Improving Manufacturing Yields With Process Control Solutions

Even after 20 years or so, process control continues to be a confusing or misunderstood technology.

A short description of process control is an accurate one—It’s a means of controlling manufacturing equipment and reducing variability to improve yields and performance of the products manufactured through that equipment.

Tools like PDF Solutions Fault Detection and Classification (FDC) software utilize various communication standards to collect information from sensors on the equipment. They analyze data such as temperature, gas flows, pressure, power, and even robot movements. Sensors monitor tool performance and convert this data into digital signals using standardized communication methods. Some of these standards were developed by SEMI around the same time process control became a significant factor in manufacturing applications.

These standards, available for purchase and download through the SEMI website, include serial communication protocols like SECS/GEM, parallel communication protocols, and more recent ones like Interface A and Engineering Data Acquisition (EDA) standards. Protocols such as these inform the computer about the type and method of data it receives. Process control uses this information to monitor tools for faults, detect and classify them. Algorithms analyze the data to determine if the process is normal, abnormal, or if there is an anomaly, aiming to reduce variation, improve yield, and enhance control.

At PDF Solutions, we have been in the process control business for 20 years, helping factories ramp up their products faster, more efficiently, with higher yields, and at lower costs. PDF Solutions’ first generation of process control was called Maestria. Developed by a French group of developers called SI Automation, which later became part of PDF Solutions, Maestria has been enhanced with additional capabilities and is now known as Exensio Process Control. Both Maestria and Exensio Process Control products are widely used to improve factory control processes.

Many customers and industry leaders will join us for the annual European Users Group Conference held Thursday, April 10, immediately following the APCM Europe Conference in Prague, Czech Republic. Our focus will be on new advancements in process control for semiconductor manufacturing and presenters will include secureWISE, a company we recently acquired. Its software collects information from manufacturing equipment, similar to what FDC does, but transmits it securely and encrypted back to either the equipment manufacturers or process control setup software.

With the rise of AI, we also invited one of our partners, Lavorro, to present how Large Language Models (LLMs) or AI can optimize responses to anomalies detected in the manufacturing process from FDC signals. Lavorro examines equipment manufacturing manuals to determine maintenance procedures, Standard Operating Procedures (SOP), or Out of Control Action Plans (OCAP), providing quick solutions to resolve any detected anomalies.

This year’s Users Conference will also serve as a showcase for several new capabilities in our process control solutions, focusing on three main challenges:

1. Optimization: A new component called the “Bulk Strategy Manager” to deploy new configurations across the entire fab, reducing manpower requirements.
2. Connectivity: Implementation of connectivity to the OPCUA protocol and the ability to connect to standard websites.
3. Security: Security enhancements to support a three-tier security architecture to meet customer requirements and prevent security threats at customer sites.

To learn more about PDF Solutions Process Control Solutions, register for the European Users Group Conference or go to PDF.com.