Discrete Active Disturbance Rejection Control for Semiconductor Manufacturing Processes With Dynamic Models

The carry-over effect is a common phenomenon in the semiconductor manufacturing process, giving the process a dynamic nature. Dynamic models are more accurate but with a consequent increase in uncertainty. Therefore, it is very important to eliminate the uncertainty and disturbance at the same time. To this end, a run-to-run (RtR) control scheme based on discrete active disturbance rejection control (DADRC) is proposed in this work. The process recipe is calculated using the state error feedback law, relying on the extended state observer (ESO) to effectively suppress the total disturbance synthesized by model uncertainty and external disturbance. Considering that tool aging often leads to drift disturbances in semiconductor manufacturing processes, a model-assisted ESO with two extended states is designed to estimate process states and total disturbance. Then an optimal observer gain is derived to minimize the estimation error. Finally, the numerical and industrial cases provide compelling evidence of the effectiveness of the proposed control scheme in suppressing tool-aging drift disturbance and a remarkable degree of tolerance towards uncertainties in the system model’s order and parameters.