Autonomous preventive maintenance (APM) is important for modern semiconductor manufacturing equipment to enhance yield. APM involves detecting various signals from the equipment’s components and/or the workpiece to monitor equipment health in real time and perform adequate maintenance. This paper proposes a vibration sensor module with noncontact sensing capability that is small, simple, and highly sensitive. The module’s hardware includes two sensor components, which are a combination of a small infrared light- emitting device (IR LED) and a photodetector (PD). The module performs sensing based on the principle of beating. Compared with conventional direct sensing, the proposed module achieves a fourfold improvement in sensitivity and a 3.5-improvement in signal-to- noise ratio. Moreover, the small size of the IR LED and PD die chips can enable miniaturization. If a sensor system combining the proposed sensor module with a microcontroller unit and a transceiver is integrated into semiconductor manufacturing equipment, independent and remote APM can be easily and widely realized.
