Wafer flow simulator visualizer

The control software that drives the ASML photolithography systems is tested on different levels ranging from using simulators to using real hardware. The wafer handling (WH) sub-system uses the Wafer Flow Simulator (WFS) for testing. However, the WFS also requires testing and its information polluted, big log files are cumbersome to debug. Moreover, the interior of the photolithography systems cannot be observed during the production. This project proposes a 3D visualizer to make the testing process easier for the WFS and to enable the observation of the WH subsystem. The visualizer puts all the information in the WFS (e.g., position, orientation of the peripherals) in one 3D scene that otherwise the user would have to check multiple (in order of ten to fifteen) different windows to see the same information. The visualization tool can also indicate the non-nominal behaviors that are injected by the user and can read and re-play the system trace files. A prototype of this tool was already used to observe the WH of an existing system. Moreover, the visualization tool can be used to visualize the WH subsystem of the machines that are still being designed and to train new employees that will work on it.