Six Sigma in Semiconductor: Continuous Improvement in Production Floor Area

This study addresses the improvement of first pass yield on the production floor of ABC Semiconductor. ABC is a company running a multiple volume complex product in aligning with memory business in the operation. First pass yield refers to the proportion of fully built product that pass testing without the need for additional rework. The first pass yield (FPY) project showed steady progression for its first five years. But over the following one year, the primary yield metric which is first pass yield has stayed stagnant. The goal of the paper presented here is to analyze the reasons for the current performance and propose novel ways of improving the metric again using quality management tools. The most common is using 7QC tools method by categorizing failure pareto that will lead to targeted corrective action to reduce the recurrence of pre-identified failure modes. A DMAIC methodology is establish on how to define an efficient corrective action, along with a top three major defect on data acquired from ABC organization. From the exercise, the yield loss was able to be reduced from 17.4% to 3.52%.

Character association and genetic gain of nine agronomic traits of F1 populations in onion (Allium cepa L.)

F1 populations of half diallel cross were considered for this investigation. Phenotypic component of variation (s2P) was higher than genotypic (s2G), interaction ((s2I) and within error (s2w) components of variation. Trait bulb weight showed the highest values for s2P, s2G, s2I and s2w. The noticeable amount of phenotypic, genotypic, interaction and within error covariation was found in the combination of BW×BY, possibly indicating wide scope of selection for this pair of characters. Genotypic correlations were higher than the respective phenotypic correlations. This situation was also marked in the path coefficient analysis. Bulb yield/plot showed highly significant and positive correlation coefficient with other characters both at phenotypic and genotypic levels. When all the nine characters were included in an index, it exhibited the highest genetic gain as percentage. When a combination of two or more characters was studied in a function, the efficacy was higher than that of direct selection for bulb yield. The combination of five, six, seven or eight characters showed higher percentage of expected gain. Due to significantly correlated with BY and having high positive direct effect at phenotypic level characters viz., LL, BW, PH and NLs is considered as primary yield components. Again combinations of these four characters gave the commendable expected genetic gain of 330.7290% may be considered as important selection index for this material.

Assessing the Efficiency of Saturating Shale Oil Cores and Evaluating Hydrocarbon Gas Huff ‘n’ Puff Using Nuclear Magnetic Resonance

Summary Shale oil formations have a very low primary yield despite advances in multistage hydraulic fracturing and horizontal drilling. In so doing, gas huff ‘n’ puff (HnP), among other improved oil recovery methods, is implemented to recover more liquid hydrocarbons. Gas HnP has proven to be an effective recovery process in shales taking into account the fracture properties, fluid-fluid interactions, and gas diffusion controlled by matrix properties. However, a laboratory-scale understanding of the gas HnP mechanism proves challenging. At this scale, measuring saturation before and after HnP tests in a nonintrusive and nondestructive manner, and understanding rock properties that affect diffusion is essential. In addition to ascertaining how the multiscale pore systems and varying mineral composition of shales affect its evaluation. The nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) is considered a suitable tool for estimating fluid content in shales and understanding rock/fluid interactions. Generally, synthetic oil samples are used on either outcrop core plugs or crushed reservoir samples for NMR measurements, which may not be representative of rock/fluid interactions in bulk shales. This study is focused on carrying out NMR tests with dead oil on reservoir core plugs at relatively different depths to determine an effective means of saturation and understand oil production due to gas HnP. Gas HnP experiments were performed at reservoir conditions (3,500 psi and 125°C) on representative rock types from the Lower Eagle Ford (LEF) interval. Low field NMR measurements were subsequently carried out on the LEF core plugs at different states: as-received, saturated, and after gas HnP. The results show that oil recovery due to gas HnP occurred mainly in the organic pores (OPs) and inorganic pores (IPs) and ranged from 48 to 56% of the oil-in-place with indications of adsorbed/trapped methane (CH4) and remaining heavier components. This plays a vital role in evaluating the HnP process to know the extent of invasion and remaining oil components. In saturating the core plugs, the optimum saturation period was found to be 2 weeks for the LEF shale at current conditions. This presents an idea of how long to saturate a shale oil core effectively before it is tested for gas HnP. On the basis of the impact of varying mineral composition on the recovery mechanism, we observed the LEF core plug with the highest clay content to have the least recovery. This is in line with a high T1/T2 ratio alluding to reduced mobility of fluids in the presence of clay minerals with relatively small sizes of clay porosity and adsorptive surfaces.

Grapevine double cropping: a reality, not a myth

The main drawback of the forcing vine regrowth technique is the loss of yield (Martínez de Toda, 2020). In order to avoid such loss of yield and not eliminate the primary clusters already formed on the primary shoots, it is possible to force the development of the latent buds of the fifth and sixth nodes, while maintaining the clusters on the main shoots. In this way, the yield of the forced buds can be added to the normal or primary yield of the shoots. In this article, experiments carried out on Grenache, Tempranillo and Maturana Tinta varieties in La Rioja (Spain) are presented.

Heritability Paterns of Some Agro-Botanical Characters Related to Yield and Drought Tolerance in Two Landraces of Rice

Two landraces of rice, AWGUII-04 and IJ-124, were characterised and assessed for phenotypic variability, heritability, genetic advance and modes of inheritance of some primary yield and drought-tolerance traits. The target traits for yield were a percentage of filled spikelets, plant form, tillering, and for drought tolerance, leaf rolling, ratooning and maturity. This study was carried out to help both breeders and farmers make a wise choice when carrying out hybridisation and on the field. Hybridisation produced three F1 hybrids that were advanced to F2 generation. Quantitative and qualitative vegetative and reproductive data were taken from each F2 population. The results obtained showed high heritability (62–100%) in all the thirty-eight vegetative and reproductive traits. The genetic advance was high (> 20%) in all the target traits except for leaf rolling. The traits segregated in the following ratio: plant growth form – 9:6:1; the percentage of filled spikelets – 13:3; ratooning – 3:1; maturity – 15:1; the number of tillers – 15:1 and leaf rolling – 15:1. The high heritability of the above traits makes them highly dependable for rice crop improvement.

Effect of Water Deficit Stress on Seedling Biomass and Physio-Chemical Characteristics in Different Species of Wheat Possessing the D Genome

Wild relatives of wheat serve as an extraordinary source of variability for breeding programs due to their capabilities to respond to various environmental stresses. Here, we investigated some species possessing a D genome (T. aestivum, Ae. tauschii, Ae. crassa and Ae. cylindrica) in terms of relative water content (RWC), stomatal conductance (Gs), relative chlorophyll content, initial fluorescence (Fo), maximum quantum yield of PSII (Fv/Fm), maximum primary yield of PSII photochemistry (Fv/Fo), as well as shoot fresh and dry biomasses under control and water deficit conditions. Our results revealed that water deficit negatively affected all traits; shoot fresh weight, Gs and RWC showed the highest reduction compared to the control condition. Principal component analysis (PCA) identified two PCs that accounted for 53.36% of the total variation in the water deficit conditions. Correlation analysis and PCA-based biplots showed that stress tolerance index (STI) is significantly associated with Fv/Fm and Fv/Fo under water stress conditions, suggesting that these are the best parameters to evaluate when screening for tolerant samples at the seedling stage. We identified 19 accessions from Ae. crassa and one from Ae. tauschii as the most tolerant samples. In conclusion, Ae. crassa might provide an ideal genetic resource for drought-tolerant wheat breeds.

Phenotyping of Plant Biomass and Performance Traits Using Remote Sensing Techniques in Pea (Pisum sativum, L.)

Field pea cultivars are constantly improved through breeding programs to enhance biotic and abiotic stress tolerance and increase seed yield potential. In pea breeding, the Above Ground Biomass (AGBM) is assessed due to its influence on seed yield, canopy closure, and weed suppression. It is also the primary yield component for peas used as a cover crop and/or grazing. Measuring AGBM is destructive and labor-intensive process. Sensor-based phenotyping of such traits can greatly enhance crop breeding efficiency. In this research, high resolution RGB and multispectral images acquired with unmanned aerial systems were used to assess phenotypes in spring and winter pea breeding plots. The Green Red Vegetation Index (GRVI), Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI), Normalized Difference Red Edge Index (NDRE), plot volume, canopy height, and canopy coverage were extracted from RGB and multispectral information at five imaging times (between 365 to 1948 accumulated degree days/ADD after 1 May) in four winter field pea experiments and at three imaging times (between 1231 to 1648 ADD) in one spring field pea experiment. The image features were compared to ground-truth data including AGBM, lodging, leaf type, days to 50% flowering, days to physiological maturity, number of the first reproductive node, and seed yield. In two of the winter pea experiments, a strong correlation between image features and seed yield was observed at 1268 ADD (flowering). An increase in correlation between image features with the phenological traits such as days to 50% flowering and days to physiological maturity was observed at about 1725 ADD in these winter pea experiments. In the spring pea experiment, the plot volume estimated from images was highly correlated with ground truth canopy height (r = 0.83) at 1231 ADD. In two other winter pea experiments and the spring pea experiment, the GRVI and NDVI features were significantly correlated with AGBM at flowering. When selected image features were used to develop a least absolute shrinkage and selection operator model for AGBM estimation, the correlation coefficient between the actual and predicted AGBM was 0.60 and 0.84 in the winter and spring pea experiments, respectively. A SPOT-6 satellite image (1.5 m resolution) was also evaluated for its applicability to assess biomass and seed yield. The image features extracted from satellite imagery showed significant correlation with seed yield in two winter field pea experiments, however, the trend was not consistent. In summary, the study supports the potential of using unmanned aerial system-based imaging techniques to estimate biomass and crop performance in pea breeding programs.

Probing the band gap of liquid ammonia with femtosecond multiphoton ionization spectroscopy

The solvated electron primary yield is used in a multiphoton-ionization action-spectroscopic experiment to explore the band gap of liquid ammonia.