Applied Materials, Inc.

Terry Lee Doyle

Leonid Poslavsky

Nils Johansson

Paul E Luscher

Michael E Wilmer

Terry P Reiss

Sherry Cordova

Natalia Kroupnova

Yukari Nishimura

Clari Nolet

Richard C Lyon

Woon Young Toh

Evgueni Lobovski

Inna Louneva

Manush Birang

Gregory L Kolte

The present invention provides a semiconductor processing device () including a tool () having one or more sensors, a primary data communication port () and a secondary data communication port (). A sensor data acquisition subsystem () acquires sensor data from the tool via the secondary port (). The data acquisition subsystem () acquires MES operation messages via the primary port (). Sensor data are communicated to a sensor processing unit () of a sensor data processing subsystem (). The sensor processing unit () processes and analyzes the sensor data. Additionally, the processing unit () can be adapted for making product or processing related decisions, for example activating an alarm if the process is not operating within control limits. In another embodiment, the present invention provides a method and apparatus for processing data from a wafer fab facility () including a plurality of tools () each having a primary data communication port () and a secondary data communication port ().

Wafer fabrication data acquisition and management systems

A substrate processing system having a bi-directional interface and concomitant communication protocol to allow a controller to communicate with an external endpoint system is disclosed. More specifically, the substrate processing system comprises a controller and an endpoint detection system that are coupled together via a RS-232 interface. A SECS compliant communication protocol is employed to effect communication between the controller and endpoint detection system to increase wafer processing information exchange and data exchange.

Apparatus and method for endpoint control and plasma monitoring

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Portola Valley, CA, United States of America

Terry Lee Doyle