A simulation framework for the performance assessment of shop-floor control systems

The authors discuss the concept and design criteria for a framework that facilitates the performance assessment of shop-floor control systems. Their basic concept includes a simulation model that emulates the shop floor of a water fab, sends information to the control system, and receives information back from the control system. The shop-floor control system is realized as a separate module that interfaces to the simulator via a data layer that contains the current shop-floor status and the control information generated by the controller. The authors provide detailed information on how the simulation model and shop-floor control system communicate and how each system triggers events in the other system. They show how this framework supports the performance assessment of the shop-floor control system under consideration. They also present a prototype of the framework currently implemented in the course of the SRC/International Sematech FORCe project "Scheduling of Semiconductor Wafer Fabrication Facilities".