Precise Time Synchronization in Semiconductor Manufacturing

Published

October 3, 2007

Author(s)

Vinod Anandarajah, Naveen Kalappa, Julien L. Baboud, Ya-Shian Li-Baboud, James Moyne

Abstract

In today's fabs, coordination of time-based information throughout the factory and enterprise has become necessary. This has driven the need to have time synchronization at all levels of the enterprise. Time synchronization protocols such as Network Time Protocol (NTP) and Precision Time Protocol (PTP) have been defined for performing synchronization over distributed systems. Lack of time synchronization among the various subsystems is seen as a factor of poor data quality in Equipment Data Acquisition (EDA) and Advanced Process Control (APC) analysis. The focus of our study is to investigate the extent and precision of time synchronization that can be practically applied with the available protocols at various levels of the semiconductor factory environment to meet next generation manufacturing requirements. To this end, we describe the objectives, details, and implementation of the simulator that aims to model a semiconductor factory network. This will provide a practical perspective to study the benefits and potential network factors contributing to accuracy degradation of factory-wide time synchronization.

Proceedings Title

2007 International IEEE Symposium on Precision Clock Synchronization for Measurement, Control and Communication

Conference Dates

October 1-3, 2007

Conference Location

Vienna, AT

Pub Type

Conferences

Download Paper

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Keywords

Advanced Process Control, Data Quality, NTP, PTP, Time Synchronization

Citation

Anandarajah, V. , Kalappa, N. , Baboud, J. , Li-Baboud, Y. and Moyne, J. (2007), Precise Time Synchronization in Semiconductor Manufacturing, 2007 International IEEE Symposium on Precision Clock Synchronization for Measurement, Control and Communication, Vienna, AT, [online], https://tsapps.nist.gov/publication/get_pdf.cfm?pub_id=32789 (Accessed March 19, 2025)