Posted on Mon, Jul 19, 2010
We've returned home from the show... tired, but excited about some of the great discussions and opportunities from the show! Although it was evident that SEMICON West is changing, it was also clear that the industry is rebounding and many new projects are getting underway.
Here a couple of quick snap shots of our booth:
We will be following up with visitors and customers this week. If you saw us at the show, thanks for stopping by and we look forward to continuing the conversation!
Also as reminder, from now until August 27, you can catch up on keynotes and select presentations at the Virtual SEMICON West site: http://vsemiconwest.semineedle.com/
Posted on Thu, Jul 08, 2010
The semiconductor industry's largest event of the year, SEMICON West, is right around the corner. And with the market in recovery, we expect it to be a good turn out and a great show.
This year, Cimetrix has several exciting new developments to discuss at the show:
- GEM Implementation - Faster & Better
We've been at work developing a new solution that enables an even faster GEM implementation... while still improving the already high level of quality you've come to expect from Cimetrix. Designed to cover 90% of typical GEM interfaces, the new solution helps reduce time to market (and headaches) for our customers.
- The Year for Interface A - Are you Ready?
ISMI announced the new Freeze Version of the Interface A Standards on June 17. Also, with increased SEMI investment and fabs requiring implementation, this has quickly become a hot topic. Is your software able to support multiple versions of the Interface A standard at the same time? Are you set up to adopt the new version effectively and efficiently?
We would love the opportunity to discuss your unique needs and projects with you further at the show.
Not registered for the show? Email us for a free pass.
We will be in the South Hall - Booth #2331.
See you at the show!
Posted on Thu, May 27, 2010
by Brent Forsgren,
Director of OEM Solutions
Fabs are like people, each one has it own personality traits. Fortunately, and arguably unfortunately, unlike people, most fabs have a handbook for their “personalities” in the form of specifications. I have found it interesting, that like people, fab “personalities” have common and unique features. Here are a few of examples:
- There are some fabs that I would classify as the “Clean Freak.” Compliance to GEM and GEM 300 standards is important but more important to them is preventing cross contamination between FOUPs, and from wafer to wafer – “Who left this loadport door open? Don’t you know you can spread particles by doing that??”
- Then there are other fabs that I would classify as the “Punctilious.” Again, compliance to the GEM and GEM300 standards is required but more important to them is knowing exactly when you are going to be done, when you are ready for more, are you done yet, how much longer are you going to be, are you done yet?
- Then there are other fabs that are “Methodical-ious” (if I can make that a word). Everything must happen in a very specific order. 1) Don’t allow jobs to exist without material at the tool first; 2) Download the recipe before every job that is created; 3) Create the job now. 4) If the FOUP is removed before the job starts, refer to rule 1.
- And let’s admit it, all fabs are “Control Freaks,” if they weren’t we wouldn’t be in business. They control when jobs are run, how jobs are run, and what a job does.
Hmmmm……that makes me wonder, if fabs are like people, does that make companies like Cimetrix psychiatrists?
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Posted on Thu, Mar 11, 2010
by DeAnn Rowan,
Marketing
As a blog reader, we would like to ask you a question:
So….What do you think?
We’ve been at this blogging thing for 6 months (almost to the day) now. We’ve seen a lot of interest as the traffic to our blog posts continues to rise at a rapid pace. The entire Cimetrix team has provided contributions and feels passionate about the information that we have been sharing with readers.
Some of our most popular posts to date – and ones you’ll want to check out if you haven’t already - include a narrative touting the benefits of software frameworks, a comparison of the data collection functions of SECS/GEM and Interface A, and the answer to the “He Said/ She Said” game between equipment and host.
What have you found to be the most valuable?
What topics would you like to see discussed more? Or less?
We want to be a resource of information for you regarding the SEMI connectivity standards and their implementation. As you read through our blog, please feel free to ask questions or provide insight on the topics being discussed. We welcome your comments!
In addition to this blog, we encourage you to interact with us, and others within the manufacturing community, via various social media networks:
Use these avenues as an alternative means to ask questions, provide feedback, and stay abreast of any industry or Cimetrix updates.
Thank you for your continued readership and we look forward to future discussions.
Connect with Us on LinkedIn:
Also check out the resources page of our website which offers several white papers, presentations, and articles for download on these topics!
Posted on Tue, Mar 09, 2010
by Bill Grey,
Director of Research and Development
2009 was a tough year and it is good to see the Semiconductor industry coming back. With development projects ramping up, here is a peek at the new technologies coming out this year:
AMD has some new 45 nm Phenom II and Athalon II CPUs out and has the 6-core 45 nm Thuban CPU coming out later in Q2. 2011 will follow with a Llano 32 nm quad-core APU and 32 nm Bulldozer core CPU called Zambezi with up to 8 cores.
Intel has 32 nm rolling strong with the release of the Clarkdale CPU with 2 cores this quarter. They will follow up with the Gulftown processor around mid-year with 6 cores.
It doesn’t look like processing power will be much of a problem any more. =)
For developers, Microsoft released Visual Studio 2010 and .NET 4.0 in April. More information may be found at http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb386063(VS.100).aspx.
Among the changes that got me excited are:
- better support for parallel code development and debugging
- debugging of mixed-mode native and managed code on 64-bit operating systems
- the Visual F# programming language
- reference highlighting in the editor (finally!)
- call hierarchy navigation for C# and C++
- box selection for copy/paste (finally!)
- .NET background garbage collection instead of concurrent garbage collection for better performance
- .NET tuple objects for structured data
- .NET memory-mapped files (shared memory)
- .NET String.IsNullOrWhiteSpace method indicates whether a string is null, empty, or consists only of white-space
- Managed Extensibility Framework (MEF) to build extensible and composable applications
Office 2010 comes out the first half of this year with some new collaboration features such as co-authoring and PowerPoint presentation broadcasting: http://www.microsoft.com/office/2010/en/whats-new/default.aspx.
On the Windows side, Windows 7 is here in 32-bit and 64-bit flavors and is being adopted much faster than Vista was when it released. Windows Server 2008 R2 is out for the server platform. For embedded systems, Windows Embedded Standard 2009 has replaced Windows XP Embedded and a new version is on the way called Windows Embedded Standard 7 (Windows 7 based).
How many semiconductor manufacturing tools will need or will go to a 64 bit operating system this year?
One item that could spur the move to Windows 7 is a change in hard drive technology that is not targeted to be supported by Windows XP. Hard drives are moving from 512 byte sectors to 4 kilobyte sectors and will be incompatible with Windows XP. Some of the smarter drives may have a compatibility mode for Windows XP, but at a cost of reduced performance. This will start in early 2011. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/8557144.stm.
Would you be interested in learning more about these emerging technologies and their effect on Cimetrix products? If there is a significant interest, Cimetrix plans to host a webinar on this topic in the near future.
Posted on Mon, Nov 30, 2009
This week, SEMICON Japan 2009 will be invading the Makuhari Messe in Chiba, Japan. The largest international exhibition of semiconductor equipment and materials, vistors can expect over 1500 exhibiting companies as well as co-organized events including the SEMI Technology Symposium (STS). SEMICON Japan takes place Wednesday, December 2 - Friday, December 4.Exhibits will be open from 10:00 am to 5:00 pm.
Cimetrix representatives will be available for discussions and meetings at the Rorze booth in Hall 4, #4B-509. To view the map of Hall 4, please click here. Please stop by to learn about our new tool control solution, CIMControlFramework™.
We hope to see you there!
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Posted on Fri, Oct 23, 2009
by Bob Reback,
President and CEO
Running a company during an industry downturn presents quite a challenge. I have always thought I would someday be the president of a company. However, during this severe semiconductor down cycle, the thought that you should “be careful what you wish for” certainly came to mind a few times. Even though Cimetrix is a small company, successfully navigating a business through a severe downturn that hit the semiconductor industry requires a combination of critical thinking, tough decisions and a durable stomach.
The decision making process must consider the perspectives of all stakeholders - including investors, customers, employees and suppliers. The primary objective is clearly to make sure the business survives through the downturn. The secondary objectives relate to how to best satisfy customers, investors, employees and suppliers while making sure objective number one is met.
More than ever, this requires extensive communication with all parties. Not every party will be happy with your decisions. However, having sound analysis for your decisions, along with open and honest communications can ensure that all parties understand and, most importantly, accept the decisions.
Like almost all companies that serve the semiconductor industry, Cimetrix’s revenues suffered severe declines in the first half of 2009. The dramatic decline in revenues was the root cause of the crisis, as revenue brings in the necessary cash flow to pay employees and other business obligations. In addition, the severity of this down cycle caused more customers than anticipated to cease operations as a result of either bankruptcy or a parent company shutting down a division. Even though our primary competitor filed for bankruptcy and ultimately sold off its assets, there is no joy as you empathize for all of the affected employees without a job.
Fortunately, Cimetrix has a great team and everyone pitched in to help ensure the company successfully navigated through this down cycle. This includes our customers, employees, suppliers and investors. We are now seeing evidence that our customer’s businesses are starting to improve and the industry is on the mend, which is leading to increased revenues for Cimetrix. By retaining all of our key customers and a solid team of employees, we are well prepared and positioned for growing the business going forward.
Please join me in attending the SEMI® webinar, Industry Research & Statistics, to learn more about the future of the semiconductor industry.
Posted on Tue, Sep 22, 2009
by Dave Faulkner
Executive Vice President, Sales & Marketing
It is starting to feel like a recovery in the semiconductor industry. Wall Street is saying to keep on eye on semiconductor stocks and even semiconductor equipment stocks. SEMI just reported that worldwide semiconductor equipment bookings for Q2 2009 were 83% greater than Q1 2009. Capacity utilization is likely to reach 88% in Q3 2009 according to IC Insights, up from 57% in Q1 2009. And the SEMI World Fab Forecast is now calling for a 64% increase in fab spending in 2010. The fear is starting to subside. Q1/Q2 2009 appear to be the low point for equipment suppliers and we appear to be heading up the hill, but starting from a very low elevation. I think we are finally in the recovery.
We have a very unique look at the semiconductor industry. Our customers report tool shipments based on license orders. And our customer base is very broad including all tool types in the frontend and backend. We see who is booming and who is busting. While we would never, never, never discuss individual company progress, I can say that shipments (via way of license revenues) have hit their bottom and are on the way back up. And we are seeing this in all areas of the semiconductor industry. It is like seeing a bit of blue sky during the storm, it gives us hope for all. We just need to give the rest of the storm clouds time to move on…..