Standardisation of photomask orders: An automation perspective

Inhalt:
Standardisation of the structure and semantics of mask order information is critical to promoting the development of software that can achieve high levels of automation in photomask ordering. This is the purpose of the P10 specification for photomask order data structures, an international standard of the Semiconductor Equipment and Materials International (SEMI). The aim of this document is to present the results of a review of the current SEMI P10 standard that has been performed in the frame of the MEDEA+ MUSCLE project. Within this contribution, SEMI P10 is examined mainly from an information technology (IT) automation point of view; the principal concern is to facilitate the implementation of P10-based software systems. Several issues and improvement capabilities have been identified and solutions have been developed, concerning mainly the data structure definition and the formal representation of information and rules. Suggestions for improvement of the standard definition document and extension of the standard are also presented. The review has been performed from a practical perspective and exploits knowledge and experience with real-life mask order software systems.