Closed loop control-based real-time dispatching heuristic on parallel batch machines with incompatible job families and dynamic arrivals

Abstract

In this paper, a real-time closed loop control dispatching heuristic (RCLC) algorithm is proposed to address the scheduling problem of parallel batch machines with incompatible job families, limited waiting time constraints, re-entrant flow and dynamic arrivals in the diffusion and oxidation areas of a semiconductor wafer fabrication system (SWFS), which is known to be strongly NP-hard. The basis of this algorithm is the information of lots in the buffer when the parallel batch machines are idle and available. In RCLC, if the number of any family lots is less than the maximum batch size, the dispatching heuristic can be seen as a pull–pull–push–push (P4) strategy; otherwise, a genetic algorithm (GA). A look-itself strategy, P4 strategy and GA can build a closed loop control system. The experiments are implemented on the Petri nets-based real-time scheduling simulation platform of SWFS, and demonstrate the effectiveness of our proposed method.