CHAD Industries launches new SEMI E95 software front end

ANAHEIM, USA: CHAD Industries has launched WaferWare, a new software front end for its WaferMate family of automated wafer handling systems.

The new WaferWare release was driven to provide a flexible software platform for automated wafer handling and to meet the SEMI E95-1101 specification for Human Interface for Semiconductor Manufacturing Equipment.

The drive for a flexible software platform for automated wafer handling was driven by years of experience developing systems for leading edge technology customers who had a large variety of application requirements.

The challenge has always been to provide a reliable system in a reasonable lead-time at an affordable price. To meet this need CHAD’s software was optimized to develop new runtime algorithms that can quickly adapt to new hardware and software routine requirements.

A key feature in the new WaferWare software is the presentation of the Recipe information for the operator. The “Jobs” screen clearly communicates the recipe information to the operator using a combination of text and also a simple graphic representation for the path.

Another key challenge for the WaferWareTM was to address navigating technicians intuitively through the flexible data structure. The “Recipe” screen provides not only a presentation format, but also a logical navigational path to all the data required to edit or create a new recipe.

Each of the recipe elements is displayed on the main “Recipe” screen. The information for each of the recipe elements can be edited directly from the “Recipe” screen with the ability to address all subordinate data. The technician can then quickly move back to the main “Recipe” screen with all the changes updated.

“Our goal with the release of WaferWare was to create a software package that addressed the challenge of flexibility that is encountered when developing new applications. Specifically, those that require new hardware and software to fulfill a new customer’s challenge,” says Scott Klimczak, president of CHAD Industries.

“This two year development cycle has resulted in software that is flexible and efficient for Chad and our customers to develop the next generation semiconductor process tools. Ultimately, this allows CHAD to deliver custom and complex WaferMate workcell solutions without impacting our standard delivery lead-times.”