Non-invasive system and method for diagnosing potential malfunctions of semiconductor equipment components

Abstract

A system to diagnose potential malfunctions in semiconductor manufacturing equipment components, this system includes a transducer to monitor component vibration signatures of the semiconductor manufacturing equipment components. This transducer provides an output signal representative of the component vibration signature to an electrical circuit. The electrical circuit contains a transmitter which transmits via a carrier signal, a data signal representative of the output signal of the transducer. A computer system receives and stores the data signal. The computer system contains a software application to analyze the data signal and alert a user to differences between the data signal and a historical signal.

What is claimed is:  
     
         1 . A system to diagnose potential malfunctions in semiconductor manufacturing components, comprising: 
 a transducer to monitor component vibration signatures of the semiconductor manufacturing equipment components and provide at least one output signal representative of the component vibration;    a computer system configured to compare the at least one output signal to at least one vibration signature and to produce a notification to a user indicating differences between the at least one output signal and the at least one vibration signature.