RFID REAL-TIME INFORMATION SYSTEM ACCOMMODATED TO SEMICONDUCTOR SUPPLY CHAIN

• US 20090114714A1
• Filed: 05/15/2008
• Published: 05/07/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 11/07/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Chipmos Technologies Incorporated (Chipmos)
• Original Assignee: Chipmos Technologies Incorporated (Chipmos)
• Inventors: Lee, Yi-Chang, Huang, Pin-Hsun, Liu, An-Hong, Wang, Chih-Hsiang, Hsu, Wen-Cheng, Cho, Yi-fang, Huang, Cheng-Fang
• Granted Patent: US 8,550,345 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 235/376
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/08 Logistics, e.g. warehousing, loading or distribution; Inventory or stock management

Abstract

This invention provides an RFID real-time information system accommodated to a semiconductor supply chain for exchanging real-time information. The RFID real-time information system is characterized by comprising an RFID middleware module for generating a stock and logistic information corresponding to a plurality of carriers and wafers from a tag information; a manufacturing information module for storing an object information corresponding to the plurality of wafers; a real-time information module for integrating the RFID middleware module with the manufacturing information module to generate real-time information corresponding to the plurality of wafers and carriers; and a business-to-business (B2B) e-commerce module comprising a plurality of B2B servers respectively disposed in vendors in the semiconductor supply chain for connecting and exchanging the real-time information through a standard protocol of e-commerce.

Claims

1. An RFID real-time information system accommodated to a semiconductor supply chain for exchanging real-time information corresponding to a plurality of wafers across the semiconductor supply chain, wherein the semiconductor supply chain essentially comprises at least one wafer vendor, at least one wafer testing vendor and at least one packaging vendor, each said vendor having a predetermined space provided with a plurality of carriers, in which each said carrier is used to hold at least one wafer, the RFID real-time information system accommodated to the semiconductor supply chain being characterized by comprising:

a plurality of RFID tags, attached respectively to the carriers, wherein each said RFID tag has a tag information;

a plurality of RFID readers, distributed in the predetermined space of each said vendor for reading or writing the tag information corresponding to each said carrier from or into a corresponding said RFID tag via radio frequency;

an RFID middleware module, for generating from the tag information a stock and logistic information corresponding to the carriers and the wafers;

a manufacturing information module, for storing an object information corresponding to the wafers;

a real-time information module, for integrating the RFID middleware module with the manufacturing information module to generate real-time information corresponding to the carries and the wafers; and

a business-to-business (B2B) e-commerce module, comprising a plurality of B2B servers disposed respectively in the vendors of the semiconductor supply chain for connecting and exchanging the real-time information through a standard protocol of e-commerce.

2. The RFID real-time information system accommodated to the semiconductor supply chain as claimed in claim 1, wherein the real-time information comprises a first real-time information at an end of the wafer vendor, a second real-time information at an end of the wafer testing vendor and a third real-time information at an end of the packaging vendor, in which the first real-time information represents logistic information corresponding to the wafers;

the second real-time information represents logistic information, testing information and stock information corresponding to the wafers; and

the third real-time information represents logistic information corresponding to the wafers.

3. The RFID real-time information system accommodated to the semiconductor supply chain as claimed in claim 2, wherein the standard protocol of e-commerce uses an eXtensible Markup Language (XML) as an e-commerce data exchange interface.

4. The RFID real-time information system accommodated to the semiconductor supply chain as claimed in claim 2, wherein the manufacturing information module manages a testing process-related legacy application selected from the group consisting of a an enterprise resource planning (EPR) system, a manufacturing execution system (MES), an automated work-in-process (auto-WIP) system, an auto-setup system, an e-Run card system and an automated electronic data analysis (EDA) system.

5. The RFID real-time information system accommodated to the semiconductor supply chain as claimed in claim 2, wherein the RFID middleware module further comprises a data transmission protocol and a driver program for connecting with the RFID readers.

6. The RFID real-time information system accommodated to the semiconductor supply chain as claimed in claim 5, wherein the data transmission protocol is selected from the group consisting of RS-232, Ethernet, USB and WLAN.

7. The RFID real-time information system accommodated to the semiconductor supply chain as claimed in claim 2, wherein each said carrier is selected from the group consisting of a cassette, a front-opening unified pod (FOUP), a front-opening shipping box (FOSB), a trolley and a probe card box.

8. The RFID real-time information system accommodated to the semiconductor supply chain as claimed in claim 2, wherein the stock information comprises an information regarding locations of the carriers or the wafers at a receiving dock, a shipping dock, a tester, an N₂ cabinet, a cart or trolley or carrier cart, or in a building.

9. The RFID real-time information system accommodated to the semiconductor supply chain as claimed in claim 2, wherein the tag information comprises a tag ID, a carrier or Lot ID, a customer ID, a wafer part ID, a wafer ID, a wafer quantity, a good die quantity and a probe card ID.

10. The RFID real-time information system accommodated to the semiconductor supply chain as claimed in claim 2, wherein the RFID tags are passive or active.

11. The RFID real-time information system accommodated to the semiconductor supply chain as claimed in claim 2, wherein the RFID middleware module further provides an index key, with which the B2B e-commerce module conducts an information query about a specific said wafer.

12. The RFID real-time information system accommodated to the semiconductor supply chain as claimed in claim 11, wherein the index key is selected from the group consisting of a tag ID, a carrier or Lot ID, a customer ID, a wafer part ID, a wafer ID and a probe card ID.

13. The RFID real-time information system accommodated to the semiconductor supply chain as claimed in claim 2, wherein the RFID readers are further connected to an alarm device so as to allow an operator to conduct a real-time surveillance.

14. The RFID real-time information system accommodated to the semiconductor supply chain as claimed in claim 8, wherein the RFID readers are further connected to an alarm device so as to allow an operator to conduct a real-time surveillance, in which the alarm device is installed at the receiving dock, the shipping dock, or an entrance or exit of the building.

15. The RFID real-time information system accommodated to the semiconductor supply chain as claimed in claim 2, wherein the predetermined space is within a range where the RFID tags can be read by any adjacent said RFID reader as a radio frequency signal.

16. The RFID real-time information system accommodated to the semiconductor supply chain as claimed in claim 2, wherein the carriers are each attached with a plurality of said RFID tags.

17. The RFID real-time information system accommodated to the semiconductor supply chain as claimed in claim 2, wherein the semiconductor supply chain further comprises an IC design vendor, and the real-time information further comprises a fourth real-time information at an end of the IC design vendor, the fourth real-time information representing logistic information, testing information and stock information corresponding to the wafers.

18. An RFID real-time information system accommodated to a semiconductor supply chain for exchanging real-time information corresponding to a plurality of semiconductor objects among vendors in the semiconductor supply chain, wherein each said vendor has a predetermined space provided with a plurality of carriers, in which each said carrier is used to hold at least one said semiconductor object, the RFID real-time information system accommodated to the semiconductor supply chain being characterized by comprising:

a plurality of RFID tags, attached respectively to the carriers and the semiconductor objects, wherein each said RFID tag has a tag information;

a plurality of RFID readers, distributed in the predetermined space of each said vendor for reading or writing the tag information corresponding to each said carrier and each said semiconductor object from or into corresponding said RFID tags via radio frequency;

an RFID middleware module, for generating from the tag information a stock and logistic information corresponding to the carriers and the semiconductor objects;

a manufacturing information module, for storing an object information corresponding to the semiconductor objects;

a real-time information module, for integrating the RFID middleware module with the manufacturing information module to generate real-time information corresponding to the carriers and the semiconductor objects; and

a B2B e-commerce module, comprising a plurality of B2B servers disposed respectively in the vendors of the semiconductor supply chain for connecting and exchanging the real-time information through a standard protocol of e-commerce;

wherein the real-time information comprises an information corresponding to the semiconductor objects selected from the group consisting of;

a logistic information, a testing information and a stock information.

19. The RFID real-time information system accommodated to the semiconductor supply chain as claimed in claim 18, wherein each said semiconductor object is a wafer, a probe card or a photomask.