New SEMI Semiconductor Standards Aim to Deter Counterfeiters

SEMI has published three new technical standards applicable to the semiconductor manufacturing industry. Two of the new standards help deter counterfeiting by validating the integrity of goods from non-certified distributors/suppliers. According to SEMI, these new standards help trusted manufacturers of authentic goods use strongly-encrypted batch numbers. Using a free authentication service, anyone considering the purchase of a batch of goods can use the encrypted batch number as the basis for a validation check. Secure serialization is a major deterrent to counterfeiters and an early warning system if theft of codes occurs.

Three other completely rewritten SEMI Standards are now available, and they include standards relevant to both the semiconductor and MEMS industries.

The new and the revised standards were developed by technical experts from equipment and materials suppliers, device manufacturers and other companies participating in the SEMI International Standards Program. The standards are available for download purchase at www.semi.org. They are also available through a new SEMI Standards product called SEMIViews, an online Web 2.0 service enabling access to SEMI International Standards 24/7 from any location. For more information, visit www.semi.org/semiviews.

SEMI Standards are published three times a year. The new standards, part of the November 2009 publication cycle, join more than 780 standards published by SEMI during the past 35 years.

"Counterfeit products in semiconductor manufacturing are profitable, so counterfeiters will continue to break the law. But now we have an early warning system if counterfeiting occurs,” said James Amano, Director, SEMI International Standards, "so more counterfeiters will be caught and punished. Plus, reduced counterfeiting will result in increased downstream manufacturing yield and less down time.”

www.semi.org