Process for automatically monitoring the manufacture of integrated circuits depending on the number of process steps performed, associated units and associated program

In an exposure process for silicon slices in a standard production lot (SPL) a counter variable is assigned the value of one. A fundamental exposure stage (FES) is performed for another production lot before running this exposure process. This FES uses the same exposure facility that is used for exposing the SPL, for which a first wafer is positioned on an exposure table. Side markers are found automatically on the edges of pre-allocated exposure blocks. Independent claims are also included for an exposure facility, for a data-processing facility and for a program with a sequence of commands.