Happy Halloween from KFPI! We wish you a very spooky season, but hope that you will be safe – from goblins as well as fire! KFPI (Koetter Fire Protection International) is a semiconductor fire safety company, 100% dedicated to semiconductor and related high-tech manufacturing process fire safety.
Some things get better with age. Fire safety equipment is not one of these things. Obsolete fire safety equipment is no cause for nostalgia. Blindly believing that one’s rusty fire safety system will be there when you need it, is not a recommended EHS protocol. Check your fire safety systems, and check them frequently. A non-functioning fire safety system is sometimes worse than none at all.
Fire is one of the gremlins of semiconductor process equipment. Great thought and energy have been dedicated to the task of designing process tools that have the lowest probability for fire hazard. But, all of the elements for equipment fire are still rooted in the reality incompatibles like heat, electricity, and flammable chemistries in ample quantities.
KFPI is frequently called upon to provide fire safety solutions for bulk chemical storage areas. Sometimes these are permanent storage areas for the chemicals used in manufacturing, sometimes they are a temporary holding area being used during movement of manufacturing operates or relocation of bulk chemical storage. Sometimes they are located in a fab or sub fab area, sometimes in an outbuilding or temporary shelter.
We look forward to you joining us in Tucson, Arizona for the 35th annual International Conference on Compound Semiconductor Manufacturing Technology (CS-MANTECH). The conference will be held at the J.W. Marriott Starr Pass Resort nestled in the foothills of the beautiful Catalina Mountains. The CS-MANTECH conference has been the only conference dedicated to featuring manufacturing-focused presentations alongside state of the art compound materials challenges and industry-leading device performance demonstrations, all within a single venue.
What is the security of your semiconductor process worth to you? Will your fire safety system function properly, in the moment of truth, when you truly need it? Will it malfunction at the wrong time? An unchecked fire in semiconductor equipment can be devastating to a manufacturing operation.
The PCT-200 CRS Coater & Developer by Picotrack, features random access robots, dual end-effector handlers, stacked modules, and a network-ready controller. The system is nicely packaged and was designed with safety and serviceability as some of the top priorities. This flexible tool is very handsomely priced, and backed with Picotrack’s solid warranty and field service support capability.
Lockout valves and disable switches are both mechanisms which allow for deactivation of automatic discharge of a fire suppression system when it is in the maintenance mode. This brief comparison is intended to provide a basic examination of these devices, and illustrate the reasons for selecting either of these devices as part of a semiconductor tool fire suppression system, and outline the proper method for implementing these devices in a fire suppression system design that complies with applicable fire codes and semiconductor industry guidelines.
We are pleased to announce the opening of KFPI US Pacific Northwest Branch, near Portland, Oregon. In order to better serve our customers in the US Pacific Northwest, we will be opening a new regional branch, beginning 1 January 2020. Our new location will be in the greater Portland, Oregon area. We will be positioning strong technical assets in this new KFPI branch office. KFPI semiconductor equipment fire safety is committed to providing exemplary service to our valued customers in the Pacific Northwest and the Western US, with the addition of this strategic positioning of technical resources.