SEMI E94 (CJM) Overview
Introduction
The SEMI E94 Control Job Management (CJM) standard defines the model, services, and behavior of the Control Job, which helps the host coordinate the processing and disposal of materials on production equipment. The primary purpose of SEMI E94 is to provide equipment with a set of services that enable the host computer to coordinate material processing and disposal on production equipment. The standard applies to equipment that complies with SEMI E30 (GEM), but does not apply to non-production equipment (such as material handling systems or environmental controllers) or equipment that performs operations such as slicing, assembly, etc.
Terminology
- Control Job: A unit of work defined on equipment for one or more carriers and described by a set of one or more Process Jobs for the materials contained in the carriers.
- De-queue: The act of removing an item from a queue.
- Material Redirection Mode: One of the equipment operation modes where the Substrate is redirected to a Slot other than the Source Carrier Slot.
- Slot Integrity Mode: One of the equipment operation modes where all substrates return to the same source Carrier and source Slot after processing.
- Multi-module Equipment: Equipment with multiple different processing resources (such as multiple process chambers).
- Substrate: A basic unit of material used to produce a product, such as a Wafer, Lead Frame, CD, Die, Flat Panel Display, Circuit Board, etc.
Difference between Control Job and Process Job
Process Job responsible for the Process Program of related equipment and the Material to be processed. After creation, it does not queue but waits in the Pool. Control Job provides scheduling for the Process Job. Queued status is entered upon creation, and the final location of the substrate is specified based on the Control Job’s specified attribute (MtrlOutSpec) or process result (MtrlOutByStatus).
Control Job Object Attributes
A Control Job object has several attributes:
- ObjID: The identifier of the object. In E94, this refers to the unique identifier of the Control Job specified when the job was created.
- ObjType: The type of object. In E94, this is the fixed value “ControlJob”.
- CurrentPRJob: The ID of the Process Job in the Control Job that is currently Active.
- CarrierInputSpec: A list of Carrier IDs of materials used in the Control Job, which can be an empty list.
- DataCollectionPlan: The name provided by the host to associate the data collection activity with a specific Control Job. A equipment establishes a trace report and an event report based on this plan when it receives a Control Job START event.
- MtrlOutSpec: Used to map the source position of the material to be processed in the Control Job and the target position after the processing is completed. This attribute determines whether the equipment is running in Slot Integrity Mode or Material Redirection Mode.
- MtrlOutByStatus: Used to map the material to be processed in the Control Job to determine the target position after the processing is completed according to the status of the material.
- PauseEvent: The host can specify a list of equipment events; when these events occur, the equipment will suspend the Control Job.
- PRJobStatusList: A list of all Process Jobs associated with the Control Job and their states.
- ProcessingCtrlSpec: This defines the structure list of the Process Job to be executed in the Control Job, namely its rules (Control Rule and Output Rule).
- ProcessOrderMgmt: Defines the sequential method of Process Job initialization in the Control Job.
- StartMethod: This defines whether the Control Job will automatically start execution when the material is ready.
- State: The current state of the Control Job, which corresponds to the definition of each state in the Control Job State Model.
Control Job State Model
Control Job State Model (Source: SEMI E94)
Control Job states include:
- QUEUED: The Control Job is in the queue waiting to be executed.
- ACTIVE: The Control Job is activated but has not yet begun execution.
- SELECTED: The Control Job is selected and ready for execution.
- WAITING FOR START: The Control Job is waiting for the start command.
- EXECUTING: The Control Job is executing.
- PAUSED: The Control Job is paused.
- COMPLETED: The Control Job has completed.
Control Job Queue
The queuing mechanism of Control Jobs usually follows the First-In-First-Out (FIFO) principle. To maintain the integrity of the queue, only one operation can be performed by the equipment at any given time. For example, if the CJHOQ service is being processed, the equipment will deny other create requests.
Head Of Queue (CJHOQ) Service:
Moves the specified Control Job to the head of the queue, followed by the other jobs. This service is used to prevent deadlock situations.
Control Job Services
SEMI E94 defines a series of Control Job services and commands. Here are some of the key services:
- CJStart: Starts a Control Job that is in the “WAITING FOR START” state.
- CJPause: Pauses the Control Job to stop starting a new Process Job.
- CJResume: Resumes the Control Job and continues to start the Process Job.
- CJDeselect: Deselects the Control Job and swaps its place with the job at the top of the queue.
- CJCancel: Removes the Control Job from the queue.
- CJStop: Stops the Control Job from starting any Process Job.
- CJAbort: Stops the Control Job and stops all running Process Jobs.
Additional Requirements
- Control Job serial execution: Equipments start Control Jobs in sequence, and the order is based on queues. The Control Job must not make a state transition until all substrates have been placed on the target carrier.
- Modify the Control Job: Except for modifying MtrlOutSpec, Control Jobs are only allowed to be modified in non-executing and completed states. The equipment should reject modification requests that are out of scope or in an error state.
Summary
The SEMI E94 Control Job Management standard provides software technicians in the semiconductor industry with a powerful set of tools to manage and coordinate material processing and disposal on production equipment. Through standardized control job models and services, E94 not only improves the automation level of equipment but also enhances the coordination between the host and equipment, thus improving production efficiency.
To learn more about SEMI E94 solutions, please contact Support@kxware.com.
For SEMI E87 standard document, please visit the SEMI site: https://www.semi.org/en/products-services/download-standards