Combining an ontology representation with rule-based reasoning for the process planning of bulk silicon micro-manufacturing

Based on feature modelling technology, a method to automatically generate the manufacturing process plan from a 3D model of micro-device is presented to support the top-down design flow. First, by the fabrication-oriented features mapping technology, the process model is constructed to benefit the follow-up reasoning procedure. Second, in accordance with the ontological representing mode, the knowledge in bulk silicon micro-manufacturing is hierarchically organised to make a basis for the definition of the reasoning rules, construction of the knowledge templates and generation of the initial facts. Finally, the micro-manufacturing process planning result is obtained through the rule-based reasoning approach.