Traditionally, wafer fabrication plants have been the primary customers of factory automation solutions. Today, however, more and more Assembly and Test factories require equipment automation integrated with their MES. Here is how factory automation is done in the InSite | Semiconductor TAP Edition, and why InSite | Semiconductor TAP Edition is better suited to factory automation than any other MES on the market today.

How Equipment is Tracked
The InSite system tracks equipment as events occur. Generally, these events are recorded as state changes in the equipment (Up vs. Down, Running vs. Idle, in repair, etc.) and as ‘runs’ on the tool. A run is the processing of one or more lots together on the equipment to accomplish the primary manufacturing activity for that operation, such as die bond, burn in or electrical test. A run is first ‘setup’ on the equipment, then starts with a Track-In and completes with a Track-Out. Data is then collected, and SPC may be reported and recommendations made for the tool to shut down or undergo Preventative Maintenance.

To facilitate faster and more accurate data collection, detect tool state, and automatically shutdown the tool when needed, a connection to the tool may be employed. This is generally referred to as factory automation or Computer Integrated Manufacturing (CIM). Following is a brief description of factory automation and some of its characteristics.

What is Equipment Automation?
Any industry that uses highly automated equipment wants to keep close track of the activity on that machine. The concern over misprocessing parts and the desire to maximize utilization justify sophisticated information management systems that communicate directly with the tool. The need to gather large amounts of parametric manufacturing data and the problems with data integrity when this data is manually entered also encourage automation.

How InSite | Semiconductor TAP Edition Communicates with Automation
Several ‘touch-points’ have been defined that establish the communications required between InSite and equipment automation. They are:

Equipment Setup – Detect change in loaded material or attached resources
Start Run – Download recipe, record lots being started
Complete Run – Detect end of run, lots completed, losses reported, rework count
Collect Data – transfer data values from automation to MES
Detect Tool State – Send message to MES when tool state changes
Set Tool Down – Inform tool via remote command that tool should be set down