The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Aug. 08, 2000
Filed:
Jun. 29, 1998
Natsuki Yokoyama, Mitaka, JP;
Yoshifumi Kawamoto, Tsukui-gun, JP;
Eiichi Murakami, Tokorozawa, JP;
Fumihiko Uchida, Hachioji, JP;
Kenichi Mizuishi, Hachioji, JP;
Yoshio Kawamura, Kokubunji, JP;
Hitachi, Ltd., Tokyo, JP;
Abstract
Disclosed is a fabricating system including a plurality of processing apparatuses connected to each other by means of an inter-apparatus transporter, wherein one group of semiconductor wafers are processed in processing apparatuses and other group of wafers are transported to specified processing apparatuses for a time interval from (To+T) to a time To; and another group of wafers are processed and the remaining group of wafers are transported for a time interval from (To+T) to (To+2T). Since processing apparatuses can receive at least one of works from the inter-apparatus transporter for a time interval T min, the distribution of works from the transporter to processing apparatuses is completed for the time interval T min. The transporter is emptied for each time interval T min, and works are unloaded to the emptied transporter, which makes easy the scheduling, control and management of the transporting of a plurality of works in the fabricating system. Moreover, since the fabricating system including processing apparatuses is periodically controlled at a cycle time T min, the scheduling of a plurality of works can be made easy, to enhance the level of optimization, thus improving the productivity.