Semi-E10-96 A standard for better communication

06/01/1997

SEMI E10-96: A standard for better communication

Ken Trio, SEMI, Mountain View, California

Equipment suppliers and users are beginning to look beyond simple tool-specific performance metrics, such as mean time between failure and mean time to repair, to better measure and understand the broader implications of equipment performance. Productivity metrics and measurement methods like those found in total productive manufacturing are being used more often. Since the industry will be well served by providing a standard that defines and differentiates these metrics and methods, and by providing a "common language" for all to use, the SEMI Equipment Utilization/Reliability Subcommittee of the SEMI International Standards Program has updated and enhanced SEMI E10-92. The recently released SEMI E10-96 (Standard for Definition and Measurement of Equipment Reliability, Availability, and Maintainability) version upgrades the status of SEMI E10-92 from a Guideline to a full Standard to facilitate equipment reliability information exchange between suppliers and IC manufacturers (see figure).

A Guideline is a preliminary document intended to become a Standard. The Guideline is developed within the consensus principles of SEMI and the approval requirements of SEMI Standards Regulations. Technical committees consider the Guideline to be in need of further development before it may become a Standard. In the case of SEMI E10-92, the committees determined that the terminologies, definitions, methods, procedures, and documents for collecting, analyzing, and communicating reliability, availability, and maintainability (RAM) and cost of ownership (COO) data and information, were not consistent between IC manufacturers and equipment suppliers. These inconsistencies led to inaccuracies in reporting data and lost opportunity for improvement.

Standards development timeline of SEMI E10.

The need to eliminate inconsistencies in reporting and communicating equipment RAM data and the need to expand SEMI E10-92 to cover the statistical significance of calculated metrics, prompted the Equipment Utilization/Reliability Subcommittee (which is under the SEMI Metrics Committee) to list, define, and clarify metrics and terminologies commonly used in SEMI E10 and in other related SEMI Standards. The Subcommittee identified cross-linkages and references within related documents and developed standard procedures and forms for data collection, analysis, and reporting of RAM and COO data and information.

The "common language" for measuring and monitoring equipment performance that the Subcommittee started to develop caught the semiconductor industry`s attention. Users and suppliers facilitated the full development and acceptance of the new metrics defined in SEMI E10-96. The new Standard contains new and enhanced equipment metrics definitions that were developed in order to avoid inconsistencies with the SEMI E35 (Cost of Ownership Manufacturing Equipment Metrics) Standard, and includes a section for statistical analysis of RAM data. The approval of SEMI E10-96 via the consensus-building processes of the SEMI Standards Program confirmed the industry`s acceptance of these new metrics.

The Subcommittee not only defined new metrics, but also developed a plan to educate the industry on how to implement these metrics. One of the Subcommittee`s Task Forces, the SEMI E10 Education/

Adoption Task Force under the leadership of Vallabh Dhudshia of Texas Instruments, opted to provide this education through the SEMI Standards Technical Education.

Ken Trio is the SEMI standards engineer who facilitates the standardization activities of the North American Metrics, Physical Interfaces & Carriers, and Microlithography Committees under the SEMI International Standards Program. SEMI, 805 East Middlefield Rd., Mountain View, CA 94043; ph 415/964-5111, fax 415/967-5375.