Equipment Automation

Equipment Automation for Signal Tower control & interface software

Controlling the signal light tower based on the status of the machine. Getting the remote commands through the host. Developing configurable lights and other controls.

 

Porting and User Interface

Porting of a software from DOS to VxWorks, User Interface Design and Software Testing tools for  XVME based multiplexer cards for a Semiconductor Equipment Manufacturer.

 

Process Control Software  for  Cluster Tool & Etching Equipment

Real time process control software development for following activities,  

Data collection

Recipe management

Maintenance and diagnostics. 

Endpoint detection algorithms. 

 

Equipment Control Software for Dambar and Trim/Form Equipment

MPI is involved in complete equipment control software design for Dambar and Trim/Form equipment. It involves systems requirement analysis, design, coding , testing and implementation. This also involves integrating other components into the system like machine vision, quality control monitor, and material tracking (bar code interface).

 

Wafer Map Display

Using  MFC and SDK created a wafer map display application for a Die Sort equipment. This project involved

 

·         Display the wafer map and its header information

·         Edit the wafer map

·         Change of  bin code

·         Selection of  color code for respective bin code

 

 


Equipment Interface

AGV-Interface

Automated Guide Vehicle (AGV)  Interface software for an automation project of a leading etching equipment manufacturer.

 

SECS-II Communication

Epitaxial reactor software for motion control and gas flow control.  This project involved menu oriented GUI and SECS-II communication protocol.

 

Host Communication using SECS II for Etching Equipment

Design and development of SECS-II communication protocol streams/functions (Standard & Custom).  User Interface design, Conformance testing, Monitoring and Control of digital and analog I/Os, position, temperature, flow and pressure.

 

GEM Implementation under Windows 3.x for a Wafer polishing Equipment

Implement SECS/GEM under windows environment with functionality for Data Collection, Alarm and Event Handling, Recipe Management, Spooling and Limits Monitoring

GEM Implementation under Wonderware for Wafer polishing Equipment

Implement SECS/GEM under windows environment with functionality for:

- Data Collection

- Alarm and Event Handling

- Recipe Management

- Spooling and limits monitoring

 

SECS II custom functions and Advanced Wafer Processing

The existing software was changed to accommodate following features as per the End User’s requirements,

1.       Custom SECS II messages.

2.       Advanced Wafer Processing.

3.       Modified Alarms and Events.

4.       Modification of  remote command.

5.       Modification of  operator screen.

KLA Integrator 2.1 and 2.2

·         Testing of GPIB interface.

·         Enet and SCSI-A interface were tested with Integrator 2.1 and 1220 prober.

·         Writing prober driver for 19S prober.

19S prober is similar to 1007 prober but it supports only downloading of  prober setup file name. The prober, then uploads the setup form local disk and then carries the further initialization.The implementation required two classes, a prober driver class and a prober  initiator class for carrying the initialization of driver class. All the prober  specific things are encapsulated in these two classes. These two classes were  implemented and tested with Integrator 2.1.

·         Testing of Ink Die Inspection(IDI) and Ink Die Count(IDC) on 12xx prober.

·         The IDI/IDC were tested with Integrator 2.1

·         Implementation of First Die Integrity(FDI) on 12xx prober.

 

In normal operation of probing and testing of wafer, operator has to choose the reference die. This die is used to finalize the wafer geometry. It is possible that operator may choose different die in subsequent passes, thereby wrong dies may get inked. This problem can be eliminated with the help of FDI, i.e. by storing the information of first die coordinates. The implementation of FDI is carried-out by tracking wafer specific parameters and deciding the exact reference die.

 


Material Tracking

On-line Material Tracking System for a Wafer Fab

The objective of this project is to develop an on-line material tracking system which eliminates the paper travelers in a waferfab. Each proceesing tool is connected to a station controller (MSC) which talks to a UNIX Server via TCP/IP connection. Material arrival/departure information is collected and sent to server by MSC. Server end runs a daemon process that forms the business rules of the system receives all these messages and validates against an MES system and local Oracle database.  Project involved Data Modeling, Schema Design, Project Specifications development, Scheduling, ODBC connection, connectivity of Client and Server.

 


Equipment Characterization

GEM Interface Validation

This project involved  validation of  GEM all the capabilities those are implemented on the wafer inspection equipment. The validation procedure involved testing of each SECS II message and GEM capability considering various test cases for every single event, variable and alarm.

 

GEM/HSMS Specification  Review

This project involved review of technical specifications customer has decided to implement for their new line of  Burn-In-Test systems. Customer is planning to implement GEM/HSMS interface for the Host communication interface. MPI suggested customer various GEM capabilities that should be implemented.

 

GEM Documentation

 

This project was for one of the leading semiconductor equipment manufacturer. It involved modification, revision and addition of  more information to the existing GEM document.  The project involved technical  inputs related to fundamental GEM requirements, associated Streams and Functions, and their description. 

 

The equipment manufacturer provides GEM interface as an option. The add-on nature of the GEM interface required a modification in physical connection, hardware and software setup. MPI out lined a section that describes this setup.

 


Miscellaneous Projects

Network Design and Implementation

 

TCP/IP, Ethernet based Distributed System design and implementation using Remote Procedure Call.

PCMCIA-Diagnostic Software

 

Diagnostic software for testing PCMCIA-Flash memory card for a leading IC manufacturer in the Bay Area.

TCP/IP implementation  on Robotic Equipment control software

 

Implementation and porting of  SECS II messages under TCP/IP protocol. The TCP/IP was implemented as a resident part of the kernel for the customized real-time operating system being used by the client. TCP/IP protocol using 3COM-509 communication board for a SMIF based Robotic equipment serves more than 3 servers.

Modularization Of MSC Software

 

The Micro Station Controller software is an application software that provides pseudo multi-tasking under the DOS environment.  The software was split into distinct blocks to make  handling and maintenance easier. Also the interdependencies between the blocks were removed. The only link between the individual modules was through intertask messages and through variables passed as parameters in functions. Some of the functions accessed by more than one module were placed in a common utility module. Global variables were taken care by creating a data-base from which the value could be read/written.