Scheduling Semiconductor In-line Steppers in New Product/Process Introduction Scenarios

• Main Authors: Chiou, Chie-Wun, 邱志文
• Other Authors: Wu, Muh-Cherng
• Format: Others
• Language: zh-TW
• Published: 2009
• Online Access: http://ndltd.ncl.edu.tw/handle/52331998935028036601

博士 === 國立交通大學 === 工業工程與管理系所 === 97 === Abstract This dissertation examines job scheduling problems for in-line steppers operating in a new process/production introduction (NPI) scenario. An in-line stepper is a bottleneck machine in a semiconductor fab. Its interior is comprised of a series of chambers, while its exterior is a dock equipped with a limited number of ports. The transportation unit for each chamber is a piece of wafer while that for each port is a job that could contain up to 25 wafers. This transportation incompatibility may lead to an unexpected capacity loss for an in-line stepper—in particular in an NPI scenario that, by nature, includes a substantial number of small-sized jobs. Such a capacity loss can be alleviated by effective scheduling. This dissertation is composed of three parts. Firstly, we develop a genetic algorithm (GA), a kind of meta-heuristic algorithm, to solve the job scheduling problem for a single in-line stepper. Secondly, to enhance the solution quality, we develop some other meta-heuristic algorithms. Thirdly, we examine a job scheduling problem, in which jobs could be processed by multiple in-line steppers. This problem includes two decisions: job assignment and job sequencing. Through developing a new and concise representation scheme for modeling the two decisions, we solve the multiple-machine scheduling problem by various meta-heuristic algorithms. The preceding single-machine scheduling problem in fact is a special case of the multiple-machine scheduling problem. Extensive numerical experiments indicate that a GA-Tabu algorithm developed by us essentially outperforms the other meta-heuristic algorithms adopted from literature. Keywords: Semiconductor, In-line stepper, Scheduling, GA-Tabu, Flow shop, Port constraint, GA