Combining data can help to predict failures rather than just replacing equipment after it fails. A decade or so ago, when MEMS sensors were in the limelight, one of the touted applications was to install them on industrial or other equipment to get an advance warning if the equipment was approaching failure. Today, in-circuit monitoring brings the same promise. Are these competing technologies? Or can they be made to work together? “Almost all advanced tool manufacturing companies rely on sensors , including MEMS sensors and circuit sensors, within their tools to perform monitoring and provide signals when a tool approaches a maintenance interval,” said Mike McIntyre, director of software product management at Onto Innovation . The key to both approaches is software. Analytics packages help to transform the sensor or monitor data into operational information that can be used to optimize uptime. But systems integrators will be responsible for […]

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