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SEMI S2/S8
OVERVIEW
- What is SEMI?
- SEMI S2/S8
- The SEMII S2 Safety Philosphy
- SEMI S2 Guideline
- Semiconductor Equipment and European Regulations
- The Purpose of SEMI S2
- Key Documents referenced during the SEMI Assessment
- List of Documents for the SEMI Assessment
- Tracer Gas Testing
- Risk Assessment Support
What is SEMI?
SEMI (Semiconductor Equipment and Materials International) is an international trade association that represents suppliers of semiconductor and flat panel display equipment and materials.
SEMI's central goal is to help its members expand their global marketing opportunities and improve access to their customers and industry, government and civil leaders. SEMI provides an open forum for developing quality and safety standards for the semiconductor and flat panel display equipment and materials industries.
SEMI S2/S8
Due to a heightened industry awareness of safety and liability, the SEMI S2 Guideline, developed for semiconductor machine assessment, is quickly becoming the de facto U.S. and world-wide safety criteria for equipment used in semiconductor manufacturing processes. Semiconductor machine buyers such as Intel, Texas Instruments and Motorola, are now specifying third-party assessment according to SEMI S2 as a requirement in their contracts.
SEMI S2 also refers to conformity requirements for the European safety directives (MSD, LVD) that must be met for the CE marking
SEMI S2 requires conformity to the European directives and standards that must be met for the CE Marking. Products that conform to the applicable European Norms (ENs) are presumed to conform with the essential requirements of the directives. The complexity of the equipment in question determines the scope of the project. Semiconductor equipment is generally classified in one of two categories: Electrical Products and Machinery
The SEMI S2 Safety Philosophy
- Guidelines & standards should (must) be used during design and construction of process equipment, to help eliminate known safety and health hazards inherent in operation and maintenance.
- No single point failure or operational error should allow immediate exposure of personnel.
- Equipment should be fail-safe or of a fault-tolerant design.
- Guidelines define the minimum safety considerations for areas of concern:
chemical hazards, radiation hazards, electrical hazards, physical hazards, mechanical hazards, environmental hazards, fire and explosions, seismic activity hazards, ventilation, ergonomics - All electrical components and wiring should [shall] be designed to conform with the most recent electrical code for the country of use.
- United States: NEC/NFPA 70, NFPA 79
- Japan: JIS
- Europe: IEC 60950, IEC 60204-1
- United States: NEC/NFPA 70, NFPA 79
- Critical electrical/electronic components (whose failure could increase the risk of electrical shock, fire, or personnel injury) should [shall] be listed or recognized by a nationally recognized testing laboratory.
TÜV Rheinland together with Clayton Environmental Consultants (a division of Clayton Group Services, Inc.) offers clients comprehensive SEMI S2 assessment and certification services along with our CE marking service. Our expert team has the in-depth machine safety experience to handle your assessment needs.
SEMI S2 Guideline
http://www.semi.org. SEMI S8 was also rewritten and the new version, S8-1103 has been published.
SEMI S2 addresses semiconductor machines and the potential health and safety hazards involved, such as chemical, radiation, electrical, physical, mechanical, environmental, fire, earthquake, exhaust, ergonomics, and others. Issues of quality, documentation and manuals are also briefly discussed. When using SEMI S2, keep in mind that S2 is a "guideline" that relies heavily on standards and other interpretative guides and checklists utilized during machines assessment. These include SEMATECH, ANSI, OSHA, ECKEN, NFPA, FDA, CDRH, NIOSH and others.
Clause 14 of SEMI S2 requires an ergonomics evaluation as part of the S2 assessment and refers to the SEMI S8 Guideline for the review. Ergonomics (i.e., for machine loading/unloading, maintenance, manuals, etc.) must be evaluated unless there is only minimal operator intervention (i.e., for machine loading/unloading).
Several sections of the SEMI S2 guideline address environmental health and safety (EH&S) issues. Examples of such issues are proper chemical hazard warning, exhaust air and wastewater, characterization, employee exposure to noise, radiation and airborne chemicals, and exhaust ventilation rates. Only certified EH&S professionals should do these specialized evaluations of a machine. US industry standards for S2's EH&S assessment include SEMATECH, FDA, ANSI, CDRH, OSHA, NIOSH and others.
Semiconductor Equipment and European Regulations
In 2003, S2 was revised to 0703 adding the Low-Voltage and Machinery Directives as "Related Information 1." Conformity to these European directives and their related standards is now mandatory for all semiconductor machines.
The Purpose of SEMI S2
The SEMI S2 Guideline (S2) is intended as a minimum set of performance based environmental, health, and safety considerations for equipment used in semiconductor manufacturing. S2 is intended to be "performance-based."
- Specific codes and standards to meet specific requirements are referred to in S2.
- While the S2 document is considered to be a set of guidelines, the SEMATECH member companies intend these suggestions to be required.
- These guidelines apply to equipment used in the manufacturing, metrology, assembly, and testing of semiconductor products.
- This handbook applies to any process that is directly related to IC production. This includes IC wafer processing, assembly, test, R&D, etc.
- The term "should" used in the S2 Guideline must be considered as "shall" in most cases.
Key Documents referenced during the SEMI Assessment
1. SEMI S2-0703 - Safety Guideline for Semiconductor Manufacturing Equipment.
2. SEMI S8-1103 - Safety Guideline for Ergonomics/Human Factors Engineering of semiconductor Manufacturing Equipment.
3. S8-1103 SESC Equipment Design Checklist (S8 supplement)
4. "SEMATECH Application Guide 2.0 for SEMI S2-0703 and SEMI S8-1103" - Interpretive Guide for SEMI S2-0703 and SEMIS8-1103
5. NEC National Electric Code (NFPA 70)
6. NFPA 79
7. EN 60 204-1 -Safety of Machinery-Electrical Equipment of Machines (General Requirements)
8. EN 292-1/-2 - Safety of Machinery - Basic Concepts, General Principles for Design.
9. EN 1050 Machinery Risk Assessment.
10. UFC Uniform Fire Code
11. UBC Uniform Building Code
12. SEMI International Standards 1996 (when needed) (books of all SEMI standards and guidelines)
13. Others as necessary
List of Documents for the SEMI Assessment
The following documents are needed at the time of the inspection in order to perform an effective assessment. For details regarding which information is required, please refer to the relevant section of SEMI S2.
Tracer Gas Testing
Tracer Gas Testing is widely accepted as a means of confirming the adequacy of the exhaust ventilation system for semi-conductor equipment and is recommended in SEMI S2 as a method for assessing exhaust ventilation systems. The test procedures are described in detail in SEMI F15.
This test is indispensable for assessing the safety of semi-conductor equipment that uses hazardous chemical substances.
We, TÜV Rheinland Japan, conduct Tracer Gas Testing as an integral part of our safety assessment for semi-conductor equipment.
In addition, the conduct of Tracer Gas Testing is useful for optimizing the design of exhaust ventilation systems.
Risk Assessment Support Service
The European Directives under the New Approach require the manufacturer to prepare a Risk Assessment for his product.
EN 1050 is an applicable standard. Here we describe the approach and possible methods.
For evaluations to SEMI S2, performance of a Risk Assessment is required as well. A guideline can be found in SEMI S10.
TUV Rheinland Japan offers support for this task from the beginning of design or from later production stages. We will guide you through the process, compile the required information together with you and provide you with a printed Risk Assessment summary report for your Technical Construction File.
A proper risk assessment during the design stage will lead to a cost efficient implementation of safety features and also help to reduce costs by avoiding the implementation of unnecessary safety features.
For preparation of the Risk Assessment it is of great importance that all aspects are considered. In order to do that a systematic approach is necessary and experience in doing such assessments will significantly reduce time spent on the task. A proper risk assessment may also lead to valuable guidance for a safe design.
We offer to support manufacturers with our extensive knowledge and experience as the market leader for safety assessment for European Directives such as the Machinery Directive.
The risk assessment takes on average a 1-day meeting at your facility, with the design engineers present and preferably a comparable product available.
The compilation of the Risk Assessment report takes about a week after that.
Meetings to prepare for the Risk Assessment, where we explain the approach and which documents will be required can be arranged upon request.
