Scheduling algorithm of dual-armed cluster tools with residency time and reentrant constraints

To solve the scheduling problem of dual-armed cluster tools for wafer fabrications with residency time and reentrant constraints, a heuristic scheduling algorithm was developed. Firstly, on the basis of formulating scheduling problems domain of dual-armed cluster tools, a non-integer programming model was set up with a minimizing objective function of the makespan. Combining characteristics of residency time and reentrant constraints, a scheduling algorithm of searching the optimal operation path of dual-armed transport module was presented under many kinds of robotic scheduling paths for dual-armed cluster tools. Finally, the experiments were designed to evaluate the proposed algorithm. The results show that the proposed algorithm is feasible and efficient for obtaining an optimal scheduling solution of dual-armed cluster tools with residency time and reentrant constraints.