Importance of an Open System Architecture in the Semiconductor Industry

Overview

The semiconductor industry has historically been an extremely dynamic, high-growth industry, with new device technologies being brought to market every day. That environment has prompted the rapid emergence and maturation of many application-specific processing tools and software solutions to meet manufacturing and time-to-market requirements. This paper describes the underlying architecture of the Semiconductor Computer-Integrated Manufacturing (CIM) Framework, its application to MESs, several implementation approaches with legacy MESs, and TRW's Integrated Manufacturing Solutions' approach to a CIM Framework-compliant MES.