Critical Communications Technology

The company offers a solution designed to address the integration challenges for future integrated circuit manufacturing. The product, prompted by the accelerated pace of 300 mm production led by the likes of Intel, NEC and SC300, is viewed as critical to the success of manufacturing chips on the new large diameter semiconductor wafers. Designated SECServer, the product is a component object model-based (COM) server for factory host systems running the Windows NT operating system.

Communications technology is at the heart of the 300 mm business model, and is designed to conquer the chipmaking battle for achieving desired yields and reliability data. According to International SEMATECH, to fully realize the potential productivity improvements of moving from 200 mm to 300 mm manufacturing, factory software and equipment must work together seamlessly.

The Semiconductor Industry Association (SIA) and International SEMATECH have identified factory integration as one of the seven critical technologies needed to make the 300 mm transition a reality, and this solution has already received key acceptance from many of the 300 mm leaders that have realized the importance of this technology for next-generation manufacturing.

SECServer's open architecture makes it 300 mm-ready by being compliant with International SEMATECH's I300I communications interface requirements and Computer Integrated Manufacturing (CIM) Framework. SECS (Semiconductor Equipment Communications Standard) was developed by Semiconductor Equipment and Materials International (SEMI). It provides simultaneous support for SECS-I and HSMS (high-speed SECS messages services standard), which are the standards for the industry. It also supports non-standard SECS protocols.

Besides being compatible with the major semiconductor industry communications standards, the new technology allows IC manufacturers to migrate from one protocol to another as needs change. Its dynamic runtime configuration feature enables end users to adapt to ever-changing manufacturing environments. The feature makes it easy to provide connectivity to the factory host computer when adding new equipment or modifying existing tool sets.

GW Associates, Inc., 1183 Bordeaux Dr., Suite 27, Sunnyvale, CA 94083. Tel: 408-745-1844. Fax: 408-745-6395.