Not long after STMicroelectronics opened its first semiconductor plant in Singapore more than 50 years ago, a facility chiefly focused on chip assembly and packaging, the company realized that it had constructed the site in an area with a blossoming chip ecosystem with a bright future. Before long, the company became the first to start a wafer fab facility in the so-called Little Red Dot. Today, our STMicroelectronics Singapore campus sports several buildings that dwarf the original site in the sprawling Ang Mo Kio Industrial Park 2. The facilities feature advanced 200mm manufacturing lines but still produce huge volumes of chips with more than 1,000 pieces of 150mm manufacturing equipment.Much of the wafer equipment dates back to the past century so is no longer supported by the manufacturers, if they’re still even in existence. Yet decades later the chipmaking gear continues to operate with a surprising reliability that far surpasses the longevity called for in its manufacturing specifications thanks to replacement parts and frequent upgrades with more sophisticated handling robots and chucks. Now, as smart manufacturing begins to establish a foothold in the semiconductor industry, Industry 4.0 technology is breathing new life into these aging workhorses.Despite its age, all of the equipment adheres to industry manufacturing standards. The gear is remotely controlled using the SECS/GEM interface protocol that was either originally integrated with the equipment controller or custom-made. We’ve also maximized its usage through advanced recipe management, advanced alarm and event handling, and secured lot identification.Crucially, we decided to systematically deploy a real-time fault detection and classification (FDC) solution using a third-party product based on what today is known as an edge computing architecture. Every piece of critical processing equipment is progressively paired with its dedicated FDC instance running on a virtual machine in the wafer fab data center, and the FDC solution monitors vital equipment parameters at high frequency – depending on the SECS/GEM capabilities of the equipment – and analyzes incoming manufacturing data in real time using classic SPC (statistical process control) algorithms and even AI-class protocols.Our use of the FDC edge solution as a sensor signal aggregator has given our equipment a second life. The solution processes real-time signals from sensors connected through a typical TCP-IP. Sensors have been the old equipment’s saving grace with their ability to de-multiply equipment capabilities and overcome fundamental shortcomings and design weaknesses. The STMicroelectronics Singapore plant first used off-the-shelf sensor nodes with built-in power amplifier and analog input nodes. While very practical and easy to implement, deploying the nodes can be costly. After developing more expertise in sensor integration using FDC, our wafer fab equipment experts decided to design an in-house solution based on the famed STM32 microcontroller. Leveraging Arduino – an open-source electronics platform with easy-to-use hardware and software – the equipment teams can now design and program a variety of in-house sensors for measurements including temperature, humidity, waterflow and pressure. The sensors are integrated with process equipment using the FDC solution. Integrating the sensors with the FDC engine on the edge computer extends the capabilities of old equipment without jeopardizing the integrity of the machines themselves. While the integration can be quick, it must be robust to ensure the reliability of the new measurements. Similarly, ever-increasing connectivity requirements present clear cybersecurity risks that must be managed upfront and each solution must be hardened to minimize security vulnerabilities. Even so, the challenges and risks pale in comparison to the benefits! Jean-Marc PHILIPPE is DIT Director at STMicroelectronics Pte Ltd. He oversees the deployment and support of Digital Solutions to enable STMicroelectronics front-end operations in Singapore and manages manufacturing productivity and automation programs at site level.

As the world combats climate change, the chip industry continues to build momentum in becoming a better steward of the environment. In July, Taiwan chip giant TSMC became the world’s first semiconductor company to join RE100, the global initiative to move away from a widespread reliance on fossil fuels and toward 100% renewable electricity. Applied Materials soon followed with a commitment to expand its renewable energy capacity. For the past four years, ASE Group, the largest outsourced semiconductor assembly and test (OSAT) provider, was named an industry leader in the Dow Jones Sustainability Indices (DJSI), making clear its commitment to protecting the environment. For its part, TEL was selected to be part of the FTSE4Good, a series of ethical investment stock market indices, and FTSE Blossom Japan, an index that gauges the performance of Japanese companies demonstrating strong Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) practices.SEMI bolsters commitment to green energySEMI has also strengthened its commitment to promoting renewable energy in the semiconductor industry by adding the Green Power Pavilion at this year’s SEMICON Taiwan and continues to support the green energy movement as a co-organizer of Energy Taiwan. The largest renewable energy event in Taiwan, Energy Taiwan features international exhibitions, forums, policy initiatives and business matching events. This year the event attracted more than 12,000 visitors from 50 countries to highlight renewable energy breakthroughs and new products. The SEMI events complement RE100, which works across a wide range of industries that include financial services and retail. The initiative connects more than 260 members that count among them the world’s most influential businesses such as Apple, Google and Facebook and their suppliers through educational events.In many respects, TSMC is becoming a beacon of green energy in the chip industry. In July, the company committed to 20-year agreement to buy offshore wind power gear made by energy firm Ørsted in Taiwan, the global leader in the wind power industry. According to the purchase agreement, TSMC will offtake full production from 920-megawatt wind farms off the coast of Changhua County in western Taiwan expected to start operations in 2025 or 2026. The agreement will by far mark the world’s largest corporate green energy order in the semiconductor manufacturing and renewable energy industries and demonstrates TSMC’s long-term commitment to environmental sustainability.In addition to sourcing renewable energy, TSMC has been working closely with its downstream and upstream suppliers to help drive supply chain improvements geared toward a greener industry by offering on-site coaching, energy audits and educational resources. But the company's focus on energy efficiency is nothing new. For years, its Supply Chain Management forum has promoted industry sustainability and corporate responsibility. Moreover, TSMC worked with SEMI at this year’s SEMICON Taiwan to generate greater awareness of the importance of green energy to the industry and encourage SEMI members to become more involved in the movement.Supply chains expand eco-friendly practicesThe drive toward greener semiconductor manufacturing is also expanding to encompass entire supply chains. One notable initiative is Green Supply Chain Management (GrSCM), an effort to integrate environmental thinking into every level of the supply chain, from product concept to distribution. GrSCM involves the retooling of product design, materials sourcing, manufacturing and processes to reduce the ecological footprint of factories. So far, the results are encouraging. More companies are factoring environmental sustainability into their purchasing decisions to urge suppliers to better manage their power usage and join the green energy movement – an important step in curbing the unavoidable consequences of climate change. Terry Tsao is Global Chief Marketing Officer at SEMI and President of SEMI Taiwan.

Semiconductor process development is no easy task, with each generation of devices more difficult and expensive to create. Traditional cycles of build-and-test development are becoming obsolete, since they are too expensive and time-consuming for the most advanced processes.The High Cost of Process DevelopmentMost chip designers developing new products rely on existing manufacturing processes, but someone had to create those processes to make the designs possible. The goal of process development is to create new semiconductor manufacturing processes that provide high yield while achieving the required device performance. In contrast to new chip design, however, it requires an entirely different set of engineers and skills.The traditional approach to process development involves building multiple test wafers to determine the ideal process for a given device. After one set of wafers is fabricated and analyzed, insights from the previous round help to refine process steps for another round of fabrication. Due to smaller feature sizes, each new process generation is more sensitive to variation. This adds even more complexity because smaller feature sizes and parasitic effects require more measurements and testing as well as additional fabrication. The cycle is repeated many times before the entire process flow can be finalized, making it time- and cost-intensive, especially for the most advanced technology nodes.Testing Virtual Wafers Instead of Real WafersToday, there is an alternative to this slow, expensive way of doing things. Virtual fabrication lets computers simulate all of the processing that occurs when real wafers are built. These virtual models allow semiconductor process engineers to test manufacturing equipment settings with far greater variation than is possible in a physical fab. Designers can simulate the entire process flow, running the equivalent of thousands of wafers in days instead of months. Designers can quickly see graphical animations to visualize process steps, modify process recipes and device geometries, and measure how these changes affect electrical behavior.Improving Yield Using Statistics in Virtual Wafer FabricationBecause of the high volume of data generated, designers are turning to statistical analysis to provide greater confidence in their choice of process settings. Defects and random variations can be modeled in a virtual fab in a way that’s not possible in a real fab, letting developers test the sensitivity of the device structures against the unpredictable aspects of processing.There’s more than one approach to optimizing the process settings used in a new memory or logic fabrication sequence. The simplest one involves taking a single variable and exploring its effects. Critical dimensions (CDs), for example, establish those feature sizes of a device that ensure desired electrical performance. A particular dimension can be swept from low to high values – developers can then measure the effects of that range on device behaviors such as threshold voltage. This allows developers to ensure that the electrical behavior of their device design addresses the range of expected feature sizes and variability. The interactions with intersecting process steps can also be tested for further validation, since these interactions can lead to unanticipated device performance.But, in reality, this approach isn’t sufficient for studying the complex web of interactions between process steps and the resulting structures.A second approach leverages Monte Carlo analysis, randomly varying a wide range of process and device parameters and calculating the resulting device geometry and performance. This data can be used to automatically identify the process and design settings needed to achieve yield and performance goals. It’s an area where simulation shines, providing a useful way to test the interactions between many different processes.Statistical experiments using virtual fabrication illustrate step-by-step methodology to optimize process and design settingsVirtual Fabrication PlatformSEMulator3D is a virtual fabrication platform created by Coventor, a Lam Research company. It allows the definition of all process steps, the modeling of devices, the collection of metrics, electrical and device analysis, the statistical analysis of results, and the visualization of process steps through graphical animation. Today, semiconductor companies use it for both optimizing and scaling leading process nodes and for developing advanced new technologies like GAA (Gate-All-Around) transistors.The ability to do this work virtually is the future of semiconductor process development. Virtual fabrication accelerates new process time-to-market by months, opening up market opportunities worth hundreds of millions of dollars for semiconductor companies.Visualization of process steps of a Gate-All-Around transistor shows 3D construction in SEMulator3D. To learn more about virtual fabrication and how it’s changing the future of semiconductor technology development, download our whitepaper Speeding Up Process Optimization with Virtual Fabrication.Lam Research is a longtime member of MEMS Sensors Industry Group®, (MSIG), a SEMI technology community that connects the MEMS and sensors supply network in established and emerging markets, enabling members to grow and prosper. Visit us today.David M. Fried, Ph.D., is vice president of Computational Products at Lam Research, where he is responsible for the company’s strategic direction and implementation of virtual process solutions, including the Coventor SEMulator3D virtual fabrication 3D process modeling solution. Fried leads the execution of technology strategy for technology platforms, partnerships, and external relationships. His expertise touches upon such areas as Silicon-on-Insulator (SOI), FinFETs, memory scaling, strained silicon, and process variability.Fried is a well-respected technologist in the semiconductor industry, with 60 patents to his credit and a notable 14-year career with IBM, where he was involved in successive process generations from 65-nanometer and lower. His most recent position was 22nm chief technologist for IBM’s Systems and Technology Group. He holds bachelor’s, master’s and doctoral degrees in Electrical Engineering from Cornell University.Republished with permission from Lam Research.

SEMI is pleased to welcome Singapore-based UTAC Holdings Ltd., formed nearly 50 years ago, as a new member. UTAC is a leading independent provider of assembly and test services for a broad range of semiconductor chips, offering a full range of semiconductor assembly and test services across analog, mixed-signal and logic, and memory. Its customers are primarily fabless companies, integrated device manufacturers and wafer foundries. The company has production facilities in Singapore, Thailand, China, Indonesia and Malaysia as well as sales offices in five regions: the United States, Japan, China, Taiwan, the rest of Asia and Europe.I recently spoke with Dr. Nathapong Suthiwongsunthorn, Vice President and General Manager of UTAC Thailand, about UTAC’s smart manufacturing advances, the company’s role in the semiconductor industry’s transformation, and the industry outlook for Thailand over the next year.Ng: How does UTAC Thailand complement your other facilities?Dr. Nathapong: As one of the world’s largest producers of quad-flat-no-leads (QFN), UTAC Thailand has significant capability in assembly and test of advanced leadframe products including power products such as Cu Clip packages as well as MEMS products. We also serve top global IDMs and have the largest share of assembly and test for the automotive market among all UTAC operations. UTAC’s other facilities have expertise in wafer-level packages and system-in-a-package and serves the communication and consumer market not only for IDMs but also for the fabless and foundry companies. The Thailand factory nicely complements the other UTAC facilities both from the standpoint of operational and marketing diversity. Ng: UTAC Holdings Ltd. announced in August this year that it has completed its sale to Wise Road Capital, a global private equity firm. Will this in any way change the operation and business strategy of UTAC Thailand?Dr. Nathapong: I don’t believe it will change the way we operate. However, the acquisition is very positive for us from a financial perspective. With the benefit of significantly reduced debt and interest expenses, we will be able to expand our business to grow with and hopefully beyond the semiconductor market. Ng: To what extent has UTAC adopted smart manufacturing?Dr. Nathapong: UTAC Thailand is leading the way in terms of automation, smart manufacturing and Industry 4.0 with our in-house automation team and unique expertise. For example, we have built our own inspection equipment that is much faster and cheaper than what is commercially available. We also working on many programs such as mobile robot, AGV, auto inspection and office automation to help drive greater production efficiency. We are replicating our manufacturing advances and fanning them out to other UTAC facilities.UTAC Thailand Ng: What are some of the challenges you face in pushing for the industrial transformation in Thailand?Dr. Nathapong: I think the key challenge is to find skilled engineers who can perform hardware- and software-related tasks critical to the industrial transformation. But frankly, we have done a good job in managing this challenge by hiring very smart people, providing them with the required in-house training, and using outside training for new recruits as necessary. We have developed partnerships with capable vendors in this regard as well.Ng: What are the key differentiating elements (e.g. talent, tax, technology, trade, EHS) in Thailand that have been instrumental in supporting the E E ecosystem?Dr. Nathapong: There are two key differentiating elements for us. Firstly, UTAC has been around for over 47 years and is very well-established in Thailand with a positive reputation as an employer. This makes hiring talented people relatively easy. Secondly, and perhaps more importantly, the nature of the Thai people and also the benefits the company provides make it relatively painless to retain key employees. I also believe that we have a significant number of engineers available in Thailand. Finally, labour costs in Thailand are still very reasonable and stable. So we are able to acquire talent at a very competitive rate compared to other countries. Ng: What is the industry outlook for E E industry in Thailand over the next year?Dr. Nathapong: Surprisingly, the current sad predicament of COVID-19 has shown no negative impact for the global semiconductor industry – people seem to be buying more electronics with the lockdown. Our outlook for the Thailand’s E E industry is similarly very positive. Most semiconductor companies including UTAC see significant growth this year and I hope it will continue.Ng: With the recent semiconductor geopolitical and trade tensions, are more customers moving their business to Thailand?Dr. Nathapong: I believe so. We do see some of our key customers move manufacturing out of China and into Thailand. The relocations help them offset or avoid any potential fallout from current geopolitical tensions.Ng: In what areas do you think SEMI Southeast Asia can play a role to help our members companies in Thailand like UTAC?Dr. Nathapong: The semiconductor industry has been in Thailand for a long time. In fact, UTAC Thailand is 47 years old this year! However, I feel that Thailand never really worked with a strong establishment organization like SEMI that can connect various companies together to help drive innovation. I think SEMI Southeast Asia can truly help Thailand to move up to the next level of providing semiconductor solutions globally. We welcome SEMI Southeast Asia’s help in this regard.About Dr. Nathapong SuthiwongsunthornDr. Nathapong Suthiwongsunthorn joined UTAC in 2009 and is currently General Manager of UTAC Thailand, UTAC’s largest operation site. Before taking over the management of Thailand operations, he was Vice President of Research and Development, running UTAC’s global R D group. Dr. Nathapong has more than 20 years of experience in the semiconductor industry. He holds more than 40 international patents and publications in wafer-level and advanced packaging.Prior to joining UTAC, Dr. Nathapong held several key leadership positions in research and development at Schott, STATS ChipPAC and Infineon. Dr. Nathapong has a Ph.D. in Electronics Engineering from Oxford Brookes University, England.Bee Bee Ng is president of SEMI Southeast Asia.

Incize has been active in characterization for RF-SOI since its creation in 2014, what are your insights on the RF-SOI industry and 5G technology today?Today, the number of foundries developing switches on RF-SOI is increasing, and this trend will continue for the next few years. We saw this opportunity a while back and invested in it. There is no current viable competition for RF-SOI – nothing will replace it in the short term. There are other technologies, but to replace RF-SOI, this is something only imaginable on the long term. It is a stable market with high demand. Other components of the Front-End-Module (FEM) are also moving to engineered substrates (SOI), and Incize enables its customers to develop these technologies. For the foundries wishing to introduce new engineered substrate (SOI), we help understand the physics behind the technology so that they can migrate to SOI. We help develop test structures and evaluate the technology. From conception to product launch, Incize is the partner of technology enablement. Concerning the 5G market, we see other engineered substrates that will surely appear on the market in the long term, this is why we also highly invest in R D to uncover the next generation engineered substrates and be ready to help our clients with this integration. What is Incize’s added value for customers? Starting as a spin-off from ‘Université Catholique de Louvain’, and established in 2014, Incize’s debut focused on characterization of SOI technology. Today, Incize has enlarged its service portfolio and can be characterized as a technology enabler and partner for engineered substrates and RF technologies. We believe RF is an art and we help you to see the whole picture. Incize customers are wafer suppliers, foundries and fabless companies. The services we offer are testing and modeling of materials and devices used for Radio Frequency (RF) applications. Depending on the use of the substrates, we realize tailored testing and modeling to improve the technology and tune processes. Although big players have teams devoted to this, thanks to our expertise built up over the years our added value is to undertake advanced tests and modeling that customers can not do; with RF SOI being one of our specialties. Incize has seen a steady year-on-year growth and today is built up of a team of 10 full time employees dedicated to finding the solutions to our customer’s problems. 3. Could you please tell us more about Incize's R D capability and state-of-the-art technologies in getting ready for 5G? Incize is also very active in research and development in order to continuously stay ahead of the game and provide innovative and state-of-the-art solutions to our clients. 5G is at the verge of tomorrow, although still not well defined (especially for the mmWave band), requirements are getting more challenging. Once the technology is well understood it can be implemented. Foundries and fabless need our help to do it fast and do it well. It is by working together that we will create great value. Currently we have 7 ongoing research projects. Our research projects address new materials as well as new challenges in design and characterization for 5G communications systems/technologies and beyond. New materials required to fulfill the stringent requirements imposed by the 5G standards are being investigated. Phase changing materials, piezoelectric materials, porous silicon and III-V materials will be incorporated in the new generations of front-end-modules which will be part of the mainstream RF electronic industry on the long run. Our projects are tailored to investigate the performance of these materials as part of the next generation of substrates and to develop appropriate characterization techniques to benchmark state-of-the-art 5G devices. Porous Silicon has been largely studied at Incize and we now offer our customers a complete solution from idea to prototype. For our clients we realize feasibility studies, R D, characterization, modeling and prototyping. We carry out various customizable process in a R D technological platform dedicated to microfabrication. Whether you wish to integrate porous silicon before or after the fabrication of devices, Incize is your dedicated partner. We have also been actively researching piezoelectric materials such as quartz, LiNbO3, LiTaO3, ZnO and more in order to fully understand their properties. We have been actively studying new characterization techniques for this fast-growing market. Whether you want to characterize or simulate piezoelectric materials Incize can help you in this trajectory. One of our research projects is specifically centered on RF-MEMS (Radio Frequency-Micro ElectroMechanical Systems), it aims to increase the skills of Incize in the fields of experimental characterization of these devices. Given the heterogeneous nature of MEMS, the test system must be as complete as possible in order to be able to monitor and collect amaximum of data on the various parameters of the component. RF-MEMS technology can be portrayed as an enabling solution to realise the high-performance and highly-reconfigurable passive components that future 5G communication standards will demand for. Incize will develop not only a RF-MEMS component test service, but also commercial test solutions for manufacturers of MEMS-RF components in order to speed up qualification on production lines. Incize is ready to embark on the road ahead to 5G technologies and beyond.

Call it a wild guess, but I suspect I am not the only follower of the automotive industry who is tired of reading articles that lament the impact of Covid-19 and speculate, to varying degrees of accuracy, what kind of recovery is in store for major automotive markets around the world.I’m much more interested in what solutions and creative approaches people, companies, and countries have come up with to make cars smarter and safer despite the pandemic or even because of it.A friend of mine who works at a major European vehicle OEM told me that “innovation cannot, must not stop – despite current difficulties.” This sentiment echoes through the automotive supply chain, particularly in the resilience of the semiconductor industry during these challenging times.The recent publication of the AspenCore Guide to Sensors in Automotive – Making Cars See and Think Ahead is a refreshingly positive and inspiring collection of articles, interviews, technology deep dives and business news, all carefully curated and edited by AspenCore Global Editor-in-Chief Junko Yoshida.One article I particularly enjoyed was her “6 Trends on ‘Perception’ for ADAS/AV.” The insights she was able to gather from experts attending the AutoSens show in Brussels are fascinating, even if consensus on what, exactly, will be the winning “robust perception” solution appears to be far off. This is only fitting with so many companies elbowing for that prime spot!Another feature article that stood out was Nitin Dahad’s “Level 5 AVs Unlikely Before 2035” article. It wasn’t so much the longer ramp to full autonomy that caught my eye but the daunting challenge the automotive industry and AVs have to tackle: “…all possible unusual driving situations under all driving conditions and in all environments.” This is truly a mind-boggling undertaking. The author argues that the road to Level 5 “is likely to be paved gradually, as more advanced driver-assistance features come to market.” Sounds reasonable.Both these articles point to the need for collaboration across the automotive electronics supply chain in order to not only sustain the pace of innovation, but accelerate it, as we face our current challenges. This made me think about the SEMI Smart Mobility initiative and how the great minds supporting it might be able to help. The initiative is designed to bring together automotive OEMs, Tier 1s, device makers, design houses, equipment and materials companies as well as R D institutes to address shared challenges and opportunities.SEMI used to stand for Semiconductor Equipment and Materials International, but over the past several years – and driven by the advent of IoT, AI, and everything “smart” – we now represent the entire electronics manufacturing and design ecosystem, with more than 2,400 member companies on our global roster. We created the Smart Mobility initiative in late 2017 with the initial goal of connecting a substantial number of members to new business opportunities involving rapidly rising silicon content in automotive. IHS Markit projects automotive semiconductor revenue to continue to grow at a 6% CAGR to 2026.Over the past 2 ½ years, the initiative has quickly evolved into a global platform connecting the semiconductor, sensor and automotive electronics ecosystem under one roof – the Global Automotive Advisory Council or GAAC. While “silicon content” is still the operative word for many of our core members, the Council’s mission is to address opportunities and challenges that impact more than one segment of the value chain. For example, the challenge of getting to zero defects involves just about every stakeholder – from contamination control in wafer carriers to ensuring device reliability and robustness to packaging and, ultimately, system integration in the car.SEMI also encompasses a number of Technology Communities that provide deep technical expertise in support of the GAAC’s mission. Member companies in our MEMS Sensors Industry Group (MSIG) are directly engaged in and contributing to the GAAC work. GAAC Europe Chapter - Participating Companies“Sensorizing” – making things smarter through the application of sensors – has created solutions for the automotive and mobility space that bring innovation, safety, security and comfort to driver and passenger and that benefit the environment around the car.This makes the AspenCore Guide to Sensors in Automotive a great resource for our members and SEMI staff as we collaborate to accelerate the drive toward Level 5 autonomy.If you are interested in learning more about SEMI’s Smart Mobility and the GAAC, please contact Bettina Weiss, Chief of Staff and Global Smart Mobility Lead at [email protected] with permission from EE Times.

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) just raised its regional GDP growth forecasts. For the world it predicts a 4.4% global GDP decline this year followed by a 5.2% expansion next year. This economic turnaround hinges on being guided by good science, political leadership and popular acceptance.

I recently spoke with Chan Pin CHONG, Executive Vice President and General Manager of Products and Solutions at Kulicke Soffa, about how smart manufacturing is driving new production efficiencies in the semiconductor industry. During our conversation, he also provided practical steps for factory operators to follow in evaluating their smart manufacturing needs in order to ensure successful implementation and discussed the potential payoffs. Based in Singapore, Kulicke Soffa is a leading global provider of ball bonding, advanced packaging, wedge bonding, and electronic assembly equipment for the semiconductor, power and automotive industries.Ng: Industry 4.0 and smart manufacturing are critical to the growth of the semiconductor industry. What does the smart manufacturing movement mean to you or Kulicke Soffa?Chong: The future of smart manufacturing is the vision of building a digital connected factory to drive new manufacturing efficiencies by combining physical and cyber technologies. Industry 4.0 integrates discrete systems and harnesses the power of large volumes of data to move towards greater automation.At K S, we define smart manufacturing across the following four key areas embedded in our roadmap for all K S products, from wire bonders and advance placement tools to pick and place machines: Interoperability – This is about machines, devices and sensors connecting to each other. In fact, the very basis of smart manufacturing is that all devices are connected. Information transparency – Through simulation, various artificial intelligence (AI) tools use contextual information to emulate the actual world. Technical assistance – Robots or machines support humans in making decisions or solving problems. Autonomous decision-making – This is our vision that robots or machines can learn from machines to make decisions on their own. Ng: Please elaborate on some of these areas and how they’re the relevant to smart manufacturing. Chong: The need for machines, devices and people to communicate with each other forms the basis of connectivity, the idea of all machines communicating with each other or a host. Connectivity protocols now in place for machine-to-machine connectivity include SEMA, SECS/GEM, SEMI-ELS and IPC-CFX. Machine technology uses various sensing technologies. For example, for a pick and place machine such as SMT platform on K S Hybrid, the algorithm to recognize and align processes is part of the sensor needed in each machine before to can process and add thousands of components to the substrate or panel. In a wire bonder, the ultrasonics or EFO signal can provide some form of sensing technology for a machine to detect process conditions. Importantly, these sensing technologies can be used to collect feedback for process improvements.One example of how K S machines are connected to the host is our use of an intermediate server or host named KNeXt to connects to all assembly equipment in the fab. The equipment can then, in turn, connect to an external secured cloud or K S Global Cloud.Ng: What are the objectives for smart manufacturing?Chong: The ultimate goal is to achieve higher factory productivity or better OEE (Overall Equipment Effectiveness) by improving machine yields, productivity and efficiency. The key is to leverage AI, 5G, the Internet of Things (Iot) and other industry 4.0 technologies to drive automation and process improvements. Ultimately, each factory must meet productivity, yield and cost goals. Smart manufacturing enables factory operators to meet these goals. That is the focus of smart manufacturing.Ng: What is the biggest potential benefit of smart manufacturing?Chong: Smart manufacturing uses data to predict outcomes of a process step or machine operation. Once data is available in the global cloud, analytics can start to build data sets to run statistical modelling and examine factory operation trends. We can also use the data to identify past machine behaviors in order anticipate outcomes, including undesirable ones that we can then prevent.In the SMT example, if we can systematically examine days or weeks of historical performance, we can plot some statistical variations in the process specifically to a pick or placer or a robot and anticipate or avoid problems. However, all sensors must be in place in the bond head or the robot so that we can detect changes or variations in the robot’s movements.Kulicke Soffa smart manufacturing facility Ng: What are some recent factory improvements smart manufacturing has enabled? Chong: Kulicke Soffa has contributed to the hierarchical architecture of the smart factory and key technologies. COVID-19 is driving demand for greater factory connectivity, and K S offers solutions that are key to remote management and full control of smart equipment from a central control and embedding Internet of Things (IoT), big data, cloud computing and sensors in manufacturing. Using these technologies, a small smart factory can be remotely operated and managed.With COVID-19 limiting air travel around the world and access to support engineers, the need has grown for remote machine access to reduce the downtime per machine. Remote factory access enables off-site engineers to remotely identify and diagnose machine problems.Ng: What are barriers to faster adoption of smart factories?Chong: While most smart factories are capable of network connectivity and data collection, a key challenge is the lack of a business model for smart factories and smart equipment. Most factories must justify major capital investments by demonstrating ROI (Return of investments) potential. Capital improvements for every factory usually take several years to implement and are based on a complex business model. Factory connectivity requires substantial investments and years to implement. The same is true of the cloud infrastructure buildouts necessary to generate big data and meaningful analytics. The executive mandate for factory management to install capability usually calls for specific business targets in the planning stage.Another longstanding barrier to entry is the lack of compatibility of existing tools with new factory protocols, raising the question of whether the cost of replacing legacy tools justifies the need for a smart factory. If new factory investment is required for the latest tools to support the production of new products, the ROI will be much easier to justify.Ng: How is AI is important in smart manufacturing?Chong: AI interprets and learn from data to perform tasks and meet specific goals. Good examples of AI implementations include Amazon’s Siri and Alexa voice-command devices and self-driving cars being developed by Google and Tesla.At K S, over the years we’ve implemented AI in our smart wire bonders to reduce human intervention in our ProCu-7, PSP-2, ProCu Loop 2, Pro Bump and overhang processes.Thanks to AI, with senses of signals from the bonder, we can reduce the amount of parameters that an engineer or technician have to do trial and error. With on bonder metrology, PBI, loop height, wire sway features, AI allows us to measure process efficiency and provide feedback.Over several years of AI development, we have leveraged the technology to monitor machines and provide real-time performance feedback in order to provide better closed loop control such as short tail recovery in our bonder process. We can also use the data to predict machine behavior, monitor its health and track maintenance. Ultimately, AI enables fabs to improve manufacturing efficiency, productivity, yields and device quality.Ng: What’s an example of how AI has solved your manufacturing equipment problems?Chong: We’ve used AI to set RPM (real time monitor) limits, identify defective P-parts and monitor various conditions such as wire size and capillaries. These types of cases can arise in any manufacturing environment as humans make process mistakes or use the wrong part for a machine. With AI, we can prevent these problems and reduce the risk of further material lost from the wire bonding process.Ng: What advice do you have for factories looking to implement smart manufacturing systems?Chong: To build a smart factory, start by focusing on a clear set of business objectives and how smart manufacturing will help minimize or eliminate current factory inefficiencies. In other words, start with the end in mind – the problems that needs to be solved and the business goals – and identify the information you need to demonstrate ROI. Do you need to resolve, automate or improve processes or just to be more efficient? Before investing millions or billions of dollars to build a smart factory, identify those clear goals upfront. Then map out the particulars of implementation to avoid major problems around standards, protocols and connectivity.Bee Bee Ng is president of SEMI Southeast Asia.

Europe is facing an acute shortage of skilled microelectronics workers that undermines the growth potential of not only the electronics industry but the European economy as a whole. Nearly 1.1 million job advertisements for electro-engineering workers were placed in the EU between mid-2018 and the end of 2019 (CEDEFOP, 2020). The shortfall looms large as a skilled and diverse workforce that can continuously innovate is the oxygen of microelectronics. In light of the critical importance of microelectronics to Europe’s ability to fulfill its growth potential, SEMI Europe participated in the high-level roundtable hosted by Commissioner Nicolas Schmit and Commissioner Thierry Breton on October 5. The discussion’s key takeaway: The skills challenge facing the microelectronics industry is too complex for one organization to tackle, and reskilling and upskilling its workforce should be a common priority for Europe. Only with a diverse, substantial and skilled microelectronics workforce can Europe achieve its R D, design and manufacturing ambitions while ensuring its sovereignty in the digital age. The roundtable highlighted the EU Pact for Skills as a key means to narrow the industry’s skills gap.An ever-growing part of our lives, microelectronics, with their ability to run billions of computations per second and store vast quantities of data, are the brains of modern technology. The digital sovereignty of nations around the world today relies on advanced microprocessors to collect, transfer, analyze and store immense amounts of data used in key end-user sectors such as mobility, telecommunications, energy, security and healthcare. Information and communication technologies (ICT) enabled by microelectronics are helping much of the world’s population to work and study from home and remain safe during the COVID-19 pandemic.According to the Smarter2030 Report, further deployment of ICT, including electronic components in critical sectors such as transportation, manufacturing, agriculture, construction and energy, could eliminate the equivalent of 12.1 billion tons of CO2 per year globally. These are some of the reasons why nations worldwide are making large-scale investments to advance a homegrown microelectronics R D, design and manufacturing base. It is no surprise, then, that semiconductors are now at the center of the so-called global techno-trade wars.Clearly, Europe urgently needs to mobilize and pool resources to develop effective lifelong learning programs for all workers and continue investing in microelectronics innovation. We need to instill the passion for creating technology among current and future workforce, in particular women and people with challenged backgrounds, and build a highly diverse talent pool. Working together, we can better demonstrate how computing technologies, including quantum, high-performance and edge AI, provide solutions to grand societal challenges and attract talented people to the fascinating world of electronic components and systems.Against this backdrop, the microelectronics industry finds the Pact for Skills very timely and crucial to advancing the talent pool underpinning Europe’s deep digital ecosystem. The Pact will play an instrumental role in improving the scope and the quality of training partnerships at regional, national and European levels, sharing best practices and helping the microelectronics industry and workforce adapt to the effects of COVID-19.The microelectronics industry is committed to building on the momentum created by the METIS Erasmus+ collaborative project and to mobilizing our ecosystem and education partners for a successful Pact for Skills in Microelectronics starting this year.The High-Level Roundtable: Skills for Microelectronics was hosted by Commissioner Thierry Breton and Commissioner Nicolas Schmit. Participants included Paul Boudre, CEO, SOITEC; Lars Reger, CEO Germany and CTO, NXP; Frits van Hout, Executive Vice-President and Chief Strategy Officer, ASML; Françoise Chombar, CEO, Melexis; Emmanuel Sabonnadiere, CEO, CEA-Leti; Luc Van den hove, President and CEO, imec; Sabine Nietzsche, Board member, Silicon Saxony and Vice President, GlobalFoundries; Laith Altimime, President, SEMI Europe (coordinator of METIS); Yolande Berbers, President, European Society for Engineering Education (SEFI); James Calleja, President, European Forum for Technical Vocational Education and Training (EFVET); Ludovic Voet, Confederal Secretary, European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC).Emir Demircan is director of Advocacy and Public Policy at SEMI Europe. To learn more about SEMI Europe advocacy, contact Emir at [email protected].