Documentation

Everything needed to run, extend and audit the platform.

Getting started, reference, runbooks, the autonomy model, the CLI and the platform limits. The documentation describes the design; sections marked design preview will change before release.

First hour Developer guide

Getting startedReferenceRunbooks

run_7b2e9c · agent graph · module M2 · scenario 10 nodes · 1 approval gate
01 · orchestrator ingest.lot ✓ SUCCEEDED 02 · fabtwin twin.simulate ✓ SUCCEEDED 03 · litho_overlay litho.correctables ✓ SUCCEEDED 04 · etch_depo etch.uniformity ✓ SUCCEEDED 05 · cmp_implant cmp.removal ✓ SUCCEEDED 06 · defect_inspect inspect.classify ✓ SUCCEEDED 07 · metrology_vm vm.score ✓ SUCCEEDED 08 · orchestrator approve.human ◆ APPROVAL 09 · yield_dispatch dispatch.route ✓ SUCCEEDED 10 · quality_conf lot.release ✓ SUCCEEDED

Illustrative scenario: Module M2 · 300 mm · metal-1 · lot L-48213, one lot through metal-1, one approval gate

Getting started

First hour

From an empty fab-edge node to a shadow-mode run.

  1. Install the fab-edge runtime. A GPU node with the Waferira runtime image, inside the fab network, under the fab's security review.
  2. Connect read-only sources. SECS/GEM tool data, APC state, inspection imagery, metrology, FDC and MES, all read-only.
  3. Define the layer. Load the layer spec: overlay and CD windows, film targets, qualified recipe windows per tool.
  4. Create an agent at L1. Declare its tools read-only and let it watch and recommend.
  5. Start a shadow run. Observe the run record, the tool-call stream and the reasoning trace against the live module.
Developers

Define an agent, bound it, run it

The Waferira SDK is typed Python. Tools are declared with schemas and recipe-window limits and the policy engine enforces them at call time, not in a review meeting. This is a design preview; the API will change before release.

What you get

  • Typed tool definitions with recipe-window and rate limits per parameter
  • Deterministic replay of any historical lot against a new model
  • Local twin harness so a recipe move is simulated before it is shipped
  • Autonomy policy as code, versioned and reviewed like any other change

Read the docs Developer guide

scn07_litho_agent.py 
# Design preview. Bound the litho agent to scanner SCN-07.
from waferira import Agent, Tool, Limit, Autonomy

recipe = Tool(
    name="secs.write_recipe",
    tool="SCN-07",
    params=["correctables.per_field", "dose"],
    limits=[Limit(window="qualified", max_step="0.5%", per="lot")],
)

litho = Agent(
    id="agent.litho_overlay",
    goal="overlay residual < 3 nm, CD inside M1 window",
    tools=[recipe, Tool("metrology.read_overlay", read_only=True)],
    # bounded writes; humans still gate holds and out-of-window moves
    autonomy=Autonomy.L3,
    # simulate on the fab twin before every write
    verify="twin",
)

run = litho.start(lot="L-48213", layer="M1")
for step in run.stream():
    print(step.name, step.status, step.duration)
Reference

Reference sections

What each section of the reference covers.

Agents

Definition and lifecycle

Agent, goal, tools, autonomy, verify, start, stream, replay.

Tools and limits

Connectors with schemas

Tool and parameter naming, units, read_only, Limit(window, max_step, per, floor, ceiling).

Policy

Autonomy as code

Levels, approval routing, tool-state and qualification conditions, OCAP linkage, versioning and review.

Runs

The run record

Steps, status values (queued, running, waiting, approval, succeeded, failed, blocked), durations, outcomes.

Genealogy

The lot record

Fields, export formats, retention, excursion and customer evidence packets.

Twin

Simulation API

twin.simulate, candidates, horizon, ranking objectives, as-run comparison, qualification memory.

Run timeline · scenario

Reading a run record

Every Waferira run is an ordered, inspectable sequence. This is run_7b2e9c on Module M2 · 300 mm · metal-1 · lot L-48213. Scenario completes in 10 steps with one approval gate. Overlay and CD predicted inside spec, one reticle-repeater signature caught and held for review, dispatch re-optimised, lot released with full genealogy.

run_7b2e9c Module M2 · 300 mm · metal-1 · lot L-48213 illustrative scenario SUCCEEDED
  1. 01 ingest.lot SUCCEEDED 0.7 s

    Fab Orchestrator · Pulled lot L-48213 from fab MES: 25 wafers, 300 mm, metal-1 layer, route, reticle, overlay and CD spec and the standing cycle-time target. Locked the target envelope for the run.

  2. 02 twin.simulate SUCCEEDED 38 s

    Fab Twin · Simulated 64 candidate correctable, recipe and dispatch sets on the as-run fab twin and ranked them on predicted overlay residual, CD uniformity, excursion risk and cycle time.

  3. 03 litho.correctables SUCCEEDED 1 m 20 s

    Litho-and-Overlay · Per-field overlay correctables and a focus-dose trim written to scanner SCN-07 over SECS/GEM after the previous lot's residual trended toward the control limit. Predicted overlay residual back inside spec.

  4. 04 etch.uniformity SUCCEEDED 58 s

    Etch-and-Depo · Chamber B on etcher ETCH-12 showed an edge-fast uniformity drift in FDC. Pressure and RF trims written within the qualified recipe window; predicted CD uniformity recovered.

  5. 05 cmp.removal SUCCEEDED 46 s

    CMP-and-Implant · Downforce and platen-speed trim on CMP-03 against the virtual removal-rate estimate to hold post-CMP thickness and dishing inside the window.

  6. 06 inspect.classify SUCCEEDED continuous

    Defect-and-Inspect · Inline optical, e-beam review and SEM imagery fused at the tool edge. 1,412 events classified, most dispositioned nuisance; one reticle-repeater signature on three dies flagged for review.

  7. 07 vm.score SUCCEEDED 2.1 s

    Metrology-and-Virtual · Virtual metrology scored every wafer at post-etch and post-CMP from tool-sensor and FDC signatures. Two wafers routed to physical metrology on predicted variance; the rest sampled at plan.

  8. 08 approve.human APPROVAL 1 m 04 s

    Fab Orchestrator · The reticle-repeater signature called for a reticle inspection hold and a recipe move outside the qualified window. Held for the module process engineer and approved at 03:14:27.

  9. 09 dispatch.route SUCCEEDED 4.3 s

    Yield-and-Dispatch · Dispatch re-optimised across 1,840 lots in WIP under reticle, chamber and qualification constraints. The lot routed to the qualified chamber with the shortest predicted queue; AMHS move issued to the stocker.

  10. 10 lot.release SUCCEEDED 1 m 05 s

    Quality-and-Conformance · Lot L-48213 moved on: genealogy written (recipe moves, correctables, FDC signatures, VM scores, defect map, approvals) and checked against the layer spec.

Tool calls · scenario

Reading the tool log

Every tool invocation, argument and result is written to an append-only, IP-isolated, human-readable log, and every reasoning step is expandable. Nothing about a run is hidden from the fab.

tool-call stream · run_7b2e9c
  1. 03:02:10mes.read_lot({ lot: "L-48213", layer: "M1", module: "M2" })
  2. 03:02:11ok 25 wafers · reticle R-M1-114 · overlay and CD spec locked
  3. 03:02:11twin.simulate({ candidates: 64, horizon: "lot" })
  4. 03:02:49ok best set #41 · overlay residual 2.6 nm · excursion risk 0.05
  5. 03:02:50policy.evaluate({ set: 41, autonomy: "L3" })
  6. 03:02:50ok 7 recipe writes inside qualified window · 1 move requires human approval
  7. 03:02:51secs.write_recipe({ tool: "SCN-07", correctables: "per_field", dose: "-0.3%" })
  8. 03:04:11ok predicted overlay residual 3.1 → 2.6 nm · CD on target
  9. 03:04:12secs.write_recipe({ tool: "ETCH-12", chamber: "B", pressure: "+1.5%", rf: "-0.8%" })
  10. 03:05:10ok edge-fast drift cleared · predicted uniformity inside window
  11. 03:05:11secs.write_recipe({ tool: "CMP-03", downforce: "-2%", platen: "+1%" })
  12. 03:05:57ok virtual removal rate on target · dishing inside window
  13. 03:05:58vision.stream({ tools: ["INS-02", "EB-01", "SEM-04"] })
  14. 03:09:40repeater: 3 dies · same field position · reticle R-M1-114 · killer class
  15. 03:09:41vm.predict({ lot: "L-48213", steps: ["post_etch", "post_cmp"] })
  16. 03:09:43ok 25 wafers scored · 2 routed to physical metrology
  17. 03:09:44approval.request({ action: "reticle_hold", recipe_move: "outside_window" })
  18. 03:14:27ok approved by module process engineer · OCAP linked · logged
  19. 03:14:28cuopt.dispatch({ wip: 1840, constraints: ["reticle", "chamber", "qual"] })
  20. 03:14:32ok lot routed to ETCH-12/B · AMHS move to stocker ST-14
  21. 03:14:33amhs.move({ foup: "F-20911", to: "ST-14" })
  22. 03:15:21ok carrier delivered · handling exceptions 0
  23. 03:15:22mes.log_lot({ lot: "L-48213", genealogy: "full" })
  24. 03:16:27ok scenario complete · 10 steps · 1 hold reviewed · released

Reasoning trace

Plan, thought, action, observation, exactly as the orchestrator would record it.

GoalRun lot L-48213 through metal-1 on module M2, hold overlay and…

Run lot L-48213 through metal-1 on module M2, hold overlay and CD inside the layer spec, catch any excursion before physical metrology, and dispatch on cycle-time target.

PlanSimulate the lot on the twin first. Lead with litho so the cor…

Simulate the lot on the twin first. Lead with litho so the correctables are right before etch, then trim etch and CMP against virtual metrology, keep inspection continuous, and hold anything outside the qualified window for a human.

ThoughtThe previous lot's overlay residual on SCN-07 trended toward t…

The previous lot's overlay residual on SCN-07 trended toward the control limit. On the twin, a per-field correctable update with a small dose trim brings the predicted residual back to 2.6 nm without touching focus.

Actiontwin.simulate(candidates=64) returns set #41: per-field correc…

twin.simulate(candidates=64) returns set #41: per-field correctables and dose minus 0.3% on SCN-07, chamber B pressure and RF trims on ETCH-12, downforce minus 2% on CMP-03.

ObservationSet #41 predicts overlay residual 2.6 nm, CD uniformity inside…

Set #41 predicts overlay residual 2.6 nm, CD uniformity inside window and excursion risk 0.05. Nine candidates cut cycle time further but routed the lot to an unqualified chamber and were discarded.

ActionExecute set #41 under autonomy level L3: seven recipe writes i…

Execute set #41 under autonomy level L3: seven recipe writes inside the qualified window, the reticle hold and the out-of-window move routed to the module process engineer.

ObservationReticle-repeater signature on three dies at 03:09:40 from the …

Reticle-repeater signature on three dies at 03:09:40 from the fused inspection stream. Virtual metrology routed two wafers to physical measurement on predicted variance.

OutcomeScenario complete. Overlay and CD predicted inside spec, the r…

Scenario complete. Overlay and CD predicted inside spec, the repeater held and reviewed with the OCAP linked, the lot dispatched to a qualified chamber and released with full genealogy.

Operations

Runbooks

What to do when.

Runbooks
SituationWhat happensWhat you do
Edge node offlineTools stay on their own controllers and qualified recipesCheck the node, restore, resume at the current autonomy level
Model version fails canaryAutomatic fallback to the previous validated version on that moduleReview the evaluation record before re-promoting
Approval not answeredThe step waits; the run does not time out into a writeNamed approver or delegate decides in the console
Deadlock between agentsEscalates to a human rather than resolving by timeoutDecide in the console; the decision is logged
Rollback condition metThe recipe returns to its previous qualified versionReview the trigger signal, the OCAP and the run record
Autonomy

Four levels, set per agent and per tool

A fab does not go from manual APC to unattended control in one step. Waferira makes the level explicit, auditable and reversible at any time. The first release runs shadow mode, then assist mode, then graduated autonomy for low-risk APC, defect and metrology loops.

Autonomy levels and the human role at each
LevelWhat the agent doesWhat the human doesWhere it sits in a pilot
L1 · AdvisoryRecommends recipe moves, dispositions and dispatch, with citationsEnters every change manuallyShadow mode, first on the design-partner cell
L2 · SupervisedProposes a recipe write or hold; it executes on approvalApproves each move in the review consoleAssist mode, where accuracy and ROI are proven
L3 · BoundedWrites inside the qualified recipe window, tool-state checks and OCAP linkageApproves holds, out-of-window moves and lot releaseGraduated autonomy for low-risk APC, defect and metrology loops
L4 · Qualified loopsRuns a qualified loop without prompting, inside its envelopeSets the envelope; reviews the shift recordPlanned; reserved for loops the fab has qualified
CLI

Start a run from anywhere

The same run engine, the same policy checks, the same IP-isolated audit trail, from the terminal, the review console or the SDK. Design preview.

waferira · cli · scenario 
$ waferira run "lot L-48213 through M1 on module M2" --autonomy L3

→ plan composed          10 steps · 1 approval gate
→ twin.simulate          64 candidates · best #41 · excursion risk 0.05
→ policy.evaluate        7 recipe writes inside window · 1 held for human
→ executing              litho.correctables .. ok   1m20s
→ executing              etch.uniformity .... ok   58s
→ executing              cmp.removal ........ ok   46s
→ executing              vm.score ........... ok   2.1s
! approval required      reticle_hold · recipe move outside window
→ approved               module process engineer · 03:14:27
→ scenario complete      1 hold reviewed · lot L-48213 released

$ waferira lots show L-48213 --format genealogy
Limits

Platform limits and defaults

Design targets. None is a measured figure.

Platform limits and defaults
ItemDesign targetNotes
Priority defect triage latencyunder 200 msTensorRT on fab-edge GPUs
Inspection streams per pilot module10 to 50Metropolis, DeepStream, Holoscan
Virtual-metrology scoring1 to 5 s per lot-stepCUDA, RAPIDS, Triton; nightly retraining
Dispatch re-optimisationevery 1 to 5 minutescuOpt, RAPIDS, constrained
Process-control training500 to 2,000 GPU-hours per process family per quarterDGX or HGX, CUDA, cuDNN
Twin simulations1,000 to 10,000 per fab per dayOmniverse, OVX access planned
Synthetic rare-event variants100k to 1M per moduleCosmos, Omniverse Replicator; validated against real distributions
Edge robot and AMHS perceptionlocal, low latencyJetson Orin; Jetson Thor planned
Guardrails

An agent that can move a recipe needs a leash

Waferira writes to production tools over SECS/GEM. Every capability is scoped to a qualified recipe window, every write is policy-checked against tool state, and every action is written to an append-only, IP-isolated audit log the fab owns.

  • Recipe bounds. Each agent writes only inside the qualified recipe window for that tool, with explicit per-parameter limits.
  • Policy and tool-state checks before every write. Autonomy level, tool state, qualification, interlocks and shift are evaluated before a recipe moves.
  • Human-in-the-loop gates. Holds, out-of-window moves and lot release wait for a named approver, with OCAP linkage on every excursion.
  • Immutable, IP-isolated audit log. Append-only and exportable. Every action records source signals, retrieved procedures with citations, predicted impact, allowed range, rollback condition, approver and lot scope.
  • Rollback. Declared rollback conditions return a recipe to its previous qualified version; loss of the edge node leaves the tool on its own controller and recipe.
  • Tenant and IP isolation. Recipes, device designs, defect libraries and process memory never cross a customer boundary. Inference and feature storage stay at the fab edge; an on-prem control plane is available for IP-sensitive fabs.

Compliance posture

ItemScopeStatus
SOC 2 Type I and fab-security reviewControl plane QUEUED Planned, first 6 months
SOC 2 Type IIControl plane QUEUED Planned, 6 to 12 months
SSO and RBACConsole and approvals QUEUED Planned, 6 to 12 months
IP-isolation and security assurance packageFab security and IT and OT review QUEUED Planned, 6 to 12 months
SEMI-standards-cited reasoningRecipes, integration specs, OCAPs RUNNING In the design, every answer cites its source
Per-tenant IP isolationData, models, memory RUNNING In the design from day one
On-prem and fab-edge deploymentIP-sensitive fabs RUNNING Design option

Read the security overview

FAQ

Straight answers

The questions fab directors and process engineers ask in the first meeting.

Yes, over SECS/GEM, but only inside the qualified recipe window for that tool, with per-parameter limits and tool-state checks, and only at the autonomy level your fab has set. Level 1 is advisory: Waferira recommends and an engineer enters everything. Design partners start there, in shadow mode.

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