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December 2004 Semiconductor Safety Update

As a product safety consulting firm, Earth Tech Microelectronics’ charter is to provide the highest quality equipment safety services in the semiconductor industry. In order to stay current with industry movement and expectations, Earth Tech participates in the SEMI standards development forums.

SEMI provides an industry forum for semiconductor equipment manufacturers, end-users, and other interested parties to draft industry guidelines (SEMI S, F, and E documents). As a third party, Earth Tech Microelectronics is particularly interested in the safety (S) documents. These guidelines are compiled in draft form by groups of interested parties know as task forces. The members of these task forces volunteer their time to compile a consensus document. This document is then submitted for ballot reviews by the entire EHS committee. Following what is typically several iterations, the guidelines are formally adopted by SEMI and released as SEMI documents. Once released, the documents are continually improved upon through the same process.

Recent SEMI Guidelines Development Update

Robotics: SEMI Ballot 3560 is the working document for a semiconductor industry specific guideline to address the safety hazards associated with robotics and load ports. SEMI S2 has traditionally relied on external national and international robotics standards to provide the essential design guidelines for robotic systems. None of the standards referenced in SEMI S2 were designed specifically for the semiconductor industry. As such, many of the key features inherent in semiconductor processing equipment automation are not considered. This new working document is intended to provide semiconductor specific guidelines regarding robotic hazards, including the integration concerns with the host systems.

 

Heated Chemical Baths: SEMI S3-91 is the industry guideline for heated chemical baths. As the document has not been revised since 1991, SEMI ballot 2479 is being drafted to replace the entire document. The new document will serve primarily to explain design specific requirements for several types of heated chemical baths. While these requirements are not “new”, they will be identified in a much more specific fashion to provide improved guidance to designers. The SEMI S3 task force is currently meeting weekly by teleconference to resolve negative comments submitted by the EHS task force in the previous ballot cycle.

 

Lifting Systems: SEMI S2 paragraph 18.5 is intended to address the hazards presented due to mechanical lifting operations. However, very little (if any) design guidance is actually provided. As such, SEMI has formed a new task force to identify the key design, construction, testing, and documentation/inspection requirements for these lifting systems. The task force has decided to submit these guidelines as an Appendix to SEMI S2 itself. The semiconductor lifting system task force is currently meeting weekly via teleconference to draft the initial text of this Appendix.