Automated planning and creation of simulation experiments with a domain specific ontology for semiconductor manufacturing AMHS

To successfully manufacture logic and power semiconductors in existing high mix semiconductor factories, fast ramp up phases and frequent product changes are necessary. Especially for power semiconductor production, new manufacturing and automation concepts are required, e.g. regarding the use of other substrates than silicon wafers. To allow a judgment on how an existing automated material handling system (AMHS) can cope with the new challenges or which alterations are required, a material flow simulation is essential. However, the planning and creation of such simulation experiments is difficult because of the systems complexity, the large amount of boundary conditions and the effort of manually modifying and testing many different variants, partially using currently unforeseen automation concepts. In order to assist in this process, the authors suggest a method for rapidly creating valid simulation experiments using an ontology that allows for the reuse of previous experiments and system experts knowledge.