The New Jersey Institute of Technology's
Electronic Theses & Dissertations Project

Title:	Modeling of quad-station module cluster tools using petri nets
Author:	Nay, Aung
View Online:	njit-etd2022-070 (xi, 44 pages ~ 5.5 MB pdf)
Department:	Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering
Degree:	Master of Science
Program:	Computer Engineering
Document Type:	Thesis
Advisory Committee:	Zhou, MengChu (Committee chair) Han, Tao (Committee member) Guo, Xiwang (Committee member)
Date:	2022-12
Keywords:	Petri net Modeling Cluster tool Quad-station Simulation Semiconductor manufacturing
Availability:	Unrestricted
Abstract:	The semiconductor industry is highly competitive, and with the recent chip shortage, the throughput of wafers has become more important than ever. One of the tools that the industry has deployed is to use of quad-station modules instead of the traditional single-station modules that allow for higher throughput and better wafer consistency by processing multiple wafers at the same time and distributing work. The industry trend is to use multiple transfer chamber robots to stack the quad-station modules in a series, particularly for etch products. In this work, the quad-station cluster tool wafer movement is modeled by using Petri net as a process-bounded system. The system analysis and simulations are performed by using timed and colored Petri nets. The results are useful to deepen our understanding of the discrete-event dynamics of quad-station module cluster tools and offer the highly needed insight into their efficient and deadlock-free operation.