Virtual Machine Emulation for Legacy Semiconductor Control Systems
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Solution Overview
Problem
Legacy semiconductor process control systems face challenges due to obsolete components, requiring costly and time-consuming requalification and recalibration when process changes occur, and are difficult to upgrade due to rapid technological changes, leading to potential disruptions in semiconductor fabrication.
Innovation Solution
A single board computer (SBC) system that can seamlessly integrate into legacy systems, emulating existing operating systems and interfaces to maintain functionality while providing new capabilities, including improved processing speed, connectivity, and data preservation, allowing for continued operation of legacy tools without source code recompilation and minimal hardware changes.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If legacy semiconductor process control systems use obsolete components, then the system can maintain compatibility with existing processes, but the system becomes difficult to upgrade and requires costly requalification when components fail
Solution Approach 1:
The patent creates a virtual copy of the legacy operating system environment within a modern host system. The virtual machine replicates the exact behavior, timing, and interface characteristics of the obsolete 68xxx-based controller, allowing legacy processes to run unchanged while the physical hardware runs modern operating systems. This copying approach maintains binary compatibility without requiring recompilation of source code.
Solution Approach 2:
The virtual machine acts as an intermediary layer between the legacy control processes and the modern host system. It translates and emulates legacy system calls, interrupts, and hardware interfaces, mediating all interactions between the obsolete software and contemporary hardware, thereby enabling seamless integration without direct modification of legacy components.
2Productivity
If the control system uses modern components with faster processing speed, then productivity improves, but process timing and calibration may be disrupted requiring requalification
Solution Approach 1:
The virtual machine dynamically adjusts timing parameters, clock speeds, and processing intervals to match the exact characteristics of the legacy system. By modifying these parameters in real-time, the system emulates the original processing speed and timing behavior, ensuring that process recipes and calibration data remain valid despite running on modern hardware with inherently different performance characteristics.
3Adaptability or versatility
If legacy systems are upgraded to modern operating systems, then new capabilities and connectivity are gained, but existing processes require source code recompilation and testing
Solution Approach 1:
Instead of modifying or recompiling legacy source code, the system creates a faithful copy of the original operating system environment within a virtual machine. This approach preserves the exact binary execution characteristics of the legacy system, eliminating the need for source code recompilation, re-linking, and extensive retesting, thereby reducing requalification time to minimal validation.
4Reliability
If the system maintains exact replication of legacy environment, then process compatibility is maintained, but the system lacks new features and modern interface capabilities
Solution Approach 1:
The system merges the legacy virtual machine environment with the modern host system, allowing simultaneous operation of legacy processes and new functionality. The host system provides modern capabilities such as enhanced connectivity, improved user interfaces, and advanced processing features, while the virtual machine maintains exact replication of the legacy environment for running existing processes unchanged.
Solution Approach 2:
The host system serves multiple functions: it runs the virtual machine for legacy process control, provides modern operating system capabilities, offers enhanced connectivity and interfaces, and enables new process development. This multi-functional approach allows a single system to simultaneously maintain backward compatibility and provide forward-looking capabilities.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
Enables the continued use of legacy semiconductor fabrication tools with enhanced performance, reduced downtime, and improved reliability by replicating the legacy environment, providing new features and compatibility with modern standards, thus extending the tool's operational life and reducing requalification costs.
Implementation Method 1
DC power is provided from rectifiers
Implementation Method 2
the batteries of bank discharge to provide DC power directly
Data Source
Figure 1
Figure 2
Figure 3A
AI summary
Power supply system (600) supplies power to a semiconductor processing system (200). AC power (610) is converted to DC. The DC current is provided to the semiconductor processing system and also charges a back-up battery (615). Current parameters, parameters of a fan (625) or other parameters are monitored. In case of power dropout, the battery supplies the power to the semiconductor processing system.