PM Recovery for Vacuum Systems

It is important to minimize tool downtime. Preventative maintenance (PM), and more specifically, recovery from maintenance, consumes a significant amount of time for vacuum systems. Most Semi engineers know that use of a Residual Gas Analyzer (RGA) can help address this issue, by quantifying the progress of the desorption of contaminants, and by early diagnosis of leaks.

However, in order to repeatably study PM recoveries, the operation of the RGA should be well controlled. It is difficult to do this operation without automation. Automating this function will result in much more meaningful results.

The system is informed that the PM Recovery Cycle has started, and the specific logic is initiated. The number of wafer transfer cycles is counted.