SEMI honored eight industry leaders for their outstanding accomplishments in developing standards for the microelectronics and related industries. The annual SEMI Standards awards were announced at the SEMI Standards reception held during SEMICON West 2014.
SEMI International Standards Excellence Award
The 2014 SEMI International Standards Excellence Award, inspired by Karel Urbanek,is the most prestigious award in the SEMI Standards Program. Yesterday, it was awarded to David Bouldin of Fab Consulting. As co-chair of the North America Metrics Technical Committee Chapter since 1996, Bouldin has participated in the improvement and development of several key equipment maintenance standards and multiple Cost-of-Ownership (COO) metrics.
Under Bouldins leadership, one of the most used and valued Standards, SEMI E10: Specification for Definition and Measurement of Equipment Reliability, Availability, and Maintainability (RAM) and Utilization, has undergone significant revisions to provide a set of unified RAM metrics for the latest equipment and control architectures. He co-led the Equipment COO Task Force to successful revisions of E35: Guide to Calculate COO Metrics for Semiconductor Manufacturing Equipment and E140: Guide to Calculate COO Metrics for Gas Delivery Systems and is active in several other Metrics task forces.
Bouldins technical editing skills and deep knowledge of semiconductor manufacturing have contributed to his effectiveness. His leadership and technical skills helped move SEMI Standards forward. Bouldin has more than 40 years of experience in the semiconductor industry, the majority of the time at Texas Instruments where he was a global engineering project manager. In 2007, he established Fab Consulting.
In addition to the 2014 SEMI International Standards Excellence Award, the recipients of four major North American SEMI Standards awards were also announced:
The Merit Award
The Merit Award recognizes Standards Program Member major contributions to the semiconductor, PV, and related industries through the SEMI Standards Program. Award winners typically take on a very complex problem at the task force level, gain industry support, and drive the project to completion. This year, three Program Members were presented with the Merit Award.
Previous research demonstrated that opportunities exist to reduce utility consumption for production equipment while wafers are not being processed. While production equipment is capable of reduced utility consumption, implementation has been slow due to a lack of a standard. Through the Energy Saving Equipment Communication Task Force, Daniel Chlus (IBM), Mike Czerniak (Edwards), and Lance Rist (RistTex) led the development of SEMI E167-1213: Specification for Equipment Energy Saving Mode Communications (EESM) and E167.1: Specification for SECS-II Protocol for EESM Communications. The purpose of these specifications is to reduce energy consumption in production equipment
Rist was also instrumental in the development of SEMI E168: Specification for Product Time Measurement and E168.1: Specification for Product Time Measurement in GEM 300 Production Equipment. Developed under the Wait Time Waste Metrics and Methods Task Force, these specifications provide the semiconductor industry with support in the identification and elimination of product time waste in the product life cycle within the factory.
The Leadership Award
The Leadership Award recognizes Program Members outstanding leadership in guiding the SEMI Standards Program. Since 2009, Matt Fuller (Entegris) has chaired the NA Physical Interfaces & Carriers (PIC) Technical Committee Chapter and has been instrumental in the development of wafer carrier standards for 450mm wafers including SEMI E158: Mechanical Specification for Fab Wafer Carrier Used to Transport and Store 450mm Wafers (450 FOUP) and Kinematic Coupling. Prior to his committee chairmanship, Fuller was actively involved in various PIC task forces for several years including the International 450mm Physical Interfaces & Carriers (450 IPIC) Task Force. He has dedicated countless hours addressing industry needs with other PIC committee members, overseeing activities, and actively leading the committee. A great supporter of SEMI Standards and an enthusiastic leader, many colleagues have sought his guidance and assistance.
The Honor Award
Given to an individual who has demonstrated long-standing dedication to the advancement of SEMI Standards, Lori Nye (Brewer Science) was recognized for her valuable contributions and continued dedication to the Standards Program. For over 20 years, Nye has served in various leadership positions, critical to the advancement of the SEMI Standards process. Today, Lori chairs the North America PV Materials Technical Committee Chapter, which is responsible for developing several SEMI PV Standards. She is also a member of the Audits & Reviews (A&R) Subcommittee to the International Standards Committee (ISC) which performs an audit function on adjudication or approval procedures taken by chapters. Finally, Nye is also a Member-at-Large in the ISC.
The Corporate Device Member Award
The Corporate Device Member Award recognizes the participation of the user community and is presented to individuals from device manufacturers. This year, two Program Members were presented with the Corporate Device Member Award for their contributions to the Silicon Wafer standardization efforts Pinyen Lin (G450C) and Kwangwook Lee (G450C). As an active member of the International Advanced Wafer Geometry Task Force, Lee was instrumental in the development of SEMI Draft Document 5654, which aims to increase the fixed quality area (FQA) for 450mm wafer, minimizing the edge exclusion from 2mm to 1.5mm for yield improvement. As a key member of the International 450mm Wafer Task Force, Lin played a critical role in the development of SEMI Draft Document 5604 which proposes significant revisions to the SEMI M1:Specification for Polished Single Crystal Silicon Wafer and M20: Practice for Establishing a Wafer Coordinate System standards to implement the 450mm notchless wafer.
Both Lin and Lee organized and managed a group of industry technologists including IC makers, tool suppliers, and sensor manufacturers. They led collaboration efforts in the standards development process where their dedicated commitment, broad processing knowledge, and tenacity were critical to the rapid development of the document and efficient progress of the committee.
The SEMI Standards Program, established in 1973, covers microelectronics process equipment and materials, from wafer manufacturing to test, assembly and packaging, in addition to the manufacture of photovoltaics, flat panel displays and micro-electromechanical systems (MEMS). Over 4,500 volunteers worldwide participate in the Program, which is made up of 21 global technical committees. Visit www.semi.org/standards for more information about SEMI Standards.