Semiconductor Industry Solution – Power Quality

i-Grid® Voltage Monitor and DySC® Dynamic Sag Corrector Applications

There are sensitive manufacturing environments—and then there is the semiconductor industry. In these complex operations, one tiny blip can disrupt sequencing, damage expensive equipment, create immense delays and material waste, and generate huge cost overruns. And while precision motion controls, optics, temperature controls and clean room integrity all help to safeguard the process and the product, these components are only as good as the power that supplies them.

Clean power can mean the diff erence between fi nished goods and an expensive pile of scrap components and wafers.

The DySC battery-free UPS is SEMI F47 compliant and will ensure that these complex processes get the clean power they need to function at highest effi ciency. Our years of experience working with major semiconductor manufacturers and equipment suppliers have provided unique insights into your challenges as well as eff ective solutions for protecting your facilities and operations.

What can a split-second sag do to your operations? • Compromise clean room integrity• Damage expensive, hard-to-replace equipment• Drop ovens and destroy product• Idle lithography tools• Trip compressed air, cooling water and gas management systems• Create large piles of scrap silicon • Severely compromise fab productivity

Allen-Bradley® Power Quality solutions from Rockwell Automation can help leverage and protect your Integrated Architecture investment and improve uptime in your facility.

i-Sense®

• Diagnose downtime quickly

• Cost-eff ective, permanent monitoring solution

• Easy-to-use Web-based application

DySC

• Prevent downtime by protecting sensitive equipment

• Scalable solution for machine- to facility-wide protection

• Battery-free, environmentally friendly solution

Allen-Bradley i-Sense, i-Grid and DySC solutions allow you to quickly identify and mitigate the impact of power quality events

Allen-Bradley, DySC, i-Grid, i-Sense, LISTEN. THINK. SOLVE. and Rockwell Software are trademarks of Rockwell Automation, Inc. Trademarks not belonging to Rockwell Automation are property of their respective companies.

Success Story: DySC

CHALLENGE

Recognizing that voltage sags were occurring at the average rate of 24 times per year, with more than half of these incidents dropping voltage below 75% of nominal levels, a leading U.S. semiconductor manufacturing facility needed a fast solution. Voltage sags were shutting down tools, requiring cleaning and re-qualifying. Product had to be scrapped or reworked. Work in progress was reset to zero. Often, two full days were required to reestablish nominal operations. As a 24/7/365 manufacturing facility, the loss of two days for each of 12 annual events was having a considerably negative impact on productivity.

SOLUTION

While generators and conventional UPS systems were available, they weren’t deemed the best solution. All options were either rated less than 92% effi cient or would require an interruption in power and operations to install.

We proposed a DySC battery-free UPS and arranged a trial installation on one of the customer’s air handlers. With the success of the trial, the client systematically added more DySCs to the facility, totaling up to more than 10 MVA of DySC protection

RESULTS

While the semiconductor plant is still refi ning their protection scheme, DySCs have transformed voltage sag disruptions into minor inconveniences, and made it easier for plant managers to determine what devices to protect to ensure smooth operation. As more devices ride through the sag events, productivity, effi ciency and profi tability continue to increase.

Success Story: DySC

CHALLENGE

To ensure that their proprietary components function at the highest levels of eff ectiveness, a global leader for semiconductors found in digital televisions were applying the SEMI F47 standards for minimum voltage sag ride-through capability on their production line. However,

voltage sags were interfering with the company’s eff orts to consistently achieve this goal. Their wafers are systematically produced by groupings of tools; masks defi ne the process from tool to tool. In-house technical data confi rmed that short-term voltage sags were knocking out four to fi ve of the main masks, hampering lithography systems, and accounting for 40% of downtime in the facility.

To remain a leader in the fi eld, the company had to consistently achieve SEMI F47 standards as a minimum and prevent voltage sags.

SOLUTIONThanks to previous experience consulting with Rockwell Automation, the client’s personnel were familiar with our DySC product line and its ability to meet or exceed SEMI F47 standards. They also had access to Electric Power Research Institute research that proved our eff ectiveness in improving manufacturing effi ciencies. Armed with this knowledge, the customer asked us to help them prevent voltage sags and improve yields. We installed multiple single-phase DySC battery-free UPSs, ranging in size from 25 to 200 amps.

RESULTSWhile the specifi c data is proprietary, the customer reported a substantial increase in productivity and profi t, and a signifi cant decrease in unplanned downtime. Company offi cials are very pleased with the positive impact on productivity and the return on investment achieved.

Publication 1608-AP003A-EN-P August 2013 Copyright © 2013 Rockwell Automation, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Printed in USA.

i-Sense voltage sag detector

DySC voltage sag corrector

DySC voltage sag corrector