnel addressed in the “TO” section 422 of the email notification 400 resolve the issues provided in the notification, if necessary, and note the resolution information via return e-mail or by indicating that the resolution is complete in the collaborative space. The integrated transport facilitation system packages the event reports with notifications and resolution data and stores the data in the data storage component or repository of host system 102 for trend analysis or auditing purposes. The data can take the form of a simple ASCII text log file, or may be parsed into a DB2™ or other database table.

[0026] The integrated transport facilitation system then automatically clears the load port data at step 240 as part of a reset mechanism implemented by the integrated transport facilitation system. Aside from the mechanical, electrical, or physical clearing of the load port, step 240 also requires that the MES and/or integrated transport facilitation system software clear the load port logically in the MES. This may be in the form of an MES transaction provided by the MES, or some method or object that the integrated transport facilitation system uses to send the clear command to the MES. This logical clearing of the load port is generally seen as a ‘load request state’ represented in the MES. A ‘load request’ means that the load port is now ready or requesting a carrier to be loaded for processing. For example, IBM's SiView Standard™ MES includes a ‘start lot reserve cancel’ button or feature that is built into the MES logic that allows and supports a user to manually cancel a previous reservation to a load port. This feature could be automated in any MES to provide a means for clearing the reservation remotely utilizing an integrated call from the integrated transport facilitation system.

[0027] The integrated transport facilitation system then checks to see if the carrier that failed in transport is still reserved in the MES system at step 242 . Using the information provided in the notification of FIG. 4 , the integrated transport facilitation system queries the MES database stored in the data storage component of host system 102 for the status of the carrier reservation. If the carrier is still reserved, the integrated transport facilitation system clears the carrier reservation at step 244 . If the carrier is not reserved, or alternatively, if the carrier reservation has been cleared, the process continues at step 246 where the pending transfer job ID(s) is/are deleted, followed by the deletion of the control job ID functions at step 248 . The integrated transport facilitation system then checks to see if all components reserved have been successfully reset at step 250 . If so, the manufacturing process is resumed at step 252 . If the MES has not been successfully reset (step 250 ), one or more of steps 240 - 248 are repeated as necessary before processing resumes at step 252 .

[0028] As can be seen, the integrated transport facilitation system allows MES and MCS software systems to communicate failures and resolve them before essential production equipment become idle. Near real-time notifications are generated and distributed upon detection of a failure caused by one or more of various activities and designated personnel or automated systems are activated to resolve the failure.

[0029] As described above, the present invention can be embodied in the form of computer-implemented processes and apparatuses for practicing those processes. The present invention can also be embodied in the form of computer program code containing instructions embodied in tangible media, such as floppy diskettes, CD-ROMs, hard drives, or any other computer-readable storage medium, wherein, when the computer program code is loaded into and executed by a computer, the computer becomes an apparatus for practicing the invention. The present invention can also be embodied in the form of computer program code, for example, whether stored in a storage medium, loaded into and/or executed by a computer, or transmitted over some transmission medium, such as over electrical wiring or cabling, through fiber optics, or via electromagnetic radiation, wherein, when the computer program code is loaded into and executed by a computer, the computer becomes an apparatus for practicing the invention. When implemented on a general-purpose microprocessor, the computer program code segments configure the microprocessor to create specific logic circuits.

[0030] While preferred embodiments have been shown and described, various modifications and substitutions may be made thereto without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention. Accordingly, it is to be understood that the present invention has been described by way of illustration and not limitation.