Within the last few years, semiconductor, photovoltaic or HB-LED industry developed enormously. With the result that the complexity of almost all relevant processes increased. To prevent the increase of corresponding costs, a concept of Equipment Engineering Systems (EES) is essential. Integrating applications like Equipment Data Control, Advanced Process Control (APC) and Fault Detection Control (FDC) is fundamental to improve product yield and reduce manufacturing costs. Nevertheless, adapting APC solutions to relevant processes in semiconductor factories remains a huge challenge. To accomplish efficient machine integration of technical data, which is the basis for APC applications, internationally standardized and high-efficient interfaces are obligatory. the SEMI Organization has defined the Interface A Standard which should give an answer to the named problems.
This presentation presents a framework to simplify the interface between a variety of external sensors and consumer devices. The framework simplifies both application and driver development with abstractions that separate responsibilities between the user application, sensor framework, and device driver. These abstractions facilitate a componentized framework that allows developers to focus on writing minimal pieces of sensor-specific code enabling an ecosystem of reusable sensor drivers. Our concept for high workload and high availability is based on an Apache Kafka® architecture. The device integration subsystem acts as a device data broker and provides connectivity to devices based on common established protocols.
MQTT Messages can be handle by an Apache Kafka® MQTT Connector directly. Other protocols like Modbus TCP, OPC UA/DA), SIEMENS PLC (S7), TCP Plain Text, Interface-A will be handled by the Product FabEagle®connect. Qualified persons can review the messages on demand by a graphical user interface. The device registry provides the master data of all device and measurement values. Additional context data (parameter, unit of measure, limits, location, owner and so one), aggregation or filter rules can be added.
The concept includes edge device as hardware platform. These edge devices can be installed nearby the sensor to handle heavy load, do preprocessing or support interface require short distance cable length (distance limits).