Part of the ARGOS service is your predictive maintenance engineer: an expert from Pfeiffer who is assigned exclusively to your fab. He or she is located on your premises and constitutes the human link between you and ARGOS. His or her experience in the industry and knowledge of the technology used creates a solution that goes deeper than mere software.
The engineer builds a digital twin of your fab – a digital copy of your physical assets – and tracks all vacuum pump installations and removals. Then, ARGOS will keep watch over everything.
Using advanced predictive and machine learning technology, ARGOS will notice any potential anomalies in your system. Then, it creates an alert. Your predictive maintenance engineer is notified immediately, classifies and analyzes it so that ARGOS can learn – whether to dismiss false alarms or to notice a serious issue even earlier. Finally, he or she will tell your technicians exactly which steps to take next.
ARGOS. Digital Semiconductor Services from Pfeiffer.
Your trusted partner to reduce downtime
ARGOS is a comprehensive, on-site predictive maintenance service that monitors every event and change across your semiconductor fab. Designed to keep all critical, high-impact equipment available, ARGOS combines the full expertise of Pfeiffer Vacuum+Fab Solutions in the semiconductor industry with a premium service solution. Anticipate equipment failure before it occurs – and keep your production process running without interruption.
Why choose ARGOS as a service?
A service – not just a tool
ARGOS is more than simply alerts and dashboards. You will experience fewer unexpected failures, be able to make better maintenance decisions, and benefit from improved equipment availability.
Expertise
Our unparalleled knowledge of vacuum equipment, abatement systems, and valves in the semiconductor industry means we know your application inside out. Our engineers use this expertise to turn data into action that you can trust.
Uninterrupted installation
No need to shut down any equipment: The ARGOS box is installed via a three-cable plug&play gateway with zero interruptions to your process.
Exceptional transparency
ARGOS is built on Industry 4.0-standardized interfaces, so it plugs straight into your existing systems. This forms an open concept for data sharing across teams and trusted partners, allowing faster decision making, smoother collaboration and a complete insight into your fab without vendor lock-in. As a result, if you later want to change providers, this can be done quickly and with minimal hassle.
Secure and on-premises
Your data is safe. Everything gathered by ARGOS is collected and processed locally – within the fab’s infrastructure – ensuring full data control, privacy, and cybersecurity compliance. ARGOS does not rely on cloud or internet connectivity.
Performance you can be sure of
We ensure the availability of your equipment. Downtime leads to a drop in revenue and may even require wafer scrapping. With ARGOS, we aim to reduce the downtime of your equipment by at least 50%.
Our digital service solution for your semiconductor fab
ARGOS is a comprehensive predictive maintenance solution that combines advanced software with human expertise and a clear standard operating procedure that turns every alert into action.One part human, one part technology
How does ARGOS work?
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Strategic alignment -
Monitoring -
Regular reports -
Failure analysis -
Ongoing support as your co-pilot -
Get started. Contact us!
Strategic alignment
Before any software or hardware is activated, the predictive maintenance engineer analyzes your installed base with you. Together, you assign each vacuum chamber a particular risk category, creating a heatmap. This heatmap shows the probability that each piece of equipment could fail, and what it means for the entire process if it does. Typically, 20-25% of the vacuum pumps and abatement systems in a semiconductor fab can be classed as critical – meaning that their breakdown could bring wafer manufacture to a standstill.
Based on this heatmap, you decide which risk levels you want to manage – whether just the critical equipment, or everything down to low risk.
Based on this heatmap, you decide which risk levels you want to manage – whether just the critical equipment, or everything down to low risk.
Monitoring
ARGOS is a plug&play solution that can be retrofitted very quickly with just three cables – no need to send vacuum equipment to the service center. Once the ARGOS box has been installed, it will begin to continuously monitor your equipment, analyzing temperature, vibrations and power consumption. This real-time data is recorded on your on-site server and any anomalies are flagged.
Regular reports
You will receive reports at two different intervals to help you keep an eye on your equipment: The weekly report summarizes the activity over the past seven days. The monthly report details the overall performance of all equipment monitored by ARGOS. These summaries will help you understand the risks and take the right decisions for your equipment. And of course, your dedicated engineer will make any necessary adjustments.
Service plans are generated weekly. These outline the riskiest vacuum pumps based on the category defined by you and your engineer, the vacuum pump’s health, and its running time. They also highlight equipment that is reaching the end of its target lifetime and give recommendations for action.
Service plans are generated weekly. These outline the riskiest vacuum pumps based on the category defined by you and your engineer, the vacuum pump’s health, and its running time. They also highlight equipment that is reaching the end of its target lifetime and give recommendations for action.
Failure analysis
To ensure traceability and drive continuous improvement, any unexpected failures or abnormal behaviors are carefully analyzed. We conduct a full root cause investigation and create a report for you. And together, we discuss and define the solution that your predictive maintenance engineer will implement to prevent the problem arising again.
Ongoing support as your co-pilot
ARGOS is your co-pilot in daily operation to ensure the smooth running of your equipment and seamless asset management. But ARGOS is not just about software and reports. Your dedicated predictive maintenance engineer is also there to share expertise, carry out maintenance, develop an effective predictive maintenance strategy, and implement the necessary optimizations suggested by ARGOS. Combining human expertise and technology to bring you the highest uptime for your equipment.
Predictive maintenance in semiconductor manufacturing
With high lead times and a production schedule that runs around the clock, every minute of downtime in a semiconductor fab means lost revenue. It is therefore essential to ensure that equipment is reliable, and that routine maintenance is planned in such a way that the process is not interrupted. Predictive maintenance with ARGOS will help.By optimizing the maintenance of your vacuum equipment – performing just the right amount at the right time – you and your fab can save money. Not just on maintenance cost, but by reducing breakdowns and avoiding full overhauls.
Reactive
If a fault or breakdown occurs, corrective maintenance work repairs the equipment and restores its functionality. This is also known as corrective maintenance.
Planned
Planned maintenance refers to scheduled maintenance activities that are carried out regardless of the equipment’s current condition or performance.
Proactive
Proactive maintenance is a strategy that aims to identify and fix the reasons for equipment failure before it happens.
Predictive maintenance
Analysis of the data recorded from the equipment can predict faults or breakdowns before they happen. This can be used to create a maintenance schedule that aims to avoid future failures.
If a fault or breakdown occurs, corrective maintenance work repairs the equipment and restores its functionality. This is also known as corrective maintenance.
Planned
Planned maintenance refers to scheduled maintenance activities that are carried out regardless of the equipment’s current condition or performance.
Proactive
Proactive maintenance is a strategy that aims to identify and fix the reasons for equipment failure before it happens.
Predictive maintenance
Analysis of the data recorded from the equipment can predict faults or breakdowns before they happen. This can be used to create a maintenance schedule that aims to avoid future failures.
On-the-premises vs. cloud software solutions in the semiconductor industry
Data security is paramount in the semiconductor industry. Whether providing the brains behind autonomous vehicles or powering the rapidly growing AI sector, each fab has its own proprietary information, designs and research that are advancing major technological sectors. Cyberattacks can be devastating, leading to significant financial damage, lost research, and the theft of intellectual property – resulting not only in loss of revenue, but also opening the doorway for security loopholes in the technology that contain the chips.We understand that. This is why all the information captured by ARGOS stays on your premises. Unlike SaaS (software as a service) service models, which require an internet connection and are continuously uploading data to the cloud, nothing leaves your facility. ARGOS requires no external connections that can leave your networks vulnerable to attacks. Our software is deployed exclusively on one of your servers, located in-house, within your semiconductor fab.
The cost of unplanned downtime
An unexpected failure in semiconductor manufacturing can result in enormous costs. Reducing how frequently one occurs can therefore save a fab considerable amounts of money. Let’s consider a common scenario where a chamber experiences downtime due to a vacuum pump breakdown.- Cost of scrapping wafers in the event of a failure: 5,000 Dollars
- Chamber reconditioning cost: 1,000 Dollars
- Loss resulting from each hour of downtime: 5,000 Dollars
- Total cost of 24 hours of unscheduled failure per chamber: 126,000 Dollars
In a semiconductor fab with an installed base of 500 vacuum pumps and a 10% failure rate per year, this would mean a yearly loss of 6,300,000 Dollars.
The goal of ARGOS is to reduce the failure rate by 50% – which would save the semiconductor fab in this example 3,150,000 Dollars a year.
FAQ
Which data does ARGOS monitor?
ARGOS monitors all relevant vacuum pump data, such as the following:
- Exhaust pressure
- Inlet pressure
- Energy consumption
- Running hours
- Remaining time until next scheduled maintenance
- Vibration level
- Exhaust back pressure
- Exhaust temperature
- Vacuum pump temperature
- Cooling water flow
Do I need to shut down wafer manufacturing while ARGOS is installed?
No. ARGOS can be installed entirely without interruption to your process. The box is located externally and connected via just three cables. Your customer service engineer can do this on site, with no need for the vacuum equipment to be taken to the service center. Furthermore, it is ready to use right away.
Does the ARGOS box use any proprietary connections?
No, ARGOS uses exclusively industry-standard connections. This allows you flexibility: It is both easy to integrate when you decide for ARGOS and, should you decide for a different monitoring solution in the future, to switch over to a new provider.
How does ARGOS ensure that alerts are accurate?
If false alerts begin to climb, your predictive maintenance technician will trigger a controlled re-baseline to recalibrate the algorithms without adding risk, so analysis stays relevant and accurate. This closed feedback loop keeps predictions accurate, extends the mean time between failures (MTBF) and aligns maintenance with real equipment condition, cutting downtime, maintenance, energy and utility costs.
How secure is my data with ARGOS?
Your data is as secure as your semiconductor fab. Unlike most cloud-based solutions, ARGOS does not have any internet or cloud connectivity; in fact, all data stays on a server located on your premises. No external connectivity means less vulnerability to security breaches or attacks.
What is the difference between ARGOS and OTTO – Digital Services?
ARGOS and OTTO fulfill largely the same purpose: to oversee vacuum pump performance, offer remote condition monitoring, and optimize maintenance with the goal of reducing downtime. However, while OTTO can be integrated into virtually any industrial process, ARGOS has been specially developed for the needs of the semiconductor industry to keep the most critical equipment in interruption-free operation.