ISMI offers product assessment to advanced software suppliers
International SEMATECH Manufacturing Initiative (ISMI) announced invitation to suppliers to jointly engage in developing an Advanced Software Tester (AST), an emerging industry utility designed to validate the integration and automation capabilities of advanced factory equipment. The AST is envisioned as a commercial test product that can emulate semiconductor factory environments, allowing equipment makers to determine whether their tools comply with the hundreds of requirements and behaviours established by SEMI automation standards. To help promote development of the utility, ISMI engineers wrote and publicly distributed an AST specification that would meet the needs of ISMI member companies, who represent more than half of the world's semiconductor production capability.
Although several equipment suppliers have the expertise to build AST implementations, ISMI is the only organisation equipped to evaluate such products for industry effectiveness - much the way an independent laboratory tests consumer products for safety and functionality.
ISMI will contract with interested suppliers to perform that function.
"The development of a robust and capable AST for standards conformance testing is a critical enabling technology for the industry," said Steve Fulton, ISMI equipment integration and automation manager.