GASGUARD® and CHEMGUARD®

Delivery Systems & Services (DS&S) has developed controller field upgrade kits for our GASGUARD^® and CHEMGUARD^® product lines.

Due to the GASGUARD^® AP11 and CHEMGUARD^® Gen III controllers’ unique standard features and options and the obsolescence of older controller versions, semiconductor manufacturers can benefit from upgrading their installed legacy systems to our latest controls technology.

The benchmark DS&S controllers are considered the best available technology for controlling, monitoring, heating and blending fab gases with their enhanced safety and reliability, lower cost of ownership, platform for expansion and growth and much faster, proven performance. Our controllers have logged more than 40 million hours with a 99.9995 percent reliability rating.

The DS&S team compared the costs of three options — an upgrade versus a new cabinet versus the entire system going down. System loss included calculating the amount of downtime, need to replace process lines, possible line contamination, qualification time and facilitation costs. Based on the average cost of fab downtime, the cost of an hour of interruption to process can be many times more expensive than the cost of a basic retrofit.

Reliability is an important reason for upgrading. Downtime is intolerable in wafer production and this controller keeps the gases flowing. According to SEMI.org, the range of lost revenue of fab downtime can vary from approximately $1MM/ day to $6MM/day. ($1MM per day is based on a small 200MM foundry fab with 25k wafer starts per month and a revenue per wafer of $1,136. $6MM per day is based on a medium to large fab of 50k WSPM with a revenue of $3,681 per wafer).

The first GASGUARD^® controller was introduced in 1983 and other previous models include the AP3, AP2, GG500, GG450 and GG250. The latest, the AP11 controller — a seamless transition from most legacy controllers — can be retrofitted to most GASGUARD^® cabinets and to certain equipment from other vendors.

The CHEMGUARD^® Gen III controller is the latest in the CHEMGUARD^® product family and can also be retrofit to any prior CHEMGUARD^® systems (Gen I, Gen II, or Gen III). Having a couple of retrofit kits on the shelf is a great way to ensure fab uptime and reduce local spares inventory when multiple generations of CG’s are running high-purity liquid in your fab.

Further cost savings are realized by extending the life of installed equipment with a GASGUARD^® or CHEMGUARD^® controller retrofit.

Safety is paramount with our controllers. All can include dual processors, redundant power supplies, and hardwired shutdown for safety-critical sensors and carry multiple third-party, safety certifications.

You can also download our brochure on GASGUARD® AP11 Upgrade Options.