Data processing: generic control systems or specific application – Specific application – apparatus or process – Product assembly or manufacturing
Reexamination Certificate
2000-04-25
2004-02-24
Patel, Ramesh (Department: 2121)
Data processing: generic control systems or specific application
Specific application, apparatus or process
Product assembly or manufacturing
C700S009000, C702S188000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06697695
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a laser device management system that remotely manages a laser device for an aligner or semiconductor fabrication apparatus wherein the operational status changes due to wear and the like of components during the running of the device.
2. Description of the Related Art
Hitherto, in laser devices such as excimer laser devices for aligners used in semiconductor fabrication apparatus situated in factories, the laser output characteristics may stray from desired characteristics due to changes of the operational status arising from wear and the like of components such as discharge electrodes. Consequently, for a maintenance worker at a remote location with respect to the factory, the maintenance of such devices has involved periodic trips to the factory to perform work such as replacing consumable components and adjusting the operating voltage setting according to the number of shots (number of laser oscillations).
Problems can also arise spontaneously in the laser device, and a maintenance worker also has to make a trip to the factory in such cases.
However, the conventional laser device of this sort has suffered from the following problems:
(1) When a problem has occurred spontaneously, it is impossible to procure resources such as replacement components and maintenance workers immediately, resulting in the semiconductor fabrication apparatus being left idle for long periods. Similarly, there have also been cases in which it is impossible to make an appropriate analysis of the problem based only on the limited data available at the factory site, causing the semiconductor fabrication apparatus to be left idle for long periods.
(2) Due to individual differences between components of the laser device such as the discharge electrode or the window, maintenance cannot always be performed accurately at the maintenance intervals preset during the design process. For example, a consumable component may have a lifetime close to the set lifetime, or its lifetime may become shorter than the set lifetime, depending on the operational status of the laser device. Consequently, it has hitherto been necessary to set the maintenance interval to a shorter period than the actual set lifetime to avoid the effects of the laser output characteristics, and when the lifetime of a consumable component becomes similar to a set lifetime, this consumable component must be replaced with a new component even if it is performing sufficiently well to continue to be used, making it impossible to use components (resources) efficiently.
(3) In laser devices, since the operating status changes due to the factors such as wear of the discharge electrode, it is necessary to reset the laser oscillation parameters depending on the operational status, but since the maintenance interval is long the laser is not always ideally tuned.
A device (system) that allows an operator in a remote location to operate and manage the laser device has also been implemented to solve the problem mentioned in (1) above.
A known device (system) of this sort is the laser device described in Japanese Patent Laid-open No. 7-142801.
In this laser device, an excimer laser oscillator connected to a communication network via an interface converter transmits the data the operator needs to know to remote management terminal equipment connected to the communication network, whereupon the terminal equipment displays the received data on a screen. By referring to the received data (the data the operator needs to know) displayed on the screen, the operator then collects and analyzes the internal data of the excimer laser oscillator (control variables such as the pressure inside the chamber).
Software for operational management is installed in a computer for use in operational management situated close to the excimer laser oscillator and in the computer used for the terminal equipment, and by running this software, the software functions can be used as the functions of a controller. In this way, the controller functions can be changed by changing the software contents without rewriting the program stored in ROM on the excimer laser oscillator.
However, the device described in the abovementioned publication suffers from the following problems:
(1) It is left down to the operator to analyze the internal data of the excimer laser oscillator based on the received data displayed on the screen, which is a troublesome task. In some cases it is possible that an incorrect analysis will be made, making it impossible to perform correct maintenance and management of the excimer laser oscillator.
(2) When changes are made to the software for operational management performed by the computer or terminal equipment, this software has to be reinstalled every time a new version comes out. In particular, when multiple items of computer or terminal equipment are present, the upgraded version of the software has to be re-installed on every item of equipment.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The present invention has been made in the light of these circumstances, and aims to provide a laser device management system wherein data indicating the state of the laser device is acquired by gathering data at predetermined events, thereby allowing it to predict the lifetime of consumable components and predict problems with the laser device before they occur, from a remote location.
The first invention of the present invention is therefore a laser device management system wherein a monitor terminal that monitors the state of an aligner that generates laser light, a server device having a database, and an output terminal having output means that outputs output data based on the contents of the database are connected via a communication channel, and wherein data communication is performed at least between the monitor and display terminals and the server device via the communication channel, in which laser device management system the monitor terminal comprises processing means which, when a preset event relating to the laser device has occurred, acquires state data from the laser device indicating the state of the laser device and transmits it to the server device, and wherein the server device comprises storage means that stores the state data transmitted from the processing means in the database, and generation means that generates output data based on the contents of the database and transmits it to the output terminal.
The first invention is described with reference to FIG.
12
.
Laser control apparatus
10
,
10
A acquires data indicating the state of the laser device (referred to here as maintenance data) every time one of the specific events shown below occurs, for example.
These specific events include the following:
(1) Passage of a fixed amount of time, operation for a fixed amount of time, generation of a fixed number of discharge pulses.
(2) Occurrence of an error or warning.
(3) Completion of maintenance work (operation record), completion of a periodic operation peculiar to the laser device, such as gas exchange.
When one of the abovementioned specific events has occurred, laser control apparatus
10
,
10
A transmits maintenance data, comprising an apparatus ID and the maintenance data, to a monitor terminal
20
via LAN
80
(process P
81
).
Monitor terminal
20
transmits the received maintenance data to server device
30
via network
50
(process P
3
, P
4
)
In server device
30
, a database
33
is updated by database updating function
212
based on the received data (i.e. maintenance data) (process P
5
). At this time, the maintenance data is updated for each apparatus ID.
When the database has been updated, server device
30
also uses a display data preparation and communication function
213
to prepare display data to be output to display terminal
40
based on the updated database (process P
6
), and uses the display data preparation and communication function
213
to transmit this prepared display data to display terminal
40
via network
50
(process P
7
, P
8
).
In display termi
Kurihara Takashi
Sakanishi Shoichi
Gain Edward F
Komatsu Ltd.
Patel Ramesh
Varndell & Varndell PLLC
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