Partner story | Workfloor at Semicon08
Workfloor: Enabling Seamless Automation
in the Photonic Chip Production Ecosystem
Workfloor provides software to manage the logistical processes on the production floor for small and medium sized high tech companies. With a unique combination of extensive photonic integrated chip (PIC) knowledge and many years of experience in managing manufacturing automation, Workfloor provides the digital data connection to the different parts of the PIC production line. Besides managing the data it includes we also take care of the analysis turning data into information.
Project background:
Metrology Equipment for critical scaling of PIC Production
Within this project, two machines are being developed to test integrated photonic chips with the aim of becoming a global leader in visual and prober test equipment for integrated photonics as part of the consortium. Three generations of machines are being developed in which fundamental research is transformed into working machines.
Role in Semicon08
Within the Semicon 08 project Workfloor develops the high level connection to the two types of equipment that are developed in the project. We define the information that the machine needs to operate. This information is captured in the recipe for the different equipment that is developed in the project. To create the recipes we develop browser based applications. These applications provide an easy to use GUI to create the recipes. An integral part of the recipes are the Wafer maps. For the description the E142 semi standard is used. This way the we introduce the semiconductor standards to the photonic industry to make sure that it all fits into existing semiconductor infrastructure.
The same application is also used to visualize the test data coming back from the equipment. Based on this data that can be collected at different process steps the Known Good Dies are determined. This data can be stored again in the E142 wafer map. Besides just providing the KGD more detailed information can be viewed as well. An example is the location of the found defects. This information can be exported to GDSII files which can then be used to overlap with the design GDS files.
This recipe application is connected to the different equipment instances with our newly developed EZ-Gateway product. This EZ-gateway takes care that the correct recipes are sent to the equipment instances. This gateway is using a message queue system to take care of this recipe transfer. The Recipe App interacts with the EZ-Gateway and with the GUI the Sirius images can be loaded into viewer in the browser for closer inspection.
The EZ-Gate way can also communicate with MES systems. This enables a more integrated production flow. Once the wafer or wafer cassette is loaded in the equipment the Wafer ID is communicated to the MES system. Within the MES system the wafer ID is checked and the current processing step is determined. Based on the product definition and the current operation the correct recipe is sent to the equipment. The equipment will process the recipe and will send back the results. The system supports E142 fi les that can store the results of different wafers and different process steps that can be used to create a merged Known Good Die map.
Completed activities
The syntax and structure of the recipes are defined. The Recipe App to create edit and view recipes, and the EZ-Gateway are operational. They are now actively used to operate the Helios and Sirius machine.
Planned activities
More extensive recipes will be defined for the Sirius SECS / GEM interfaces to MES systems will be developed. On top of this the data analysis will be extended, providing actional data for the downstream processing of the die.
Workfloor expertise
With a unique combination of extensive photonic integrated chip (PIC) knowledge and many years of experience in managing manufacturing automation, Workfloor provides the digital data connection to the different parts of the PIC production line. After starting a company to offer design services for PIC, designing polymer based PICs for Akzo Nobel, we commercialized the software that was used to do this design work. This software was sold worldwide to companies ranging from IBM, Samsung and IBM. Workfloor has an opportunity to develop a healthy PIC ecosystem in the Netherlands, but only if we keep the momentum going by giving our full support to these type of projects.
Conclusion
We expect NXTGEN Hightech to stay committed to this investment in the PIC ecosystem. NXTGEN Hightech provides a unique opportunity to get real production tools into the PIC ecosystem. These tools will greatly help in maturing the PIC ecosystem. This eventually results in higher quality products that will meet the requirements of the customers. The current lack of these professional equipment tools is one of the main reasons that keeps the PIC ecosystem in the prototype phase with poor yield. So the added value of the project is the necessary contribution to create a healthy PIC ecosystem.