Intel to use wireless sensors for IC-equipment maintenance

SANTA CLARA, Calif. -- In what could eventually save millions of dollars in chip-production costs, Intel Corp. is planning to leverage its wireless sensor technology within its own fabs for a new application: semiconductor-equipment maintenance.

Intel is still in the R&D stages with the technology, but the company one day hopes to deploy wireless sensors or "motes" for what it calls "pre-emptive maintenance applications" in fab gear.

The goal is to use the technology to measure vibration signatures--and to identify maintenance problems--for semiconductor-production equipment via a wireless network, said Lakshman Krishnamurthy, principal investigator with the Ecosense Research Project within Intel's R&D group.

Wireless sensor technology is expected to reduce downtime and failures for fab equipment, Krishnamurthy said. "We could save hundreds and millions of dollars," he said during a press event at the company's headquarters on Tuesday afternoon.

The technology could represent a breakthrough in fab-tool maintenance, according to analysts. Intel claims it has demonstrated the ability to save $10 million in fab-tool maintenance costs--in just one month.

Intel is believed to be one of the first chip companies to talk about wireless sensors in fab-equipment applications, said Nathan Brookwood of market watcher Insight64 in Saratoga, Calif. "This is new stuff," he told Silicon Strategies at the event. On the downside, Brookwood also pointed out that wireless technology could face some potential problems, given the noise-level with semiconductor-production equipment in fabs.

A bridge over a 'mote'

Meanwhile, Intel has been talking about its efforts in wireless sensor technology for some time. In 2001, Intel demonstrated what it called the "Ad Hoc Network" project, which is being researched by the company, in conjunction with the University of California at Berkeley.

The project involves the use of tiny sensor-like systems, dubbed "motes." Each mote consists of Intel's XScale processor, a wireless radio-frequency device, and an operating system called "Tiny OS." Each "mote" is linked to a wireless network, which collects and gathers information to a main system.

At today's event, Intel described several applications for data collection via wireless sensors or motes. For example, the company is involved in a project that monitors the vibrations at the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco, according to Krishnamurthy. Intel also believes it can deploy the technology within its own fabs, in which it will take a step-by-step approach over time, he said.

Currently, however, fab-tool maintenance is costly. The company uses fab operators to calibrate, measure, and maintain chip-equipment within its fabs. Much of this work is done manually, which is a time consuming and expensive process.

Some of this work is also processed via wired networks. Intel has deployed some 4,000 sensors within its existing fabs and IC-equipment for maintenance applications as well. However, these off-the-shelf sensors, which are developed and sold by Wilcoxon Research Inc., are not wireless-enabled devices.

Fab workers must physically connect PDAs to these sensors in order to extract data from a particular fab tool. Then, the line worker must download the data to a computer, by using a software program developed by Rockwell, dubbed Ensure.

In the future, Intel plans to go wireless via motes. In doing so, the company plans to place or glue a mote on top of a sensor from Wilcoxon, thereby enabling a wireless network. The mote is geared to gather data on a fab tool via a wireless network.

A combination sensor/mote unit, for example, could be placed on a fab tool. It could also be placed on a ball-bearing within a fab tool, thereby enabling the company to monitor the vibration signitures of that part, according to Intel.

At present, Intel can use a third-party mote, based on a wireless chip from Chipcon AS of Oslo, Norway. Chipcon's chip is reportedly based on the 2.4-GHz unlicensed ISM band. Intel's own motes are based on Bluetooth wireless technology, it was noted.

So far, Intel is only in the testing phases with the technology. It has deployed its combination sensor/mote units within an office building in Hillsboro, Ore. By year's end, however, the company will deploy and test the mote technology within its so-called CUB-3 facility in Hillsboro, which is a staging area that resembles a fab.

"If that is successful, we will deploy it in all of our fabs," Krishnamurthy said in an interview with Silicon Strategies. No timetable was given for the deployment in fabs, but the benefits are obvious. "The key benefit is that we can easily obtain data that allows pre-equipment maintenance," he added.