A survey of run-to-run control algorithms for high-mix semiconductor manufacturing processes

The modeling and control of high-mix production system in semiconductor manufacturing impose great challenge for process engineers. Many different methods have been proposed to improve control performance of the high-mix system. In this paper, an overview of the recent control algorithms for high-mix system is presented. The thread-based methods and the non-threaded state estimation methods which are studied and practiced widely in semiconductor manufacturing are discussed in detail. Further research directions for the run-to-run control of mixed product system are pointed out based on the extensive study of current literatures.