Integrated feed forward system for chemical mechanical polishing oxide removal process automation to improve productivity

Chemical Mechanical Planarization (CMP) is one of the main processes in semiconductor wafer fabrication. It is the only process that has contact physically with the wafer, where a pad is placed directly onto the wafer and polished in a circular motion at a particular speed to planarize the wafer surface. For a typical CMOS devices, the downstream process for CMP is the film depositions process and the upstream is the lithography process in which both requires high precision machine capabilities. The process is repeated 10 to 15 times with 300 to 1000 process steps of a wafers cycle dependings on the Integrated Circuit device complexities. Due to the acceptance process tolerance which is measured at a nanometer level and with very tight process controls, excessive polishing on the oxide layer cannot be reworked. Therefore, there is a need to control and monitor closely for each recipe used to process the wafer. Additionally, SilTerra wafer fabrication facility is loaded with more than 200 devices that require to process 5000 to 6000 wafers daily. These devices require variations of processing sequences as well as different settings to be manually conducted. Subsequently, these devices eventually contribute to longer setup times, and commonly lead to human mistakes and equipment interruption of up to about 3000 events a year. That could lead to the need for further inspections or corrections of more than 60,000 wafers. The CMP process for this study is on oxide process. In order to achieve the consistency of an ideal process scenario which is to polish at the appropriate targeted removal rate, an integrated feed forward system is proposed to collect, integrate the information and automate the decision making process. This system is proposed to bridge the gaps particularly for process qualifications and the targeting procedures. Failure Mode and Effect Analysis (FMEA) method is applied to breakdown the process of obtaining the data, computing the data to as the input to the required parameter and applying the parameter to polish the wafers. From FMEA, it is then translated to feed forward system to collect and to integrate between process qualification data on non-production wafer until to apply targeting procedures on production wafers. Supporting functions are developed based on the SECS/GEM equipment interface protocol by Semiconductor Equipment Materials International (SEMI). Based on the observations and data collected, it is found that the system is successful in reducing the cycle time for about 17% from an average of 6 hours to 5 hours as well as reducing the wafers scrap rate from an average of 17 wafers per year to zero scrapped

Integration of solar dryer technologies in high value herbal crops production for Malaysia: pathway for a sustainable future

This paper embarks on the evolution of green economy approach to support the increasing food commodity expenses by adapting Solar Photovoltaic (PV) as the suitable renewable energy technology for Natural Resource Management (NRM). The crops for cash trend and continuously decreasing market price in solar technologies are highlighted with strong effort by Malaysian Government through Renewable Energy (RE) policy and National Key Economy Area (NKEA). Reviews on the benefits of solar dryer technologies in crop production and agro-business are presented with highlights on high value herbal crops (HVHc) and some potentials of high-performance solar dryer technology

Intelligent vision-based navigation system for mobile robot: A technological review

Vision system is gradually becoming more important. As computing technology advances, it has been widely utilized in many industrial and service sectors. One of the critical applications for vision system is to navigate mobile robot safely. In order to do so, several technological elements are required. This article focuses on reviewing recent researches conducted on the intelligent vision-based navigation system for the mobile robot. These include the utilization of mobile robot in various sectors such as manufacturing, warehouse, agriculture, outdoor navigation and other service sectors. Multiple intelligent algorithms used in developing robot vision system were also reviewed

Pengaruh Kompetensi, Fasilitas Kerja, dan Kepuasan Kerja Terhadap Kinerja Pegawai di Badan Kepegawaian Daerah Provinsi Sulawesi Barat

Kinerja memiliki arti suatu hasil kerja yang dapat dicapai oleh seseorang atau sekelompok orang dalam suatu organisasi sesuai dengan wewenang dan tanggung jawab masing-masing. Kinerja dapat dipengaruhi oleh beberapa variabel namun dalam penelitian ini hanya 3 (tiga) variabel yang diteliti, diantaranya Kompetensi,Fasilitas Kerja dan Kepuasan Kerja. Penelitian ini bertujuan untuk: (1) menganalisis pengaruh kompetensi terhadap kinerja pegawai di Badan Kepegawaian Daerah Provinsi Sulawesi Barat; (2) menganalisis pengaruh fasilitas kerja terhadap kinerja pegawai di Badan Kepegawaian Daerah Provinsi Sulawesi Barat; (3) menganalisis pengaruh kepuasan kerja terhadap kinerja pegawai di Badan Kepegawaian Daerah Provinsi Sulawesi Barat; (4) menganalisis pengaruh kompetensi, fasilitas kerja dan kepuasan kerja berpengaruh terhadap kinerja pegawai di Badan Kepegawaian Daerah Provinsi Sulawesi Barat. Jumlah responden sebanyak 51 orang yang terdiri dari Pegawai Negeri Sipil Badan Kepegawaian Daerah Provinsi Sulawesi Barat, tidak termasuk pegawai honorer. Data dikumpulkan dengan metode kuesioner yang dianalisis menggunakan analisis regresi linier berganda. Hasil penelitian menunjukkan bahwa: Kompetensi berpengaruh terhadap kinerja pegawai di Badan Kepegawaian Daerah Provinsi Sulawesi Barat, Fasilitas kerja berpengaruh terhadap kinerja pegawai di Badan Kepegawaian Daerah Provinsi Sulawesi Barat, Kepuasan kerja berpengaruh terhadap kinerja pegawai di Badan Kepegawaian Daerah Provinsi Sulawesi Barat, Kompetensi, fasilitas kerja dan kepuasan kerja berpengaruh terhadap kinerja pegawai di Badan Kepegawaian Daerah Provinsi Sulawesi Barat

The Development of Character Education Model to Improve Students’ Academic Independence in Islamic Boarding School in Sinjai District, Indonesia

The objective of this research and development is to create a description of the operational model of character education and to determine the effectiveness of a character education model in enhancing students’ academic independence. There are some results of this research. First, the description of the prototype model of character education to enhance students’ academic independence consists of five parts, namely rationalization of character education model; supporting theories of character education model; components of character education model; instructions for using character education model; and development of character education model. Second, the operational model of character education is supported by development tools and developed at five stages, namely analysis, design, development, implementation, and evaluation. Third, the character education model is effective to enhance students’ academic independence in Islamic Boarding School, Sinjai

Agent-based chemical mechanical planarization qualification for semiconductor wafer fabrication

Semiconductor wafer fabrication is one of the critical segments in overall integrated circuit (IC) production flow. There are number of processes involved in the wafer fabrication facility which are diffusion, ion implantation, lithography, etching and Chemical Mechanical Planarization (CMP). Process equipment is required to be in optimized condition. In order to achieve this, qualification is done on equipment prior to process production wafers. In CMP, qualification is to monitor pad performance. Pad performance depends on few critical parameters which are monitored by wafer thickness measurement. Measurement taken is based on Statistical Process Control (SPC) rules. Currently, the qualification activities are carried out manually based on Standard Operating Procedures (SOP) of wafer fab and Manufacturing Execution System (MES). For this purpose, agent based framework Is applied to enhance qualification activity. The measurement results are computed by agent to manage selected data points on the wafer and to derive specific parameters. The results show that the proposed method is capable to produce consistent results

Assessment of Fertilizer Quality in Horse Waste-Based Bokashi Fertilizer Formulations

Agricultural waste is a type of solid waste that needs to be managed properly. Organic waste can be recycled to produce bokashi fertilizer, which can be used to improve soil health, increase crop production, and sanitize the environment. However, it may contain heavy metals that could be toxic to plants and can pollute the environment if not properly decomposed. This study was designed to evaluate the fertilizer quality of six different bokashi fertilizer ratios (bfrs) over seven- and thirty-day maturation periods. The raw materials used include horse bedding waste (HBW), cow dung (CD), and paddy husk charcoal (PHC) in different ratios, treated with an effective microorganisms (EM4) solution. All the nutrients studied (N, P, K, Mg, and Ca) were significantly affected by the bokashi fertilizer ratios (bfrs). The best bokashi fertilizer ratio was bokashi fertilizer ratio-6 (bfr6), but it was statistically similar to bokashi fertilizer ratio-5 (bfr5). Its N, P, K, Mg, and Ca contents were higher than the control (bfr1) by 133.9%, 225.5%, 196.4%, 105.0%, and 84.7%, respectively. Similarly, all these nutrients were significantly affected by time. N, P, K, and Mg increased by 21.2, 33.0%, 16.4%, and 28.8%, respectively, after 30 days of maturation, with a decrease in Ca only 2.4%, which was not significant A germination index (GI) of 90.1% was obtained using cabbage seeds. The heavy metals result and germination bioassay confirmed the safety and maturity of the bokashi fertilizer. In conclusion, the results revealed that good-quality bokashi fertilizer can be produced within 30 days. Bfrr5 and bfr6 are equally good candidates for producing good-quality bokashi fertilizer for effective crop growth

Intelligent Vision-Based Navigation System For Mobile Robot: A Technological Review

Vision system is gradually becoming more important. As computing technology advances, it has been widely utilized in many industrial and service sectors. One of the critical applications for vision system is to navigate mobile robot safely. In order to do so, several technological elements are required. This article focuses on reviewing recent researches conducted on the intelligent vision-based navigation system for the mobile robot. These include the utilization of mobile robot in various sectors such as manufacturing, warehouse, agriculture, outdoor navigation and other service sectors. Multiple intelligent algorithms used in developing robot vision system were also reviewed