SECS/GEM protocol/standard for communication between semiconductor equipment and factory systems – Host, FDC, AMHS, etc

1. SECS/GEM for Legacy
Semiconductor Equipment
Nirav Thakkar
Founder & President

2. Background – Automation Purpose
• Prevent human errors
• Selecting wrong recipe – automated through barcode/RFID scan
• Data entry errors – metrology or other process params
• Extract & analyze data from equipment
• Process parameters, alarms, events, equipment configuration, etc.
• Implement FDC & APC
• Improve yield, OEE, cycle time, equipment up-time
• Reduce equipment maintenance cost, “fire-fighting”, total cost of manufacturing

3. Background - What is secs/gem?
• SECS/GEM protocol/standard for communication between a semiconductor equipment and factory systems – Host,
FDC, AMHS, etc.
• Allows factory systems to collect process parameters – temp, pressure, gas flow, etc., alarms/errors & events – process start,
step finished, etc.
• Also allows factory system to send commands to equipment, such as selecting a recipe, start processing, abort, etc.
• Other features, such as equipment configuration settings, upload & download recipes, etc.
• Messages of the format – SxFy, eg. S2F41 message to send remote commands to the equipment, S5F1 is for equipment to
send alarms to the factory host, etc.
• Visit https://www.einnosys.com/introduction-secs-gem/ for more info

4. Legacy Equipment Automation Challenges
• SECS/GEM interpretation must be implemented on both sides – equipment
as well as factory system – host, FDC, or other
• Factories can’t implement SECS/GEM on the equipment on their own
• SECS/GEM on the equipment has to be integrated with the equipment software, which
requires source code of the equipment
• Legacy – Equipment on which you can’t get SECS/GEM capability
• OEM out of business, asking “an arm & a leg”, licensing disputes, etc.

5. Cost of NO Automation on legacy equipment
• Yield loss, due to -
• Human errors – technician selecting wrong recipe
• Lack of data to analyze and enhance process or equipment configuration
• Longer equipment downtime & increased maintenance cost, due to –
• Lack of automated notification of equipment alarms/warnings
• Lack of equipment performance data
• Lower throughput & OEE, higher Cycle Time
• Lower morale due to constant fire fighting

6. Equipment Software Layers

7. Options to Automate Legacy Equipment
• Purchase SECS/GEM from OEM, if available
• Transfer equipment logs and process for data collection
• Tap communication between PLC or I/O controller and controller PC
• Connect factory system to equipment PLC or I/O Controller
• Implement innovative solutions

8. Interfacing at GEM Interface Layer

9. Purchase SECS/GEM from OEM
• Supported by OEM • Most likely expensive
• Most reliable, if it’s been running for many years
at other factories
• May require other hardware and software upgrade
– additional cost, tool down time & engineering
time to re-qualify equipment & recipes
• Both data collection & machine control options
available
• Cost & effort may be an overkill if only data
collection is required of a few data items
• Fully or close to fully SEMI compliant solution
•Pros Cons
Best option, if available and cost & equipment downtime is reasonable

10. Options to Automate Legacy Equipment
• Purchase SECS/GEM from OEM, if available
• Transfer equipment logs and process for data collection
• Tap communication between PLC or I/O controller and controller PC
• Connect factory system to equipment PLC or I/O Controller
• Implement innovative solutions

11. Transfer equipment logs and
process for data collection
• One of the easies ways to extract data from
equipment
• Only data extraction, no machine control
• Safe method – it’s unlikely that this method of
extracting data would cause equipment issues
• Data extracted are not real-time but historical, so
FDC or similar solution can’t be implemented
• Don’t need OEM support in most cases • No uniform solution across the factory as the
method of extraction changes from tool to tool
• All data may not be available on all equipment
•Pros Cons
One of the easiest & safest option to extract historical data

12. Options to Automate Legacy Equipment
• Purchase SECS/GEM from OEM, if available
• Transfer equipment logs and process for data collection
• Tap communication between PLC or I/O controller and
controller PC
• Connect factory system to equipment PLC or I/O Controller
• Implement innovative solutions

13. Interfacing between Hardware & Software

14. Tap Communication between PLC or I/O
Controller & Controller PC
• None • Most intrusive and riskiest option – could easily
impact function or performance of equipment
• Detailed understanding of controller PC and PLC
is required
• Time consuming – trial & error
• No uniform solution across the factory as the
method of extraction changes from tool to tool
•Pros Cons
Most intrusive and risky method, could affect equipment reliability

15. Options to Automate Legacy Equipment
• Purchase SECS/GEM from OEM, if available
• Transfer equipment logs and process for data collection
• Tap communication between PLC or I/O controller and controller PC
• Connect factory system to equipment PLC or I/O
Controller
• Implement innovative solutions

16. Connecting directly to Equipment Hardware

17. Connect factory system to
equipment PLC or I/O Controller
• No OS dependency, since factory system is
directly connecting to the hardware
• Quite intrusive method, one could impact
equipment operation if not careful
• Detailed knowledge of controller software and its
communication with hardware not needed
• Knowledge of where each sensor/device is
connected to the PLC and how to extract needed
• Data extraction can be done thru’ standard
protocols like OPC, Modbus, etc.
• No uniform solution across the factory as the
method of extraction changes from tool to tool
•Pros Cons
Intrusive and risky method, could affect equipment reliability

18. Options to Automate Legacy Equipment
• Purchase SECS/GEM from OEM, if available
• Transfer equipment logs and process for data collection
• Tap communication between PLC or I/O controller and
controller PC
• Connect factory system to equipment PLC or I/O Controller
• Implement innovative solutions

19. EIGEMBox – the safest way
• Based on patent pending technology – EINNOSYS
• Plug-n-Play
• No software or hardware installation on equipment required
• Doesn’t matter which OS is running on the equipment
• OEM support not needed
• Takes minutes to setup and seconds to disconnect
• Safest non-intrusive way, since you are not even interjecting at OS level or application level
• Built-in IoT capabilities to extract data from outside sensors as well and send data from these sensors also as
SECS status variables

20. EIGEMBox – Plug-n-Play Solution
More info at www.einnosys.com/eigembox

21. EINNOSYS – Semi Software Specialists
Capital
Equipment
Software
100+
Years
Fab/Assembly
Automation
Industry 4.0 &
Smart Factory

22. Fab/Assembly Automation
• Yield Management
• Cycle Time, OEE & equipment up-time improvement through automation
• Fault Detection & Classification (FDC)
• Advanced Process Control (APC)
• Cycle Time, OEE & equipment up-time improvement through automation
• Cost savings through automation
• MES development, customization & migration
• Automated Inspection (AOI) through computer vision systems
• RFID based WIP tracking & Inventory Management

23. SECS/GEM Products
• EIGEMBox
• EIGEMEquipment & EIGEM300Equipment
• SDK for OEMs – in .Net, C++, Java (Win, Linux & Android)
• EIGEMHost & EIGEM300Host
• SDK for Fabs/Assemblies – in .Net, C++, Java (Win, Linux & Android)
• EIGEMSim
• SECS/GEM testing/simulation software (Win & Linux)

24. Other Automation Products
• EIRMS – Recipe Management System
• EIAMS – Alarm Management System
• EIPartsManager – Spare Parts Management
• EIGEMHost – SECS/GEM software for fab host
• EIGEMSim – SECS/GEM compliance testing
• EIQRSTS – Consumables Tracking
• EIMobileMonitor – Industry 4.0 & Smart Factory
• EIBarcodeGuardian – Chemical Management
• EIMWS - Wet Bench Automation

25. OEM Products & Services
• SECS/GEM implementation
• Controller(GUI) & PLC software development & maintenance
• Sub-tool Integration
• EFEM, Robot, SMIF/FOUP, OCR, RFID, Barcode, etc.
• Computer Vision & Image Processing software
• Data collection & analysis software
• QA, Compliance Audit, Software Refactoring, Design Reviews

26. Delivery Model
•Product Solutions
•Custom Applications
•Manpower Services

27. THANK YOU
Email: nirav@einnosys.com
web: www.einnosys.com
Call: +1.805.231.2424
Skype: einnosys