JP4181184B2 - Method for controlling semiconductor manufacturing apparatus - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention controls an operation amount input to a control target such as a heater control unit and a valve control unit provided in a semiconductor manufacturing apparatus by feedback processing by PID (proportional / integral / differential) operation, and outputs from the control target. The present invention relates to a control method for controlling a control amount to be performed.

Semiconductor manufacturing equipment has components that need to be controlled in various ways, such as an electric furnace that controls the temperature and the flow rate of the reaction gas, and the target value is quickly and accurately controlled for these components. Is required to achieve.
In order to perform a predetermined process on a substrate such as a semiconductor wafer or a glass substrate, for example, in an electric furnace, it is required to achieve a target temperature quickly and accurately, and a target is set for the flow rate of a reaction gas. It is required to achieve the gas flow rate quickly and accurately.

  Such control of temperature and gas flow rate controls the operation amount input to the heater control means for controlling the heater for heating and the valve control means for controlling the electromagnetic valve of the pipe line, and from these heater control means and valve control means. This is done by controlling the control amount output to the heater or electromagnetic valve. That is, the control amount is changed to an intended target value by changing the operation amount, and thereby the heating temperature by the heater and the gas flow rate by the electromagnetic valve are changed to target values.

In such control, an operation amount input to a heater control unit or the like as a control target is finely controlled by feedback processing by PID calculation, and a target control amount is output from the control target.
That is, as shown in FIG. 5, first, an operation amount (Y) for achieving the target value (SV) by inputting the target control amount (SV) from the input means (not shown) to the PID calculation means 1. Is input from the PID calculation means 1 to the control target (heater control means) 2. Then, the control amount (PV) output from the control object 2 is fed back to the PID calculation means 1 so that the deviation between the target value (SV) and the actual control amount (PV) is eliminated. The operation amount (Y) was changed every moment.

  Here, the PID means 1 performs a calculation process for eliminating the deviation between the target value (SV) and the actual control amount (PV), and the integral calculation (I calculation) in this calculation process is the time integration of the deviation. This is a process of calculating the amount. In other words, the integral calculation process performed by the PID calculation means 1 is a process that causes a delay in time compared to other proportional calculations (P calculation) and differential calculations (D calculation).

Therefore, as shown in FIG. 6A, the control amount (PV) output from the control object 2 at the time (t1) becomes equal to the target value (SV). As shown in b), since the operation amount (YI) by the integral operation with time delay is still increasing or decreasing, the operation amount (Y) input to the control means 2 is also time delayed.
As a result, after the time (t1), it takes a long time for the controlled variable (PV) to stabilize to the target value (SV) by overshooting or undershooting. Therefore, there is a problem that the heater and the like that are used cannot be controlled quickly and accurately to the intended operation, and the accuracy of the process processing by the semiconductor manufacturing apparatus is lowered.

  The present invention has been made in view of the above-described conventional circumstances, and it is possible to quickly and accurately change a control amount output from a control target to a target value, and to improve the accuracy of process processing by a semiconductor manufacturing apparatus. An object of the present invention is to provide a method for controlling a semiconductor manufacturing apparatus.

  In order to achieve the above object, a method for controlling a semiconductor manufacturing apparatus according to the present invention changes a control amount by the control object by changing an operation amount input to a control object provided in the semiconductor manufacturing apparatus, and performs the operation. In the control method of semiconductor manufacturing equipment that controls by performing feedback processing by proportional / integral / differential calculation or proportional / integral calculation based on the controlled variable that changes the amount, and changes the controlled variable to the target value. The relationship between the target value and the manipulated variable in advance is obtained in advance, and if there is a deviation greater than or equal to the predetermined value between the target value and the momentary controlled variable, the manipulated variable obtained by feedback processing by integral calculation is used. In addition, the operation amount obtained in advance at the target value is added to the operation amount obtained by feedback processing by proportional / differential calculation or proportional calculation, and the added operation amount is input to the control target. That.

  For example, in the heater control unit, the relationship between the control amount for stabilizing the heater for heating at a certain temperature and the operation amount input to the heater control unit as a control target to output the control amount is expressed as the operation amount and It is obtained in advance as the relationship with the controlled variable when the control object is stable. Then, when the temperature of the heater is changed to a certain value, a deviation between the target value of the control amount corresponding to the temperature and the control amount actually output by the heater control means is obtained, and this deviation is set to a predetermined value. If the value is greater than or equal to the value, it is not a feedback process based on an integral calculation, but a feedback process based on another proportional / differential calculation or a proportional calculation based on an operation amount that has been determined in advance as a stable control amount set as a target value. In addition to the operation amount obtained in step 1, the heater control means is controlled by this operation amount.

  Here, as the deviation increases, the amount of change in the manipulated variable due to the feedback processing also increases. However, when integral control is used when a large amount of control is applied to the manipulated variable in this way, an excess of the controlled variable due to a time delay will occur. Shoots and undershoots become prominent. Therefore, in such a case, in the present invention, the control is executed without using the operation amount by the integral calculation to prevent overshoot and undershoot of the control amount.

In addition, in the electric furnace of the semiconductor manufacturing apparatus which is the subject of the present invention, the stable temperature and the stable valve opening degree under the same conditions are constant to some extent, and the temperature condition and the opening degree condition are changed so much every operation. Therefore, the relationship between the manipulated variable and the controlled variable when the controlled object is stable can be easily and accurately obtained by several trial processes.
In addition, the present invention basically includes not only a proportional operation (P operation), an integral operation (I operation) and a differential operation (D operation), but also basically a proportional operation (P operation) and an integral operation (I operation). It can also be applied to the case where the calculation is performed. In any case, when the deviation is equal to or larger than a predetermined value, an operation amount obtained in advance may be used instead of the feedback processing by the integral calculation.

As described above, according to the method for controlling a semiconductor manufacturing apparatus according to the present invention,
If there is a deviation greater than or equal to the predetermined value between the target value and the momentary control amount, processing based on the operation amount obtained in advance is performed instead of integration processing, and the obtained operation amount is controlled. Therefore, it is possible to prevent overshoot and undershoot caused by the integral calculation process, and to change the control amount to the target value quickly and accurately.
For this reason, the electric furnace or the like of the semiconductor manufacturing apparatus can be quickly and accurately controlled to a predetermined temperature or a predetermined reaction gas flow rate, and the accuracy of process processing by the semiconductor manufacturing apparatus can be improved.

A method for controlling a semiconductor manufacturing apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.
First, a control apparatus that implements the control method of this embodiment will be described with reference to FIG.
In this embodiment, the control target 2 is a heater control means for controlling the heater of the electric furnace, and the control target outputs the supply voltage to the heater for heating as a control amount (PV).

  The control device according to the present embodiment performs an addition / subtraction unit 11 for obtaining a deviation (e) between a control amount (PV) and a target value (SV) from the controlled object 2 and performs a proportional / differential calculation based on the deviation (e). The PD calculation means 12 for outputting the operation amount (YPD), the I calculation means 13 for performing the integral calculation based on the deviation (e) and outputting the operation amount (YI), and the controlled object 2 output stably. The memory 14 storing the relationship between the control amount (PV) and the operation amount (YS) given to the control target 2 at that time, and the operation amount (YS) corresponding to the control amount to be the target value (SV) from the memory 14. The YS acquisition means 15 to be read, the switch means 16 for switching between the terminal a on the I calculation means 13 side and the terminal b on the YS acquisition means 15 side according to the magnitude of the absolute value of the deviation (e), and the switch means 16 Manipulated variable (YI) or (YS) from the PD calculation means 12 Sakuryou and an adder 17, the operation amount of the (YPD) and adding to the controlled object 2 (Y).

Next, as shown in FIG. 4A, when the control amount (PV) from the controlled object 2 is changed to the target value (SV) at the time (t0), the control performed by the control device having the above configuration. A method will be described.
First, prior to starting the control process, a trial process is performed to determine the relationship between the controlled variable (PV) that the controlled object 2 stably outputs and the manipulated variable (Y) given to the controlled object 2 at that time. This is stored in the memory 14.
After such preparation, the control process of the procedure shown in FIG. 2 is started. First, the difference (e) between the control amount (PV) output from the control object 2 and the target value (SV) is added to the subtractor 11. (Step S1).

Then, the switch means 16 compares the values α and β in which the absolute value of the deviation (e) is set in advance (steps S2 and S3), and if the absolute value of the deviation (e) is larger than the predetermined value α, a terminal described later. The operation amount (Y0) is obtained by the process of switching the path to the b side (step S4), and if the absolute value of the deviation (e) is smaller than the predetermined value β, the operation is performed by the process of switching the path to the terminal a described later. An amount (Y0) is obtained (step S5). The relationship between these predetermined values is set such that α> β.
Here, when the absolute value of the deviation (e) is equal to or smaller than the predetermined value α and equal to or larger than the predetermined value β, the switch means 16 determines whether the current path is the terminal a side or the terminal b side ( Step S6), processing of the current terminal connection state (step S4 or S5) is performed.

Note that the path of the switch means 16 is set to the terminal a side at the start of the control process, and the path is switched to the terminal b side when the absolute value of the deviation (e) becomes larger than the predetermined value α. (Step S4) is started.
Further, in order to cope with the change of the control amount (PV) from time to time, the processing shown in FIG. 2 is periodically repeated, and the terminal b started when the absolute value of the deviation (e) exceeds the predetermined value α. The process switched to the side (step S4) returns to the process switched to the terminal a side (step S5) when the absolute value of the deviation (e) becomes equal to or less than the predetermined value β. That is, the process (step S4) switched to the terminal b side is started when the absolute value of the deviation (e) is relatively large and ends when the absolute value of the deviation (e) is relatively small by the control process. .

  Then, the PD calculation means 12 performs proportional / differential calculation so as to eliminate the deviation (e) to calculate the manipulated variable (YPD) (step S7), and this manipulated variable (YPD) and the manipulated variable (Y0). Are added to the control object 2 as an operation amount (Y) (step S8).

The above-described processing on the side of the switch terminal a (step S5) is performed according to the procedure shown in FIG. 3A, thereby obtaining the operation amount (Y0). In this process, the I operation means 13 is activated, and the I operation means 13 performs an integral operation so as to eliminate the deviation (e) to calculate the manipulated variable (YI) (step S51), and this manipulated variable (YI). Is the above-described operation amount (Y0) (step S52).
That is, when the deviation (e) is relatively small, the manipulated variable (Y0) is obtained using feedback processing by integral calculation as in the prior art.

On the other hand, the process (step S4) on the b side of the switch terminal described above is performed according to the procedure shown in FIG. 3B, thereby obtaining the operation amount (Y0). In this process, the YS acquisition unit 15 is activated, and the YS acquisition unit 15 acquires the operation amount (YS) corresponding to the target value (SV) from the memory 14 (step S41), and this operation amount (YS) is obtained as described above. The operation amount (Y0) is set (step S42).
That is, when the deviation (e) is relatively large, the operation amount obtained in advance is used as the operation amount (Y0) instead of the feedback processing by the integration operation, and the control caused by the time delay of the integration operation is performed. Prevent amount overshoot and undershoot.

  That is, when the control amount (PV) corresponding to the heating temperature 350 ° C. is changed to the target value (SV) corresponding to 400 ° C. at the time (t 0) as shown in FIG. According to the process (step S4), the manipulated variable (Y0) is constant as shown in (b) of FIG. Therefore, no further manipulated variable is input to the controlled object 2 after the manipulated variable (Y), and the controlled variable (PV) from the controlled object 2 is as shown in FIG. The target value (SV) is achieved at time (t2) within a relatively short time.

  Thus, in the example in which the control amount (PV) corresponding to the heating temperature 350 ° C. is changed to the target value (SV) corresponding to 400 ° C., for example, the predetermined value α is 1.0 ° C. and the predetermined value β is 0.3 From the beginning of the control process when the deviation (e) is 50 ° C., the switch terminal performs the b-side process (step S4), and the integral calculation is performed when the deviation (e) becomes extremely small at less than 0.3 ° C. Is switched to the process (step S5) using also. Thus, even if the process using the integral calculation is performed when the deviation (e) becomes small, there is almost no influence of the time delay due to the integral calculation, and it returns to the target value (SV) by the PID calculation process. The convergence effect can be obtained, and the target value can be easily achieved.

In the above-described embodiment, two different values are used as the predetermined values α and β. However, these values may be the same and the process may be switched using the values as a boundary.
In the above embodiment, the PID calculation process is basically used. However, the present invention is also applicable to the case where the P calculation means that performs only the proportional calculation is used instead of the PD calculation means 12 and the PI calculation process is the basic. Can do.

It is a block diagram which shows the structure of the control apparatus which implements the control method which concerns on one Example of this invention. It is a flowchart which shows the process sequence of the control method which concerns on one Example of this invention. It is a flowchart which shows the procedure of the process utilized by switching which concerns on one Example of this invention, (a) is the process using an integral calculation, (b) is the process using the operation amount calculated | required previously. It is a graph explaining the effect | action of the control method which concerns on this invention, (a) is a time change of a control amount, (b) is a time change of the operation amount. It is a block diagram which shows the structure of the control apparatus which implements the conventional control method. It is a graph explaining the effect | action of the conventional control method, (a) is a time change of a control amount, (b) is a time change of the operation amount.

Explanation of symbols

2 Control object,
PV control amount,
SV target value,
e deviation,
Y The added operation amount,
YS Pre-determined operation amount,
YI Manipulation amount by integral calculation,
YPD Manipulation amount by proportional / differential calculation,

Claims (4)

Semiconductor manufacturing method for performing predetermined processing on substrate by changing control amount by control object by changing operation amount input to control object provided in semiconductor manufacturing apparatus, and changing control amount to target value In
When the deviation between the target value and the control amount is larger than the first predetermined value , the semiconductor manufacturing apparatus is configured to add the operation amount obtained in advance to the operation amount obtained by the proportional / differential operation or the feedback processing by the proportional operation. The terminal connection state of the provided switching means is switched, the operation amount obtained by the addition is input to the control object, the control amount is changed to a target value, and the deviation is smaller than a first predetermined value. 2 If smaller than the predetermined value, the terminal connection state is switched so that the operation amount obtained by the integral operation of the deviation is added to the operation amount obtained by the feedback processing by the proportional / differential operation or the proportional operation, The operation amount obtained by the addition is input to the control target to change the control amount to a target value. When the deviation is equal to or less than a first predetermined value and equal to or greater than a second predetermined value, the terminal connection state is switched. Without doing The operation amount obtained by the integral operation of the deviation or the operation amount obtained by the integral operation of the deviation is added to the operation amount obtained by the feedback processing by the proportional / differential operation or the proportional operation, and the operation amount obtained by the addition is added. A semiconductor manufacturing method for inputting to the control object and changing the control amount to a target value ,
The previously obtained operation amount, a semiconductor manufacturing process, wherein the controlled object is an operation amount for outputting the control amount when stabilized at the target value. In a semiconductor manufacturing apparatus that performs a predetermined process on a substrate by changing a control amount by the control target by changing an operation amount input to the control target provided in the own device, and changing the control amount to a target value.
When the deviation between the target value and the control amount is larger than the first predetermined value , the semiconductor manufacturing apparatus is configured to add the operation amount obtained in advance to the operation amount obtained by the proportional / differential operation or the feedback processing by the proportional operation. The terminal connection state of the provided switching means is switched, the operation amount obtained by the addition is input to the control object, the control amount is changed to a target value, and the deviation is smaller than a first predetermined value. 2 If smaller than the predetermined value, the terminal connection state is switched so that the operation amount obtained by the integral operation of the deviation is added to the operation amount obtained by the feedback processing by the proportional / differential operation or the proportional operation, The operation amount obtained by the addition is input to the control target to change the control amount to a target value. When the deviation is equal to or less than a first predetermined value and equal to or greater than a second predetermined value, the terminal connection state is switched. Without doing The operation amount obtained by the integral operation of the deviation or the operation amount obtained by the integral operation of the deviation is added to the operation amount obtained by the feedback processing by the proportional / differential operation or the proportional operation, and the operation amount obtained by the addition is added. A semiconductor manufacturing apparatus that inputs to the control object and changes the control amount to a target value ,
The semiconductor manufacturing apparatus characterized in that the operation amount obtained in advance is an operation amount for outputting a control amount when the controlled object is stable at the target value. The semiconductor manufacturing apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the controlled variable by the control target is a temperature, and the first predetermined value and the second predetermined value are 1 ° C. or less. The semiconductor manufacturing apparatus according to claim 3, wherein the second predetermined value is 0.3 ° C. or less.

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