What is SECS/GEM?
SECS (SEMI Equipment Communication Standard) protocol and GEM (Generic Model for Communications and Control of Manufacturing Equipment) is a common model standard for communication and control of manufacturing equipment, which is published and maintained by SEMI (Semiconductor Equipment and Materials International). Its purpose is to enable the communication between the process equipment and the HOST to comply with a certain communication interface. When the process equipment is replaced, because there is a common communication interface, the equipment can continue to communicate with each other through the SECS interface without redesigning. It can increase system scalability and reduce system development time. SECS is not only the main communication protocol used in automation in the semiconductor/electronics industry, but also widely used in industries such as PCB, LED, TFT, etc.
Before the development of 300mm wafers, SEMI SECS-II E5 and GEM E30 were the initial standards that enabled IC manufacturers to communicate and control wafer processing equipment.
- SEMI E30 GEM
- Define communication between automated equipment and the host's factory network enabling Smart Factory Manufacturing.
- SEMI E37 HSMS
- SEMI E37 High-Speed SECS Message Services (HSMS) is the primary SEMI SECS/GEM transport protocol standard used. HSMS defines a TCP/IP based Ethernet connection used by GEM for host/equipment communication.
- SEMI E5 SECS-II
- Defines the message structure between equipment and host.
What is GEM300?
As wafer sizes get larger, more complex and standardized methods are required to control tools. Then there is the generation of GEM300 standard.
GEM300 is a “set” of standards, commonly referred to as “SEMI 300mm Standards” (SEMI E39, SEMI E40, SEMI E87, SEMI E90 and SEMI E94). It provides more sophisticated and standardized methods for host can use the GEM300 for machine equipment control and material handling.
- E39 Object Services Standard : Concepts, Behavior, and Services
- Defines how various types of objects are dynamically created and deleted during material processing. Specifies object attribute interaction.
- E40 Standard for Processing Management
- Process job management is concerned with the processing of material by a processing resource. It's function is to ensure that material delivered to the process module is processed with the correct recipe.
- E87 Specification for Carrier Management (CMS)
- Standardizes the coordination, execution, and completion of automated and manual carrier transfers to and from the equipment and, if it exists, its internal buffer space.
- E90 Specification for Substrate Tracking
- Defines a standard means for tracking substrates in manufacturing in the same manner as E87 does for Carriers.
- E94 Specification for Control Job Management
- Provides a supervisory level of control for Process Jobs on material processing equipment, allowing hosts to manage complex processing scenarios.
Software has to implement the required GEM300 Standards and integrate these SEMI standards into the equipment.
Additional SEMI Standards Related to GEM
In addition to GEM300, we introduce SEMI E84 and SEMI E116 standards that most frequently required by semiconductor factory.
- E84 Carrier Handoff
- With the introduction of larger and heavier 300mm wafers and smaller chip topologies, operators load or unload material is becoming impractical and has a risk of contaminating wafers. Therefore, the SEMI E84 standard was introduced into semiconductor factory to transport the material from the equipment to each OHT (Overhead Crane Transport) or AGV (Automatic Guided Vehicle) for maximize production.
- E116 Specification for Equipment Performance Tracking
- E116 Equipment Performance Tracking was discussed in an earlier blog since there are plans to update this specification to better support backend operations. E116 is applicable to any manufacturing equipment in any industry because it is largely based on SEMI E10 principles which define generic terms for measuring any equipment’s reliability, availability and maintainability. Each major component in the equipment can also be modelled to track its productivity.
