Preventing Costly Downtime in Advanced Manufacturing Machinery with Field-Proven COTS Modules

For firms in the most demanding areas of electronics manufacturing, such as semiconductor production and advanced packaging, technology plays a critical role in operations. For example, the semiconductor manufacturing process involves swift, repetitive and careful procedures performed on delicate materials. A single semiconductor wafer contains hundreds to many thousands of individual IC chips, and automated inspection equipment is used to examine and analyze these wafers for visible defects.

Companies that develop equipment for semiconductor manufacturers to use in their production lines, therefore, face challenging objectives. Machinery used in semiconductor manufacturing must enable rapid and reliable manufacturing, and provide 24/7 availability to handle grueling production schedules. Any downtime can have major product delivery and financial repercussions, meaning any technological component powering a piece of machinery has the potential to cause major disruption and must be carefully selected.

A firm that manufactures machinery for semiconductor production turned to Curtiss-Wright after a VME computing module powering equipment in its product line abruptly went obsolete, looking for a new solution that could not only replace the old but also provide upgraded functionality, such as enhanced vision processing and improved throughput. Three key pieces of criteria were quickly identified: the solution needed to deliver higher levels of performance, the highest levels of reliability, and a low-risk product lifecycle.

Read about the solution Curtiss-Wright developed and the results achieved in our case study - download the case study to learn more.