Developing Condition-Based Maintenance

Like any manufacturing equipment, semiconductor fabrication systems have a finite lifetime. Technicians normally perform maintenance on these hardware systems according to preset schedules and regardless of actual need, which results in unnecessary equipment downtime and needless costs incurred as a result of lost production time and additional maintenance labor. AFRL scientists teamed with researchers from the University of New Mexico (UNM) to examine the feasibility of establishing prognostics for such expensive and valuable machinery and to devise a mechanism for scheduling equipment maintenance based on needs rather than calendar cycles. This so-called condition-based maintenance has the potential to increase equipment availability, improve productivity, enhance safety, and reduce expenses. The ultimate objective of the AFRL/UNM collaboration is to develop a data-driven prognostic system that provides advanced warning of failures, faults, and other error events that occur in complex systems.