Industry News, Trends and Technology, and Standards Updates

This blog explains an approach that Cimetrix CIMControlFramework^TM (CCF) developers can use to dynamically generate ECVs (EquipmentConstant Variables) in source code as a convenient, effective alternative to including them in the default configuration file.

When implementing the GEM interface for equipment, it is often necessary to define EquipmentConstant Variables (ECVs). If the GEM interface is part of a CCF-based equipment control system, you would normally define the ECVs in the Equipment.epj file. However, registering the ECVs with this approach can take a lot of effort in a number of situations. Among them:

• When you need to register hundreds or even thousands of ECVs;
• When you need to dynamically register ECVs based on the specific configuration of an instance of the equipment;
• When you want to register ECVs without changing the EPJ file.

In these cases, dynamically generating the ECVs from the source code easily addresses these challenges.

The rest of this posting briefly shows you how to accomplish this, and how to change and monitor the values of ECVs.

How to generate ECVs programmatically 

After calling ecs.Start() inside Supervisor's Run(), the code sample below generates an ECV.

What you need to be most careful about here is that the ecid and ECV’s name should not be duplicated with other VIDs.

Then you can see the newly generated ECV  in the Equipment Constants screen of the OperatorInterface.

How to change the value of an ECV

The ECV’s value can be updated  through FactoryAutomationServer using the code below.

You can then see a message that the ECV’s value has been changed.

How to detect the ECV’s value change

If you want to detect changes to the ECV’s value, you can receive a callback  by registering ValueChangedHandler as shown in the code sample below.

To Summarize:

• You can dynamically generate an ECV by calling CreateVariable of CIMConnect;
• You can change the value of an ECV by calling SetEquipmentConstants of FactoryAutomationServer;
• You can detect changes in the value of the ECV by calling RegisterValueChangeHandler of CIMConnect.

All are helpful solutions for CCF developers who need to generate ECVs dynamically.

To learn more about this solution and other CCF programming best practices, please schedule a time to talk with a Cimetrix representative.

Background

At SEMI in North America, the Information & Control Committee meets three times per year; spring summer and fall. This year the summer meetings were held on July 10, 11 and 13 in conjunction with SEMICON West is San Francisco, CA. The meetings include task forces with leaders from Cimetrix on the GEM 300, ABFI (Advanced Backend Factory Integration), GUI, DDA, CDS task forces as well as the committee meeting on the final day which was held on Thursday instead of the typical Wednesday. This is a summary of what happened in the task forces I am highly involved in including GEM 300, ABFI and DDA as well as some updates from SEMI.

Note that all ballots that pass are still subject to a final review by the global SEMI Audit & Review committee, where a ballot can still fail when proper SEMI procedures and regulations were not strictly followed.

SEMI

A few changes are happening at SEMI. SEMI is planning to start publishing ‘red-line’ versions of the SEMI standards. Today, when a new version of a SEMI standard is published, it includes change bars on the side to indicate where changes have occurred. The changed section can then be compared with the previous publication to see what changed. While this is helpful to readers, the planned ‘red-line’ versions will identify precise changes using redline strikethrough and underlining to identify the changes. This is a big benefit to the standards community. I look forward to seeing this new feature.

SEMI is planning to add additional digital enforcement to the SEMI standard documents to help enforce SEMI’s copyright to the standards. This should help curb some of the copyright abuse. Every company implementing or using the SEMI standards should have at least one subscription to SEMIViews, https://www.semiviews.org/.

SEMI has hired another technical writer to help keep SEMI standard publication up to date. Recently, the growing queue of standards awaiting publication has affected SEMI standards development. For example, this has caused delays in the DDA task force developing EDA Freeze 3. In the last 9 months, SEMI has already reduced the publication queue substantially and is committed to catching up early in 2024.

GEM 300 Task Force

A lot is going on the GEM 300 task force.

Ballot 7065, an update to the SEMI E172 passed nearly super-clean. SEMI E172, SPECIFICATION FOR SECS EQUIPMENT DATA DICTIONARY (SEDD) defines the XML schema for documenting a GEM interface. Recently the GEM standard was updated to allow transfer of a SEDD file through the GEM interface using Stream 21 messages. Ballot 7065 adds a few new features and changes to the schema files. The most important changes are names for alarms and a ‘well-known’ element to all collection events, variables, and alarms. This ‘well-known’ element is meant to contain a standardized alias so that end users can automatically map an implementation to required items in the SEMI standards. To capitalize on the new E172 ‘well-known’ feature, new ballots were approved to modify E5/E30, E40, E87, E90, E94, E116 and E157 to include standardized ‘well known’ names. These ballots are expected to be completed in time for cycle 7 voting this year.

Ballot 7066 proposed changes to the SEMI E87 Carrier Management Services (CMS) standard. This included a significant change to the new Carrier Ready to Unload Prediction feature. The primary driver for this change is to accommodate internal buffer equipment where the READY TO UNLOAD state depends on when the host sends a CarrierOut message and can be drastically impacted by the carrier-out queue. The ballot proposes to use CARRIER COMPLETE prediction instead, which can be universally applied both fixed buffer and internal buffer equipment. The change has little impact on fixed buffer equipment, where the time between CARRIER COMPLETE and READY TO UNLOAD is typically short and a fixed time. Unfortunately, this line item in the ballot needs some rework before it is ready for acceptance.

The other line items in ballot 7066 passed including a clarification to the ContentMap behavior and an update to the CMS compliance statement. Two requirements related to the ContentMap were in contradiction to each other affecting the ContentMap value when a carrier object is instantiated. The clarification allows the ContentMap to either be an empty list or a structured list of empty lot and substrate ID information. The change only affects the initial value. The compliance statement change adds the missing “Access Mode State Model” to the compliance statement so implementers can declare whether this feature is implemented and compliant.

Ballot 6991 also passed as super-clean (no negative votes) to update SEMI E4 SEMI Equipment Communications Standard 1 Message Transfer (SECS-I). The update removes biased terminology to be compliant with recently updated SEMI regulations. No technical changes were made.

ABFI (Advanced Backend Factory Integration) Task Force

New proposed standards for Consumables and Durables (ballots 6924A and 6925A) both will require Ratification ballots. This means that a few technical changes need to be made for the new standards to be accepted. Ratification ballots R6924A and R6925A will be submitted in the next voting cycle with those technical changes. If this passes, then the new standards will be published. If it fails, then the ballots will be reworked for another voting cycle.

DDA (Diagnostics Data Acquisition) Task Force

The DDA task force meeting was relatively quiet and uneventful for the first time in years while the task force waits for accepted ballots to be published including updates to E125/E125.2, E134/E134.2, and E120.2. No ballots were adjudicated. Ratification ballot R7002 for SEMI standards E132 and E132.2 passed in the voting cycle 4. Meanwhile new versions of E121 and E179 were published by SEMI in April and June, respectively.

Next steps for the DDA task force include updating E164 and planning a ‘vendor test session’. The E164 update is tied to the GEM 300 ‘well-known’ feature mentioned above, where the E164 names and IDs will be synchronized with the aliases added to the GEM 300 standards. The vendor test session is planned to occur during Spring 2024. Any company wishing to participate to validate EDA client or server software against other implementations is welcome. Participants will run through a small set of E132 scenarios, E125 scenarios and E134 scenarios to validate the current standards. Any issues found during this testing will be quickly resolved so that an EDA freeze 3 version can finally be declared. The task force leaders plan to share a test plan before Fall meetings to help everyone prepare.

Richard Howard, Director of Technical Operations, Cimetrix Connectivity Group (a part of PDF Solutions), along with other leaders of the SEMI Fab & Equipment Computing Device Security (CDS) Task Force, were awarded the SEMI International Standards Excellence Award, along with his co-leaders on the SEMI Fab & Equipment Computing Device Security (CDS) Task Force  (Leon Chang of TSMC, Ares Cho from ITRI and Ryan Bond of Intel). The award was announced at SEMICON West.

This award recognizes years of involvement and leadership by Richard Howard and the team in the development of new Semiconductor industry standards, in particular in the area of cybersecurity. Recognizing the urgent need for robust cybersecurity measures, SEMI's International Standards Information & Control Committees in Taiwan, Japan, and North America formed task forces in the fall of 2018 to investigate the feasibility and implementation of standards to address these threats. Over the years, the task forces worked diligently through regular meetings to coordinate efforts and eliminate redundancies.  As a direct result of this work, SEMI recently published its first two Cybersecurity Standards.

"I am very honored to be recognized with the other co-leaders of their respective task forces." said Richard Howard.  "I believe this award also truly recognizes the collaborative, international effort of the many task force members who have worked diligently to develop these initial standards. Our work is just beginning."

"We are extremely proud of the work of Richard Howard," said John Kibarian, PDF Solutions’ President and Chief Executive Officer. "These standards are a critical step toward safeguarding the semiconductor manufacturing infrastructure from the growing threat landscape. Through the dedicated efforts of the leadership of these task forces, and SEMI Standards members, there is a robust framework designed to enhance cybersecurity practices across the industry."

PDF Solutions and Cimetrix by PDF Solutions are exhibiting at SEMICON West 2023 in less than a week and we hope to see you there!

SEMI is the principal industry association that represents the global electronics manufacturing supply chain, and regularly brings industry leaders together to drive the future of electronics and advanced semiconductor manufacturing. SEMICON West is one of its premier annual industry events, and this year’s gathering will take place July 11-13, 2023 at the Moscone Center in San Francisco, California with the theme “Building a Path Forward.”

At SEMICON West 2023, The Cimetrix Connectivity Group (CCG) of PDF Solutions will exhibit our latest software solutions that are designed to improve manufacturing quality and productivity. You can find us at booth #344 as well as a variety of other places during the exhibition. Be sure to stop by any of the following activities:

• John Kibarian (CEO, PDF Solutions) will participate In DAC Research Panel "Why Is Curvy Design an Opportunity Now?" (July 11 at 1:30 pm)
• Greg Prewitt (Director, PDF Solutions) will speak at the Test Vision Symposium on "Enhanced Parametric Test Insights Through Dynamic Data-Driven Test Flow Execution" (July 12, 11:15 am)
• Ranjan Chatterjee (VP, Cimetrix Connectivity Group) will chair the AI/ML Enabled Manufacturing Operations Panel (July 12 at 2:00 pm @ Smart Manufacturing Theater)
• Alan Weber (VP, Cimetrix Connectivity Group) will present "Connecting the Dots: From KPIs to Smart Manufacturing Applications to Industry Standards" (July 13 at 10:35 am @ Meet the Experts Theater)
• Ming Zhang (VP, PDF Solutions ) will participate In a panel discussion "From Assembly Line to Field: The Future Semiconductor Testing" (July 13 at 3:40 pm @ Test Vision Symposium)
• PDF Solutions presentation at AWS booth #1841
• Exensio and proteanTecs daily demos - DAC booth #2449 at 2:30 pm and SEMICON booth #1834 at 11:30 am

At our booth (#344) we will showcase the latest versions of all our industry-leading solutions, as well as our Smart Factory platform, Cimetrix Sapience. Stop by to speak with an industry expert, or contact us by clicking the button below and let us answer all your questions!

Have you experienced a lack of storage space on your equipment?

There can be many reasons for this, and one of them is a lack of space for saving logs.  

One of our Cimetrix CIMConnect customers had this issue and asked if there is a way to add storage to their tool. The engineer commented that there are no available USB slots on their equipment computer. Therefore, he got permission to add a network drive to their system.

How to configure an external network drive for CIMConnect logging

1. Connect an external storage device to the network and you may see it in your File Explorer.
2. Run CIMConnect Control Panel
   1. Go to the equipment tab (“Equipment1” in this view)
   2. Go to “Logging Configuration” under “Equipment” menu.
   3. Click on the folder icon next to the “Directory” text box. 
   4. In the “Browse For Folder” window, find your network drive. 
      
      Here’s tricky part: you may find one under your network, not a mapped one.  It will give an absolute path name, such as “\\RT-AX56U-83E8\Cimetrix_Ian\CIMConnect Logs”
3. If you still cannot see any log files created in that network drive directory. 
   In this case, please follow the steps below to register EMService as a COM Local Server. 
   
   1. Open Windows Command Prompt as an Administrator.
   2. Type “EMService.exe /RegServer” (without quotation marks) and hit Enter.
   3. Restart your EMService: go to Windows “Services” and select EMService then click “Restart”.
      

These steps set a network drive as your extended CIMConnect storage.

To Summarize:

1. Connect an external drive to your network.
2. Use CIMConnect Control Panel to find and set up the added drive. Don’t forget to configure one in the network, not a mapped drive.
3. Register CIMConnect’s EMService as your COM local server.
4. Restart EMService and enjoy the extra storage.

As I mentioned at the beginning, this is a good solution for those who do not have sufficient storage in their existing equipment control system. It is usually difficult to replace the entire PC on your equipment, but external storage can be as simple as I described in this posting.

To learn more about CIMConnect, logging or other products,  please feel free to reach out by clicking the button below.

In the semiconductor industry, the fabrication process is a complex process and involves multiple steps to achieve the desired result. Each process step uses different types of equipment. Semiconductor industry equipment uses a specific type of communication protocol called SECS/GEM (SEMI equipment communication standard and Generic equipment model).

High-level architecture of a fabrication factory

• MES: Manufacturing Execution System is the central part of the production process. It connects with multiple equipment and monitors the progress of material in individual equipment and the entire factory at the same time. It integrates the ERP system (Enterprise Resource Planning) and individual machines.
• MES DB: It is a MES database system that will store the MES related information including recipe information.
• FDC: Fault Detection and Classification is used to continuously monitor the sensor data coming from the equipment and analyze and detect fault to prevent it from reoccurrence.
• APC: Advanced Process Control uses R2R (Run to Run) method that adjust the process parameters based on the incoming and outgoing data from an equipment for a material in combination with process model.
• Host: This is an application that connects with the equipment via SECS/GEM. This application instructs the equipment to process the materials and retrieve the related information.
• Equipment: This is a tool that performs and process the incoming materials based on the instruction given by the host.
• DB: This is an equipment database that can store the material processing information as a raw data form. (Example Metrology tool data).

Some of the SECS/GEM standards we will highlight are E4, E37, E5 and E30.

Communication Layer

There are two different types of GEM communication models.

• SEMI E4 standard which is SECS-I a serial communication model that uses RS-232.
• SEMI E37 standard which is HSMS communication model that uses TCP/IP. (There is a subset of E37 standard is called E37.1 HSMS-SS).

Message Structure Layer

The Message Structure Layer is also called the SEMI E5 standard. A typical SECS/GEM message contains a header and a body. The Header contains Stream and Function, and a Body contains a list of one or more data items. Each data items may contain another list of data items. Refer the below example.

GEM Layer

Messages can be categorized into two types, the primary message and secondary message.

Primary messages are usually the request message that will be initiated by one party (Host/equipment). The secondary message will be the response that will be acknowledged by the other party (host/equipment).

Some common GEM messages include:

• Collection Events – these messages are raised when the equipment processes the substrates using S6F11.
• Alarms – these messages are raised when any problem occurs at the equipment using S5F1.
• Remote Commands – these messages are sent by the host to command the equipment using S2F41.
• Recipe Management – these messages manage the recipes and can sent by either party. Example: S7F3 is the recipe download command.

A typical process flow between a host and the GEM based equipment is explained below.

Conclusion

This blog post has summarized how the factory host communicates with equipment using SECS/GEM protocol. At the Cimetrix Connectivity Group of PDF Solutions, we have products for the factory hosts that can easily be integrated with any existing systems with minimal configuration settings. To learn more about our products for the factory host click on the below button.

If you’ve ever wondered how to implement the SEMI E30 GEM (Generic Equipment Model) communications standard in a PLC-based equipment control system, read on – this posting is for you!

What problem does the GEM OPC Connector Application solve?

The Cimetrix CIMConnect product provides a software library that equipment suppliers in a wide range of manufacturing industries use to integrate the GEM standard into their equipment control systems and associated applications. These applications are typically written in C#, VB.NET, or C++, which must run on a Microsoft Windows operating system.

This solution works great for equipment controllers that run on Windows, but what about equipment that does not use a Windows-based control system? In particular, some equipment controllers are PLC based and therefore cannot use the CIMConnect libraries directly. What then? The GEM OPC Connector application very effectively addresses this specific situation.

GEM OPC Connector Application Description

The screenshot below shows the GEM State Settings and current status of a GEM interface implemented by the GEM OPC Connector application. 

The GEM OPC Connector is provided as a CIMConnect sample application. Several of our customers have used it to implement a GEM interface for their PLC-based equipment applications. Since it runs on the same computer as CIMConnect, it requires a Windows operating system, but thankfully, most equipment types that have PLC-based controllers also have a Windows computer somewhere in the overall control system. For example, the HMIs (Human-Machine Interfaces) on much of this equipment run on Windows computers and use OPC UA (or OPC Classic) to share data between the HMI and PLC controllers. In this configuration, CIMConnect and the GEM OPC Connector application can be installed on the HMI Windows computer and connect to the same OPC UA server that the HMI uses (see the block diagram below). Of course, if the equipment controller does not already have a Windows computer, one would have to be added to the controller to use this solution.

How Does it Work?

The GEM OPC Connector application is both a CIMConnect application and an OPC client. GEM features are supported by CIMConnect and variables defined in the OPC server can be used to invoke method calls in CIMConnect or to receive notifications from CIMConnect. OPC variables can be used to:

1. Update status variables (SVIDs) and equipment constants (ECIDs)
2. Trigger collection events (CEIDs)
3. Set or Clear alarms.
4. Receive notification of remote commands from the host.
5. Invoke custom methods. For example, there are pre-defined methods to:
   1. Set the Offline/Online switch,
   2. Set the Local/Remote switch,
   3. Enable/Disable GEM communication with the host,
   4. Change the GEM communication settings.

As OPC UA tags  are updated by the PLCs or the HMI, the GEM OPC Connector monitors these tag value changes and calls the appropriate methods in CIMConnect depending on the function of each OPC UA tag.

Data updates and control signals can go in the opposite direction as well. For example, when the host sends a remote command to the equipment, the GEM OPC Connector handles the remote command by updating the OPC UA tags associated with that remote command’s parameters and setting a Boolean OPC UA tag value to “True” to notify the PLC-based control application that a remote command has been invoked by the host.

An XML configuration file defines the various types of links between OPC UA tags and GEM artifacts. Each link describes a specific function and provides the additional information needed to perform that function. The following sections give examples for several common link types.

Variable Links

Variable links are used to keep GEM variables and OPC UA variables in sync.  The links look like this in the XML file:

This example links the GEM EstablishCommTimeout equipment constant (VID = 4000) to an OPC UA tag = “Channel1.Device1.Standard ECs.EstablishCommTimeout”. Since equipment constants can be updated by the operator or by the host, the Direction attribute is “Both”.

Alarm Links

Alarm links are used to Set and Clear GEM alarms. Alarm links look like this in the XML file:

This example links a GEM alarm (ALID = 20045) to a Boolean OPC UA tag = “Channel1.Device1.Alarms.PMTempTooHigh”.  The PLC software sets this value when an alarm state changes. The GEM OPC Connector monitors this tag for any value changes, and calls the SetAlarm() or ClearAlarm() methods in CIMConnect to update the associated alarm state accordingly.

Event Links

Event links are used to trigger GEM collection events. Event links look like this in the XML file:

This example links a GEM collection event (CEID = 5000) to a Boolean OPC UA tag = “Channel1.Device1.Events.LoadLockDoorOpened”. The GEM OPC Connector monitors this tag for any value changes, and when the value changes from 0 to 1, it calls a method in CIMConnect to trigger the associated event.

Remote Command Links

Remote command links are used to notify the PLC equipment application of a remote command initiated by the host. Remote command links look like this in the XML file:

This example links the GEM “PP-SELECT” remote command to the Boolean OPC UA Tag = “Channel1.Device1.RemoteCommands.PP-SELECT”. Parameter values are optional. In this case there is a single parameter linked to OPC UA tag = “Channel1.Device1.RemoteCommands.PP-SELECT_PPID”. When the host sends the PP-SELECT remote command using S2F41 “Host Command Send”, the GEM OPC Connector handles the message as follows: if the value of the Processing State is such that the equipment can accept this remote command, the parameter value will be updated first, and then the PP-SELECT value will be set to ”True” to notify the PLC application that the remote command was invoked.

Method Links

Method links are used to invoke custom methods in the GEM OPC Connector itself. Several pre-defined methods are available, and custom methods can be added, but the latter requires source code changes to the GEM OPC Connector application. Method links look like this in the XML file:

This example links the method named “PPChange” to the Boolean OPC UA tag = “Channel1.Device1.Methods.PPChange”. Methods may have parameters, and in this case, there are two parameters linked to OPC UA tags: one for the Process Program name that has changed, and another to describe the type of change that was made (Create, Edit, or Delete). To invoke this method, the PLC should first update the parameter values and then change the PPChange OPC UA tag value from 0 to 1 to notify the GEM OPC Connector that the method has been invoked. The GEM OPC Connector then looks for the method by name and executes the code.  In this example, it would update the GEM data variables PPChangeName and PPChangeStatus and trigger the PPChange collection event.

Conclusion

This quick overview of the GEM OPC Connector application is intended to pique your interest in this capability and prompt you to contact us to find out how much more there is to be learned. If you think the GEM OPC Connector might be right for you, reach out to us by clicking the button below for a demo !

Background

At SEMI in North America, the Information & Control Committee meets three times per year; spring summer and fall. This year the spring meetings were held on April 3-5. The meetings include task forces with leaders from Cimetrix on the GEM 300, ABFI (Advanced Backend Factory Integration), GUI, DDA, CDS task forces as well as the committee meeting on the final day. This is a summary of what happened in the task forces I am highly involved in including GEM 300, ABFI and DDA. 

GEM 300 Task Force

After very busy previous GEM 300 task force meetings over the last couple of years, this is the first time in a long time that the GEM 300 task force did not have a major ballot up for voting. A major update to the GEM standard (SEMI E30), ballot 6572C, is awaiting publication at SEMI but was previously approved. In our task force meeting this week, we primarily discussed a new ballot proposed by a couple of active task force members regarding SEMI E172, SPECIFICATION FOR SECS EQUIPMENT DATA DICTIONARY (SEDD). The proposed new ballot would enhance the E172 SEDD file to add: 

1. alarm names
2. a new “well known” element to all collection events, data variables, status variables, equipment constants and alarms.
3. enhanced comments in the schema file
4. possibly a few schema changes regarding the handling of empty lists

The major new feature is the “well known” element. When an equipment supplier creates a GEM interface on the equipment and related GEM 300 standards, the implemented SEMI standards define required collection events, data variables, status variables, equipment constants and alarms which much be available. However, the actual name for each required item published in the GEM interface is not specified in the standard and is not a strict requirement. As a result, implementations of GEM and GEM 300 standards use different names for the same required item. For example, the GEM standard requires collection event “Control State REMOTE” to notify when the operator changes the equipment to remote control. One implementation might call this collection event “ControlStateRemote” while other implementations might call this collection event “Control State REMOTE” or “CntrlStateREMOTE”. All of these names are valid and GEM Compliant. The “well known” element in the E172 SEDD file would allow items in the GEM interface to be assigned a tag mapping it to a required item in a SEMI standard. Each SEMI standard in turn will need to be updated to define “well known” names to use in the E172 SEDD File. This new feature will allow GEM host software to have increased plug-and-play intelligence when connecting to a GEM interface to identify standard features. EDA (Equipment Data Acquisition) interfaces solved this problem in the SEMI E164 standard. The proposed “well known” names to be used in a GEM interface are expected to use the same names currently found in SEMI E164. Then SEMI E164 can be updated to reference the same “well known” names. This will be a lot of work to standardize, but will be a valuable feature. The upcoming GEM revision already defines how an SEDD file can be transmitted through the GEM interface using Stream 21 messages. 

Additionally, the task force discussed SEMI E87 and the new carrier ready to unload prediction. Prior to these discussions on April 3, I had thought that the state model was stabilized enough to implement. However, the work for ballot 6835 has been redefined to include additional work to modify the state model yet again. With this redefined scope, a new ballot number will be issued by SEMI. The task force is investigating changing the state model to predict transition to a final carrier accessing state (carrier complete or carrier stopped) instead of predicting transition to the carrier ready-to-unload state. The assumption is that the time between carrier completion and ready-to-unload states is fixed, and that it might be more useful for internal buffer equipment to predict carrier completion instead than ready-to-unload. Additionally, a few of the states are proposed to be changed. 

Both activities are expected to happen quickly and be submitted for SEMI voting cycle 5 in 2023. 

ABFI (Advanced Backend Factory Integration) Task Force

A new specification (ballot 6924, Specification for Equipment Management of Consumable and Durables) and subordinate standard (ballot 6925, Specification for SECS-II Protocol for Equipment Management of Consumable and Durables) were submitted for voter feedback since the committee last met in the fall. During the Spring meetings, the voter feedback was adjudicated. The ABFI Task Force and the I&C (Information & Control) Committee agreed to fail ballots 6924 and 6925. There were a few technical mistakes in the ballots that need to be reworked. Most of the feedback identified editorial mistakes or improvements in the ballot. Only a few minor technical issues need to be ironed out. I will be reworking both ballots, seeking task force member feedback and submitting them to the upcoming SEMI Cycle 5 voting. The voting feedback from the last cycle makes me optimistic that the ballots will soon pass and become new standards. 

The task force also spent time discussing and debating SEMI E142 substrate maps and how they might be used in specific traceability situations. 

DDA (Diagnostics Data Acquisition) Task Force

The DDA task force and Information & Control committee pass several ballots proposed by the DDA task force including:

• Ballot 7001 – Revision to SEMI E125-1022 Specification for Equipment Self Description (EqSD) and SEMI E125.2-1022 Specification for Protocol Buffers for Equipment Self Description (EqSD)
• Ballot 7002 – Revision to SEMI E132-0922 Specification for Equipment Client Authentication and Authorization and SEM E132.2-0422e Specification for Protocol Buffers for Equipment Client Authentication and Authorization (ECA)
• Ballot 7003 - Revision to SEMI E134-1022 Specification for Data Collection Management and SEMI E134.2-1022 Specification for Protocol Buffers of Data Collection Management
• Ballot 7017 - Line Item Revision To SEMI E120.2-0922: Specification For Protocol Buffers For Common Equipment Model (CEM)

All of these ballots are part of the effort to develop a “freeze 3” version of the EDA (Equipment Data Acquisition) standards, where the underling protocol will use gRPC and Protocol Buffer technology instead of the current SOAP and HTTP seen in EDA freeze versions 1 and 2. 

Ballot 7002 includes multiple editorial changes and technical changes. The technical changes will result in a Ratification ballot for SEMI Cycle 4 voting. If the Ratification ballot passes, then ballot 7002 will pass. But if it fails then ballot 7002 will also fail and have to be reworked. 

While handling the considerable work adjudicating all of the ballot negatives and comments, the task force considered some new cases. For example, the task force discussed the role of the Security Admin, and whether it should be used only for EDA interface management as designed today or whether it should also provide additional EDA diagnostics capabilities. 

For the first time in a very long time, no DDA ballots are proposed for the next voting cycle (other than the Ratification ballot). The task force co-leaders are hoping to let SEMI publication catch up and to plan another event where companies can test EDA against other implementations. The previous tests were limited to E132. Since then some major changes have been made to E132. The new tests would include testing E132, E125 and E134 together to ensure that the standards define compatible and useful EDA implementations. After these tests, it is expected that one more round of changes might be needed for E132, E125 and E134 to correct defects or missing features identified by members participating in this testing. 

Information & Control Committee

For the first time in a very long time, the committee meeting was unable to complete all planned business. To comply with SEMI regulations, the meeting was required to end on time with unfinished business. The unfinished business will be handled by the Information & Control GCS chairs. This group includes the co-chairs from the SEMI Information & Control Committees in North America, Japan, South Korea, Taiwan and China. 

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.

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:

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

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.

While 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.

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.