System and method for automatically generating semiconductor equipment communication standard (SECS) message source in SECS communication

A system for automatically generating program sources, each corresponding to a SECS (Semiconductor Equipment Communications Standard) message, the SECS message used in the SECS communications, comprising:

• at least one fabricating equipments for performing semiconductor fabricating processes;
• a manufacture execution system (MES) for supervising progresses and histories of lots, and resources on a semiconductor manufacturing site;
• a database for storing the SECS message and data transferred from the fabricating equipments;
• an equipment server including a SECS message defining unit for generating defined SECS messages by defining the SECS messages for use in control of semiconductor fabricating processes;
• an equipment feature defining unit for defining data on features of the fabricating equipments;
• an equipment group defining unit for generating defined sequence names by defining sequence names involved in the semiconductor fabricating processes and generating defined equipment groups by defining equipment groups by combining the SECS message required for the defined sequence names;
• a communication interface defining unit for defining an interface required for communicating with the fabricating equipments;
• a SECS message source generating unit for automatically performing coding of the SECS message source for the defined equipment groups;
• a test simulation unit for testing the defined SECS messages and the fabricating equipment by means of simulation;
• a network interface card for establishing a physical and logical connection for communications with the other systems;
• and a control unit for controlling overall operations of the system and automatic generation of the SECS message source.

A semiconductor fabrication system, sub-systems of which are geographically dispersed about and connected to each other by a communication network, comprising:

• at least one fabricating equipments for performing semiconductor fabricating processes;
• at least one equipment servers (EQS) for communicating SECS messages with the fabricating equipments connected thereto via the communication network;
• and
• a host computer connected to the communication network for automatically generating the SECS messages used for a SECS message communication between the fabricating equipments and the equipment servers (EQS) in the form of eXtensible Markup Language (XML), and for controlling the SECS message communication between the fabricating equipments and the equipment servers (EQS).