Industry News, Trends and Technology, and Standards Updates

SEMICON Taiwan was held September 5-7, 2018 at the Taipei Nangang Exhibition Center. During that same time (Friday September 7), the e-Manufacturing & Design Collaboration Symposium (eMDC) alsotook place in Hsinchu, Taiwan. Cimetrix exhibited in the Smart Manufacturing Pavilion and had a strong presence at both shows, exhibiting and speaking at SEMICON, and speaking and sponsoring a tea break at eMDC. 

Cimetrix SEMICON attendees included Dave Faulkner (VP Sales and Marketing), Michael Lee (Country Manager Taiwan), Yufeng Huang (Senior Software Engineer), Alan Weber (VP New Product Innovations), Samson Wang (Solutions Engineer) and Kimberly Daich (Marketing Manager); Hwal Song (Country Manager Korea) was also able to attend for one day. We were joined by several partners and distributors as well. The Cimetrix booth was busy throughout the show, and provided a comfortable and convenient setting for the many scheduled and walk-in meetings that took place.

In addition to the exhibitions, SEMICON Taiwan also sponsored many forums for expert speakers throughout the show. Dave Faulkner spoke on Friday morning on the topic of "Making Smart Manufacturing Work with EDA: The Stakeholder-driven requirements Development Process". On that same day, Alan Weber traveled to Hsinchu for eMDC and spoke on a similar topic, "Smart Manufacturing Stakeholders and Their Requirements." Smart Manufacturing is a prevailing topic across the industry and was featured at SEMICON Taiwan, as they continue the Smart Manufacturing Journey that began with SEMICON West. 

Our office in Taiwan has expanded recently with the addition of a new Solutions Engineer, and we are excited as new opportunities open up throughout the region. 

If you would like to learn more about Smart Manufacturing, our work in Taiwan or Cimetrix, please feel free to ask an expert any time. 

 

SEMICON China was held from March 14-16, 2018 in Shanghai at the Shanghai New International Expo Centre. Simultaneously co-located at this huge complex were Productronica China and Laser World of Photonics China. All three shows were very busy this year, and it is clear the electronics manufacturing industry in China is booming.

Cimetrix attendees included Dave Faulkner (VP Sales and Marketing), Ranjan Chatterjee (VP Smart Factory Business Unit), Michael Lee (Country Manager Taiwan), Yufeng Huang (Senior Software Engineer), Alan Weber (VP New Product Innovations), and Kimberly Daich (Marketing Manager); Hwal Song (Country Manager Korea) was also able to attend for one day. The Cimetrix booth was busy throughout the show, and provided a comfortable and convenient setting for the many scheduled and walk-in meetings that took place.

Cimetrix partners Facet and Flagship also attended the show, and participated in several customer/prospect discussions. In conjunction with our partner Facet, Cimetrix software products are now used in more than 25 production factories within the China market segment. Moreover, the relationships we have established throughout the semiconductor and electronics markets are strengthening our global presence and enable Cimetrix to provide local support to current and potential clients. The most recent example is our Shanghai office, opened in 2017.

In addition to the exhibitions, SEMICON China sponsored many forums for expert speakers throughout the show. One of these included the New Technology Release Forum where our own Alan Weber was selected as a speaker. His topic “Integrated Equipment Data Collection and Management for Smart Manufacturing” was well received by those in attendance. Smart Manufacturing has been a topic of keen interest at all SEMICONs over the past 18 months, and China was no exception; a separate forum dedicated to Smart Manufacturing drew a standing-room-only crowd to hear a broad range of speakers across the technology spectrum.

We are currently expanding our Shanghai office in response to the exciting growth opportunities we see for our industry in China, and look forward to many years of collaborative work in this region.

Yufeng Huang of Cimetrix talks about our China Office Opening. Read now in Chinese or English.

美国矽美科股份有限公司上海代表处成立于2017年8月，地址位于称为中国硅谷的上海张江高科技园区。公司总部（矽美科股份有限公司）创建于1987年，地址位于美国犹他州盐湖城。矽美科公司是一家为半导体行业、SMT行业、PCB行业、光伏行业、LED行业及相关行业的设备制造商和生产工厂提供产品和服务的软件公司。

矽美科公司有着非常良好的客户评价，公司不仅将自己视为客户的重要供应商，更加将自己视为客户值得信赖的合作伙伴。我们坚信有能力为客户提供全球最先进的基于SEMI标准的软件解决方案。

矽美科上海代表处为中国、台湾等亚太地区客户提供售前产品咨询，客户培训，售后技术支持服务。我很荣幸在今年8月份加入到矽美科上海代表处，在过去的几个月内我们不断收到老客户给予的好评和新客户的合作意向。感谢新老客户对公司的支持，我们将一如既往的为客户提供最优质的、高效的服务，希望我们的产品和服务能让您满足，并为您带来巨大的帮助。

 

Wow – what a great year for Cimetrix and exciting time for our industry!

The president and CEO of Applied Materials recently said, “This is the most exciting time in the history of the electronics industry.” The race is on for faster/better/cheaper devices, cloud computing, autonomous vehicles, Big Data, artificial intelligence, the “Internet of Things” and more. This means the world needs not only a lot more computer chips, but also innovations in chip design, packaging and electronics assembly. The fast moving (and giant) electronics companies driving these trends are also pushing to get far more data from the factory floor to support their “Smart Manufacturing” and “Industry 4.0” initiatives.

2017 was a record setting year for Cimetrix. Revenues increased 34% year-over-year. The Company continued to operate profitably on a quarterly basis with operating income over 10% for the year. We invested heavily in R&D to pursue new technologies and products for long-term growth while strengthening our balance sheet with solid increases in cash and stockholders’ equity.

Going Forward

Cimetrix is uniquely positioned as the world leader in developing and using standards that connect manufacturing equipment to factory software systems. We are second to none in knowledge of “equipment connectivity” standards. We chair the relevant global standards committees, and are well known throughout the industry as experts in this vital domain. In addition, our products are used worldwide in hundreds of thousands of equipment connections. We recently expanded the Cimetrix team with some great new employees located around the world to better serve our growing international customer base, which now includes over 30 factories in Taiwan and China.

Based on what we see, the industries we serve will continue to expand their usage of equipment connectivity standards such as the Generic Equipment Model (GEM) to integrate more equipment into their factory systems, while the more advanced semiconductor manufacturers will accelerate their adoption of the latest Equipment Data Acquisition (EDA) connectivity standards.

While we are very bullish on the longer-term trends for our industry and Cimetrix, it is always a little difficult to forecast short-term results. For 2018, industry analysts are currently predicting a single-digit percentage increase in semiconductor capital equipment spending. While you might think we would be satisfied with another year like we had in 2017, we expect to perform better than the overall industry in 2018 for a number of reasons. First, the “design wins” we worked so hard to earn in prior years should lead to market share gains that result in higher percentages of equipment using Cimetrix software products. Second, we believe the adoption rate will accelerate for the newer EDA equipment connectivity standards, where Cimetrix products are the most proven and widely used in the industry. Lastly, we believe our reputation for providing the highest levels of technical support to customers worldwide, especially in the Japanese, Korean, Taiwanese and Chinese markets, will enable us to continue winning new customers.

From all of us at Cimetrix, we thank our customers and shareholders for the faith and confidence they have placed in our products and our team. We will continue to strive for excellence in satisfying our worldwide base of customers and delighting them with innovative new products. 

The week of September 11 will be a big one for Cimetrix in Taiwan. In addition to exhibiting at SEMICON Taiwan for the third year in a row (Booth # 2926) with our local partner, Flagship International, Cimetrix is privileged to be making joint technical presentations with GLOBALFOUNDRIES in two distinct events.

First of all, Alan Weber (Cimetrix) and Mark Reath (Senior Member of Technical Staff, GLOBALFOUNDRIES) will share the stage at the Smart Manufacturing Forum at the Nangang Exhibition Center during the show on Wednesday afternoon (September 13, 12:40–1700, Room 402ab). Their presentation is titled “Smarter Manufacturing through Equipment Data-Driven Application Design” and highlights the importance of robust, standards-based data collection capabilities on both the equipment and factory sides in realizing the industry’s Smart Manufacturing objectives.

On Friday of that week, this same duo will present “Device Scaling vs. Process Control Scaling: Advanced Sensorization Closes the Gap” at the Ambassador Hotel in Hsinchu on September 15, at 08:30–16:40 (click on the “Program” link). This presentation discusses how GLOBALFOUNDRIES is addressing the need for precise fault detection and process control in the sub-10nm domain  through integration of high-speed, process-specific sensors using its EDA (Equipment Data Acquisition standard) infrastructure to deal seamlessly with complex data types (e.g., spectral data) and the context information necessary to use this information effectively.  The conference agenda features speakers and topics across a broad spectrum of the industry’s value chain, so the conference promises to be an exciting and well-attended event.

In addition to these technical events, Cimetrix will be demonstrating its new EDATester™ product at the booth along with its complete family of connectivity and equipment control products.

We invite our customers and colleagues to join us at all of these venues and hope to see you in Taiwan soon.

Michael Lee of Cimetrix announces the Taiwan Office Opening. Read now in Chinese or English.

當工廠的產品需要加入更多的功能，交期需要更迅速，工資需要提高，智慧製造提供了一個最好的解決方案。美商矽美科所提供的工廠自動化軟體，提升了聯繫工廠主機與設備控制在半導體、電子組裝、太陽能模組、發光二極體等相關的電子產業。我們在工業界領先的產品，給予客戶用較低的成本、客制化生產、迅速上市，並集中在成功實行工具控制與SEMI標準。

我很榮幸在今年二月進入美商矽美科。我們和知名的半導體廠商、印刷電路板商、設備商、機器人製造商等客戶合作，而這些公司給予我們最佳的評價。矽美科帶給他們一個極為經濟、有效率和聯繫良好的方案。我們提供了CIMConnect, EDA等產品來滿足廠商不同的需求。

矽美科台灣辦公室將在5月31日開幕。我們感謝我們的客戶跟合作夥伴。我們將帶給你更方便、更熱情的服務，並展望在台灣及中國服務更多半導體、電路板和面板廠商。 

台灣銷售辦事處：

Cimetrix International, Inc., Taiwan Branch
美商矽美科國際股份有限公司台灣分公司4F., No.301,
Sec. 2, Tiding Blvd,
Taipei 114, Taiwan, R.O.C.
中華民國台灣台北市堤頂大道二段301號4樓 114

電話： +886-926395649
聯絡人：Michael Lee

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I was honored to join the Cimetrix team in February earlier this year. We work with major semiconductor companies, PCB manufacturers, equipment vendors, robotics specialists and more. I was happy to know that everyone I've worked with has high praise for this company.  Cimetrix can bring their customers and clients connected products that are efficient and cost-effective. Cimetrix offers a large portfolio of products such as CIMConnect, HostConnect, and EDA to meet the various needs of their customers.

The Cimetrix International, Inc., Taiwan Branch officially opened on May 31, 2017. Thanks to all our partners and customers. We hope to continue to bring you convenient and passionate service. I am looking forward to working with all our current and future customers in Taiwan and China! 

Contact Us:
Cimetrix International, Inc., Taiwan Branch
4F., No. 301,
Sec. 2, Tiding Blvd,
Taipei 114, Taiwan, R.O.C.

Phone: +886-926395649
Contact： Michael Lee

On March 30, 2016, Linkgenesis and Cimetrix hosted an Equipment Data Acquisition (EDA) standards seminar in Suwon City, South Korea to introduce equipment suppliers, sub fab component suppliers and system integrators to the concepts, history and best practices involving the SEMI EDA standards, also known as Interface A. The seminar was in response to Samsung’s EDA pilot targeted for Line 17 in Hwaseong with further rollout in Pyeoungtaek. While Interface A is being adopted in the US, Europe, Japan, and Taiwan; this is the first usage in South Korea. Recognizing this, Linkgenesis used their strong contact base in the South Korean semiconductor industry to bring together the major fab suppliers to share knowledge about EDA and demonstrate how Linkgenesis and Cimetrix can help them meet Samsung’s requirements.

The agenda was:

1. Introductions by Sungwoo Jung, CEO Linkgenesis and Eric Ko, Sales General Manager

2. EDA SEMI Standards Overview by Inhyeok Paek, Managing Director Research and Development Center

3. EDA Industry and Market Trends by Dave Faulkner, Cimetrix Executive Vice President

4. Factory Use Cases for EDA by Brian Rubow, Cimetrix Director of Client Training and Support (and co-chair of SEMI North American DDA Task Force)

5. Best Practices in EDA Implementations by Brian Rubow

6. CIMPortal Plus Feature Overview by Brian Rubow

7. Development Steps Using CIMPortal Plus by Mingyu Chung, Linkgenesis Principal Engineer

8. Question and Answer Period

With over 70 attendees, the Q&A session was lively with many good questions and exchange of ideas. Action items and next steps have been established with the attendees as everyone involved is working toward helping the Samsung pilot be successful.♦

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If you would like to learn more about the application of the SEMI EDA/Interface A standards, click here for 10 in-depth videos on EDA technology. You can also download a white paper on the SEMI EDA/Interface A standards here.

It was exciting to be at SEMICON Japan a couple of weeks ago. The show was in a new venue – Tokyo Big Sight; in previous years, it had been at the International Exhibition Halls & International Conference Hall in Tokyo.

 

Tokyo Big Sight

I was especially interested in seeing some of our equipment supplier customers, since we have several new customers who have completed their systems and will ship products using Cimetrix software in 2015 using both our Interface A and SECS/GEM software.

We were well represented at the show. We had a large presence in the booths of our distributors in Japan.

 

Both Meidensha and Rorze had banks of computers set up to demonstrate Cimetrix software, and both booths were busy with demos.

SEMICON Japan was first held in 1977, and is the largest of the SEMICON events held worldwide each year. This year, there were forums covering subjects such as:

• Recent advances in 2.5D/3D ICs
• TSVs in 2.5D and 3D
• IoT (Internet of Things) and its application
• Advanced Lithography
• Design For Manufacturing (DFM)

You can read more about the event at SEMICON Japan.