Getting started on SEMI F47
What is SEMI F47 standard?
SEMI F47 is an industry standard for voltage sag immunity. It says that industrial equipment must tolerate voltage sags, or dips, on the AC mains supply to specific depths and durations. It is such a good and useful standard that many other industries use it, either formally or informally.
SEMI, the industry association for the semiconductor industry, has developed two voltage sag immunity standards.
- SEMI F47 sets out the required voltage sag tolerance for semiconductor fab equipment.
- SEMI F42 explains how to test compliance with SEMI F47. (PSL helped write SEMI F42.)
In essence, SEMI F47 requires that semiconductor processing equipment tolerate voltage sags on their ac power line. Specifically, they must tolerate sags to 50% for up to 200 ms, sags to 70% for up to 0.5 seconds, and sags to 80% for up to one second. In addition to these requirements, SEMI F47 recommends that equipment tolerate sags to 0% for one cycle, sags to 80% for 10 seconds, and continuous sags to 90%, but these are not part of the requirements.
SEMI F47 suggests that semiconductor manufacturers may use this sag standard when procuring equipment. Major semiconductor manufacturers are beginning to take this approach, including Intel, Texas Instruments, Motorola, IBM, and others.
SEMI F42 explains how to test compliance with F47. It describes safety procedures, processing modes, test sequences, phase connections, and reporting requirements.
SEMI F42 also distinguishes between testing equipment for "characterization" (determining the depth and duration of sags that equipment can tolerate) and "compliance" (a pass/fail test determining if equipment complies with the requirements and recommendations of SEMI F47).
PSL's sag generators are designed specifically to test according to SEMI F47 and SEMI F42.
Equipment that complies with SEMI F47 is more reliable, and more productive.
Why use SEMI F47 ?
The voltage sags required by SEMI F47 typically occur about once per month in semiconductor fabs (fabrication facilities) around the world. So industrial equipment that cannot tolerate these sags typically fails, without explanation, about once per month.
How expensive is SEMI F47 ?
In most cases, it is not necessary to add expensive power conditioning devices to the industrial equipment. Instead, F47 testing by companies like Power Quality Engineering identifies the weak points, and suggests low-cost or zero-cost solutions. These solutions range from minor changes in power supply configuration, to software delays, to different relay and contactor selection.
Useful SEMI F47 links
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A typical SEMI F47 voltage sag (top) and how it affects a power supply (bottom). This problem was fixed by increasing the size of a capacitor, at a cost of a few dollars. |
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| SEMI F47 is an industry standard that sets out, in 6 pages, the requirements for voltage sag immunity in semiconductor fab equipment. |
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A typical SEMI F47 voltage sag (top) and how it affects a power supply (bottom). This problem was fixed by increasing the size of a capacitor, at a cost of a few dollars.
SEMI F47 is an industry standard that sets out, in 6 pages, the requirements for voltage sag immunity in semiconductor fab equipment.
What is SEMI E6 standard?
SEMI E6 power consumption reporting standard.
SEMI E6 is a semiconductor industry standard that tells you exactly how to describe the electric power requirements (among other things) for a piece of equipment. This standard is based on the SEMATECH Utility Consumption Protocol. Approved in March 2003, it is required for most semiconductor manufacturing tools.
Traditionally, equipment manufacturers have simply specified three electric power requirements: the voltage (for example, 208V 3-phase), the frequency (for example, 50/60 Hz), and the current (for example, 200 amp breaker).
However, this is not enough information to allow a buyer to compare, for example, the energy consumption of two different systems. It also doesn’t tell the buyer how much safety margin is built into the requirement for current – perhaps a piece of equipment only needs 150 amps, but it has a 200 amp breaker.
SEMI E6 fixes these problems.
SEMI E6 parameters, graphs
SEMI E6 requires the manufacturer to specify, in a very clear way, the actual watts, volt-amps, peak amps, current THD, and process cycle energy. It also requires the equipment manufacturer to provide a graph of energy consumption during a typical wafer process.
Click-of-a-button SEMI E6 reporting with the Industrial Power Corruptor
The Industrial Power Corruptor’s Power Flow Analysis Option is optimized for SEMI E6, and automatically produces the correct graphs and data for the required SEMI E6 Type 400 Report.
Power Quality Engineering specializes in preparing SEMI E6 reports. Please contact us to get started.
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SEMI E6 requires specialized electric power reports. |
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Record the energy consumption during your industrial process – know where your power is going. Use the drop-down list at the top to see similar graphs for harmonics, power factor, peak current, kVARs, and more.
Optimized for SEMI E6.
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If you are a tool manufacturer for the semiconductor industry, and you need to comply with the new SEMI F47 voltage sag immunity standard, we suggest the following steps:
- Read our Application Notes on the standard. You can get a free SEMI F47 CD-ROM from Power Standards Lab -- just click here (You can download a copy of the standard itself for $50 from www.semi.org.)
- Learn a little on-line about the standard. Take a quick look at our free tutorials, and call us with any questions.
- Hire us for one day of testing. For a few thousand dollars, we'll provide a skilled engineer and specialized test equipment, including a sag generator. In one day at your site, we can typically certify one three-phase tool, and teach your engineers how to do the testing themselves.
- Do the subsequent testing yourself. Buy or rent our sag generators, and test your tools at your convenience.
Give us a call at + 603-7806 4320, and we'll be glad to give you a firm, fixed-price quotation for getting started on SEMI F47 compliance.
