Connect in a single shift. No change control needed.

Pre-integration checklist

Before starting, confirm the following are available: network access from the Wafercadence server to the inspection tool (or MES file share), SECS/GEM driver version on the host equipment, KLARF export directory path, and MES vendor and version number. For air-gapped deployments, confirm the isolated network topology and data transfer method.

Install the Wafercadence connector service

Deploy the on-premise connector on a Linux or Windows server within your fab network. The connector service handles SECS/GEM session management, KLARF file watching, and data normalization before sending to the Wafercadence engine.

curl -fsSL https://install.wafercadence.com/connector | bash
wfc-connector init --mode secs-gem --host 192.168.1.45 --port 5000
wfc-connector status

For air-gapped environments, download the installer package via the technical evaluation portal and transfer via approved media.

Configure the SECS/GEM session

Edit the connector configuration file to specify equipment parameters. The connector supports HSMS-SS (Host-Initiated and Equipment-Initiated) and SECS-I over RS-232 for older tools.

# wfc-connector configuration
equipment:
  id: "KLA-SP28-001"
  type: "inspection"
  protocol: "hsms-ss"
  host: "192.168.1.45"
  port: 5000
  t3_timeout: 10
ingest:
  klarf_watch_dir: "/fab/inspection/klarf/"
  poll_interval_ms: 5000
  format: "klarf-1.2"

Verify the MES handshake

Wafercadence reads lot, wafer, and recipe metadata from your MES to associate inspection events with process context. The handshake uses a read-only API or file export — no write access to MES is required for initial operation.

{
  "lot_id": "LOT-20250614-0047",
  "wafer_id": "W-05",
  "process_step": "LITHO_M1_COAT",
  "equipment_id": "KLA-SP28-001",
  "chamber_id": "CH-3B",
  "recipe_version": "R_M1_LITHO_v2.3"
}

Supported MES connectors: Workstream (REST API), Camstar (file export), Synopsys Yield Explorer (direct DB query with read-only credentials), PDF Solutions Exensio (event stream). For other MES vendors, contact us — most support generic SOAP/REST or CSV export patterns.

First wafer correlation run

Once the connector is running and receiving KLARF files, trigger the first correlation pass. The Wafercadence engine will read available inspection events, cross-correlate with MES context, and output an evidence package for the first matching excursion pattern.

wfc-engine correlate --lookback 24h --verbose
# Output: correlation complete. 3 excursion candidates found.
# Evidence package ready at: /wfc/output/EP-20250615-001.json