A prototype SECS message service for communication in the semiconductor manufacturing environment

The authors describe the SECS message service (SMS), a bidirectional protocol that can be used to transfer SECS formatted messages over an ISO-compatible network. SECS is the current protocol standard for communications in the semiconductor manufacturing manufacturing environment. SMS represents a first effort that provides for the migration of communication methodologies in the semiconductor manufacturing environment into the ISO arena. SMS incorporates desirable features of the SECS protocol into an OSI application layer environment, thus achieving advantages of both environments. The SMS protocol provides four services to the end user: MESSAGE provides for the transfer of SECS formatted messages, CONNECT provides for the establishment of virtual circuit connections between applications in a SMS ISO environment, DISCONNECT provides for the graceful ending of such operations in which no data are lost, and ABORT provides for the abrupt termination of such connections in which data may be lost. The SMS design process has produced the additional result of a methodology for incorporation of desirable features of a non-ISO protocol into an ISO-compatible system.<>