Industry News, Trends and Technology, and Standards Updates

by Rob Schreck

Marketing Manager

We had a very successful booth at SEMICON West in San Francisco earlier this month.  The attendance was good, we had a lot of booth traffic, and we had the opportunity to demonstrate the new CIMControlFramework software release to booth visitors looking for a solid tool control solution. What seemed of particular interest was how they can quickly obtain a graphicaly understanding of process status and alarms that give them actionable data to help improve performance and increase quality. It was good to see the buzz generated by our latest tool control release.

Another topic that attracted visitors to our booth was how Cimetrix uses the Agile design process.  They were impressed we are using Agile -  in both our R&D as well as Cimetrix Engineering Services - to get demonstrable software faster and predict schedule completion much more accurately.  Another aspect of Agile was how engineers can learn a team development approach, even in situations in which they are working with colleagues who are remote.  Many of our visitors were also interested in our pilot program to get them started using both CIMControlFramework software and Agile processes for their next design project.

We came away from the show with a long list of people looking for a more complete product demonstration and a better understanding of some of the needs of our customers and prospective customers.  It was a great show and we are looking forward to SEMICON West 2012.

By David Francis

Product Manager

Shortly after the devastating earthquake and tsunami in Japan last March, I read an article that talked about the impact to the semiconductor fab lines in Japan. The article indicated that even those Japanese facilities not directly hit by the crisis were still dealing with power outages and aftershocks. The article also talked about how Japan is the leading producer of the raw silicon used in semiconductor manufacturing. It seemed clear that the effects of the disaster would be felt throughout the semiconductor industry.

I had the opportunity to travel to Japan a couple of weeks ago to visit our distributors and customers. It has been a few months since that article was written, so I was curious to see how things were progressing.  I had heard that the Japanese government had requested businesses to take steps to reduce power consumption by 15% to help avoid possible blackouts due to the loss of the power from the Fukushima Dai-Ichi power plant that was damaged by the tsunami last March. Recent news articles also mentioned that companies could be fined if they didn’t hit the reduced power targets. Hearing all this, I wasn’t sure what I would find once I arrived in Japan.

What I found was a country moving forward and doing what was necessary to keep things progressing toward a full recovery. One example is how practices that had been ingrained in the culture over many years were changing as a response to power shortages.  For example, businesses were responding to the government’s requests and turned up the thermostats. Several of our meetings were held in conference rooms where the thermostat read 27°C (about 80°F). In some meetings the air conditioning was turned off altogether.

Another change that was surprising was the change in how people dressed. The Japanese government started the “Super Cool Biz” campaign and asked businesses to change many of their ingrained practices, including a dress code that encouraged short-sleeve shirts instead of suits and ties! Many of the companies I visited also had signs in their lobbies that talked about “Cool Biz.” Everyone seemed to be on board with the initiative – it was mentioned in most of the meetings I attended.

Here is a picture of Dave Faulkner, Kerry Iwamoto, and our Cimetrix Japan financial staff:

It is amazing to see how people in Japan pull together when times are tough.  There is no doubt the recovery process will take years. I don’t know what the full effect will be to the semiconductor industry, but the semiconductor equipment companies visited on this trip were all working with determined focus to meet their shipment schedules. The distributors and integrators I met with are continuing to plan for and execute projects to install equipment in new factories.

by Bob Reback

President and CEO

During the 2008/2009 economic downturn, Cimetrix scaled back expenses as much as possible and focused on its core business. As the economy started to recover in 2009 and the Company’s business plan gained traction, we began some limited investor relations activities during 2010. We attended a conference in New York and made our first presentation to investors. We also met with a number of investor relations firms to discuss providing investor relations services to Cimetrix. After some thorough interviews and reference checks, the company selected Darrow Associates out of New York.

Jordan Darrow has over 20 years of experience in investor relations working both in corporate environments for large, public companies, as well as with agencies handling investor relations activities for a wide variety of public companies. Darrow Associates is a boutique agency that specializes in small-caps and undervalued companies.

Cimetrix is not looking for any quick splashes or “pump and dump” stock promotions. Rather, Cimetrix chose Jordan Darrow to develop a long term investor relations strategy that communicates the Cimetrix business model and long term plan to investors. This investor relations strategy will include specific, targeted events geared towards long term institutional investors. We welcome Jordan Darrow to the Cimetrix team and look forward to his assistance in strengthening the Cimetrix brand for shareholders and investors.

By David Francis

Product Manager

The creation of a new software product is an exciting process. Often, as was the case with the Cimetrix CIMControlFramework™ (CCF) software, this process begins with a partner that will become the first customer of the product. Cimetrix teamed with Axcelis Technologies to develop a new tool control framework for one of their process tools. A following project with Rorze Automation further developed the framework and produced CCF 2.0. Upon completion of that project, Cimetrix continued the development of the tool control framework to become a standard product that any OEM could use, resulting in the release of CCF 3.0.

The development effort for CCF v3.0 focused on four main areas that improve both the product development capability and the user experience:

• Tighter integration with Cimetrix connectivity products
• Faster data analysis
• Reduced installation time
• Improved training material
  
  

1)      Tighter integration of CIMControlFramework with factory automation components to implement Interface A and SECS/GEM connectivity

We simplified the data configuration so that parameters, events, and alarms are registered at start up and automatically coordinated with the configuration files for the factory automation products.

In the previous versions, CCF was configured to work with a CIM300 or CIMConnect product that was previously installed and configured for the equipment. The problem was that if someone needed to change the connectivity functionality, that change was not reflected in the tool control portion of CCF, or vice versa.  This meant that the required changes had to be implemented twice, resulting in duplication of effort.

Since we wanted to develop the product for a broad range of customers, we wanted to make sure that during tool initialization, OEMs would be able set up alarms, variable definitions, collection events, etc. one time for both tool control by CIMControlFramework and for the connectivity products.

With the tighter integration in CCF 3.0 to coordinate the tool control and the connectivity, initial deployment is now much easier and faster.

Below is an example that shows how alarms, events, and variables are tied together.  OEMs create the initial model using EM Developer, and then all of the configured alarms, events, variables are dynamically added to the model after startup. You don’t have to create all the details of the model, just the basic configuration and CCF fills in the data.

2)      Improved User Experience Through Faster Data Analysis
We learned from the initial deployments that tool operators need quick access to process data in order to improve productivity and lower costs. For CCF 3.0, Cimetrix implemented dedicated history tables to improve performance of queries on historical data.  The new history tables allow for much faster queries for wafer, EPT and Alarm history information.

All logged information is written to log files.  Any log information related to wafer, EPT, or alarm history is also written to the respective table in the on-tool database.

The benefit is fast and easy visualization of the equipment process data that is 20-30 times faster than the previous CIMControlFramework product.

The following graph shows the frequency of alarms reported by the equipment, which can be used to identify problem areas.  This type of data now comes back within a few seconds.

3)      Reduce the time and effort of software installation and initial setup

The new installer allows the user to select the specific CCF modules needed and any other embedded Cimetrix products – such as CIMPortal™ or CIM300™ they want to install and configure. The installation is done in 2 phases. The first phase installs all files related to the products selected, including the source code. The second phase installs and pre-configures CCF and any pre-requisite packages. With the installation package, the time to time to install is dramatically reduced.

4)      Improved training material and code samples

To help a project team get started faster and get them more productive sooner, the Cimetrix created new labs that offer hands-on exercises.  One example is a lab to show the process for customizing user screens.  Both the problem case and the completed solution for each lab ship with CCF.  The real benefit is customers can use the labs as a starting point for their project or as reference material to help them create their own implementation.

Below is a screen shot from a lab that walks students through the process of creating a custom screen to visualize data for their specific tool, such as visualizing pressures, load locks, robots, load ports, processing chambers, etc.

Cimetrix is a software company dedicated to continual product enhancement.  This release delivers improved functionality and performance that will benefit our customers.  With CIMControlFramework, OEMs have a great solution for tool control that allows them to spend more time and effort on delivering their unique value to the market, and far less time on tool control and connectivity—and it just keeps getting better.  This is another example of what Cimetrix does to support our customers to speed them through the development phase and into production.

by Peggy Faulkner

Assistant Controller

Debits and credits.  Accruals, depreciation, amortization.  Terminology that cures insomnia for most, but also the nuts and bolts of keeping track of a company’s day-to-day operations and, ultimately, feedback on its state of health and a roadmap for strategic planning. 

As Cimetrix emerged from the economic downturn, management decided in mid- 2010 the time was right to upgrade the unsupported financial system used in daily operations and reporting.  The Great Plains system had been state-of-the-art when it was implemented, but in recent years was like an old family car driven for years, its better days behind, not able to deliver the performance or features of newer models.

Features, cost, implementation, and support analyses of several ERP systems led to management choice of an updated version of Great Plains, acquired by Microsoft in 2001.   As autumn days became crisp and short, the finance team experienced many things—anticipation...long hours scrubbing old files and laying groundwork... occasional frustration…trial and error….testing, more testing, and more testing—all hallmarks of implementing a new accounting system.  By January 1, 2011, a new era had dawned—we were live, and using our new financial system!  Since that “go live” date, new financial reports and delivery processes have been developed and implemented, giving executives and managers more comprehensive, efficient and varied details of operations for strategic planning. 

During the financial implementation process, it became evident that the integrated Project Accounting portion of Great Plains fell short in meeting Cimetrix' needs, and implementation of that portion of the project was delayed.  Instead of retrofitting a bad fit, CFO Jodi Juretich set out to find a more comprehensive Project Accounting package.  Demos and testing of potential Project Accounting software partners are currently underway, as is staging for the Microsoft Dynamics CRM (customer relationship management) integration.  The CRM integration will play a significant role in how we manage our relationships with customers, and ultimately leads to delivering higher quality service.

Also on the drawing board is a re-design of our website — which has always contained great information, but has been in its present format for many years, and would appreciate a makeover.

 As my friend Mr. Dylan once crooned, “Well, the times, they are a’changin’…”.

A’changin’ indeed.   Exciting times for us! 

by Dave Faulkner

Executive Vice President, Sales and Marketing

Cimetrix Japan K.K. was officially incorporated on November 25, 2010.  The purpose of this new company is to demonstrate commitment to the Japanese OEM market, have a dedicated staff to grow Cimetrix business in cooperation with our distribution partners, and to provide even stronger customer support.  The company's directors will be Bob Reback, Dave Faulkner, Jodi Juretich and Kerry Iwamoto. 

The company will be managed by Mr. Kerry Iwamoto as General Manager and Representative Director.   Mr. Iwamoto started his association with Cimetrix as a customer when he worked for Innotech designing semiconductor process equipment.  Recently, he has worked for Cimetrix distributors CIM, ONC and Rorze.  Mr. Iwamoto brings a strong background in the semiconductor industry and Cimetrix products along with close relationships with existing Cimetrix customers in Japan.

Watch for more news as we launch Cimetrix Japan.

By Dave Faulkner

Executive VP, Sales and Marketing, Cimetrix

We had a strong showing at SEMICON Japan at the Makuhari Messe December 1 - 3.  Attendance was brisk, and Cimetrix products were on display at both the Meiden and the Rorze booths.  This event was a great opportunity for us, since we have just started Cimetrix Japan K.K. effective November 25, 2010.  The new Cimetrix company will provide both new market development and customer support for the Japan marketplace.

In the Meiden booth, Cimetrix EDA/Interface A products were on display.  In addition, Meiden highlighted the partnership between Meiden, DSD, and Cimetrix, which allows DSD and Meiden to offer complete EDA solutions using Cimetrix technology.  These solutions are available to both equipment suppliers and IC manufacturers, and Meiden listed the benefits and sample architectures for each group. 

 Cimetrix CIMControlFramework (CCF) was on display at the Rorze booth running a complete 450mm vacuum platform.  Many visitors stopped to watch this powerful demonstration.  Cimetrix products were also highlighted, along with Rorze’s unique ability to deliver a complete hardware/software platform solution for equipment suppliers using Rorze and Cimetrix technology. 

 One other highlight of the show was visiting the Axcelis booth where they highlighted their Integra plasma dry strip cleaning system that uses the Cimetrix CIMControlFramework. 

We also learned at the show that a new top 20 OEM in Japan would adopt Cimetrix connectivity products.  It is great to see how companies are using our solutions to get to their products up and running in wafer fabs around the world.

Thanks to all those people who stopped by the booths.  Please let us know if you need more information about Cimetrix connectivity or tool control solutions.

by David Francis
Product Manager

Many years ago, I had the opportunity to work with some large semiconductor companies, including, Intel, Motorola, Lucent, and Siltronic.  I developed interface acceptance tests for equipment they purchased.  At that time, the SEMI SECS/GEM standards were still new and not widely adopted.  Many of the tool vendors had little or no previous experience writing SECS/GEM interfaces, and they were often uncertain about the details of the standards, along with worrying about how they could comply with them.  Chief among the vendors’ concerns was how they could meet their design schedules without loading down their engineering teams with this new requirement placed upon them. 

Over the intervening years I worked in the scheduling and dispatching area of automated semiconductor manufacturing, and in that time I lost track of the SECS/GEM standards and their adoption by the wafer fabs.

Recently I joined Cimetrix as Product Manager for the connectivity and tool automation products, and now I am back in the world of SECS/GEM standards.  A lot has changed since those early years, as fabs moved from 200mm to 300mm, and now considering 450mm wafer fabrication.  In addition, the geometries have shrunk from 1 micron down to 40nm and below.  However, I still see many of the same industry concerns as I did many years ago, even though there has been little change to the SECS/GEM standards.

The real change I see is the wide spread adoption of the SECS/GEM standard.  Previously, only a few leading edge companies requested SECS/GEM interfaces on their tools and were working feverishly to set up host-side equipment controls.  Today, SECS/GEM is well rooted in 300mm semiconductor manufacturing and tool vendors have very mature automation interfaces.

The move to 300mm processing created an ideal opportunity for the development and adoption of the GEM300 standards. Building new 300mm tools created an ideal environment for designing in the GEM300 standards right from the start.

More recently, new standards, like Interface A, have emerged from their R&D phase and are now going through the same refining process that SECS/GEM went through a decade ago.  These new standards will continue to support the industry’s efforts to create more efficient devices, at ever-decreasing geometries, with increased reliability and yield quality.

It is exciting to be working with these standards again and looking at them from the other end of the wire – the tool-side as opposed to my previous fab-side experience.  I look forward to writing more about how the tool vendors are adopting, and demonstrating compliance, to the new standards.

The Good, The Bad, and The UglyThe Security

by Ryoko Fukushima,
Application Engineer

Email, Search Engines, Blog, Twitter, Ebay, Internet Banking. The Internet is deeply integrated into our everyday life and work. It makes it possible to exchange information and data almost instantaneously anywhere, anytime, and to anyone. The changes the Internet brought to our world have been irreversible, and the only way we can go is to forward.

But like any great human invention, it brought the good with the bad. Computer viruses, spam, malware, spyware, phishing. It is like opening the 21st century version of Pandora’s box. Cyber security has become an even more critical part of government and business infrastructure. However, tightening security against cyber threats actually can end up working against us. For instance, sometime our customers' network security unintentionally blocks harmless emails from Cimetrix with important attachment/data. Cimetrix believes that a smooth data delivery system is critical for our customer’s success.

This year, we began providing a data upload/download function to our protected customer support site. Data exchange is performed without compromising the customer’s network security.

To access, log in to the support website provided by Cimetrix with a valid username and password.

Picture 1: Support Website Logon Page

After successfully logging in, a user should see the following page with Support Files Upload/Download link.

Picture 2: Successfully Logged On

Clicking Support File Upload/Download directs a user to a file uploading page. Select a file to be uploaded by typing its complete path and name in File textbox or by selecting a file from Choose File to Upload dialog opened by clicking Browse button.

Next, click Upload button to upload the file to the support site. When file upload is complete, the user will see the newly uploaded file below the Browse and Upload buttons.The  user can download the uploaded file by clicking on its file name.

Picture 3: Upload Page

If you have any problems using the support website, please feel free to contact Cimetrix’s support group (support@cimetrix.com).

You might also be interested in:

• Reviewing the support options available from Cimetrix
• Visiting the secure Support Login Area

by Derek Lindsey,
Principal Software Engineer

I have a four year-old who is heavily into the “Why?” stage right now. He asks, “Why?” about everything. Several years ago when my daughter was that age, she had a neighborhood friend who was the queen of, “Why?” One time I decided to play along to see how many times she would ask why before she gave up. I don’t remember the original topic, but it had something to do with our deck. After a few iterations of her asking why and me trying to explain, I had reached the molecular level of describing deck stain. (She outlasted me, by the way.)

Karl Wiegers wrote an excellent book called Software Requirements. In chapter 7, he discusses requirements elicitation. He calls it “the most difficult, most critical, most error prone and most communication-intensive aspect of software development.”

Often times, preliminary discussion of requirements will result in the customer telling you what he thinks he wants rather than what he really needs. Rather than ask the question, “What do you want?” we should really be asking “What do you need to do?” Wants are usually expressed as design details (i.e. “I want the button to be green if the state is active”) whereas needs are the real requirements (i.e. “I need a way of letting the user know when the state changes.”)

To really get to the heart of what the customer needs, we can all learn from my 4 year-old neighbor and ask “why” several times to get to the molecular level of the problem that needs to be solved. Just taking the customer comment that the button needs to be green at face value is easy to implement, but doesn’t really meet the need of the customer. Asking why the button needs to be green and a few follow on questions easily uncovers the real need.