A Knowledge Acquisition Scheme for Fault Diagnosis in Complex Manufacturing Processes

Abstract

In developing Expert Diagnostic Systems, knowledge acquisition is recognized as the most critical element and is known to be the most problematic. It is a bottleneck of the technology due to inherent difficulty in retrieving knowledge from human experts, and due to the difficulty of appropriately translating and representing human expertise.

This thesis introduces the problem of knowledge acquisition in developing a Trouble Shooting Guide (TSG) for equipment used in integrated circuit manufacturing. TSG is considered as a first step in developing an Expert Diagnostic System (EDS). The research is focused on the acquisition and refinement of actual knowledge from the manufacturing domain, and a Hierarchical Data Collection (HDC) system is introduced to accomplish this task.

An integrated circuit manufacturing environment is introduced, and issues relating to the collection and assessment of knowledge concerning the performance of the machine park are discussed. A systematic classification of symptoms, failures, and repair activities is also presented.

Interested in reading the entire thesis? (133 pages, 15,839,232 bytes, pdf)

Homepage

Last modified: June 16, 2010 -- © François Cellier