Efficient algorithms for scheduling semiconductor burn-in operations

In this paper, the authors study the problem of scheduling semiconductor burn-in operations, where burn-in ovens are modeled as batch processing machines. A batch processing machine is one that can process up to B jobs simultaneously. The processing time of a batch is equal to the largest processing time among all jobs in the batch. The authors present efficient dynamic programming-based algorithms for minimizing a number of different performance measures on a single batch processing machine. They also present heuristics for a number of problems concerning parallel identical batch processing machines and then provide worst case error bounds.