Product category: Electronics Manufacturing Machinery and Materials
News Release from: Cimetrix
Edited by the Electronicstalk Editorial Team on 17 January 2005
Cimetrix wins a dozen new customers
Despite a generally sluggish market in the semiconductor equipment business sector, Cimetrix managed to meet its target to gain 12 new major OEM customers for the year 2004.
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Despite a generally sluggish market in the semiconductor equipment business sector, Cimetrix managed to meet its target to gain 12 new major OEM customers for the year 2004. During the fourth quarter alone, Cimetrix added four new major OEM customers for its CIM300 product family - software used to make 300mm wafer fabrication equipment compatible with industry standard automation connectivity - bringing the year-end total in line with projections. Customers for Cimetrix' newly released Interface A software, CIMPortal, were not included in the 2004 forecasts or this year-end total count.
For Cimetrix, new major OEM customer design wins are of particular significance, as typically they lead to recurring software runtime revenue once the customer has integrated the Cimetrix software into their machines and begins shipping tools.
Currently, Cimetrix's CIM300 is installed and accepted in all major 300mm fabs.
'New expansions for 300mm wafer fabrication demand that any new equipment complies with the latest industry connectivity and automation standards', said Bob Reback, Cimetrix President and CEO.
'The suppliers of 300mm process equipment are busy enough focusing on their core technical competencies, so, increasingly, they are coming to us for the advanced software solutions required to maximise fab productivity and optimise tool utilisation'.
'The semiconductor industry is already through the intersection, long anticipated, where equipment connectivity to factory automation and advanced process control (APC) are crucially important to continued productivity and profitability'.
'We are pleased that Cimetrix products are being so well received, and we will continue to service our customers with the most up-to-date solutions for the ever evolving industry standards'.
'We believe that Cimetrix software and methodology provides a cost effective way for us to significantly shorten our system development cycle and remain in compliance with Semiconductor Equipment and Materials International (Semi) standards', said Robert Stoner, Vice President of Metrology at Zygo Corp.
Zygo, a recent new customer for Cimetrix' CIM300 and CIM300Expert products, provides process metrology solutions for wafer-level packaging and other applications in semiconductor manufacturing.
Today's 300mm wafer fabs require extensive automation to reach profitable yield levels quickly, and the software required to address both 300mm wafer processing automation and to capture process data for APC have increased the importance of robust tool software architectures.
'Automation software must be flexible to adapt to the unique requirements of each fab specification - and reliable through comprehensive testing programs implemented throughout the software lifecycle'.
'Along with top quality technical support and services, Cimetrix is enabling equipment manufacturers' ability to improve yields and increase overall productivity of their tools', said Reback.
Cimetrix' CIM300 software delivers full compliance with 300mm SEMI communication and connectivity standards required by today's 300mm wafer fabrication facilities.
The CIM300Expert product works in conjunction with Cimetrix's CIM300 connectivity software, but adds EFEM logic and interfacing, 300mm standards interfacing and local mode operator interfacing through an easy to use application programming interface (API).
CIM300Expert is targeted at manufacturers of new 300mm tools and bridge tools that can process both 200 and 300mm wafers.
It provides software and services to integrate with the related automation hardware, allowing easy conversion of equipment software to full 300mm compliance in as little as six to eight weeks, reducing time to market while saving significant programming costs.
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