Event report messages enable the equipment to inform the host of the passage of an event such as the completion of processing or a change in status. Older equipment typically provided a predefined event report containing a fixed set of variable values. The modern approach is for the equipment to support dynamic event report which allows the host to configure which variable data items are included in the set communicated with an event report. For example, it can be used to communicate the validation result for a process program as an asynchronous event after the process program has been downloaded. The most commonly reported events indicate process state changes and control state changes as described in detail in the GEM standard. The message types defined in the standards cover a broad range of functions, with most of the message types being defined for a specific use, but a few are more general.
In simple words, the SECS/GEM standard defines messages, state machines, and scenarios to enable factory host applications to control as well as monitor manufacturing equipment. GEM standard is officially designated as SEMI standard E30 but is frequently referred to as the GEM or SECS/GEM standard. The GEM is beneficial for both device manufacturers and equipment suppliers as it defines a common set of equipment behavior and communication capabilities to provide functionality as well as the flexibility to support manufacturing. Since the GEM standard has only a few semiconductor-specific features, it has been adopted by other manufacturing industries as well, such as PV. On the host side, a factory architecture for supervisory control and monitoring will usually define a “driver” level for equipment integration.
The following code shows you how to perform initialization and establish communication with equipment using SecsToTool.Net. Provides support for Ethernet, GPIB, serial, USB, and other types of instruments. The MPM® Edison™ is the most accurate printer in the market with advanced Exchange rate technology needed for ultra-fine pitch and micro aperture printing processes. This makes it ideally suited for advanced semiconductor stencil printing applications. The MPM® Edison™ has a proven print process capability greater than 2 Cpk for 0201 metric components.
Secs Gem
The SEMI standards have shorthand names as well as their official identifiers, thus E4, E5, and E37 are also referred to as SECS-I, SECS-II, and HSMS respectively. (SEMI Equipment Communications Standard/Generic Equipment Model) Communications protocols between a host computer and semiconductor manufacturing equipment. SECS/GEM is used to control wafer steppers, lithographic equipment, etchers, ion implanters and other machines. SECS is a layer 6 protocol that describes the content of the messages while GEM is a layer 7 application protocol that defines the messages themselves. An alarm differs from an event in that it signifies an undesirable condition with both a set and clear state. For example, a process tool that relies on compressed air input might communicate an alarm condition if the input air pressure fell below the needed amount.
GEM defines how to use the core SECS-II messages to perform particular tasks, such as event report, data collection and recipe management. The equipment connections are what allow Ignition to communicate with the specialized semiconductor fab equipment. Equipment connections are setup within the Configure section of the Gateway Webpage. Connections can be made over Ethernet using TCP/IP or over a direct serial connection (SECS-I protocol) using a RS-232 cable. Note, that the direct serial connection requires that the equipment be connected directly to the Ignition Gateway server, and that the Serial Support Gateway Module be installed.
This gives both – the fab as well as the equipment manufacturer interoperability, flexibility, and platform independence. Both, the fab and the OEM can develop their software application without having to worry about communication compatibility, as long as both of them are adhering to SECS/GEM standards. Basic GEM compliance requires tools to implement a minimum subset of all the capabilities described in the E30 standard. Most SECS and GEM-based fabs expect a tool to at least implement remote control, data/event/alarm publication, and process program management. Some capabilities are less commonly requested, such as spooling or limits monitoring (simple SPC-like analysis of process data reported by the equipment).
A SECS message having an odd numbered function that originates a communication and may require a response message. The SECS/GEM Module includes the capability to create and configure equipment simulators. Equipment Connections can connect to simulators and they can exchange various messages. This capability exists for getting started with the SECS/GEM Module and for testing applications. The original protocols were developed by hands-on implementors and they reflect an engineering mindset of directness and efficiency. As the scope of the SECS/GEM standards has expanded, the standards show the inputs of many companies and many points of view.
In particular, message types that provide for sending command invocations to the equipment with optional arguments are defined in the standards as Remote Commands. In the other direction, the equipment can post data collection events for any particular reason with arbitrary data items and values available in event reports. These fairly generic mechanisms can be useful in a variety of ways with the underlying message types already specified by the standards.
Trace Reporting
A new item can be appended to the array with the secsgem.secs.variables.SecsVarArray.append() method. I have to implement a communication between my app and another PC using the industrial standard protocol SECS/GEM PV2. This method is our sample application entry point to trigger a series of methods to be executed in daisy-chain fashion. HostController triggers a Connect method to open the HSMS connection with equipment. I am just starting to really dive into the protocol, but from what I have seen so far, while it does seem like a lot of work, everything seems pretty straightforward.
Communication between Ignition and the equipment is in the form of SECS messages defined by the SECS-II standard. SECS messages are typically sent and received using scripting functions within Ignition using the SECS/GEM defined messages (SECS Definition Language ) that are loaded into the equipment. SECS messages that contain data can also be written to Tags, updating the Tag’s values as new messages come in. This functionality is used to capture data coming back from equipment, such as tool traces within S6F1 messages. The default SDL file that is included with the SECS/GEM module is already configured to create Tags for S6F1 messages sent to the module from the tool. For other messages, the SECS/GEM module can be configured to update Tags by adding some additional parameters to the equipment’s SDL file.
Transport Protocol Standards
Fab host is a software application that is controlling and monitors equipment processing using SECS/GEM protocol. SECS/GEM compliant equipment can communicate with the fab host using either TCP/IP (using SEMI standards E37 and E37.1 – HSMS) or RS-232 (using SEMI standard E4 – SECS-I). The SECS/GEM standard interface is used to start as well as stop equipment processing, collect measurement data, select recipes for products, and change variables. SECS/GEM protocol has been standardized by the non-profit association SEMI . Spooling is the ability for the equipment to save an ordered sequence of messages that would have been communicated to the host during a period when host communication is interrupted. At first glance it seems like this is a valuable feature, however, that is not the case, at least for factories that we are familiar with.
- The SECS/GEM Module enables Ignition projects and third-party applications to communicate with semiconductor fab equipment.
- GW Associates provides computer software and services for factory automation in the semiconductor industry as well as for the surface mount, circuit board, hybrid substrate and rigid disk manufacturing industries.
- The values of these data items are passed in specific message types such as data collection event reports.
- In an automated fab, the interface can start and stop equipment processing, collect measurement data, change variables and select recipes for products.
- Deployment of SECS/GEM interfaces will generally use TCP/IP networking as specified by SEMI Standards E37 and E37.1 but RS-232 serial connections can also be used as described by standard E4.
- An Equipment Connection has a connection to an equipment and a connection to a database and transfers SECS messages between them.
Using diagnostic features remotely is a more common scenario for host side users who may access the factory systems from their offices. Typically the factory is heavily firewalled and remote access to the equipment by the vendor is prevented even though VPN and similar network security products could provide secure access. Simpler equipment that supports remote control of processing may use a set of Equipment Constant Values to define processing setpoints. The terms are often used interchangeably in the industry but they do have distinct meaning in the SECS standards.
Secsvardynamic¶
Often there is a higher expectation of the value of this feature than is warranted since it can support an impressive demonstration. A SECS interface cannot be relied on for real-time, deterministic performance, so the ability to use this feature for precise endpoint detection or similar real-time control is lacking. The limitations of Trace Reporting are in part due to the proliferation of computers, controllers, intelligent instrumentation, and software processes within the equipment system. The mental picture of one controlling program running on a single computer with immediate, synchronized access to all relevant information is simplistic and wrong. In general, sensor data reported through SECS Trace Reports cannot be expected to have the quality and value of that obtained with add-on instrumentation.
SECSIM Pro is an active test and development tool for creating, testing, implementing and simulating communications interfaces using SEMI Standards E4, (SECS-I), E5 (SECS-II), E30 and E37.1 (HSMS-SS). It is commonly used in the semiconductor, TFT-LCD, and electronic industries since the equipment in these industries are mostly from different suppliers which lack unified standards for communication. Through the introduction of the SECS/GEM, the manufacturing is able to collect more information, allowing the equipment and the host center to communicate unimpededly, and thus achieving smart factory automation. SECS is a layer 6 protocol that describes the content of the messages while GEM is a higher layer application protocol that defines the messages themselves.
We Have The Key Secs
The equipment provides three basic levels of host control, which determine the host’s ability to control and monitor the equipment. The level of host control can be specified through the user interface on the equipment. The present study designs a message format that can standardize messages exchanged between semiconductor equipment and the host in an secs gem integrated monitoring system that can monitor all machines in the process from the central monitoring center. ClassOne Equipment will ship via FedEx, UPS, DHL and/or your desired shipping company. For larger items we will ship via one of our partnered shipping companies who are experienced with handling sensitive semiconductor manufacturing equipment.
When the host is controlling the equipment, it has the ability to send commands like “START”, “STOP”, “PAUSE”, “RESUME,” and “ABORT” to control the equipment’s processing. As mention above, as an implementation reference, I would try to keep the source code is clean and easy to understanding. Product support is not my goal coz I’m not in this industry for a long time. We have collection of more than 1 Million open source products ranging from Enterprise product to small libraries in all platforms. The Leda solution complies with SEMI E4, E5, E30, E37 communication protocols.
Process Programs
The driver level software encapsulates equipment variation so that a uniform command interface is provided to upper level software. Alarm and event report messages that originate from the equipment can be mapped or filtered before passing them on to general monitoring software. Data from event reports can be collected by the driver, combined with context information, and sent to a persistent database for later analysis and reporting.
Or click to send us a WhatsApp message and we will reply you shortly anywhere, anytime we are. A SECS message with an even numbered function that is a response to a request message. Each Equipment Connection has one SDL file and a default SDL file will be used if an alternate is not specified. The module will add a new header to the Configure section of the Gateway Webpage that allow you to configure connections to the equipment, or setup simulators that are used for testing. Collection events and alarms allow the host to monitor equipment operation. Semantic Scholar is a free, AI-powered research tool for scientific literature, based at the Allen Institute for AI.
To send a message, a user calls the system.secsgem.sendMessage function in a Python script within an Ignition Gateway or client, and passes the SECS message asJSONtext to the function. A transaction id is returned, which can then be passed to the system.secsgem.getResponse function. However, some SECS messages can be handled differently, such as those that are sent repeatedly from the equipment like status variables. Those messages Forex dealer can be configured to fire Message Handler scripts in the Gateway or Client when the message is received, which can handle the constant flow of messages in a consistent manner. Alternately, the messages can be configured to create Tags with their values, updating the Tags anytime a new message comes in. The SECS/GEM Module enables Ignition projects and third-party applications to communicate with semiconductor fab equipment.
This capability is referred to as supporting concurrent open transactions. Older RS-232 software may have limits on the support of concurrent open transactions, in which case the sender may need to wait for a reply before sending another Primary message that requires a reply. The GEM standards outline a control state model for defining the level of cooperation between the host and equipment.
A highly automated factory that is utilizing the SECS/GEM interfaces to the extent that they want to continuously capture event and alarm information has also taken the steps to deploy host software that is rarely if ever down. We have actually had support calls where users have forgotten how to start their SECS software after months of uninterrupted running. Hand in hand with this level of automation is that the tools are not operated unless the host interface is functioning so that mistake-free process setup can be verified. Spooling has created problems with many host side users because its original specification did not provide for compatibility with older host software that is not aware of spooling. In a nutshell, the SECS interface may appear not to work correctly if the host does not send an initialization command to purge or unload the spool. Newer versions of the standards have introduced an Equipment Constant Value which allows the host to persistently disable spooling and avoid this problem.
This is the value of standards and true interoperability – the factory is not restricted to using a proprietary operating system or buying a proprietary interface package provided by the equipment vendor. SEMI.org, an international organization of semiconductor manufacturer, is an organization body that govern the standards for semiconductor manufacturing Super profitability equipment. Often the the standard referred to SECS/GEM standard, which includes the SECS-I, SECS-II, HSMS and GEM standards. However, there is a provision in the SECS standards for sharing a connection by specifying the device identification value in each message. The practice of connection sharing is not recommended for new deployments.