BXi Tool Controller Debuted
-- EDN, July 5, 1999
Austin--Berkeley Process Control Inc. of Richmond, Calif. introduced the BXi controller, an integrated motion and machine control system designed for automated semiconductor process tools.
The BXi will be available beginning in the third quarter; system pricing will be about $10,000 to $12,000. The company will preview the product at next week's Semicon/West '99 exhibition in San Francisco.
The BXi is the first product in what Berkeley calls its Xtreme Control portfolio of semiconductor automation products. The company said the product features eight internally powered servo axes, an expandable 100Mbit Ethernet I/O system and an object-based development environment.
The controller is based on a RISC processor core. The BXi is able to control virtually all servo motor-driven wafer handling equipment, including multi-axis robots, notch aligners and pod door openers, Berkeley said.
The company added that because the controller resides on an Ethernet network, machine data down to the sensor level can be accessed through the corporate intranet or via the Internet.
As the semiconductor industry finally begins making its long-awaited transition to 300mm wafer processing, process toolmakers must be able to quickly develop new tools to stay competitive, the company noted.
The BXi offers a compact automation configuration, measuring approximately 10 inches by 3 inches by 8 inches (250mm x 80mm x 210mm), Berkeley said. There is no point-to-point wiring required, no control panel to build and no low-level software to write, the company added.
The BXi uses the company's MachineWorks development environment, currently running in thousands of motion and machine controllers around the world.
At Semicon/West '98, Berkeley Process Control introduced Autocalibration, a product that allows a wafer-handling robot to locate tool points without the need for operator assistance, reducing this time-intensive processor from several hours to a few minutes, the company said.
Paul Sagues, Berkeley Process Control co-founder and president, said, "By integrating internally powered servo motion and logic in a small package and then adding an Ethernet connection, we are able to eliminate a large amount of intricate wiring and unnecessary user integration effort. And since software ultimately ties all these control elements together, we are able to provide far more software re-use."
