Industry News, Trends and Technology, and Standards Updates

The focus of the most recent SYSTEMA Expert Day, held during a snowy week in Dresden in late January 2016 in conjunction with the 13^th annual innovationsforum, was “200mm Fab Enhancement” and featured a number of presentations from Systema GmbH customers and partner companies.

By way of background, there are a number of reasons for the emphasis on 200mm fab enhancement, most notably that many of these factories are enjoying a renaissance of business to meet the growing demands for IoT (Internet of Things) devices. Moreover, since the drivers for this market segment include cost, variety, and volume, the automation and operations people in these factories are faced with a new combination of challenges not seen in earlier markets.

Cimetrix’ contribution to the event was a presentation titled “Equipment Data-Driven Continuous Improvement for 200mm Fabs,” which outlined a model-based, ROI-driven approach for adding equipment data collection capabilities to existing factories. Our basic premise is that such an approach helps meet some of the automation challenges in an incremental, cost-effective way without requiring major redesign of the factory or equipment control systems.

Since the term “model” is used in many different contexts, we first clarified what this term means in the context of SEMI equipment communications standards, and how this evolved over the past three decades. This was accomplished using a natural language analogy, which is shown in the figure below. Note that the culmination of this process to date is the EDA (Equipment Data Acquisition) metadata model called for in the latest generation of standards, which is very prescriptive in terms of structure, content, and naming conventions for the elements of a semiconductor manufacturing equipment. And even thought the specifics of this model were designed with 300mm wafer fab equipment in mind, the principles well apply to all substrate sizes, and even to the types of material, processes, and equipment found in back end assembly and test factories.

After establishing the value of explicit models for representing equipment, sensors, and other key items in a manufacturing environment, we next introduced concept of an ROI-driven strategy for evaluating the relative benefit of various data collection projects. This strategy first identifies and ranks the key manufacturing objectives that must be addressed, then poses the questions that must be answered to meet those objectives. It then identifies the data sources for the information required to answer those questions, and the data collection techniques (including software) applicable to those sources. Finally, since the original objectives can change with time and additional knowledge, they should be re-examined periodically, giving the strategy an iterative aspect as well.

In order provide specific examples for the uses of equipment data in a continuous improvement program, the presentation listed a number of application use cases that have been successfully deployed in 200mm facilities. These included (in general increasing order of complexity) substrate tracking, process execution tracking, product time measurement (aka wait time waste analysis), external sensor integration, component fingerprinting, and product traceability.

A couple of these were then explained in more detail, showing how a basic tracking application could start by using a small subset of the equipment data, and then evolve over time to provide more advanced functions (and benefit!) as more detailed information was made available.

For those who want to understand this process in more depth, you are welcome to download the entire presentation using the link below, or call us to discuss how we can apply these ideas to your company!♦

“Equipment Data-Driven Continuous Improvement for 200mm Fabs"

Every company that needs software must make a build versus buy decision at some point. Some choices are easy—it makes little sense to build your own office software for word processing, spreadsheets, or presentations. But what if you need software to control specialized physical equipment?

Classic advantages of building your own software are:

• Canned software is generally targeted to meet many needs for most problems. Custom software is better suited to meet specific and uncommon needs.

• Canned software has a fixed set of features and it may be difficult to add or remove specific features, which may lead to software that contains unneeded features or is missing features that you do need. Custom software can be built to meet the specifications of a projects and include all the features that are needed and never any that aren’t.

• The process of developing software builds in-house technical expertise. This expertise can be used to create competitive advantage through higher performance and faster reaction time in meeting the changing needs of the marketplace.

Classic advantages of using standardized software are:

• Standardized software is generally less expensive than custom software because its cost can be spread across many customers and/or tools.

• Standardized software can require less time depending on the degree of customization required.

• Standardized software can be more reliable since it has been tested and used in many different applications.

• Standardized software may provide more features than would otherwise be available.

Why Not Combine the Best of Both Options?

Buying a tool control framework can help you build your own tool control software and still get the benefits of using standardized software. The framework can take care of common problems while you focus on items unique to your specific tool. As a framework, features can be removed, replaced, or even modified as needed. You reduce your costs as well as your time-to-market by using a selection of reliable, field-proven features and including only those that are relevant and add value to your control system. You still retain and build your in-house technical expertise to create competitive advantages in controlling your equipment instead of treating tool control expertise as a commodity.

Using a tool control framework can be a smart way to improve your processes by using standardized software that is easy to customize. So why not consider it as an option for your next project?

If you are interested in downloading the data sheet on Cimetrix’ tool control framework software, CIMControlFramework, click here.♦

We live in a world where cell phone upgrades have become a way of life. Some people upgrade every time a new phone is available so that they can have the latest, greatest features and gadgets. Others prefer to keep their old phone since they are familiar with how it works and are satisfied with the phone’s functionality. While others still may upgrade because they have encountered a problem with their current phone that either can’t be fixed or has been addressed in the new model.

There are similar reasons to upgrade to a new version of a Cimetrix product. Here are a few sample questions that will help an OEM determine when is the best time to do so:

1. Is there an issue my customers are currently facing that has been addressed in the new version of the product?

Cimetrix works to fix customer-reported issues as well as issues found during internal testing. It is not possible to make these fixes in all previously released versions of the product, so they are made as a fix in the latest released version of the product. Upgrading to the latest version benefits the OEMs by providing fixes to issues they may have reported or, more often, to issues they haven’t seen but have been reported by other OEMs.

2. Are there added features or capabilities in the new version of the product that will improve my ability to support my customers and/or allow me to provide new functionality to my customers?

Cimetrix strives to support our customers by providing high-quality software products. As new technologies emerge and as scenarios in which our products are used evolve, we discover new ways to provide additional benefits to our OEM customers. These new capabilities are made available in new releases of our products. These improvements can include things like enhanced logging and diagnostic capabilities, new utilities for managing configuration files, or new screens for making setup easier.

3. Am I planning a new release of my equipment control software?

Like Cimetrix, OEMs are continually looking for ways to improve their equipment and provide new features and functionality to their customers. This means that they will periodically release new versions of their equipment that may contain new hardware and/or software functionality. This is an ideal time for OEMs to also upgrade their Cimetrix software so that their new platform can take advantage of the latest fixes and enhancements that are available.

This is by no means meant to be an exhaustive list of questions to be asked/answered when determining the right time to upgrade to a new version of a Cimetrix product, but it does give you an indication of the type of things that should factor into your decision-making process. Each new software release has a set of Release Notes that describe the software fixes and new features that have been added in that release. These Release Notes are there to help you make the best determination as to when to upgrade, so be sure to read them carefully. And, as always, the Cimetrix Support team is available to answer any questions and provide additional information if you should need it.♦

Cimetrix and our new distribution partner, Linkgenesis, participated in a joint booth at SEMICON Korea last week in Seoul. With over four exhibit halls located in the COEX Convention and Exhibition Center, SEMICON Korea is the largest SEMICON in terms of number of visitors—about 40,000—and included over 1,870 booths in 36,000 sq. meters of show space. The theme of the show was “Connect to Future, Market, People and Technology” with keynote speakers from leaders at Synopsys, Texas Instruments, and Audi. The show was co-located with LED Korea. Included in the schedule was also a meeting for the Information and Control Technical Committee, Korea Chapter, to work on SEMI standards.

Korea remains the second largest equipment market for the second year in a row, and represents the largest region of installed 300mm fab capacity in the world. This show has more equipment manufacturers, in my opinion, than most SEMICON shows. So, because of the show’s location, it made it an ideal opportunity for us to meet with our current worldwide equipment manufacturing customers who seemed to be present in every row, and to meet the growing list of Korean equipment manufacturers as they build volume and increase their expertise. We already have several customers in Korea and expect this number to grow over the next few years.

Our new partnership with Linkgenesis was founded on providing EDA/Interface A solutions in Korea; currently Samsung and Hynix are both looking at incorporating this technology into their manufacturing systems. As the world leader in EDA/Interface A, Cimetrix can provide superior expertise to make the adoption process efficient and successful. Linkgenesis already has business with most Korean equipment manufacturers, so, by combining forces, we bring strong local engineering support together with our world-class EDA solution, CIMPortal™ Plus.

To accelerate our penetration into Korea, we have hired Mr. Hwal Song (+82 (0) 10-5058-0895) as our Korean General Manager to accelerate our customer introductions and partnership with Linkgenesis. Song has a long history in the semiconductor software industry.

We met with several new potential customers during the show setting a strong foundation for our continued growth in the Korean market. We left the show feeling very positive about Cimetrix’ entry into Korea.

At the Information and Control Technical Committee meeting, David Francis, Director of Product Management, represented Cimetrix. In the meeting there was an introduction to work being done by SEMI Japan related to Role Based Access Control (RBAC); however, this effort is still under development by the Japan Task Force. The North America DDA Task Force is starting discussions about Freeze 3 of the EDA Standards. Tom Salmon, Vice President Global Member Services and Standards, introduced information about the SEMI Automation Technology Committee that is working on the Smart Manufacturing initiate in support of efforts coming out of Industrie 4.0 and Industrial Internet Consortium. There was also an information share on the status of efforts around standards for Recipe Management Systems that address some of the concerns with the existing standards such as Recipe and Parameter Management (RaP).

SEMICON Korea 2016 as a whole was a success for both Cimetrix and the Korean semiconductor industry. Seoul was a great backdrop for the show and we look forward to returning next year with greater market penetration and the chance to catch-up with even more clients.♦

To be contacted about Cimetrix' CIMPortal Plus or any of our products and/or services, please click here.

I recently read The Martian by Andy Weir. Since this information comes out on the first page of the book, I don’t think I’m spoiling too much to say that it is the story of an astronaut, Mark Watney, who is lost in a space storm on a mission to Mars. He is presumed dead by his crewmates and abandoned on the planet. Of course he is not dead and he has to use training, skill, ingenuity, and luck to survive long enough to be rescued. Several times throughout the adventure, he has to connect life supporting utilities, tanks, airlocks, and vehicles together using the connecting valves supplied on each component. Watney says, “I’ve said this many times before, but: Hurray for standardized valve systems!” This is obviously a work of fiction, but what would have happened if he had tried to attach a holding tank to the ascent vehicle but the valves had changed between versions?

Software customers should be able to have the same expectation as Mark Watney that the valves don’t change during the mission. In the case of software, we aren’t talking about physical valves. Rather we are talking about software interfaces and API method signatures. In a real sense, the consistency of these software signatures are as mission critical as the standardized valve connections were for the astronaut in The Martian. Changing the method signatures, at the very least, requires that the users of the software have to rebuild their applications. Often times such changes require software users to have to requalify their entire tool. This places undue burden on the users of the software. Software users should be able to reasonably expect that the interfaces and API remain constant through the life of the mission (i.e. within the version of the software including minor releases and patches). A side note on this topic: If Cimetrix product management determines that a piece of software has a bug or does not conform to the SEMI standards on which our products are based, changes will be made to correct the problem. Similarly, if NASA determined that one of their connectors did not conform to the spec, they would immediately resolve the issue for the item that was out of spec.

The Cimetrix release versioning process (see our January 14, 2016 blog) allows Cimetrix personnel and Cimetrix software users to be aware of what backward compatibility guarantees are made for a specific version of Cimetrix software.

We would like our software users to be able to say, “Hurray for compatible software versions!”♦

With unemployment rates at some of the lowest rates in 10 years, keeping good employees can be a challenge. Ownership in the company they work for is one benefit highly valued by many employees. We all want to be part of a growing business, make it successful, and know we will be rewarded for our hard work. Cimetrix wants to provide such ownership incentives to our employees and do it in such a way that is fair and motivating to the employees while being fiscally responsible to shareholders.

One of the impacts of the December 26, 2014 reverse stock split was the price per share value went up and number of shares went down. The pre-reverse stock split value went from $0.15 a share to a post-reverse stock split price of $1,500 a share (as of December 26, 2014). This reduction in shares and corresponding increase in share price made it fiscally impractical to use stock options as part of our incentive program moving forward. Therefore, the Cimetrix Board of Directors approved a transaction to perform a 1,000 to 1 forward split effective December 30, 2015.

The forward split transaction resulted in 3,928,000 shares outstanding as compared to the pre-forward split shares outstanding of 3,928 and decreased the share price by the same ratio. While the ownership position of all Shareholders remained the same pre and post forward-split, it adjusted the price per share to a much more manageable price for granting incentive stock options.

For Shareholders holding physical stock certificates, a letter of instruction from our Transfer Agent, Colonial Stock will be mailed out by February 1, 2016. Shareholders with stock in brokerage accounts should receive notification from their brokerage firm directly.

We believe this transaction will benefit both employees and shareholders by providing the right level of incentives to keep a smart and talented workforce.♦

Last November Linkgenesis Corporation, based in Seoul, became the official Korean distributor of Cimetrix’ EDA/Interface A solution CIMPortal Plus.

This partnership was a perfect fit as we at Linkgenesis have been providing software products and development services in manufacturing information automation systems and the software testing area since 2001. In November of 2014, Linkgenesis merged with IT-Innovation, a communication software solution provider for semiconductor and LCD factories.

In cooperation with Cimetrix, Linkgenesis will be delivering the globally-proven EDA solution to Korean customers, and will also provide enhanced XGem/XGem300 GEM Driver harnessed with CIMPortal Plus so that customers using XGem/XGem300 can easily adapt their equipment to provide EDA capabilities. XGem/XGem300 GEM Driver is a Linkgenesis’ software driver supporting SEMI 300mm standards and is based on XCom SECS Driver that has been proven reliable for more than 200 customers. Linkgenesis’ software testing tool, MAT (Machine Auto Tester), has also been largely used by Korean mobile companies and automotive companies such as Samsung Electronics, LG Electronics, and Hyundai automotive groups.

SEMI EDA/Interface A standards were originally established in 2006 with Freeze-I and then updated with Freeze-II in 2010, but Korean chipmakers have not actively adopted Interface A standards in their production processes. However this is beginning to change as Samsung Electronics released its plan to introduce Interface A on its pilot line last August and SK hynix also started discussion of introducing Interface A.

In addition, Samsung Electronics plans to build a new line at its Pyeongtaek, South Korea and SK hynix’ plants to increase its production line at Cheongju and Yicheon, South Korea. However, according to Gartner’s forecast, semiconductor equipment spending by Samsung Electronics and SK hynix are going to slightly decrease this year. Samsung Electronics will invest $11.4 billion, which is a 13.5% decrease from 2014, and SK hynix will invest $4.8 billion this year, which is a 10.6% decrease from 2014.

We believe this new partnership between Linkgenesis and Cimetrix will provide a great deal of advantages to Korean customers in this emerging market, and will promote the increased interest in EDA/Interface A technology for chip manufactures.

Linkgenesis will be exhibiting at SEMICON Korea 2016, which will be held in Seoul on January 27-29. Please stop by our booth in Hall C #1739 to see our product line as well as Cimetrix’ CIMPortal Plus, and discover how our software brings the latest innovations to the semiconductor manufacturing industry.♦

There are times in life when a surprise is a good thing. Like when you get a box of chocolates. We all remember the line from the movie Forrest Gump, “Life is like a box of chocolates, you never know what you’re gonna get.” When you install a new version of software however, surprises aren’t as enjoyable. With a new software release, customers need to be able to assess the effort and impact the new release will have on their current systems and procedures. Then they can evaluate whether the new features and functionality will be worth the effort to deploy the new software release. One way software companies can help communicate the impact a new software release may have on customers is by using a clearly defined release versioning procedure.

Change is good and software products that grow and mature over time, adding new features and eliminating unwanted behaviors, can remain healthy and viable over a long period of time. However, consistency and predictability are also important characteristics of good software products. So how do software companies balance these two seemingly competitive objectives?

Many software companies can do this is through the way they use software versioning. It is common for software companies to use a major.minor.patch.build software versioning scheme, for example iTunes 12.3.1. This type of software versioning allows the software company to communicate the scale and impact of the changes in the release to their customers. A change in the “major” release number indicates to customers that there are some significant changes in this release that may impact the way it interacts with the product. The customer will likely need to make code changes or procedural changes when upgrading to such a release. A change to the “minor” release number denotes that there are multiple changes in the release, but customers should see only minor, or possibly no changes, in the way they use the product. A minor release may include some small new features that could potentially require code changes if the customers wants/needs those new features. A “patch” release is generally used to address a specific issue and should not change the customer experience with the software. The build number is most often provided to help the software company when researching a question or customer reported defect.

Software versioning provides a way to set expectations with the customer about what is in the release and how it might affect the way they use the product. It can help take the surprise out of the process of installing a new software release. Life may be “like a box of chocolates,” but software releases shouldn’t be.♦

If you would like to learn more about the semiconductor industry, software best practices, and other topics related to new technologies, please subscribe to our email updates using the form in the upper right corner of this page.

Last fall I was invited to attend the 30^th Anniversary Celebration for Rorze Corporation and their partner company ADTEC Plasma Technology. The event took place at the Fukuyama New Castle Hotel in Fukuyama, Japan on December 14, 2015. As you may know, Rorze is an official distributor of Cimetrix products in Japan so we have a long-standing relationship including Rorze handling Cimetrix products as well as being an investor in Cimetrix Incorporated itself.

Rorze was established in 1985 by Fumio Sakiya with an ambitious slogan and aim: Never follow the competition. We shall only develop and market products which we believe are superior to those already on the market, that is, products that will become global news. Originally starting with only six engineers, Rorze is now a global player in the semiconductor industry specializing in automation systems for transferring semiconductor wafers and liquid crystal displays.

On December 14 we gathered in Fukuyama for the celebration. With 28 tables and 250 guests attending, we celebrated with speeches from Rorze and ADTEC management and local dignitaries, and enjoyed a first-class Japanese meal complete with sake. There was plenty of time to meet new people, congratulate the two 30-year-old company members, and relax in traditional Japanese fashion.

The following day Rorze hosted a visit to the Itsukushima Shrine in Miyajima that is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. This is a Shinto shrine famous for its floating Torii gate and wild deer. After taking a short ferry ride to the island, we enjoyed a day of sightseeing and a traditional Japanese lunch near the shrine. The original shrine was built in the 6^th century, so there is plenty of history surrounding this world-class cultural site.

It was an honor to attend a proud moment in the history for our partner Rorze, and we wish them many years of success as the leadership transitions from Sakiya san to our good friend Fujishiro san. Cheers and congratulations.♦

With the new year, comes a major new initiative for Cimetrix to grow the markets for its products.  The company used the transition to 300mm manufacturing to establish a leadership position for its current product portfolio in the semiconductor industry. However, the company is starting to have success expanding into adjacent vertical markets that includes disk drive, display, LED, and photovoltaic. The objective of this new initiative is for Cimetrix to leverage its experience, technology, and product portfolio gained in the advanced semiconductor manufacturing industry to expand the markets for Cimetrix products. We will be exploring new opportunities in our current adjacent markets as well as possible new markets such as SMT and electronic assembly.

To head up this initiative, Ranjan Chatterjee has joined the company in the role of Vice President, Emerging Business and Technology Office. He will focus on extending and introducing Cimetrix’ portfolio of products into Industry 4.0 and Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) initiatives by interfacing manufacturing equipment with big data and analytics tools. The data generated by devices connected via Cimetrix products can also be enlisted to bolster another methodology often used with lean manufacturing—Six Sigma. With the improvements in cloud and big data tools and infrastructure, one can use these methodologies on data with much bigger volume, velocity, and variety. This enables process control and a lack of variation of products. Processes can be monitored and corrected in real-time instead of inspecting machines merely at completion, and eventually this will help improve yields and reduce scrap. Specifically, manufacturers will need to establish a robust data infrastructure that works across the broader array of machines on the shop floor while breaking down protocol barriers so the machines can communicate effectively and in real time.

Manufacturers will also need to establish a bidirectional data flow so they are not only collecting information from equipment, but also pushing control back to the machines to optimize their usage. Manufacturers that can capture the right information, sift through it, and use it at the right time will be the ones that succeed.  Cimetrix intends to be a leader in enabling this vision. Ranjan’s decades of experience at Motorola and in the industry as a whole in software development, big data, cloud, process control, and lean manufacturing will enable Cimetrix to both adapt and develop products and partnerships to enable a robust ecosystem for a compelling solution.

Ranjan’s relationship with Cimetrix is not a new one as he is a former client. While at Motorola, Ranjan oversaw the development and deployment of a standards-based factory control system for SMT and assembly, which encompassed 24 factories around the world, and connected to over 20,000 pieces of equipment using the first generation of Cimetrix connectivity software. At that time, it was the leader in cell phone manufacturing and the largest purchaser of SMT equipment in the world. More recently, Ranjan has worked with companies developing and deploying systems using cloud technologies, big data analytics, and various modern technologies with a global software development team.

Ranjan is extremely excited to join the Cimetrix team as he sees many opportunities to leverage the latest cloud and big data analytics with Cimetrix core expertise and product portfolio into new markets for Cimetrix. He sees great potential for expanding Cimetrix in this new direction and we here at Cimetrix are looking forward to Ranjan leading the way.

If you are interested in discussing possible business opportunities and/or partnerships with Cimetrix with this new initiatives, please fill out our contact form to reach the Emerging Business and Technology Office.♦