Object carrier transport system and method of transporting object carriers
09618921 ยท 2017-04-11
Assignee
Inventors
Cpc classification
G05B19/0405
PHYSICS
Y02P90/02
GENERAL TAGGING OF NEW TECHNOLOGICAL DEVELOPMENTS; GENERAL TAGGING OF CROSS-SECTIONAL TECHNOLOGIES SPANNING OVER SEVERAL SECTIONS OF THE IPC; TECHNICAL SUBJECTS COVERED BY FORMER USPC CROSS-REFERENCE ART COLLECTIONS [XRACs] AND DIGESTS
H01L21/00
ELECTRICITY
International classification
G05B19/04
PHYSICS
G05B19/418
PHYSICS
Abstract
A semiconductor electronic device structure includes an active area array disposed in a substrate, an isolation structure, a plurality of recessed gate structures, a plurality of word lines, and a plurality of bit lines. The active area array a plurality of active area columns and a plurality of active area rows, defining an array of active areas. The substrate has two recesses formed at the central region thereof. Each recessed gate structure is respectively disposed in the recess. A protruding structure is formed on the substrate in each recess. A STI structure of the isolation structure is arranged between each pair of adjacent active area rows. Word lines are disposed in the substrate, each electrically connecting the gate structures there-under. Bit lines are disposed above the active areas, forming a crossing pattern with the word lines.
Claims
1. An object carrier transport system for a carrier storage apparatus for carrying carriers in a plurality of storage sections, the carriers each having a relative priority denoted by a first positive integer, the storage sections each having a relative priority denoted by a second positive integer, the carrier arrangement system comprising: a handling unit, wherein the carriers being moved by the handling unit; a control unit coupled to the handling unit, wherein the handling unit being controlled to move the carriers stored in the storage sections by the control unit when there is no carrier being input and output; and a processing unit coupled to the control unit, wherein the relative priorities of the carriers being regularly updated by the processing unit; wherein the handling unit being controlled to move the carriers of the relative priority N in the storage section of the relative priority M to the storage section of the relative priority N by the control unit, wherein N and M are positive integer and M minus N is larger than 1, the handling unit selects to move the carrier of the relative priority (N+1) in the storage section of the relative priority M when the storage section of the relative priority M does not have the carrier of the relative priority N, and the handling unit selects to move the carrier of the relative priority N in the storage section of the relative priority (M1) when the storage section of the relative priority M does not have the carrier the relative priority (N+1).
2. The object carrier transport system of claim 1, wherein the handling unit selects to move the carriers in the storage section of the highest relative priority prior to the carriers in others of the storage sections, and the handling unit selects to move the carrier of the lowest relative priority prior to others of the carriers; when the storage section of the lowest relative priority is full of the carriers, the handling unit selects to move the carrier of the lowest relative priority in the storage section of the highest relative priority to the storage section of the second lowest relative priority.
3. The object carrier transport system of claim 1, wherein the handling unit selects to move the carrier of the highest relative priority prior to others of the carriers, and the handling unit selects to move the carriers in the storage section of the lowest relative priority prior to the carriers in others of the storage sections; when the storage section of the highest relative priority is full of the carriers, the handling unit selects to move the carrier of the highest relative priority in the storage section of the lowest relative priority to the storage section of the second highest relative priority.
4. A method of transporting object carriers, for a carrier storage apparatus configured to execute storage and retrieval commands for carrying carriers in a plurality of storage sections, the carriers each having a relative priority denoted by a first positive integer, the storage sections each having a relative priority denoted by a second positive integer, the method of arranging carriers comprising steps of: checking if the carrier storage apparatus has completed the storage and retrieval commands and enters an idle status; updating the relative priorities of the carriers in the storage sections; and moving the carrier of the relative priority N in the storage section of the relative priority M to the storage section of the relative priority N there is no carrier being input and output, wherein N and M are positive integers and M minus N is larger than 1; wherein the step of moving the carrier of the relative priority N in the storage section of the relative priority M comprises the steps of: checking if the storage section of the relative priority M has the carrier of the relative priority N; checking if the storage section of the relative priority N is full of the carriers; moving the carrier of the relative priority N in the storage section of the relative priority M to the storage section of the relative priority N if the relative priority M has the carrier of the relative priority N and the storage section of the relative priority N is not full of the carriers; wherein when the storage section of the relative priority M does not have the carrier of the relative priority N, wherein the step of moving the carrier of the relative priority N in the storage section of the relative priority M further comprises the steps of: checking if the storage section of the relative priority M has the carrier of the relative priority (N+1); checking if the storage section of the relative priority (M1) has the carrier of the relative priority N when the storage section of the relative priority M does not have the carrier of the relative priority (N+1); moving the carrier of the relative priority N in the storage section of the relative priority (M1) to the storage section of the relative priority N, if the relative priority (M1) has the carrier of the relative priority N and the storage section of the relative priority N is not full of the carriers.
5. The method of transporting object carriers of claim 4, wherein the step of checking if the storage section of the relative priority M has the carrier of the relative priority N comprises the steps of: selecting to check the storage section of the highest relative priority prior to others of the storage sections and selecting to check if the storage section of the relative priority M has the carrier of the lowest relative priority prior to others of the carriers; checking if the storage section of the second lowest relative priority is full of carriers when the storage section of the lowest relative priority is full of carriers; and moving the carrier of the lowest relative priority in the storage section of the highest relative priority to the storage section of the second lowest relative priority if the storage section of the second lowest relative priority is not full of carriers.
6. An object carrier transport system for a carrier storage apparatus for carrying carriers in a plurality of storage sections, the carriers each having a relative priority denoted by a first positive integer, the storage sections each having a relative priority denoted by a second positive integer, the carrier arrangement system comprising: a handling unit, wherein the carriers being moved by the handling unit; a control unit coupled to the handling unit, wherein the handling unit being controlled to move the carriers stored in the storage sections by the control unit when there is no carrier being input and output; and a processing unit coupled to the control unit, wherein the relative priorities of the carriers being regularly updated by the processing unit; wherein the handling unit being controlled to move the carriers of the relative priority N in the storage section of the relative priority M to the storage section of the relative priority N by the control unit, wherein N and M are positive integer and N minus M is larger than 1, the handling unit selects to move the carrier of the relative priority N in the storage section of the relative priority (M+1) when the storage section of the relative priority M does not have the carrier of the relative priority N, and the handling unit selects to move the carrier of the relative priority (N1) in the storage section of the relative priority M when the storage section of the relative priority (M+1) does not have the carrier of the relative priority N.
Description
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
(1) The novel features believed characteristic of the invention are set forth in the appended claims. the invention itself, however, as well as a preferred mode of use, further objectives and advantages thereof, will best be understood by reference to the following detailed description of an illustrative embodiments when read in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, wherein:
(2)
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DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS
(7) The instant disclosure will be described more specifically with reference to the following embodiments. It is to be noted that the following descriptions of preferred embodiments are provided herein for purpose of illustration and description. It is not intended to be exhaustive or limiting to the precise form disclosed.
The First Embodiment of the Instant Disclosure
(8) Please refer to
(9) Please refer to
(10) As shown in
(11) The storage sections 211, 212, and 213 each have a relative priority. Specifically, the relative priority of the high storage section 211 is the highest. The relative priority of the low storage section 213 is the lowest. The relative priority of the medium storage section 212 is between that of the high storage section 211 and that of the low storage section 213. The relative priorities of the storage sections 211, 212, and 213 are determined according to the distances between each of the storage sections 211, 212, and 213 and the exit port 23. For example, the distance between the high storage section 211 and the exit port 23 is the shortest, and the distance between the low storage section 213 and the exit port 23 is the farthest. In addition, the carriers 3 each have a relative priority, which will be described in detail later.
(12) The handling unit 11 can be a crane and includes a main arm 111 and a secondary arm 112, which both can move between two storing racks of the storage unit 21. The processing unit 13 is for updating the relative priorities of the carriers 3 stored in the storage unit 21 at regular time intervals.
(13) Specifically, the processing unit 13 can update the relative priorities of each of the carriers 3 stored in the storage unit 21 according to a level of importance of the carrier 3, such as high level, medium level or low level, and to how long the carrier 3 has been stored in the storage unit 21. The level of importance of each of the carrier 3 is related to the characteristic of the silicon wafers held in the carrier 3, such as the process stage of the silicon wafers held in the carrier 3, whether the silicon wafers held in the carrier 3 are testing samples, which customer the silicon wafers held in the carrier 3 are supplied to, and whether the silicon wafers held in the carrier 3 are urgent.
(14) Please refer to
(15) As shown in
(16) Please refer again to
(17) It is worth noting that, the processing unit 13 updates the first and the second weighting values of each of the carriers 3 in the storage unit 21 to update the relative priority of each of the carriers 3 at regular time intervals, such as every 5 minutes, according to the updated information the processing unit 13 obtained.
(18) In addition, the processing unit 13 is also for determining the relative priorities of the storage sections 211, 212, and 213. In another exemplarily embodiment, the processing unit 13 is for dividing the storage unit 21 into the plurality of the storage sections, such as the storage sections 211, 212, and 213.
(19) The control unit 12 is for controlling the handling unit 11 to move the carriers 3 stored in the storage sections 211, 212, and 213 when the carrier storage apparatus 2 is idle according to the relative priorities of the carriers 3 and relative priorities of the storage sections 211, 212, and 213.
(20) The control unit 12 can be coupled to a user interface 14, which may include an input device (such as a keyboard), an output device (such as a printer), and a displaying device (such as a monitor with a screen for displaying information to the user). In an exemplarily embodiment, the levels of importance of the carriers 3 can be updated by the user, and the information related to the levels of importance of the carriers 3 can be input into the control unit 12 by the user through the user interface 14.
(21) The following describes the operation of the object carrier transport system 1 and a method of transporting object carriers adapted to the carrier storage apparatus 2 of the present disclosure. Please refer concurrently to
(22) Please refer to step S100 in
(23) Please refer concurrently to
(24) Please refer to step S102 in
(25) Please refer concurrently to
(26) Please refer concurrently to
(27) Please refer to step S105 in
(28) Please refer concurrently to
(29) Note that, no matter whether the carrier storage apparatus 2 enters the idle status or not, the processing unit 13 of the object carrier transport system 1 regularly updates the relative priorities of the carriers 3 in the storage sections 211, 212, and 213. Moreover, the control unit 12 of the object carrier transport system 1 controls the handling unit 11 to arrange the carriers 3 in the storage unit 21 according to the updated relative priorities of the carriers 3.
(30) To sum up, when the carrier storage apparatus 2 is in the idle status, the object carrier transport system 1 can arrange the carriers 3 in the storage unit 21, such as to move the low carrier 3 in the high storage section 211 to the low storage section 213, and to move the high carrier 3 in the low storage section 213 to the high storage section 211.
(31) The following describes the object carrier transport system 1 and the method of transporting object carriers in accordance with other embodiments of the present disclosure. In light of the above embodiment, it can be seen that the relationship between the components of the object carrier transport system 1 and the relationship between the steps of the method of transporting object carriers can be modified according to need. It's worth noting that, other features not mentioned in the following embodiments can be the same as that of the above embodiment.
The Second Embodiment of the Instant Disclosure
(32) Please refer to step S201 in
(33) Please refer to step S202 in
The Third Embodiment of the Instant Disclosure
(34) Please refer to step S301 in
(35) Please refer to step S302 in
(36) Please refer to step S303 in
The Fourth Embodiment of the Instant Disclosure
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(38) Next, please refer to step S402 in
(39) Please refer to step S403 in
The Fifth Embodiment of the Instant Disclosure
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(41) Next, please refer to step S502 in
The Sixth Embodiment of the Instant Disclosure
(42) Please refer to step S601 in
(43) Next, please refer to step S602 in
(44) Please refer to step S603 in
The Seventh Embodiment of the Instant Disclosure
(45) Please refer to step S701 in
(46) Next, please refer to step S702 in
(47) Please refer to step S703 in
The Eighth Embodiment of the Instant Disclosure
(48) Please refer to
(49) According to the above embodiments, through the method of transporting object carriers and the object carrier transport system 1, the carriers 3 in the storage unit 21 can be arranged according to the relative priorities of the carriers 3 and the relative priorities of the storage sections 211, 212, and 213 when the carrier storage apparatus 2 is in the idle status. Specifically, the carrier 3 of the highest relative priority which is stored in the storage section of the lowest relative priority (such as the low storage section 213) or in the storage section of the second lowest relative priority (such as the medium storage section 212) can be moved to the storage section of the highest relative priority (such as the high storage section 211). Thereby, the distance between the carrier 3 of the highest relative priority and the exit port 23 of the storage unit 21 can be shortened. Hence, the carriers 3 in the storage unit 21 can be transported to the exit port 23 more efficiently. In another embodiment, the carrier 3 of the highest relative priority which is stored in the storage section of the lowest relative priority (such as the low storage section 213) can be moved to the storage section of the second highest relative priority (such as the medium storage section 212), which is closer to the exit port 23.
(50) While the invention has been disclosed with respect to a limited number of embodiments, numerous modifications and variations will be appreciated by those skilled in the art. It is intended, therefore, that the following claims cover all such modifications and variations that may fall within the true sprit and scope of the invention.