Design And Implementation Of Etching Tool Control System

Etch is one of those key processes in semiconductor,microelectronic IC and MEMS manufacturing industry.It removes unwanted materials selectively from surface of silicon wafer,sapphire substrate wafer or other materials by using chemical or physical methods.Etching tools need subtle control systems to confirm that the precise process can be conducted.In this dissertation,a new etching tool control system has been developed to meet control demands.Jobs described in this thesis include:(1)Analyzing the characteristics and research status of plasma etching;Analyzing the development status domestic and foreign etching machine control system;Analyzing the control methods of other industrial platforms.(2)Through the demand analysis on control system of etching machine from two aspects of functional requirements and performance requirements,high precision control,high stability and high safety requirements are identified.(3)Five main modules of communication,control,security,alarm and recipe are designed and implemented respectively,and the related classes and interfaces are being discussed.(4)The system deployment environment has been described;The functionality of the control system is tested;To test the performance of the system and the test data was analyzed to verify the effectiveness of the system.The etching tool control system stated in this dissertation has already put in use in semiconductor manufacturing.In practice,the system can execute orders from upper computer accurately and coordinate different parts of tool in cooperation to guarantee process conducts smoothly.The system can assure the repeatability of different hardware are all fit in designated area.Meanwhile,the system can guarantee that no operator will be harmed and tools will not be damaged when tools malfunction.