Safety and EMC compliance with fabrication equipment in semiconductor industry: challenges and solutions

Every technical country is discussing the Internet of Thing technology (IoT). The IoT's major significant trend in recent years is the explosive growth of devices connected and controlled by the internet. Amy Nordrum, technical news journalist even say forecast of 50 billion devices by 2020 is outdated[1]. The IoT involves extending internet connectivity beyond standards devices, such as desktops, laptops, smart phones and tablets, to any range of traditionally dumb or non-internet-enable physical devices and everyday objects. All these electronics devices are manufactured by semiconductor fabrication equipment (SFE). We should clearly understand the regulatory (safety and Electromagnetic compatibility (EMC)) requirement of advanced technological countries like US and European countries to this SFE. This SFE involves numerous high speed, high temperature, and high precision technology. This paper introduces the newest European Union (EU) compliance requirement and Semiconductor Equipment and Materials International (SEMI) safety guidelines and propose a solid approaches that can be taken to bring the SFE to market successfully from a compliance perspective.