THE MANUFACTURING KNOWLEDGE SYSTEM INTEGRATION FRAMEWORK

THE MANUFACTURING KNOWLEDGE SYSTEM (MKS) IS A PROTOTYPE FRAMEWORK FOR COMPUTER INTEGRATED MANUFACTURING (CIM) OF SEMICONDUCTORS WHICH IS UNDER DEVELOPMENT AT THE STANFORD CENTER FOR INTEGRATED SYSTEMS. THIS SYSTEM IS A SIGNIFICANT STEP FORWARD IN ADDRESING THE ISSUES OF OPENNESS, AVAILABILITY AND MAINTAINABILITY WHICH HAVE LIMITED THE APPLICATION OF CIM TO THE STRATEGICALLY IMPORTANT SEMICONDUCTOR INDUSTRY. WHILE THIS RESEARCH PROGRAM IS STILL UNDERWAY, PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT OF SPECIFIC COMPONENTS OF THE SYSTEM MAY NOW BE UNDERTAKEN AND WILL ACCELERATE THE EFFECTIVE AVAILABILITY OF THIS SOFTWARE TO THE SEMICONDUCTOR INDUSTRY. THIS PROPOSAL ADDRESSES THE NECESSARY ELEMENTSOF TRANSFORMING THE RESULTS OF A BASIC RESEARCH PROGRAM INTO A VIABLEPRODUCT. SPECIFICALLY, PHASE I ADDRESSES THE MARKET RESEARCH AND PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT PLANNING THAT ARE ESSENTIAL PARTS OF ANY NEW PRODUCT INTRODUCTION. THEN, PHASE II IS EXPECTED TO ADDRESS THE CONVERSION ANDDEMONSTRATION OF PROTOTYPICAL SOFTWARE INTO A ROBUST PRODUCT SUITABLEFOR BETA TESTING AT A PLANNED COMMERCIAL SITE AND AT SEMATECH RESULTING IN THE EARLY APPLICATION OF MKS IN INDUSTRY. ANTICIPATED BENEFITS/POTENTIAL COMMERCIAL APPLICATIONS - THIS COUPLING OF THE SBIR PROGRAMWITH ON-GOING BASIC RESEARCH PROVIDES CRITICAL FUNDING FOR TECHNOLOGYTRANSFER THAT OTHERWISE WOULD NOT BE AVAILABLE. IN ADDITION, THE PROPOSED PHASE II DEMONSTRATION AT SEMATECH WILL ACCELERATE THEIR CIM SCHEDULE BY AT LEAST 12 MONTHS AND EXTEND THEIR GOALS BEYOND THE WORK CELL CONTROLLERS TO THE SHOP FLOOR CONTROL LEVEL. THE EARLY AVAILABILITYOF A CIM FRAMEWORK WILL BENEFIT ALL CIM VENDORS BY PROVIDING A MUCH NEEDED STANDARD FOR SYSTEM INTEGRATION.