Ra. Perez et Sw. Koh, INTEGRATING EXPERT-SYSTEMS WITH A RELATIONAL DATABASE IN SEMICONDUCTOR MANUFACTURING, IEEE transactions on semiconductor manufacturing, 6(3), 1993, pp. 199-206
The designs and implementations of two expert systems for semiconducto
r manufacturing are described and compared. The first expert system is
used for parametric test analysis in a CMOS wafer facility. It is des
igned as a user-interactive system, with all the expert's knowledge in
cluded in one knowledge base. This expert system tightly controls the
flow of information between the knowledge base and the wafer data stor
ed in a relational database. This expert system was implemented using
the Knowledge Engineering Environment shell with interface programs to
INGRES. The second expert system is used for parametric test analysis
in an analog wafer facility. This system is partitioned into several
independent C programs running on-line and continuously communicating
their results through the relational database. The interactive system
ig more flexible in representing expert knowledge and in explaining re
sults, while the on-line system is faster, more open to new module int
egration, and better able to classify and diagnose large volumes of wa
fer data. Important factors that need to be considered for an effectiv
e expert system design in a computer integrated manufacturing environm
ent include user interaction, algorithmic data processing, speed of re
sponse, knowledge representation, explanation capabilities and system
access.