Infrastructure for Integrated Electronics Design & Manufacturing (IIEDM) Project

Summary

The IIEDM project seeks to aid the growth of the electronics and semiconductor industries by technical support in two key efforts. First, the project provides expertise in the development of neutral data exchange specifications designed to support distributed supply chain integration and e-manufacturing activities.  Second, the project acts as an impartial forum in the development of standards and assistance in resolving interoperability issues between similar, and often conflicting, standardization efforts.  The neutral nature of NIST allows industry consortia, academic institutions, and standards bodies to utilize the technical expertise of the IIEDM staff to improve their data exchange standards without concerns of favoritism or bias towards one particular technology or standard. This impartiality enables the IIEDM project to work with industry to solve data exchange issues the industry must deal with as a whole. 

Description

To maintain a globally competitive posture, semiconductor and electronics manufacturers are quickening their pace of production and innovation. Electronic products are transitioned rapidly to a commodity status, production sites are constructed and decommissioned in shorter timeframes, and manufacturers are globally outsourcing an expanding scope of production processes – and in some cases, the entire design and production of the product. To achieve the flexibility and quick turn-around they require, manufacturers rely on a distributed supply network and the ability to "mix and match" hardware and software within their own enterprise. This rapid reconfigurability needed by industry depends upon a robust IT infrastructure consisting of standards for collaboration, business process integration, and the exchange of technical data. Industry also needs neutral test beds in which to evaluate new standards and the risks associated with technology adoption.  

This project is working with industry to enable the infrastructure needed to support electronic commerce for both electronic components and manufacturing. The technical areas being addressed by this project are: the ability to accurately describe electronic components and their attributes, how this data is organized and packaged, and how it is accessed and used through a product's lifecycle (from the product design, through its manufacturing, and, ultimately, to its recycling). Development of standards within this domain is crucial in order for U.S. electronics and semiconductor manufacturers to take advantage of the global marketplace. This project assists industry in the development of standards that are critical to the infrastructure, but that no single company will pursue because of the broad-based benefit. Industry and standards groups in Japan and Europe are actively working on electronic commerce and manufacturing related projects. In working with these groups, NIST will try to minimize the overlapping standards development and ensure interoperability between U.S. and international standards.

Major Accomplishments

• Completed IPC 1752 Material Declarations standard (version 2.0) and associated software reference implementation "Scriba."
• Awarded NIST's Rosa Award for outstanding contributions to the development of meaningful and significant engineering, scientific, or documentary standards for the IIEDM Project's work on the IPC 1752 standard.
• Chaired the Product Lifecycle Information Management working group for the development of the iNEMI road mapping.
• Technical program committee co-chair of the 2008 IEEE International Symposium for Precision Clock Synchronization.