Industry News, Trends and Technology, and Standards Updates

by Sheethong Ho,
Solutions Architect

It is a natural tendency to think that Yield Management Integration is simply a data integration job that gathers related manufacturing and test data into a Yield Management System (such as dataPOWER, PDF), and thereafter the engineers and their Yield Management System live happy ever after.

For the fact that a production environment is never static and is evolving constantly makes the maintenance aspects of the Yield Management System a formidable challenge. It is fairly common to see a facility struggling to have its newly implemented Yield Management System keep up with new production needs. Any intentional or unintentional change in manufacturing data may break the loading of a data feed causing its yield analysis capabilities render useless.

The following are some of the key considerations when designing or selecting a solution for the implementation of a Yield Management System.

1. How flexible is the solution in adapting to changing needs in the manufacturing environment? For instance, a new foundry plant is providing the assembly testing that feeds an existing data source for the Yield Management System. However, its test data does not comply with the expected format and could not be processed and loaded. What will be the cost and effort associated with fixing the assembly test data feed?
2. How easy is it to manage and administrate the system? Anyone tasked to manage and maintain the data processing and data feed for the Yield Management System will experience a substantial amount of time investigating why a certain data failed to load. Hence, the question: does the solution provide good error reporting and handling? When the system administrator is approached by the yield engineer on a certain high priority lot not appearing in the Yield Management System – what tools are available to help diagnose the problem or to track down the missing lot? Will the system provide any further means to answer these questions:
   • Did the test data for the lot make it to the Yield Management system? Perhaps the lot has not even been tested or data was not made available to the system.
   • What is the cause for the failure? A typical failure is the missing Meta (e.g. Wafer Map Configuration) data that is required for the loading. (Usually the Process Engineers are responsible in keeping the Meta data updated)
   • How the error could be eradicated and the data loading be resumed. What tools are provided to facilitate such activities?
3. Does the system provide critical alarms and warnings ahead of time such that problems are not identified only when data are discovered to be missing or incorrect during yield analysis? These alarms and warning could also include system resources such as storage space and CPU usage that could affect the processing and loading of yield related data.

In considering a solution for Yield Management System integration, perhaps more than simply concerning about getting the data accurately into the system, the ease of system maintenance is equally important.

Contact Cimetrix Global Services to discover Cimetrix can help with your Yield Management System implementation and integration

by David Warren,
Senior Software Engineer, CCF Solution Architect

In today’s world, having great software is not enough. To be successful, software must also be supportable. Keeping a record of what the software is doing and has done enables after-the-fact diagnosis and makes remote support much more efficient. As an additional benefit, this information can also be displayed live to the GUI, giving the operator additional insight into what is happening. Having a record makes it possible to determine if the software is working correctly or incorrectly. In Cimetrix’s new tool control software, CIMControlFramework™, this functionality is provided by the Logging package.

The CIMControlFramework Logging package provides an MxN information delivery system—the logging package receives information from multiple sources and delivers it to multiple destinations. These sources may be different software components or instances within the same process. They may even be in other processes on the same or different computers. Likewise, the destinations may also be distributed. Some destinations may store the information for a few seconds or minutes, like printing to a console or displaying on a GUI. Other destinations may store information for many days or indefinitely in a database or file.

Logging is a two-edged sword however. There is a balance between information and performance. Storing too much information can adversely affect performance. Storing too little information boosts performance, but limits the benefits of logging. Too often the mindset is to turn logging off most of the time, and only turn it on when trying to solve a problem. I think it is more effective to turn on as much logging as possible—and then leave it on all the time. It may be necessary to limit the information flow to CPU intensive destinations to maintain acceptable performance, but it is worth it. By leaving logging on all the time, it is possible to find those problems whose descriptions start with “This only happened once, but…”

Logging enables passionate support. Just as surveillance cameras can provide more information than an eyewitness, a log record can provide more information than a customer incident report. The additional information is usually crucial in finding root causes and resolving customer issues quickly. And that’s something we are all interested in.

by Brent Forsgren,
EFA Practice Manager

It is the start of a new year, thank goodness! I wonder what is in store for my Global Services team this year. Last year was a tough year for the semiconductor market, but early indications and market experts are saying that 2010 should be much better than 2009.

On top of the market’s expected upward turn, Microsoft released Windows 7 in late 2009 to replace their not so popular Windows Vista. I expect that a significant portion of our customer’s equipment sales this year will be of existing technology and software. But for our customers that will be developing and selling new tools and software, will you jump to Windows 7 or will you wait for it to prove itself in the market place? Additionally, if you switch to Windows 7 will you also make the jump to a 64-bit architecture or will you stay with the aging 32-bit architecture?

We welcome your comments and feedback! I would love to hear your thoughts and plans.  Please comment below or email me at brent.forsgren@cimetrix.com.

Cimetrix's main offices in Salt Lake City will be closed starting, Thursday, December 24 through Friday, January 1. Returning to normal business hours on Monday, January 4th.

Should you require assistance during that time, please do not hesitate to contact us:

• License Requests: licenses@cimetrix.com
• Place an Order: orders@cimetrix.com
• Support Incidents: support@cimetrix.com

by Dave Faulkner,
EVP, Sales & Marketing

At SEMICON Japan 2009, Cimetrix announced a transition in its distribution strategy in Japan. Rorze Corporation has been appointed as the exclusive distributor in Japan for Cimetrix Factory Automation and Tool Control products. Rorze provides innovative robotic and wafer handling solutions to the global semiconductor industry. Cimetrix and Rorze have been working together for several years with Rorze transitioning the FA for its Sorter line to Cimetrix CIMConnect and CIM300 products, and working closely with Cimetrix to integrate its EFEM and vacuum platforms with the Cimetrix CIMControlFramework tool control software. This technology exchange led to an investment by Rorze in Cimetrix and the appointment of Rorze as the Cimetrix exclusive distributor in Japan. Rorze’s software department has engineers on staff who are familiar with the SEMI FA standards and have used Cimetrix FA and tool control products on previous projects. Watch for more news as this relationship broadens to add new channels throughout Asia.

At SEMICON Japan, Rorze and Cimetrix demonstrated a new 450mm wafer capable vacuum platform. This platform was controlled by Cimetrix CIMControlFramework and was cycling both 300mm and 450mm wafers. It created quite a stir on the main aisle at SEMICON Japan due to the actual moving demonstration and discussions by ISMI about progress on industry usage of 450mm platforms. Please contact Rorze or Cimetrix for more information.

by Stephanie Sampson,
Project & Sales Coordinator

Need a license for a Cimetrix software product? Not sure how to go about getting one?  Well, let me share with you some quick and simple steps for requesting and receiving a license as efficiently as possible.

First, you will need a Purchase Order. Once you have that we would love to see it! Email or fax, can’t decide which way to send it? Either one of these will work:

• Email to orders@cimetrix.com
• Fax to 801-256-6510

Upon receipt of the Cimetrix software and Certificate of Authenticity (COA), it’s time to request your license file. The license file contains installation codes required to correctly install the software. You can send all of your license requests, transfers, or questions to licenses@cimetrix.com.

Please list your MAC ID and indicate one of the following to activate your license:

• Purchase Order Number
• Sales Order Number
• Certificate of Authenticity Number

If a license transfer is what you are looking for instead, then please send your “Old” MAC ID along with your “New” MAC ID to complete the transfer.

If you are not sure where to find your MAC ID, then please use the following steps:

1. Go to the “Start” menu on the computer you want to license
2. Click “Run”
3. Inside the Open box type “cmd” then press OK
4. At this point a Command/DOS/Shell window should pop-up
5. Type “ipconfig –all” Then press Enter
6. You can either take a screen shot here or type in the information that corresponds to the
7. Physical Address of the primary network card.

Now that we have all of your information your license file will be emailed to you within the one business day.

See, it’s almost as easy as 1..2..3! If you are still unsure about any of these steps, please feel free to contact us at licenses@cimetrix.com or call 801-256-6500.

by Ryoko Fukushima
Application Engineer

Computers, cell phones, video games, internet, online banking, etc., we live in a brave new world of technologies. It is true that these technologies have improved our lives tremendously. But, when things stop working or you have questions outside of the information found in a manual, who ya gonna call?

Tech Support !!!
(If you whispered “Ghostbusters” in your mind secretly, give yourself a little pat on the back and pull your legwarmers from your closet.)

Cimetrix Support works very hard to give the best support to our customers. Since this spring, I began working as one of support engineers. After handling various cases, I began to feel more and more like a CSI, than a support engineer. Most often, I spend my time gathering enough information to formulate a logical explanation and solution for an issue reported by the customer.

From a customer’s perspective, this adds more time until incident resolution. So, I thought I could save our customers any unnecessary delays and headaches by providing insight on how to expedite the technical support process.

In order to have your issue effectively handled and solved in a speedy matter, please provide the critical pieces of information listed below to your support engineer:

• Version of Product(s) you are using
• An output file produced by Support Tool
• Product Log Files (i.e. log files generated by CIMPortal, CIMConnect, etc.)
• EPJ file (for CIMConnect/CIM300 User)
• A details instruction for how to reproduce your issue
• A stand-alone application reproducing the your issue

As a member of the Cimetrix Quality Customer Support team, my goal is to serve as an extension of your engineering department, partnering with you to efficiently solve all incidents. Working together, I am sure that we can get you back on track in no time.

Now remember, if there's something weird and it don't look good...
Who ya gonna call?

+1 801-256-6501

Cimetrix Quality Customer Support 

This week, SEMICON Japan 2009 will be invading the Makuhari Messe in Chiba, Japan. The largest international exhibition of semiconductor equipment and materials, vistors can expect over 1500 exhibiting companies as well as co-organized events including the SEMI Technology Symposium (STS). SEMICON Japan takes place Wednesday, December 2 - Friday, December 4.Exhibits will be open from 10:00 am to 5:00 pm.

We hope to see you there!

At Cimetrix, we are always looking to improve the customer experience. We also are constantly looking for means for improving efficiency and – especially this year – cutting costs.

Well, all three of these objectives converge in our decision to implement a new phone system. We chose to go with a hosted VoIP system. Not only is this the most cost efficient option, it also allows for flexibility – integrating email, faxing, conferencing, and voice mail into one application. Internally, it allows us to more efficiently manage incoming calls, make employees more productive and reduce the wait time callers experience to be connected to their desired party.

From a customer’s perspective, this also means:

• Since users can take their VoIP adapters everywhere, Cimetrix team members are available while traveling at the same number that you would reach them while at the office.
• With call forwarding and call following capabilities, your single call gets routed to the desired party regardless of whether or not he/she is at the office.
• After hours, you will be provided a dial-by-name directory so that you can leave a message for a specific Cimetrix staff member. Also, for those employees that choose to route their calls outside of normal business hours, you may be able to reach the desired individual outside of the office.

Please note that the Cimetrix main offices will be closed on Thursday and Friday this week to celebrate the Thanksgiving holiday. However, with the new phone system in place, you will be able to dial-by-directory to leave a message for a specific employee and/or for those that have chosen to route calls to their home or cell phone, may be able to still reach specific staff members.

We hope that callers have a more pleasant experience with this new system in place and welcome any feedback. Please direct questions and comments to deann.rowan@cimetrix.com.

… and Happy Thanksgiving!

By Jodi Juretich,
Chief Financial Officer

You might be thinking, “What does healthcare costs have to do with a factory automation and equipment control software solutions company?” Well, directly, not much but indirectly, it’s one of many benefits that play a role in retaining and attracting talented employees.

Gone are the good old days where 100% employer paid benefits were the norm. The average health-care cost for a family plan now costs roughly $13,000 a year and employees are paying anywhere from 25% to 50% of that cost. Multiply that times the number of employees in your company and, well, you get the idea. And that’s only health care. There are other benefits such as life, disability, dental, vision and workman’s comp, to mention a few. According to the Kaiser Family Foundation’s 2009 Employer Benefits Survey, health insurance premiums have increased by 138% over the last decade. With increases like that, an employer has to be smart on designing health plans to keep their employees focused on their jobs and not stressing about how they are going to pay for health care.

Your typical health care plans have co-pays, out of pocket maximums and life time maximums and all of these options, depending on how they are designed, can drive the premiums way up. If your company is paying attention to these options, they can manage the cost by implementing a Health Reimbursement Account Plan (“HRA”) to supplement, for example, higher out of pocket maximums. A strategy like this is designed so the employee does not feel the financial burden if they fall in to that very small population of hitting their out of pocket maximum in a plan year. Why pay a higher premium that caters to the whole population when only a very small percentage will use that part of the benefit.This approach saves the employee money by reducing employee share of the monthly premiums. It saves the company money by reducing its overall expenses which directly impacts a company’s ability to maintain competitive pricing to its customers and ultimately drives the company’s EPS and shareholder value.

At Cimetrix, we take very seriously the retention of our key employees and understand that a competitive benefits package plays an important role in that process. Our team is our most valuable asset, providing you – the customer – with the highest quality support, services and solutions. With sound financial planning, we can create a program in which both the company and the employees win.

Next time your benefits are up for renewal, ask your employer if they have a financially smart plan design for healthcare costs.