Industry News, Trends and Technology, and Standards Updates

Exploring the Highlights of What's New With Cimetrix CIMControlFramework (CCF)

Posted by Derek Lindsey: Product Manager on Aug 30, 2022 11:45:00 AM

What’s new with CIMControlFrameworkTM (CCF)?

CCF is a software development kit (SDK) that enables users to design and implement a high-quality equipment control solution using provided components for supervisory control, material handling, operator interface, platform and process control, and automation requirements. CCF is built on the reliable Cimetrix connectivity products which provide GEM/GEM300/EDA interface functionality.

We released CCF 6.0 in March of 2021. Since that time, we have released four additional versions of CCF. In CCF 6.1 we added a continuous flow sample. We created a blog post for that sample that can be read here. We thought it would be fun to create another blog to keep readers up to date on some of the additional cool things that have been added to CCF in these subsequent releases.

GUI Changes

Many of the visible changes to CCF have been made in the operator interface.

New WPF OI for vacuum sample

The trend for most of our CCF customers has been to implement their equipment control application GUI using Windows Presentation Foundation (WPF). In previous releases, CCF had fully functional WPF GUIs for the Atmospheric and Continuous Flow samples. CCF now has a full WPF operator interface for the Vacuum Sample. The picture below shows the default main screen for the WPF GUI for the Vacuum Sample.

Op-interface-CCF-whats-newNew visualization library

In addition to full operator interfaces created with WPF, a visualization library has been added to CCF. In previous versions, visualizations were achieved using bitmaps that were updated when states changed. While the results were adequate, they did not scale very well, and it was difficult to customize the visualizations. The new visualization library uses vector graphics to draw the visualizations. This makes the lines and images in the visualizations crisp and clear regardless of the scale. It also allows for easy customization so that CCF application developers can create a visualization to exactly match their equipment. The Developer Guide and training labs have instructions for using the new visualization library.

The picture of the full GUI main screen above shows the default visualization for the vacuum sample. The following image is a visualization from the continuous flow sample.

Continuous-flow-CCF-Whats-newBoth visualization examples were created with the same visualization library.

Additional GUI changes

In addition to the GUI changes listed above, Cimetrix has made more changes to the GUI and added new screens for both WinForms and WPF. These screens include:

  • GEM300 E39 objects screen
  • GEM Traces screen
  • GEM Reports screen
  • EFEM Robot service screen
  • Aligner Service screen

Simulation Changes

Cimetrix has always been a proponent of using simulators as much as possible during equipment control application development and testing. (See blog post on simulation here.) Simulation in CCF has always been easy to use, but now it is even easier and has more functionality. Simulators should be interchangeable with hardware so that regardless of whether you are running against simulation or real hardware, the application makes the same calls and receives the same feedback. In the latest versions of CCF, Cimetrix has:

  • Added simulation for Kawasaki D60 robot
  • Added simulation for TDK TAS300 LP
  • Made simulation more extensible
  • Added simulation templates

Efficiency Changes

A change that is not very flashy but is probably one of the most important changes made to CCF is that the efficiency has been greatly improved. While CCF has never been a resource hog, there were some instances where it was using more CPU and memory than was needed. This was the case especially when GUI screens were being updated with large amounts of data.

In these instances, a data structure dealing with material locations and another dealing with process and control job data were being sent from the supervisory layer to the GUI more frequently than was needed. By being more intelligent about sending these data structures, we have greatly reduced the CPU usage.

Another change that has reduced CPU usage and data traffic is that the user can now set up trace reports to the GUI that are only sent when data changes rather than on a 10 Hz timer.

Additionally, CCF now has a performance monitor class that allows users to monitor performance counters like CPU, Disk usage, and memory usage.

CCF provides history objects for storing certain data to a database. This history includes:

  • Wafer history
  • Equipment Performance Tracking (EPT)
  • Alarms

As a final efficiency enhancement, these objects now share a base class and are more efficient in writing to the database.

Interlocks

Software interlocks are designed to prevent executing an unsafe command. Using multiple levels to do safety checks provides redundancy and reduces the chance an unsafe command could be executed.

Puzzle-pieceThese interlocks are generally based on states and are equipment-dependent. Software interlocks are not a replacement for hardware interlocks. Software interlocks are like a safety net—they are not normally needed, but when they are, there is a much lower risk of damage.
CCF has previously had interlock functionality available. However, in the latest release, the interlock functionality has been consolidated, centralized, and simplified. Using a single interlock class gathers all the interlock code into one location instead of scattering interlock code through all the Components.

Interlocks have been added to each of the CCF samples to show how they work and how they could be implemented in your application.

Conclusion

These are just some of the cool and useful features that have been added to CCF in the last two years since the release of CCF 6.0. To learn more about these features or the other new features that have been added, please schedule a time to talk with a Cimetrix representative.

Contact Us

Topics: Industry Highlights, SECS/GEM, Semiconductor Industry, Doing Business with Cimetrix, Smart Manufacturing/Industry 4.0, Cimetrix Products

Summer 2022 North America Information & Control Committee Report

Posted by Brian Rubow: Director of Solutions Engineering on Jul 26, 2022 10:00:00 AM

Background

The North America Information & Control Committee (I&CC or NA I&CC) is comprised of several task forces including GEM 300, Diagnostic Data Acquisition (DDA), Advanced Backend Factory Integration (ABFI), Fab & Equipment Computer and Device Security (CDS), and Graphical User Interfaces (GUI). These task forces and the committee all met during the week of SEMICON West, July 11-13, 202. Not long ago, SEMI regulations were modified to allow TC Chapter (Committee) voting in virtual meetings; therefore, the standards activities continue to move forward. In-person task force participation was much higher than the last meetings, but remote participation also remains strong. This blog is a summary of the activities in each task force.

GEM 300 Task Force

Here is a summary of worldwide activities related to the GEM 300 task force as of the start of the GEM 300 task force meeting.

Region

Ballot

Standard(s)

Status

Topic

Korea

5832

New

?

Generic Counter

NA

6572

E30

Adjudication

Add Stream 21, more stream 2, Cleanup Process Program Management.

NA

6835

E87

Development

Carrier Ready to Unload Prediction update

NA

6836

E87/E90

Development

Extending substrate characteristics, such as for Bonder/Debonder support and other applications

NA

6859

E116

Adjudication

Recommendations from the ABFI task force

NA

6893

E5

Published

Errata

China

6914

E87

Development

Modify E87 to allow for more equipment adoption, particularly in the semiconductor backend.

NA

6916

E5

Adjudication

FormatCode for OperatorCommand. Various Errata.

 

 

Three ballots were adjudicated during the GEM 300 task force meeting. The term “adjudication” means we review the voting and recommend handling of all negative votes and comments received to ultimately accept the ballot for publication or reject the ballot for rework. The recommendations by the task force are then finalized at the committee meeting. Usually, the task force recommendation is accepted by the committee, as was the case in all three ballots.

6916 E5

This ballot proposes to modify the E5 SECS-II standard and included the following minor changes:

  • Allow data variable OperatorCommand to be type ASCII.
  • Correct various typographical errors
  • Remove the dependency between variables MDLN (equipment model number) and EqpSerialNum (equipment serial number).

This ballot passed after the only negative was withdrawn by the voter.

6572B E30

This ballot proposes to modify the GEM (E30) standard. It is a revision ballot, meaning the entire E30 standard is subject to review. This is the third time the ballot has been submitted. It is a major update to the GEM standard and includes the following changes:

  • Process Program Management changes
    • The terms “recipe” and “process program” are currently used nearly interchangeably. The proposal is to use the term “process program” exclusively.
    • References to E42, large formatted and large process programs are moved out of the main standard and into the appendix.
    • Stream 21 messages are introduced for process program management, including both the single and multiple message techniques. This provides a simplified way for GEM interfaces to upload and download large process programs.
    • The entire process program management section is vastly reorganized to help implementers understand the available alternatives and the scenarios for each available alternative. New tables were introduced to compare and summarize implementation alternatives.
    • Collection event ‘Process Program Error’ is specifically listed as required, rather than just as an implied requirement.
  • A series of new SECS-II messages are introduced including S2F51-S2F64. These are new capabilities to make a GEM interface more transparent.
  • S5F7/F8 is added to the alarm management capability for similar reasons.
  • Two new GEM documentation features are added and made available through the GEM interface using Stream 21 messages including PDF documentation and SEDD (see SEMI E172) documentation. This should make it easier to distribute GEM documentation and ensure that the right documentation is referenced.
  • Two new equipment identification features are added, one to identify the equipment supplier and one to uniquely identify each individual equipment. This should make it easier to identify and track specific equipment on the factory floor.
  • Some changes related to terminology are included. SEMI regulations recently were updated with a list of restricted bias terminology which are not allowed in any SEMI standards and a list of terms to avoid when possible.

This ballot failed due to a disagreement regarding a proposed change to the GEM control state model collection on transition 10 related to the host off-line state. The task force remains evenly divided on this issue; therefore, this change will be withdrawn from the next revision of this ballot.

I am optimistic that the 6572C revision of this ballot will pass voting with little controversy. This ballot has already been distributed to the task force for final review. Little controversy remains unless some voter raises a new issue.

6859 E116

Originally ballot 6859 intended to add significant new features to the E116 standard. However, the aggressive changes have been abandoned. Instead, this ballot is focused on making one change to E116. Currently the E116 specification implements collection events in a manner inconsistent with E30, E40, E87, E90, E94, E109, and E157. This E116 ballot failed. After further discussion in the task force, consensus on the proposed changes seems possible in the next voting cycle. The updated ballot 6859A has already been submitted for review by the task force.

DDA Task Force

The DDA task force has been and continues to update the Equipment Data Acquisition (EDA a.k.a. Interface A) standards with the goal to approve an EDA Freeze 3 set of standards based on gRPC technology. To date the following ballots have been completed:

Standard (Ballot)

Ballot Status

E138 (6336)

Published - 03/15/2019

E120 (6434)

Published – 05/30/2019

E145 (6436)

Published – 05/31/2019

E178 (6300)

Published – 01/10/2020

E179 (6803)

Published – 03/11/2022

E132 (6719A)

Published – 04/29/2022

E132.2 (6346F)

Published – 04/29/2022

E125 (6718A)

Published – 04/22/2022

E134 (6720A)

Approved - In Publication Queue

E134.2 (6347A)

Approved - In Publication Queue

E179 (6837)

Approved - In Publication Queue

E125.2 (6345A)

Approved - In Publication Queue

E125 (6891)

Approved - In Publication Queue

E179 (6892)

Approved - In Publication Queue

E120.2 (6908)

Approved - In Publication Queue

During these meetings, three DDA task force ballots failed adjudication, 6927 (E125, E125.2), 6928 (E132, E132.2) and 6929 (E134, E134.2) due to procedural errors which violated SEMI regulations. This is primarily due to a long backlog of publications on previously approved specifications. Discussions were held in several meetings in an attempt to find ways to help SEMI get caught up on publications. The delay in publication is partly due to the several large ballots that were backlogged when COVID activity prevented the committee from completing adjudication in remote or hybrid meetings.

Test Session #1

The most important activity for the DDA task force was “vender test session #1” held on Thursday, July 14. An open invitation was made to all task force members to participate in an E132 test session. Anyone could submit a client and/or equipment server implemented with the current E132 and E179 specifications. Four companies came together and ran tests against each other’s software. Each participant will provide the task force with a list of issues in E132 and E179. This was a great opportunity to try the gRPC technology together and get a sense of what issues still need to be resolved before EDA Freeze 3 is complete.

DDA Freeze 3 Plans

The DDA Task force plans an update to E125, E132, and E134 including changes from the recently failed ballots as well as topics raised in the test session. Due to the expanded scope, new ballot numbers will be issued. Additionally plans to update E164 are also moving forward. The biggest challenge for E164 will be converting the XML files into JSON files. Either JSON5 or JSONC will likely be used since comments are mandatory in the E164 complementary files which show how to create GEM 300 capable EDA equipment models.

ABFI Task Force

The Advanced Backend Factory Integration task force is actively working on two ballots.
One ballot is a minor update to the E142, the substrate mapping specification which facilitates traceability and other application where substrate, tray, feeder, and other information can be shared between a factory and equipment. The minor update will add additional substrate types so E142 substrate maps can be used in more applications.

Additionally, the task force is working on ballots 6924 and 6925. The 6924 specifications will define the management of Consumable and Durables on manufacturing equipment. Features include allowing the host to accept or reject newly mounted consumables and durables. Additionally, the equipment will be able to report on consumable and durable usage. While technically both can already be done, the specification establishes a standard way for the features to be implemented. The 6925 ballot maps 6924 for usage in a GEM interface. The plan is to submit the ballot for the next voting cycle.

GUI Task Force

The GUI task force continues to work on a major revision of the E95 specification for Human Interfaces for Semiconductor Equipment. In addition to updating the specification with changes in software development, this revision will establish requirements for the usage of human interfaces on equipment using devices with small screens. The task force seems to be gaining consensus of many topics and getting ready to submit the ballot for voting.

Getting Involved

For those interested in participating, it is easy to join SEMI standards activities. Anyone can register at www.semi.org/standardsmembership.

All SEMI task force ballot activities are logged here.

After joining the standards activities, anyone can get involved. The task forces post everything on the connected @ SEMI website https://connect.semi.org/home. Here are the community names for the task forces covered in this blog:

  • GEM 300 Task Force - North America
  • Diagnostic Data Acquisition Task Force - North America
  • Fab & Equipment Computer and Device Security (CDS) Task Force – North America
  • Advanced Backend Factory Integration (ABFI) Task Force – North America
  • Graphical User Interfaces (GUI) Task Force - North America

Topics: Industry Highlights, SECS/GEM, Semiconductor Industry, EDA/Interface A, Doing Business with Cimetrix, Smart Manufacturing/Industry 4.0, Standards

The Importance of Standards Compliance Testing

Posted by David Francis: Director of Product Management on Jun 8, 2022 12:33:00 PM

In the late 1980s and early 1990’s the Semiconductor Equipment Communication Standard (SECS) was starting to gain traction. Back then it was based on RS232 serial communication defined by the SEMI E4 SECS-I Standard. Later, SECS-I was replaced by the SEMI E37 HSMS standard. The content of the messages was defined by the SEMI E5 SECS-II standard. At the time, that was all that was defined. It was a bit like the Wild West with each equipment vendor implementing SECS-II messages as they saw fit.

network-technology-tabletWhile it was cool to be able to connect to process or metrology equipment and collect data, specify the process, and monitor alarms, it was a big task to develop factory systems that interface to the equipment because each SECS-II interface was unique. One of the first tasks required when developing an interface was to perform an equipment characterization to understand and document the details of the SECS messages used by each equipment. The characterization report became the guide for developing the factory side interface to that particular piece of equipment.

Semiconductor factories were buying hundreds of pieces of equipment for their factories, and though there were usually multiple pieces of the same equipment, there were still many unique equipment interfaces in each factory. The factories had to develop unique interfaces for all the equipment they wanted to automate. This issue was a bit like the tail wagging the dog.

To change things so that each equipment interface wasn’t completely unique, semiconductor factories worked with SEMI to better define how the communication between factory control systems and equipment should work in the factory. In 1992 SEMI published the first version of the E30 standard – Specification for the Generic Equipment Model for Communications and Control of Manufacturing Equipment (GEM). This standard provided a stable base for both factories and equipment manufacturers to work from in developing equipment interfaces. Message usage and contents were consistent, state models were defined, and interface capabilities were well-documented.

Since that time, other equipment communication standards have been developed and approved for use in semiconductor manufacturing. The GEM300 standards for factory automation (E39, E40, E87, E90, E94, E116, E148, and E157) have made it possible to enable fully automated manufacturing. The EDA standards (E120, E125, E132, E134, and E164) make it possible to implement consistent, well-defined data collection.

Even though the SEMI standards are quite well-defined, they are only as good as the implementation on the equipment. Compliance testing is essential for both equipment manufacturers and factories to ensure the interfaces are compliant to the standards and function as defined. In the early days of GEM, compliance testing was an essential piece of factory acceptance of the equipment. Initially, there wasn’t a lot of experience with developing or using the equipment interfaces. This meant that we needed some way to test compliance to ensure the interfaces worked as expected. Even though GEM and GEM300 are now quite established, compliance testing is still important to ensure the communication interfaces will support the functionality needed in the factories.factory-scientist-clean-room

Compliance testing for the EDA standards hasn't been as well-defined as it has been for GEM and GEM300. In 2011 the International SEMATECH Manufacturing Initiative (ISMI) published the ISMI Equipment Data Acquisition (EDA) Evaluation Method document which provided step-by-step instructions for testing and evaluating an EDA interface. Using that document, Cimetrix developed EDATester which automates the instructions defined in the Evaluation Method document. This automation allows testing that would normally take several days to be done in a few hours, or less.

Having standard, well-defined communication interfaces for semiconductor manufacturing equipment is important to automated manufacturing and data collection. The ability to test developed interfaces and assure that they are compliant with the SEMI standards is essential to successfully introducing the equipment into a semiconductor factory.

Cimetrix compliance test tools automate the testing process making the acceptance process smooth.

 

Topics: Industry Highlights, SECS/GEM, Semiconductor Industry, EDA/Interface A, Doing Business with Cimetrix, Smart Manufacturing/Industry 4.0, Standards

SEMICON Korea is back in 2022 and our Cimetrix team will be there!

Posted by Kimberly Daich; Director of Marketing on Feb 2, 2022 6:45:00 PM

SK22 Banner_1262x558

Read now in Korean or below in English.

저희 씨메트릭스는 Forward As One이라는 테마로 코엑스에서 2월 9일부터 11일까지 개최되는 세미콘 코리아 2022행사에서 여러분을 반갑게 맞을 준비를 하고 있습니다. 부스는 C홀에서 D홀로 넘어온 통로 앞에 위치한 DS37입니다.

잠시 들리셔서 귀사에서 활용할 수 있는 최신 기술도 파악하시고 업계동향도 듣고 가시기를 바랍니다.
씨메트릭스는 이번 세미콘 코리아에서 다음의 주제를 가지고 여러분을 기다리도록 하겠습니다.

  • AI, 빅데이터, 인더스트리 4.0기술을 활용한 분석 및 솔루션 개발
  • 후공정 차세대 장비소프트웨어를 위한 플랫폼
  • 전공정 장비소프트웨어의 고도화
  • SEMI 표준 (SECS/GEM, GEM300, EDA/Interface A)
  • 납기 단축을 위한 테스터 & 문서화

특히, 국내뿐 아니라 해외 진출을 목표로 하는 고객들에게 최고의 파트너로서 최선을 다할 것을 약속드립니다.

아무쪼록 이번 행사에서 저희 부스를 방문해주시기를 부탁드리며, 아래 링크에 접속하시면 사전 미팅예약을 할 수도 있습니다.

Meet with Us


After being canceled in 2020 at the beginning of the pandemic, SEMICON Korea is now back, with a hybrid event where the exhibition is live and in-person! Our Korea team will be exhibiting at the COEX in Seoul from February 9-11 at booth DS37. We look forward to the show and hope to see many of you there!

The theme for this year’s show is Forward as One and the exhibition will showcase the latest semiconductor materials, equipment, and related technologies. This is a great opportunity to meet with current clients, potential clients and see both the present and future of the global semiconductor industry.

If you want to find out more about EDA/Interface A, Equipment connectivity, and control or learn about our Smart Factory Platform, be sure to stop by our booth at DS37 to speak with our standards and product experts. We look forward to meeting backend OEMs as well as frontend OEMs as both are looking for the next-generation technology but in different ways.

We hope to see you at our booth, or you can request a meeting any time by clicking the button below.
Meet with Us

 

Topics: Semiconductor Industry, Doing Business with Cimetrix, Events, Smart Manufacturing/Industry 4.0

Our Cimetrix Japan Team is headed to SEMICON Japan in Tokyo

Posted by Kimberly Daich; Director of Marketing on Dec 1, 2021 5:00:00 PM

SEMICON Japan 2021 is back and our team in Japan will be there! You can read about it now in Japanese or below in English.

SCJapan Hybrid Logo_horizontal_4c-2

セミコンジャパン2021が東京ビッグサイトで12月15日から17日の3日間開催されます。 「共に前進しよう」のスローガンの下、弊社Cimetrixも出展致します。

Cimetrix独自のブースを以て出展する2回目のセミコンジャパンとなります。今年はブース番号#1608にて皆さまのご来場をお待ちしております。また共同出展を行って頂ける、ローツェ株式会社様(#5411)、株式会社明電舎様(#4941)にても、Cimetrixのご案内を差し上げております。

半導体産業における製造技術、装置、材料をはじめ、車やIoT機器などのSMARTアプリケーションまでをカバーするエレクトロニクス製造サプライチェーン唯一の国際展示会。東京ビッグサイトでのリアル展示会に加えて、リアルとオンラインセミナーも提供し、今年は「SEMICON Japan 2021 Hybrid」として開催されます。

Cimetrixは私共が誇る世界標準としてご利用いただいておりますGEM通信、装置制御ソリューション、またEDAなどのソフトウェア製品をご紹介させて頂きます。

また生産現場でご利用いただけるハイパフォーマンスデータ収集のプラットフォームであるサピエンスもご紹介しております。 CimetrixのSapienceはクラウドネイティブのデータ解析やマシーンラーニング等にご活用いただける装置データ収集のパイプラインプラットフォームシステムです。

では皆さまのご来場を楽しみにしております。

Meet with Us


SCJapan Hybrid Logo_horizontal_4c-2
SEMICON Japan 2021, with the theme “Move Forward Together” will be held at Tokyo Big Sight from 15 December – 17 December, and Cimetrix Incorporated will be there!

We will exhibit for the second year at booth #1608 and welcome you to come and join us. You can also find information about Cimetrix at our partner Rorze Corporation (booth #5411).

SEMICON Japan will be a hybrid show this year that offers both an in-person exhibition as well as programs and seminars online. It is a must-attend event that connects technologies in the digital transformation era, bringing together the entire semiconductor manufacturing supply chain as well as the “SMART” applications powered by semiconductor technology such as IoT.

Cimetrix will be showing all our world-class GEM equipment connectivity and control software solutions, as well as our EDA/Interface A products. These factory automation software products all leverage open-architecture designs and industry standards.

Cimetrix Sapience will also be available for a demo at our booth. Sapience is a scalable, distributed platform for managing high-performance data pipelines. This cloud-native platform is ideal for streaming analytics, machine learning, and artificial intelligence applications requiring massive amounts of data directly from the production equipment.

We encourage you to stop by booth #1608 and speak with an expert for your Smart Equipment and Smart Factory software needs. You can also book a meeting with us in advance by clicking the button below. We hope to see you soon!

Meet with Us

 

Topics: Industry Highlights, Semiconductor Industry, Doing Business with Cimetrix, Events, Smart Manufacturing/Industry 4.0

A Delayed SEMICON West 2021 is Going Live and Cimetrix Will be There!

Posted by Kimberly Daich; Director of Marketing on Dec 1, 2021 10:45:00 AM

SEMICON-west-2021-banner

After missing the live and in-person event last year due to the pandemic, SEMICON West is once again opening its doors to connect the entire electronics supply chain, and Cimetrix Incorporated will be exhibiting. Our booth is #345 and we hope you'll stop by and see us!

SEMICON West will be held December 5-7 in the Moscone Center in San Francisco, CA, USA – the theme for this hybrid event is "Explore, Network, Interact." After almost two years of restricted travel and virtual events, SEMICON West is a great place to reconnect with contacts, customers, and partners to drive your business forward. We couldn’t be more excited about finally meeting in person for the first time since 2019!

Cimetrix expert Alan Weber will participate in the "Optimizing Your Manufacturing—Connecting the Smart Way" track in the Smart Manufacturing Pavilion on Tuesday, December 7 at 2:45 PST. His presentation is titled “Accelerating Advanced Backend Automation Through Smart Application of Frontend 300mm Standards" and we invite you to join us at the Smart Manufacturing Pavilion to learn about this important topic firsthand.

Stop by our booth any time to visit with our team of experts and discuss our standards, connectivity, and control solutions. We will also feature our Smart Manufacturing cloud-native connectivity and application platform Cimetrix Sapience®. You can visit with us in our booth any time during the show or make an appointment ahead of time by clicking the link below.
Contact Us

 

Topics: Industry Highlights, Semiconductor Industry, Doing Business with Cimetrix, Events, Smart Manufacturing/Industry 4.0

A New Benefit for our CIMConnect Customers: Training Videos Available Now

Posted by Brian Rubow: Director of Solutions Engineering on Nov 24, 2021 11:45:00 AM

Background

Cimetrix CIMConnectTM customers enjoy many benefits to maintaining an active support contract, and today we are announcing yet another one: access to a set of product-specific training videos.

A few years ago, the Solutions Engineering team at the Cimetrix Connectivity Group posted product training material including the full set of CIMConnect training PowerPoint presentations to facilitate self-training for those unable to attend a formal session. We update this repository periodically as the training material is revised and improved. The material is available online through the Customer Portal. After logging in, you can find the presentations here:

CIMConnect-training-videos-pic1

Training Videos

To complement the presentation material shown above, the Solutions Engineering team is now creating video training material. As of mid-June, 2021, the first set of training videos for CIMConnect is also available via the customer portal (see below).

CIMConnect-training-videos-pic2

By clicking on the “CIMConnect Video Library”, you can see full set of available training videos and access them via this table:

CIMConnect-training-videos-pic3

The material is organized by topic, such as Collection Events or Status Variables. Each topic is subdivided into one or more instruction parts. When there is a lab, the implementation of the lab is covered twice. First, the implementation of the lab is reviewed and demonstrated in CIMConnect’s “Getting Started” sample application. Second, the lab is implemented step by step from scratch in a new application.

A few of the training PowerPoint presentations are not yet complete but should be available soon. This includes topics like Remote Commands, Equipment Constants, Factory Setup, and Operator Interface. Solutions Engineering plans to expand the training to other products as well.

Also, note that other videos are also available that go beyond the scope of the training material. These are found on the same “CIMConnect Video Library” page at the bottom.

Customers are welcome to purchase CIMConnect training and/or consulting services at any time. The training material described above is not a substitute for working directly with a product and standards expert, where a customer can discuss specific equipment hardware, software architecture, and unique customer requirements. Nevertheless, this material should help our customers when they need a refresher course and especially when new employees are assigned to work with CIMConnect after its initial development.

Topics: Industry Highlights, SECS/GEM, Semiconductor Industry, Smart Manufacturing/Industry 4.0, Cimetrix Products

Cimetrix is Going to Productronica Next Week!

Posted by Kimberly Daich; Director of Marketing on Nov 10, 2021 11:15:00 AM

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Next week, the world will once again gather at the industry’s leading trade fair for electronics development and production. The 2021 productronica and SEMICON Europa shows are open for in-person attendance and Cimetrix Incorporated will definitely be there. We hope to see many of you there as well!

The 2021 productronica show is co-located once again with SEMICON Europa in Munich, Germany from November 16-19 at the Messe München expo center. With safety protocols in place, Messe München is opening its doors to welcome the decision-makers and thought leaders from the industry to participate in showing new and innovative products and solutions spanning the entire value chain.

The Cimetrix booth will be in Productronica halls, where we will demonstrate our Smart Factory platform Cimetrix Sapience, to show how we can help with your smart manufacturing connectivity and application needs. Sapience, a cloud-native platform, features a distributed, scalable architecture for managing high-performance data pipelines from electronics equipment. As such, it is ideal for streaming analytics, machine learning, and artificial intelligence applications requiring data directly from the production equipment.

We are also highlighting an open position for a Munich-based Field Applications Engineer at the productronica career center and here on cimetrix.com.


We invite you to drop by our booth at productronica #437 in Hall A3, or you can make an appointment ahead of time by clicking the button below. We look forward to seeing you soon!

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Topics: Industry Highlights, Semiconductor Industry, Doing Business with Cimetrix, Events, Smart Manufacturing/Industry 4.0

Continuous Flow Sample Added to Cimetrix CIMControlFramework

Posted by Derek Lindsey: Product Manager on Oct 27, 2021 11:14:00 AM

Cimetrix CIMControlFramework™ (CCF) is a software development kit (SDK) that enables users to design and implement a high-quality equipment control solution using provided components for supervisory control, material handling, operator interface, platform and process control, and automation requirements. CCF is built on the reliable Cimetrix connectivity products which provide GEM/GEM300/EDA interface functionality.

See previous series of blog posts on the functionality of CCF here.

While CCF does provide a built-in interface to handle GEM300 messages, CCF can be used just as effectively for building back-end and electronics equipment control applications handling the movement of chips and trays rather than wafers and carriers.black-red-chip-1

To demonstrate this ability, Cimetrix has added a continuous flow back-end sample as one of the fully working implementations provided with CCF. If you are already familiar with CCF, you will have seen the front-end Atmospheric and Vacuum cluster tool samples.

The continuous flow sample is different from these other samples as described below.

JEDEC input and output trays

For the Atmospheric and Vacuum samples, material is delivered as wafers in SEMI E87 carriers. For back-end and electronics markets, material is usually not in the form of a wafer and is not delivered in a carrier. For the Continuous Flow sample, the material is delivered on input trays and removed from the system on output trays. All trays used in the sample are similar to JEDEC trays, standard-defined trays for transporting, handling, and storing chips and other components. The trays have slots that can hold material in rows and columns. A JEDEC tray may appear as follows:

Integrated-circuits-tray-1The Continuous Flow sample allows users to specify the number of rows and columns in a tray using configuration parameters. The sample has two input trays and two output trays.

Continuous Flow

industrial-start-panel-1As the name of the Continuous Flow sample indicates, material is continually processed until there is no more material or until the user tells it to stop. The sample does not use SEMI E40 Process Jobs or SEMI E94 Control Jobs to determine how material is processed. Rather the user selects a recipe to use during processing and presses the Start button. Material will continue to be processed until the Stop button is pressed.

By default, the Continuous Flow sample will process all material from the first input tray and then all of the material from the second input tray. When an input tray becomes empty, the empty tray will be removed and replaced with a full one. Similarly, when an output tray becomes full, it is automatically removed and replaced with an empty one. This allows the processing to run continuously until stopped.

Scheduler

The Continuous Flow sample scheduler is different from the schedulers in the Atmospheric and Vacuum samples in that it is not dependent on Process Jobs or Sequence Recipes to know how to move material through the system. It simply picks the next input material and places it in the first available process slot. It then picks the next completed material and places it in the first available output slot.

Visualization

A new visualization was created for the Continuous Flow sample. Rather than using round material, SEMI E87 carriers, load ports, and wafer handling robots, the new visualization draws rectangular material that looks like chips that may arrive in JEDEC trays. Rather than trying to render a robot, the visualization renders a circular end effector that moves material through the system. The following screenshot displays what the sample visualization looks like while processing.

CCF_continuous_flow-1

In an upcoming version of CCF, the components of this visualization will be included in a visualization library that users can employ to customize their visualization more easily than has previously been possible in CCF.

Remote Commands

The Continuous Flow sample comes with three fully implemented remote commands that allow a host or host emulator to run the continuous flow sample. These commands are:

  • PP_SELECT – Specify the recipe to be used for processing material.
  • START – Start material processing using the selected recipe.
  • STOP – Don’t introduce new material to be processed and stop after all processed material has been sent to output trays.

The following shows the S2F49 remote command body for selecting the recipe as sent from Cimetrix EquipmentTest.

CCF_continuous-flow-2

Conclusion

We hope that the new Continuous Flow sample in CCF allows those who are creating semiconductor back-end or electronics equipment control solutions a great starting point for creating their applications. Please contact Cimetrix for additional information by clicking the button below.

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Topics: Industry Highlights, Semiconductor Industry, Equipment Control-Software Products, Smart Manufacturing/Industry 4.0, Cimetrix Products

All You Could Ever Want to Know about Smart Manufacturing – in a Two-Volume Treatise

Posted by Alan Weber: Vice President, New Product Innovations on Aug 26, 2021 1:15:00 PM

A little over 3 years ago, the Elsevier publishing company decided that the topic of Smart Manufacturing had achieved enough global breadth and momentum to warrant in-depth treatment in an edited set of articles. As they researched the domain, they realized that it split neatly into two categories of material: a general set of concepts that are applicable in any industry, and example implementations that are specific to a small set of related industries.

The editors then consulted with a number of industrial and academic subject matter experts to subdivide each category into a set of topics, and the Table of Contents for each of the two volumes was born. The results were first published in August 2020, and are available from Elsevier:

  • Volume 1: Concepts and Methods (426 pages) 

    “Research efforts in the past ten years have led to considerable advances in the concepts and methods of smart manufacturing. Smart Manufacturing: Concepts and Methods puts these advances in perspective, showing how process industries can benefit from these new techniques. The book consolidates results developed by leading academic and industrial groups in the area, providing a systematic, comprehensive coverage of conceptual and methodological advances made to date.”

  • Volume 2: Applications and Case Studies (528 pages) 

    “Research efforts in the past decade have led to considerable advances in the concepts and methods of smart manufacturing. Smart Manufacturing: Applications and Case Studies includes information about the key applications of these new methods, as well as practitioners’ accounts of real-life applications and case studies.”

One of the editors was Dr. Thomas F. Edgar, a long-time professor in the University of Texas Chemical Engineering department who specialized in process modeling, control, and optimization. He is also credited by many as being the “father of semiconductor APC" (advanced process control), since a number of his graduates ended up in the automation/process engineering department at AMD/Austin and transformed this domain from spreadsheets and “sneakernet” to a fab-wide, model-based process control system.

Needless to say, I was honored when he called to say that Elsevier wanted a case study on the semiconductor industry’s use of smart manufacturing, and to ask if I would write that section. I readily agreed, and provided the chapter titled “Smart Manufacturing in the Semiconductor Industry: An Evolving Nexus of Business Drivers, Technologies, and Standards.” The abstract for that chapter follows:

“The semiconductor industry embarked on its own “Smart Manufacturing” journey well over 30 years ago, long before the term was coined. The continuous productivity improvements that we now take for granted are essential for creating and building the devices that fuel our electronics-based global economy and maintaining commercial viability in a hypercompetitive industry. However, what we have learned in the process is that like many scientific endeavors, it is a journey without a destination. As new market opportunities are met with new device and system technologies in an ever-changing business environment, the list of manufacturing challenges is never complete.

This is where the global Smart Manufacturing initiative enters the picture. Although its key tenets are not specific to the semiconductor industry, the attention it drew to this topic triggered the formation of the SEMI Smart Manufacturing Community, which now provides a forum for thought leaders across the semiconductor manufacturing value chain to focus on these important challenges. To put this initiative in its proper perspective, this chapter explores the past, present, and future of Smart Manufacturing in the semiconductor industry.”

Regarding the Smart Manufacturing Initiative (now with chapters in several geographic regions), SEMI is the perfect host for such a group. Since its charter includes both trade and standardization activities for the industry worldwide, and its members develop the diverse technologies that comprise the electronics industry, SEMI forms an ideal backdrop for describing the evolution of semiconductor Smart Manufacturing. This is illustrated in the figure below.

Smart-manufacturing-two-volume-image

Thinking back over my almost 50 years in the industry, I think the factor that contributed the most to the industry’s current success was the evolution of its collaboration culture. Whether driven by the need for industry efficiency, the fear of extinction, or the recognition of mutual interdependence, today’s global semiconductor industry enjoys a collaborative culture that is unequaled in other for-profit industries.

If the topic of Smart Manufacturing piques your interest, I invite you to visit the Elsevier websites shown above for more information. I have also distilled the semiconductor case study chapter into a set of slides that I will be happy to review/discuss with you.

We wish you the best on your company’s Smart Manufacturing journey – let us know how we can help!

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Topics: Industry Highlights, Smart Manufacturing/Industry 4.0, Machine Learning