Agent-Based Data Gathering System for Simulation in APC

This paper presents a data gathering system based on agents in Advanced Process Control (APC) [1, 5]. APC contributes to the enhancement of productivity, product yield and quality through micro process control in the automated processing. The data gathering system enables APC to operate micro process control by gathering data from the process control system not only in the current process in real time but also in past process through back-tracking of products. Since the data needs to be analyzed in order to manage micro process control, the entire data, including that occurred in past process, has to be gathered. We control micro process based on the acquired data using simulating functionality. This simulation produces the outcome of the data analysis and the operation of micro process control that leads to reduce errors in APC. The proposed system brings an efficient management of micro process control in automated processing. It is optimized in the semi-conductor and TFT/LCD industries.