1.   

Gas Cabinets, which are used for supplying high purity gas to the wafer manufacturing (lab) area. To control the Gas Cabinet, AdvanTech Corporation developed an innovative, microprocessor-based device (Controller) designed to be easily mounted on most Gas Cabinets housing one or several gas cylinders. Each Controller is equipped with a microprocessor, analog and digital I/O, operator interface terminal, a number of valves and various instrumentation. The controller is responsible for performing numerous automatic and operator initiated functions such as gas dispensation, cylinder purging, safety checks, alarming, maintenance, communication with a remote Life Safety Systems (LSS), etc. The operator (using an intelligent terminal) has the capability of selecting various operating modes, graphically examining the status of all the instruments, performing instrument calibration, modifying control parameters, manually operating valves, examining and acknowledging local alarms.

2.  

Universal Gas Cabinet Configuration System, which is used for defining unique control and monitoring properties for any generic Gas Cabinet. Using this configuration system AdvanTech's Gas Cabinet Controllers may be utilized with a large variety of dissimilar Gas Cabinets built by different manufacturers and used for dispensation of different gases. To configure (or reconfigure) a controller a PC is connected to the Controller and the operator is guided through the configuration process by responding to a number of questions such as transducer ranges, tare weights, valve quantities, valve configurations, alarm set points, passwords and mode characteristics (number of steps, step intervals, operator actions, valve status).

3.  

Life Safety Systems, which are used for monitoring the status of various equipment, processes, plant conditions, toxic gas leaks, fire, earthquakes and other emergencies in the lab. The main responsibility of LSS is to effectuate automatic emergency plant shutdown functions and alarm notifications. To perform these functions AdvanTech developed an LSS system capable of communicating with a variety of dissimilar equipment used in the semiconductor manufacturing plants. The LSS utilizes analog and digital I/O, ASCII serial ports, Ethernet communications media and telephone modems to flawlessly carryout the required functions.

4. 

Toxic Gas Management Systems (TGMS), which are used for providing gas use information to the operating, quality control, purchasing and management personnel. AdvanTech 's TGMS system consists of an off-the-shelf software package specially configured for this application and distributed on the plant wide Local Area Network (LAN). Utilizing this system, authorized personnel have immediate access to the information concerning remaining availability of gas (in all cylinders), daily, weekly and monthly cylinder usage, date and time of new cylinder installation, etc.