SECS/GEM Module

Communicating with Semiconductor Fab Equipment

Ignition’s SECS/GEM module is a highly specialized module that provides the ability to communicate with semiconductor fab equipment using the SECS-II, GEM, and HSMS standards. The SECS/GEM module is implemented as a host that can talk to one or more fab tools via equipment connections configured within the Ignition Gateway. It also provides the capability to create and configure equipment simulators that can be used for testing applications which is a big plus when getting started with the SECS/GEM module. Connections are made over Ethernet using TCP/IP (HSMS protocol) or over a direct serial connection (SECS-I protocol) using a RS-232 cable. Once installed, the SECS/GEM functionality is fully integrated into the Configure section of the Gateway webpage where you can configure connections to the equipment, and set up equipment simulators.

The SECS/GEM module provides the framework to create and configure a common set of scripting functions to control equipment behavior and communication capabilities that monitor and support semiconductor manufacturing equipment. Through scripting, it provides the flexibility to start and stop equipment processing, set equipment configuration parameter values, collect data, send alarms to the host, and select recipes, as long as the host and OEM adhere to SECS/GEM standards.

Communication between Ignition and the equipment is in the form of SECS messages defined by the SECS-II standard. SECS messages are typically sent and received using scripting functions within Ignition using the SECS/GEM defined messages (SECS Definition Language (SDL)) that are loaded into the equipment. SECS messages that contain data can also be written to Tags, updating the Tag's values as new messages come in. This functionality is used to capture data coming back from equipment, such as tool traces within S6F1 messages. The default SDL file that is included with the SECS/GEM module is already configured to create Tags for S6F1 messages sent to the module from the tool. For other messages, the SECS/GEM module can be configured to update Tags by adding some additional parameters to the equipment's SDL file.

To learn more, refer to the SECS/GEM section.