Founded in 1989, Cimetrix has been at the forefront of robotics, factory automation and smart manufacturing technology. As the leading worldwide provider of equipment connectivity products for smart manufacturing and Industry 4.0, Cimetrix software products connect hundreds of thousands of equipment in the world’s most advanced factories.
Cimetrix products have reliably and cost effectively enable manufacturing equipment and factory software systems to connect and communicate over factory networks, providing the necessary model-based data and control capabilities that result in millions of dollars in manufacturing productivity benefits.
For Smart Connected Equipment
Cimetrix award-winning products leverage open-architecture designs and industry standards (SECS/GEM, GEM300, EDA/Interface A) to deliver equipment connectivity and control software.
CIM300
Semiconductor factories require 300mm equipment — and some 200mm equipment — to comply with the SEMI GEM300 communication standards, as well as fab specific scenarios.
CIM300 toolkit empowers equipment suppliers to implement GEM300 and SECS/GEM standards-compliant interfaces with the minimum amount of time and cost.
- Complex manufacturing scenarios are simplified into a few intelligent API calls
- Dynamic configuration makes it easier to support entire equipment families
- Interdependencies between GEM300 standards are handled automatically
- Cimetrix CIMConnect™ toolkit is included for implementation of SEMI SECS/GEM standards E4, E5, E30, and E37
- Software to test the completed application is included with the CIM300 SDK
CIM300 can be added to an existing equipment control application and is included with the Cimetrix CIMControlFramework (CCF) SDK.
CIMConnect
The Cimetrix CIMConnect™ software toolkit provides libraries, sample applications, testing tools, and a GEM Manual template for developing and deploying communication interfaces on manufacturing equipment.
The CIMConnect toolkit offers:
- Support for multiple host connections, reducing development time while improving quality
- The CIMConnect Control Panel is a GUI tool for dynamically configuring, monitoring, and testing equipment interfaces
- Fully functional GEM communication out-of-the-box
- Automatic handling for many standard GEM messages
- Dynamic configuration capability
- Support for SEMI E173 SECS Message Notation (SMN)
- Generates an E172 SECS Equipment Data Dictionary
- A framework for implementing the SEMI GEM300 standard using another Cimetrix product, the CIM300™ toolkit
- Testing software is comprised of TESTConnect™ and SECSConnect™
CIMPortal Plus
The CIMPortal™ software toolkit provides a comprehensive equipment data acquisition (EDA) solution for equipment manufacturers.
The CIMPortal Plus Software Development Kit (SDK) includes tools for designing, developing, testing, optimizing, and deploying EDA communications that fully comply with the SEMI standards and accommodate data collection from different software and hardware platforms.
Equipment suppliers use the CIMPortal Plus software to implement an EDA interface in the minimum amount of time and cost. They especially like the many features CIMPortal Plus offers for equipment model development, which include an easy-to-use GUI with Visual Studio-style property windows and drop-down menus for drag-and-drop model building.
CIMControlFramework
CIMControlFramework™ is an equipment automation framework based on Microsoft .NET technology. The CCF equipment control solution allows OEMs to meet the supervisory control, material handling, platform and process control and factory automation requirements of the fabs.
Modern, open architecture
- Well defined interfaces allow customization and/or replacement CCF components based on business needs
- Ease transition from current equipment control system tCCF, in an agile, iterative fashion, greatly reducing risk
- New components can be easily added and take advantage of existing services
- CCF GUIs can be developed using either WPF or WinForms
SECS/GEM, GEM300 and EDA standards are built-in
- Cimetrix keeps product current with standards at all times
Source Code
- Provides ultimate control when trying toptimize equipment performance
- OEM's can better leverage in-house expertise tadd value ttheir process module and platform
Robust system diagnostics
- Logging is built in and troubleshoots problems remotely
For Smart Connected Factory
Architected for the Industrial Internet of Things, Cimetrix host connectivity products allow factories seamless connectivity to varying factory equipment within a single event-driven framework. Software Development Kits (SDK) provide rapid-deployment tools for factories to mine data available from shop floor equipment driving actionable insights for optimal decision-making.
HostConnect
Cimetrix HostConnect™ is a software toolkit for rapidly developing host-side applications that connect to GEM equipment. It features a layered architecture to support a wide variety of host-side applications including equipment data collection, monitoring, process control, and optimization in a production manufacturing environment. HostConnect can be used for testing equipment-side applications for compliance to the GEM standards.
The Cimetrix HostConnect tool kit offers:
- Multi-layer architecture
- Standards-based modules that encapsulate GEM equipment capabilities
- High-level configuration utility
- Dynamic configurable data types and communications settings
- Native .NET programming language design
- Management of message timeouts and transactions
- Built-in library of SECS-II message classes
- Ability to support custom message formats
EDAConnect
Cimetrix's EDAConnect™ software enables semiconductor smart factories to gather data from precision equipment used for wafer processing and testing. This data is vital in a wide range of analysis, control, and decision support applications to reduce manufacturing cost, improve product quality, and increase overall productivity. EDAConnect is appropriate for all EDA client applications and can also be used to implement Access Control List (ACL) administration, a requirement for all EDA implementations.
Feature |
Benefit |
|---|---|
Version-Independent Abstraction Layer |
Use the same application to communicate with equipment using different versions of the EDA standards. Upgrade an application to a new version of the EDA standards without changing the application. |
Built-In Web Service |
Receive data and other equipment-initiated message notification using simple .NET delegates. It could not be easier. |
Model Cache |
Minimize unnecessary communication with the equipment. View and analyze equipment models off-line. |
Easy to Use |
Establish an EDA session and gather data with minimal knowledge of the EDA standards. |
Optimized for Performance |
EDAConnect uses the CPU as efficiently as possible. |
.NET Forms and Controls |
With minimal development effort, develop applications with graphical user interface features to browse the equipment model and setup data collection. |
Sample Applications |
Use the sample application source code as a resource for application development. |
Access to Version-Specific Driver |
Testing applications can verify specific details of the EDA web service operations. |
Ability to have a Custom Version |
Applications can use the abstraction layer with confidence even when an equipment might implement a non ISMI freeze version of the standards. This can also be used to communicate with equipment that have unusual interpretations of the EDA standard. |
Data Annotation |
Data interpretation is simplified when the application does not have to maintain association between the data collection plan and the data collection reports. |
Simple Logging |
Create SOAP message logs with minimal effort when tracking down defects. |
Runtime Schema Validation |
Because applications at any time can enable or disable schema validation for all messages (incoming and outgoing, client-initiated and equipment-initiated), it is easy to diagnose violations of the standard schemas. At the same time, EDAConnect processes messages as best it can so that data collection can continue despite the violations. |
Cimetrix Utilities products
Cimetrix utility products are used by equipment suppliers and factory customers alike to ensure that equipment is ready for full production use.
Equipment software engineers use the TESTConnect and ECCE Plus utilities to verify compliance to the SECS/GEM and EDA connectivity standards, respectively, throughout the development process. Before shipping equipment to the factory, test/QA engineers use the EDATester to validate compliance to the EDA standards and the factory’s specific performance requirements.