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Background Statement for SEMI Draft Document 5338
NEW STANDARD: PRACTICE FOR ASSIGNING IDENTIFICATION NUMBERS TO PV SI WAFER AND SOLAR CELL MANUFACTURERS
Notice: This background statement is not part of the balloted item. It is provided solely to assist the recipient in reaching an informed decision based on the rationale of the activity that preceded the creation of this Document.
Notice: Recipients of this Document are invited to submit, with their comments, notification of any relevant patented technology or copyrighted items of which they are aware and to provide supporting documentation. In this context, “patented technology” is defined as technology for which a patent has issued or has been applied for. In the latter case, only publicly available information on the contents of the patent application is to be provided.
New SEMI standards regarding the specification of wafer marks for improving the traceability of the PV wafers and solar cells are currently under development. Part of the information encoded in these marks is an unique ID number for the manufacturers of wafer and of solar cells. Therefore a procedure for assigning and maintaining the ID numbers is required and such a procedure is described in the present draft document.
The corresponding SNARF was approved by the PV Automation Committee in its meeting in Dresden on October 11, 2011. The draft document was approved for yellow letter ballot in cycle 1 for 2012 by the PV Automation Committee in its meeting in Dresden on October 11, 2011 to be adjudicated in Berlin in March 2012.For meeting details, refer to
Review and Adjudication Information
Task Force Review / Committee AdjudicationGroup: / PV Wafer Traceability Task Force / Photovoltaic Automation Committee
Date: / March 27, 2012 / March 28, 2012
Time & Timezone: / 09:00-12:00 CET / 09:00-12:00 CET
Location: / PV Fab Managers Forum 2012 / PV Fab Managers Forum 2012
City, State/Country: / Hotel Kempinski Bristol, Berlin, Germany / Hotel Kempinski Bristol, Berlin, Germany
Leader(s): / Peter Wagner / T. Korner (Q-Cells)
M. Zenning (Jonas & Redmann)
E. Teichmann (Peer Group)
Standards Staff: / Kevin Nguyen (SEMI NA)
408.943.7997
/ Kevin Nguyen (SEMI NA)
408.943.7997
This meeting’s details are subject to change, and additional review sessions may be scheduled if necessary. Contact the task force leaders or Standards staff for confirmation.
Telephone and web information will be distributed to interested parties as the meeting date approaches. If you will not be able to attend these meetings in person but would like to participate by telephone/web, please contact Standards staff.
SEMI Draft Document 5338
NEW STANDARD: PRACTICE FOR ASSIGNING IDENTIFICATION NUMBERS TO PV SI WAFER AND SOLAR CELL MANUFACTURERS
1 Purpose
1.1 Process and quality control for PV Si wafer and solar cell manufacturing requires marking the wafers or solar cells with code that uniquely identifies their origin and date of manufacturing.
1.2 Future legal requirements also may request such a code.
1.3 A unique identification of manufacturer and its location has to be part of this code.
1.4 This practice intends to establish a system of identification numbers for the PV industry, similarly to the one that is well established in the semiconductor industry (SEMI AUX001).
2 Scope
2.1 This practice covers the assignment of identification numbers for crystalline PV Si wafer as well as solar cell manufacturers and their locations.
2.2 It does not cover module manufacturer, thin film solar cell manufacturers and concentrator manufacturers.
NOTICE:SEMI Standards and Safety Guidelines do not purport to address all safety issues associated with their use. It is the responsibility of the users of the Documents to establish appropriate safety and health practices, and determine the applicability of regulatory or other limitations prior to use.
3 Referenced Standards and Document
3.1 SEMI Document
AUX001 — List of Wafer Supplier Identification Codes
NOTICE: Unless otherwise indicated, all documents cited shall be the latest published versions.
4 Summary of Practice
4.1 An application for an identification number is submitted by a company to SEMI Standards.
4.2 SEMI Standards assigns a unique identification number to the applying company.
4.3 SEMI Standards publishes the lists for wafer manufacturers and solar cell manufacturers as an auxiliary document and updates it accordingly.
5 Procedure
5.1 Applicant: Fill application form (Table 1).
NOTE 1: This form will be kept in SEMI Standards records but will not be published.
5.2 Applicant: Submit to SEMI Standards with an accompanying letter (see Related Information 1).
5.3 SEMI Standards: Issue an identification number from the number space 001 to 999 for wafer manufacturers and from the number space 1000 to 9999 for solar cell manufacturers according to the arrival date of the application at SEMI Standards and their alphabetical order according to the company name.
5.4 SEMI Standards: Start these lists with 001 and 1000, respectively.
5.5 SEMI Standards: Issue the next available higher number for new entries.
5.6 SEMI Standards: Enter this number as well as the applicant in a list (Table 2 and Table 3).
5.7 SEMI Standards: Publish the list of assigned numbers as an Auxiliary Document and update it accordingly.
Table 1Form for Applying for a Manufacturer ID Number (contents are only examples)Company Name / Location#1 / Product#2 / Address / City / State (only if it applies) / Zip / Country / Nominal peak production capacity/MW/y#3
AB / XY / wafer / 156 Wafer Road / Silicon Valley / Minnewaho / MW 12345 / Dollarland / NA
AB / VW / wafer / Ingot Weg 36 / Kristallburg / 00389 / Euroland / NA
AB / PQ / solar cell / 20 Cell Avenue / Busbar / 798600 / Asialand / 90
AB / RS / solar cell / 20 Cell Avenue / Busbar / 798600 / Asialand / 75
#1List all locations for which a different identification number is request. A maximum of one identification number will be issued for solar cell manufacturers per location with up to 100MW nominal peak production capacity.
#2Enter either “wafer” or “solar cell”.
#3Only for solar cells.
Table 2List of Wafer ManufacturersID Number / Company Name / Location
001 / AB / XY
002 / AB / VW
Table 3List of Solar Cell Manufacturers
ID Number / Company Name / Location
1000 / AB / PQ
1001 / AB / RS
RELATED INFORMATION 1
EXAMPLE OF LETTER ACCOMPANYING THE APPLICATION
NOTICE: This Related Information is not an official part of SEMI doc. 5338 and was derived from the work of the global PV Automation Technical Committee. This Related Information was approved for publication by full letter ballot procedures on [A&R approval date].
R1-1 Example Letter
R1-1.1 Letter should be on company letter head.
R1-1.2 Example of letter content
SEMI Standards,
We kindly ask you to assign ID numbers to our production facilities according to the enclosed form.
Best regards
(Signature)
(Company Name)
(Name of person that signed)
(Location, Date)
NOTICE:Semiconductor Equipment and Materials International (SEMI) makes no warranties or representations as to the suitability of the Standards and Safety Guidelines set forth herein for any particular application. The determination of the suitability of the Standard or Safety Guideline is solely the responsibility of the user. Users are cautioned to refer to manufacturer’s instructions, product labels, product data sheets, and other relevant literature, respecting any materials or equipment mentioned herein. Standards and Safety Guidelines are subject to change without notice.
By publication of this Standard or Safety Guideline, SEMI takes no position respecting the validity of any patent rights or copyrights asserted in connection with any items mentioned in this Standard or Safety Guideline. Users of this Standard or Safety Guideline are expressly advised that determination of any such patent rights or copyrights, and the risk of infringement of such rights are entirely their own responsibility.
This is a Draft Document of the SEMI International Standards program. No material on this page is to be construed as an official or adopted Standard or Safety Guideline. Permission is granted to reproduce and/or distribute this document, in whole or in part, only within the scope of SEMI International Standards committee (document development) activity. All other reproduction and/or distribution without the prior written consent of SEMI is prohibited.
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