Semiconductors play a crucial role in modern society and are of paramount importance in various aspects of technology and everyday life. Here are some key reasons why semiconductors are highly significant: for electronic devices, semiconductors are used in the fabrication of transistors, diodes, integrated circuits (ICs), and other electronic components.

These components form the basis of virtually all modern electronic devices, including smartphones, computers, televisions, automobiles, and medical equipment. Semiconductors are at the core of ICT infrastructure. They power telecommunication networks, data centers, and the internet. Semiconductors enable the transmission and processing of vast amounts of data at high speeds, facilitating global connectivity, online services, cloud computing, and the IoT.

The semiconductor manufacturing industry is highly competitive and characterized by intense competition among companies worldwide.

Efficient and cost-effective manufacturing processes are essential for semiconductor companies to compete successfully. The ability to scale production, achieve high yields, and meet customer demands for quality and reliability is critical. Advanced fabrication facilities, such as cleanrooms and fabrication equipment, require significant capital investments, and companies with robust manufacturing capabilities are better positioned to meet market demands.

Motion control key aspect of semiconductor manufacturing

Wafer Fabrication (FAB): The wafer fabrication process involves multiple complex steps, such as photolithography, etching, deposition, and polishing, to create integrated circuits on silicon wafers. Automation in wafer fabrication is critical for achieving high precision, repeatability, and efficiency. Automated systems handle wafer handling, equipment calibration, material tracking, and process control, reducing human errors, increasing throughput, and ensuring consistent quality.

Advanced communications improve all processes

Semiconductor manufacturers need to ensure maximum precision and accuracy, operating under stringent and often isolated, environmental conditions to deliver high-quality products. Effective track and trace systems that can monitor the movement of resources and goods across factories as well as the entire supply chain are also needed.

To succeed in this, it is crucial to set up a network that, in addition to high speed and deterministic performance capabilities, can also support higher enterprise-level systems for robust material tracking and tracing throughout the entire production line. Ultimately, what semiconductor manufacturers require is a network technology to enable the highly effective convergence between the operational technology (OT) and information technology (IT) domains.

Ethernet with TSN is game changer

TSN stands for Time Sensitive Networking. It is a set of standards developed by the IEEE (Institute for Electrical and Electronics Engineers) to enable deterministic real-time communication over Ethernet networks. TSN can be used to support a wide range of applications, including industrial automation, transportation, and smart cities.

This is a brief history of the history of TSN technology.

• 2012: The IEEE 802.1 TSN Task Group was formed to develop standards for deterministic real-time communication over Ethernet networks.
• 2014: The IEEE 802.1 TSN Task Group published its first set of standards, which included support for time synchronization, traffic shaping, and scheduling.
• 2016: The IEEE 802.1 TSN Task Group published its second set of standards, which included support for quality of service (QoS) and network redundancy.
• 2018: The IEEE 802.1 TSN Task Group published its third set of standards, which included support for factory automation and transportation applications.
• 2018: Mitsubishi Electric released its first suite of products that leverage TSN with their communications standard CC-Link IE TSN.

TSN is a powerful solution to address industrial communication needs, as a technology that was developed to enhance Ethernet so that it could merge disparate types of data traffic. In effect, thanks to TSN functions, it is possible to support real-time and deterministic automation communications along with Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol (TCP/IP) communications. More precisely, by providing guaranteed data transport with bounded low latencies, networks based on TSN are able to transfer best-effort traffic as well as mission-critical data in a timely manner, over a single cable.

TSN technology delivers these benefits by leveraging new Ethernet chip technology that delivers advanced time synchronization, traffic shaping and scheduling methods for traffic prioritization, as set out in the IEEE 802.1 Ethernet standards. In particular, the new clock synchronization can support high-speed, extremely accurate and deterministic operations on the shop floor. This is especially important in motion control applications, so prevalent in fab applications. At the same time, traffic prioritization enables the network to feed different systems with either real-time traffic or best effort traffic. New TSN-based Ethernet switches are all that is needed for the integration and isolation of high-performance traffic in the enterprise.

Given these key benefits, the positive impact that the application of TSN to automation products can have in driving up the competitiveness of users as well as developers is clear. More precisely, vendors offering TSN-enabled solutions can meet current and future market needs while advancing the performance of their devices.

Semiconductor industry is adopting smart manufacturing

Smart manufacturing is an approach that uses data analytics and machine learning to optimize the semiconductor manufacturing process. It enables real-time monitoring and control of the manufacturing process, leading to improved yields, reduced costs, and faster time to market. TSN enables the integration of both IT and OT networks, exposing more devices and their data for analysis. With more data, manufacturers can monitor various aspects of the manufacturing process in real-time. This includes data on equipment performance, product quality, energy consumption, and environmental conditions.

By analyzing this data, manufacturers can identify potential issues, deviations, or inefficiencies and take proactive measures to address them promptly. More data allows manufacturers to implement predictive maintenance strategies. By collecting and analyzing data on equipment performance, including sensor readings, temperature, vibration, and other relevant parameters, manufacturers can predict when equipment is likely to fail or require maintenance. This helps minimize downtime, optimize maintenance schedules, and reduce costs associated with unexpected breakdowns.

Access to more data enables advanced quality control and defect detection capabilities. By analyzing data from various sensors and inspection systems, manufacturers can identify patterns, trends, and anomalies that may indicate potential defects or quality issues. This allows for early intervention, reducing scrap, rework, and product recalls.

More data provides manufacturers with insights into process optimization opportunities. By analyzing data across different stages of the manufacturing process, manufacturers can identify bottlenecks, optimize workflows, and streamline operations for improved efficiency and productivity. More data enables manufacturers to implement data-driven continuous improvement initiatives. By analyzing historical and real-time data, manufacturers can identify trends, patterns, and areas for improvement.

Conclusion

TSN is a promising new technology that is revolutionizing semiconductor manufacturing. By providing deterministic real-time communication over Ethernet networks, TSN can help to improve the accuracy, speed, and reliability of semiconductor manufacturing processes. This can lead to increased productivity, reduced costs, and improved product quality.

In addition to the benefits mentioned above, TSN can also help to improve the security of industrial Ethernet networks. TSN includes a number of security features that can help to protect networks from cyberattacks. This is important for semiconductor manufacturing, as these facilities often contain sensitive data and equipment.

Overall, TSN is a valuable technology for semiconductor manufacturing. It can help to improve the efficiency, reliability, and security of industrial Ethernet networks. This can lead to significant benefits for semiconductor manufacturers.

Tom Burke, Global Strategic Advisor, CC Link Partner Association