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PROGRAM 2021

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You can read the abstracts and biographies below

System architecture of Quadra: high-throughput 3D metrology equipment for semiconductor process control

In the semiconductor industry, Moore’s law comes with increasing and complex demands and the need for advanced process control metrology. Nearfield Instruments fulfilled these needs with their high-throughput scanning probe metrology (HT-SPM) systems. By rigorously adhering to an agile approach architecting and engineering methodology and promoting the concept of a minimum viable product, Nearfield Instruments developed, integrated, tested, and subsequently shipped their first QUADRA to a leading semiconductor fab.

Nearfield Instruments designed the mechatronics architecture of QUADRA to fulfill three high-level requirements:

  • Meeting extremely tight performance requirements of semiconductor process control, suitable for high-aspect-ratio, dense 3D structures (Logic, DRAM, and 3DNAND).
  • Increasing the throughput of scanning probe metrology to a level that constructs a significant lever in the semiconductor production line.
  • Full automation of the system with interface to the factory control software or manufacturing execution systems.

Besides meeting the above high-level requirements, QUADRA’s architecture should balance the system’s performance, manufacturability, and serviceability. The architecture’s modularity also impacts spare parts strategy, scalability to be used as a platform for future products, and last but not least, cost of ownership of the system, including the required fab space.

Another vital aspect of the development was software architecture, which must support overall machine development aligned with the hardware architecture. This architecture resulted in several division layers, from the lowest layer for real-time control to the top layer, the machine control layer, to coordinate all systems’ functions.

To successfully develop and introduce a highly complex system like QUADRA, careful consideration of our resources and what we also need to outsource from the existing high-tech industrial landscape was necessary.

In this talk, the following topics will be presented:

  • Major requirements for product development in the semiconductor industry
  • Architecture of QUADRA (including software) and faced challenges and solutions
  • Impact of the system architecture on outsourcing strategy to high tech supply chain

Dr. Hamed Sadeghian:

Hamed Sadeghian received his PhD (Cum Laude) in 2010 from Delft University of Technology. Four years later he received an MBA degree from the Vlerick Business School in Belgium. He is the founder (2001) of Jahesh Poulad Co., a manufacturer of mechanical equipment.

Hamed worked as a system architect and leaded a team of thirty researchers in nano-optomechatronics instrumentation at TNO in Delft from 2011 to 2018. He was also appointed as a principal scientist and Kruyt member of TNO. In 2016 he co-founded Nearfield Instruments and is currently president & chief technology officer at this scale-up that recently sold its first metrology instrument to a high-end chip manufacturer.

Hamed Sadeghian is a part time associate Professor at the Technical University of Eindhoven. He holds more than 70 patents, and published over 100 peer-reviewed technical papers. 

System engineering in relation to chickens

Ger Schoeber will present about his system engineering experience in relation to chickens at his former employer Hotraco. Since January of this year Ger joined Lightyear, the startup that is in a race to bring its electric vehicles to the market.

Reference architecting lessons learned with TEM microscopes at Thermo Fisher Scientific

In this webinar, Jelena Marincic will present a project in which Thermo Fisher Scientific and ESI partnered to design a transmission electron microscope (TEM) reference architecture. In an industry-as-a-laboratory approach, she worked together with TEM system architects to design their reference architecture. In parallel, the ESI team took lessons learned from this exercise to develop a more generally applicable method for reference architecture design, which can be used for many complex high-tech systems.

A reference architecture describes technical aspects of a system, the essence of all product variants, families and product lines. A more complete reference architecture also takes into account the business imperative driving technical decisions. Modeling both the technical and business sides pays off in increased reuse and efficiency through the whole life cycle of a system.

Jelena Marincic is a senior research fellow with Embedded Systems Innovation (ESI), a part of the Netherlands Organisation for applied scientific research (TNO). She conducts applied research in an industrial context in the domains of system architecting and model-based system engineering. 

Before joining ESI in 2019, she worked six years as a model-based software design expert at Altran (now Capgemini Engineering). Her primary role was to support the introduction of model-based software techniques to ASML. Before that, she worked as a researcher and a software engineer. The common denominator of her career has been the topic of designing good quality models that reflect the multidisciplinary nature of systems.

Introducing trinity – implementing MBSE into your organisation

The use of MBSE as an approach to realising successful Systems Engineering is becoming more prevalent as time goes on, leading to an anticipation that the INCOSE 2025 Vision that all Systems Engineering will be model based is looking increasingly likely.

Whilst the theory and practice of MBSE is becoming more mature, one of the biggest obstacles in realising the full benefits of an MBSE approach is how it is implemented in an organisation.

This talk is about implementing MBSE in an organisation, and draws on the authors’ decades of experience applying and deploying MBSE in companies of all sizes and introduces the Trinity approach to MBSE implementation. The three main considerations of implementation that form the heart of the Trinity approach are introduced as: reason, capability and evolution.

  • The reason behind wanting to implement MBSE is discussed by considering the context of the implementation. The reason, or the ‘why’ of MBSE is crucial and will drive all of our implementation activities.
  • The key aspects of MBSE that must be considered to establish MBSE capability are introduced in the form of the MBSE-in-a-slide diagram. This introduces the importance of the approach, the system and the notation. This is then expanded to include tools and best practice. This allows us to identify the capability of an organisation in terms of their current MBSE activities and their aspirations.
  • Once the capability has been covered, the concept of the evolution of MBSE is introduced as comprising five important stages, each of which has a number of outcomes associated with it. The organisation’s current stage and desired stage, based on the reason and capability considerations, are identified. The transition from one stage to another is then covered by identifying typical actions that must be undertaken when evolving MBSE from the starting stage to the final desired stage.

These three aspects come together to form the Trinity of MBSE implementation.

We will also describe some of the techniques that may be used to achieve an understanding of each, such as RAVEnS and TeamStorming

Prof Jon Holt is an internationally recognized expert in the field of Model-Based Systems Engineering (MBSE). He is an international award-winning author and public speaker and has authored 15 books on MBSE and its applications. Since 2014 he has been a Director and consultant for Scarecrow Consultants, who are ‘outstanding in the field of MBSE’. Jon is also a Professor of Systems Engineering at Cranfield University, where he is involved with the teaching of and research into MBSE. He is a Fellow of both the IET and the BCS and is a Chartered Engineer and Chartered IT Professional. Holt is currently the Technical Director of INCOSE UK, where he is responsible for all technical activities and, in 2015, was identified as one of the 25 most-influential Systems Engineers in the last 25 years by INCOSE. Jon is also actively involved in the promotion of Science Technology Engineering and Mathematics (STEM), where he uses magic, mind-reading and occasional escapology to promote Systems Engineering at Festivals, Cabarets, radio shows and other STEM events. He has also authored the children’s STEM book “Think Engineer,” which is published by INCOSE UK.

Systems engineering for high-tech equipment: making an implicit strength explicit

Our region is world-class in the multidisciplinary development and manufacturing of state-of-the-art, high-tech equipment. Development of the equipment is done in highly multidisciplinary teams using proven but implicit systems engineering (SE) processes. Because of the implicit nature, it is difficult to train students in these processes, let alone research these processes to further improve them. Hence the paradoxical situation that despite us being world-class in what we do, we don’t have explicit programs to train systems engineering for high-tech equipment at our universities. This we need to change.

At TU Eindhoven, we have been taking steps to define the outline of training in systems engineering and systems thinking for all programs, including undergraduate, graduate, PDEng and PhD programs. Discussions on this topic are facilitated by the TUE office for educational policy, together with the educational directors for the various programs. From HTSC, we contribute by formulating educational targets based on our industrial experience and the needs we have identified in our companies and our network.

Recently, we have discussed our findings with a small group of professionals from Brainport-based high-tech companies. We have identified challenges that are specific for our high-tech equipment activities and discussed findings from a short study trip to Canada and the US. We have identified some local flavors of SE and discussed the difference between systems engineers and systems architects. Based on these discussions, we agreed on a set of challenges that companies face and can likely be solved by better systems engineering.

In the presentation, I will give an overview of these findings and discuss possible steps forward.

Ton Peijnenburg is a research fellow at the High Tech Systems Center (HTSC) that performs fundamental research and design of new concepts and prototypes for high-tech equipment. His main affiliation is with VDL Enabling Technologies Group, where he is the deputy managing director for the Technology & Development group. At HTSC, Ton Peijnenburg is concerned with the development of collaborative research programs for industrially relevant areas. In addition, the implementation of systems thinking in research and development environments has his attention. The key question on how to train system engineers needs to be specifically addressed for the high-tech equipment domain.

Sustainability’s rising impact on System Engineering

Under growing pressure from environmental impacts, resource constraints and increased demand from a developing world, sustainability became a new and important requirement system engineering is facing. The things engineers create will impact the world we live in greatly. To help solve the global issues we face today, it’s important to design products and services that help people and the world. Now more than ever.

Creating circular inventions can mean inventing a technology which whole purpose is sustainability (like carbon sequestration or eliminating waste) or it can mean improving the environmental impacts of ordinary products. From material choice to energy use, to changing users’ lifestyles. For many companies, being environmentally responsible also means good business. By using a mindset of “inventing circular,” you can: save material costs with more efficient production methods; reduce liability risks associated with the manufacture or disposal of toxic materials; and meet customers demand for products that are safer for their families or less energy-intensive to use.

In this presentation Jeroen Rondeel will introduce the impact of sustainability on System Engineering.

Jeroen Rondeel, founder and CEO of Blue Engineering B.V. studied aeronautical engineering (Inholland) and business administration at the Radboud University.

Blue Engineering is a multidisciplinary engineering company. Our purpose is a better world based on sustainable engineering. Blue Engineering is a progressive company where Holacracy is a way of working and a way of thinking. At the moment Blue Engineering is pursuing B-Corporation certification.

Digital twins for concept benchmarking in feed plants

Digital twins are a valuable means to predict the logistics, bottlenecks and output of factory layouts. Building a digital twin is still a time consuming process that requires both software programming skills and knowledge of the customer processes.

When the conceptual solutions are still partially open, it is almost impossible to generate twins for each concept. Our research has focussed on the creation of models and generation algorithms to synthesize and run digital twins to enable benchmarking of concepts in the earliest stages of factory planning.

A library has been composed with proven concepts as well as more innovative solutions. Scripts support the configuration of factories with solutions from this library. The generated twins can be injected with production scenarios and the performance of the twins can be compared and benchmarked. ROI estimation for the customer is supported by addition of the equipment cost. Implementation and validation is subject of the master thesis assignment by Noud Bennenbroek from the Technical University of Eindhoven, who will give a live demonstration of the achievements.

Michiel Willemse MSc PhD, born 1968, Mechanical Engineering at Delft University, has been working at a range of hightech companies in the Brainport region. Currently he is employed at KSE Process Technology, where he leads the innovation of the product portfolio. KSE serves the global feed industry with factory control software and dosing equipment. He introduced data analysis as extension of the software to quantify the value of the software and to improve customer operation. He applies digital twinning to predict new installations and to investigate operational changes before real implementation. Currently he focusses on integration of digital twinning and automated generation of control software.

An MBSE configuration model as linking pin between product development and sales

 

Alexandr Vasenev is an experienced systems architecting researcher. Over the last decade he participated in projects on developing and applying design methodologies for companies like Thermo Fischer Scientific, DAF, Philips, and Vanderlande. His interests include eliciting requirements, analyzing systems, and creating user-oriented solutions for practicable innovations. His work focuses on identifying practical methods to create and apply reference architecturing and model-based systems engineering solutions.

 

Engineering challenges in Pixalux, a high-output mini-LED placement machine

Recently, Kulicke & Soffa has successfully introduced Pixalux, a high-output machine for placing mini-LEDs. Mini-LEDs are used, for example, in backlighting units of LCD screens. Because of the high number of mini-LEDs in a product, new technologies had to be developed to place them at a very high rate (> 50 Hz).

The engineering team at Kulicke & Soffa in Eindhoven developed this machine in collaboration with a startup company (responsible for the (patented) process to place mini-LEDs at (potential) high speed) and a customer (that adopted the mini-LED technology to be used in their new generation of products).

The presentation will focus on the (system) engineering challenges the team faced in developing a high-output machine in a very short time (< 1.5 year) with changing targets.

Rik van der Burg is working at Kulicke & Soffa Netherlands (former Philips EMT – Assembleon) Within the systems engineering department, he is responsible for the motion control technology applied in the surface mount technology (SMT) and mini-LED placement machines developed over the last 20 years.

PAS2500, a stunning adventure, but ultimately no more than a lifeline for ASML

ASML, founded in 1984, brought its first machine, the PAS2500, to market in 1986. On the one hand, the development was a success. On the other hand, the PAS2500 did not distinguish itself sufficiently from Canons and Nikons machines. The PAS2500 was a lifeline that kept the young Dutch litho company alive for ten years, but nothing more.

That said, the development and production (within two years) was a stunning achievement. This required turning an inward-looking team of Philips engineers into a team that had to translate customer wishes into a competitive machine that could compete with the top of the market. To do this, ASML also had to set up a supply chain, because it did not have factories.

In this presentation, René Raaijmakers talks about the circumstances under which the PAS2500 came about, how ASML’ers started listening to the market and how that ultimately translated into a wafer stepper. The lessons learned are still useful in today’s high-tech development practice.

René Raaijmakers (Oirschot, 1960) started working as a science journalist immediately after his studies in chemistry. In the nineties he wrote as a freelancer about technology for among others NRC Handelsblad, Intermediair, Automatisering Gids and Computable. 

In 1999 he founded Techwatch and started Bits&Chips, a trade and opinion magazine for the high-tech industry. Raaijmakers founded High Tech Institute in 2011. He wrote books about Philips Natlab (Natlab) and about ASML (ASML’s Architects). Currently he makes podcasts about high tech, still writes for the magazines Bits&Chips and Mechatronica&Machinebouw and is working on part two of ASML’s history.

High-volume semiconductor test – where every millisecond counts

For over 30 years, ITEC has been the special force of Philips, NXP and Nexperia, providing best-in-class back-end in-house manufacturing solutions such as automatic test equipment, assembly equipment and factory automation software. Firstly and foremost targeting high-volume production of discrete semiconductors, process throughput increase and capability enhancement has always been a main driver for system development and introduction of new architectures. For the tester portfolio, a major architectural change was implemented in 2002 by the introduction of the microParset platform – very flexible, high performance and very high speed. The nanoParset was introduced later in 2020 to provide a further increase in throughput and measurement performance. New demands in the power discrete and power management IC market are now driving the development of the next-generation power tester: the MegaParset. A major redesign of the software architecture in combination with a new overall system architecture will deliver the world’s fastest power-semiconductor tester. But there are also new challenges on the horizon. As ITEC recently became an independent entity of Nexperia, it should not only consider Nexperia’s current and future demands but also those of other customers. In this talk, Felix Patschkowski and Robin Rieken will share some important challenges regarding performance, evolvability and factory integration.

After completing his graduation assignment on discrete RF oscillators at NXP Semiconductors, Robin Rieken started his career as electronics design engineer in automatic test equipment at NXP’s in-house equipment manufacturer; ITEC. With a passion for process optimization, problem analysis and new capability introductions, he worked on the development of existing and new tester platforms, as well as several highly successful application projects. He is energized by realizing major production throughput improvements and enabling new production capabilities, which helped to develop his expertise in semiconductor test. Ready for the next step in his career, he became a system architect for the next-generation power-semiconductor tester: the MegaParset.

Before migrating to the Netherlands, Felix Patschkowski graduated from the Technical University of Hamburg with a master’s degree in computer science and engineering and started as an automation engineer at Nexperia’s wafer fab in Hamburg. Being responsible for the automation of the wafer test department, he was exposed to ITEC’s technology, especially the tester platforms, right from the beginning. On a business trip to Nijmegen, he fell for the city and technology. Soon after, he started working for ITEC to develop software for existing and new testers. Over time, he grew into the position of a software architect for the latest test platform under development – the MegaParset – and he took the role of a system architect for ITEC’s factory automation solutions.

Secure system design

Security needs a preventative mindset. Develop one and make secure coding a second nature!

In this webinar you will learn:

  • About the cat and mouse game of software security
  • The various threats against computer systems
  • Secure design principles
  • How Cydrill courses can raise your paranoia to a healthy level and can contribute to your code hygiene

Outline

Introduction to software security

  • AppSec: The weakest link in cybersecurity

Security by design

  • The STRIDE model of threats
  • Secure design principles of Saltzer and Schroeder
  • Economy of mechanism
  • Fail-safe defaults
  • Complete mediation
  • Open design
  • Separation of privilege
  • Lab – Clickjacking
  • Least privilege
  • Least common mechanism
  • Psychological acceptability

Learning how not to code

Erno has been a software developer for 35 years, half of which he has spent writing, and half breaking code. In the last ten years he is focused on teaching developers how not to code. More than 100 classes in 30 countries add to his track record all around the world.