A Review on Control Strategies of Batch Processing Machines in Semiconductor Manufacturing

Abstract

Batch processing machines process several jobs simultaneously as a batch. When a batch machine completes the service of a batch and there is at least one product waiting in queue, a realtime control decision is made to decide whether to start a job with a partial batch or wait until future job arrivals occur. This paper provides a review of research works on real-time control strategies of batch processing machines in semiconductor manufacturing. We relate the research works with some distinct characteristics of semiconductor manufacturing and discuss the issues for future works.