IBM, Chip-Equipment Makers Look to Web for Monitoring Machines
Burlington, Vermont, Sept. 9 (Bloomberg) -- Bill Ramus, who helps craft International Business Machines Corp.'s plans for semiconductor-equipment development, has a vision.
Ramus dreams of manufacturing gear that knows when it's going to break, tells its makers what's wrong, orders the proper parts and service and receives repairs -- all before disaster strikes.
That fantasy could be as close as three years away. IBM, the world's largest computer maker, is known for early work on new-age chip technologies that eventually grab the entire industry, such as using copper wires in circuits. Now, the company is leading the charge to use the Internet to make such remote monitoring possible.
Chip-equipment makers from industry leader Applied Materials Inc. to specialized-laser maker Cymer Inc. have started developing systems of hardware and software for monitoring tools via the Web. In its early stages, the programs would notify machine companies when a problem hits and let them send fix-it instructions to far- flung chip plants. Later, they could do much more.
``Time to understanding, time to problem-solving is critical,'' said Applied Vice President David Fried. ``If we can harness new techniques so we get information flowing to the people that can solve problems quicker, that's what we need to do.''
Minding the Shop
Remote monitoring is in its infancy. Though a number of industries have complicated manufacturing processes, most don't use the Web yet to watch the shop floor. Much research remains, and no one knows when chipmakers or other manufacturers will initiate such programs on a large scale.
Still, in the chip industry, where the cost of one tool can approach $5 million and utilization rates can run as low as 45 percent, the Internet could play a key role in getting more for the money, executives say.
Some type of Web diagnostics will be required to place equipment in IBM's plans to make chips on larger, 300-millimeter wafers, Ramus said. Those wafers yield more than twice as many chips, so manufacturing problems have a bigger impact on profit. The new wafer size is expected to become the industry standard over the next few years. That means tool suppliers that can't track their machines over the Internet could get frozen out of future sales.
``It's become more and more evident that we have to look at production as a lever to reduce our costs,'' Ramus said. ``Changing the wafer size and the feature size is not always the knob to turn.''
Early Work
IBM tapped three suppliers -- Lam Research Corp., Novellus Systems Inc. and Japan's Tokyo Electron Ltd. -- for a pilot project in Burlington, Vermont.
By October or November, the system will provide automatic alerts when parameters like gas flow or temperature go out of whack, said Chris Saso of closely held AvantCom Network Inc., the software maker working with those companies and a handful of others like Cymer on their projects.
If a problem hasn't been addressed within a certain time frame, the machine uses the Web to notify a higher-ranking supervisor until it gets the needed attention, Saso said. If left untended, seemingly minor issues like temperature can ruin hundreds of chips.
The next edition of the system will let authorized users ask equipment for information: what ``recipe'' it's running, its history, or what happened in the hours before a problem. That function should be available in the first quarter of next year, he said.
Cymer executives could eventually sit in a room at the company's San Diego headquarters, surrounded by screens with data on all of the 1,128 lasers installed worldwide. Using the system, they could see when a specific laser is 72 hours away from trouble and fix it during normal down time.
Ultimately, Saso envisions collaboration between suppliers, where companies could share data about bottlenecks in the chip- production process and tweak procedures.
``Right now, there's a lot of finger-pointing,'' Saso said. ``It'll take a little while.''
Time, Money
Proponents say Web-based diagnostics can save chipmakers what they need most: time and money.
Intel Corp., the world's biggest chipmaker, is running its own Web diagnostics trial in Arizona with some unidentified suppliers. The monitoring technique could ultimately cut field- service spending by as much as 66 percent, said Dev Pillai, the program's director.
Advances in technology such as the new copper wires will produce reams of data to study. The time saved by using the Internet could be vital.
Plus, security and so-called firewall software have now progressed enough to calm chipmakers' fears that sharing records might allow competitors to steal information.
Once, chipmakers handled virtually all data-gathering and process-development themselves. That's no longer the case, and equipment suppliers become more involved with their customers every day. They sell software to change one production step based on problems in the previous one, and often consult during the design of new products.
``When you talk about data and the value of data, this whole industry is learning: How do you share data? How do you mine data?'' said Cymer Chief Operating Officer Pascal Didier. ``This whole business-to-business relationship is changing.''
Sep/09/2000 9:57 ET |
