Acorn Technology Systems, GEM, SECS, SEMI 300mm, Custom Software Development for Complex Hardware Systems

Using Software to Harness the Power of Machines

Acorn's purpose is to enhance and automate complex electronic and electro-mechanical equipment through custom, PC based or embedded software. Our typical client is an industrial or high-tech manufacturing company for which software control and automation are integral to their product’s desired feature set.

Acorn is a company of engineers that enjoy solving other people's software problems. It is our business to understand your needs and deliver the best solution. Finishing your project on time, within budget and to your satisfaction is how our company thrives. Our references will tell you we get things done. They will also tell you that they have returned to Acorn for several projects and will continue to do so.

SEMI 300mm Factory Automation Standards
In the past 8 years, Acorn has become expert in semiconductor fabrication environments where SEMI 300mm automation and interface standards are a general requirement for capital equipment. Acorn has a team of engineers ready to integrate your equipment software into a fully-automated 300mm semiconductor environment. We'll bring your software to full SEMI 300mm compliance, which includes compliance with the following SEMI standards: E4, E5 (SECS-II), E30 (GEM), E37, E39, E40, E84 (AMHS), E87, E90 and E94, E116 (EPT).

Consultations at No Cost
We believe that a good business relationship is more likely to follow if we talk, at length, outside of a payment schedule. In this way you will learn what it is like to work with Acorn’s design team before you move ahead with a project. We will consult with you in person, on site, for several days if necessary, in order for you to have a clear idea of how we plan to solve your equipment control problems and what that will cost. There is no implied obligation in this process.

Acorn in Brief
Our company was started by two electrical engineers from MIT in 1980. As software system designers, we never lost our love of hardware, and so we stayed close to complex, real-world, hardware problems. Read about our company and our staff to get a feel for what it might be like to establish a relationship with Acorn.

Different Ways of Working with Acorn

Custom Software
Acorn's custom development rates are very attractive. We turn projects around quickly with our very experienced staff of engineers. Our engineering staff has been together since the early 80's and averages more than 20 years of experience. Refer to our services section to see how we may help you. We've spent a lot of time on that section describing how we work and how we can fit into your plans.

Acorn as OEM
If you have a good product idea, Acorn will provide the software design and implementation with no up front costs. Rather than hiring a design team on a time and materials basis, you can retain Acorn to do the complete design and implementation. Acorn will then act as an OEM supplier of software to you and recoup development costs as units are sold. In this way, development costs are passed directly to your customers as you make sales.

Pilot Projects
Because Acorn has a fast design and development model which we use for software prototyping, we are the ideal choice for running pilot projects to test out new product ideas. Such a project can have a short, well-defined work cycle and is useful to you because it acts as proof of concept and delivers a working software prototype. Your costs will be minimized and well-known before the project begins.

Platforms And Languages
The following is a list of acronyms and phrases indicating languages and platforms with which we have expertise. The list is not complete, but it references the major areas of our expertise.

.NET (VB.NET and C#), MFC, C++, VB, ATL, COM, NT Kernel driver, USB hub driver, Windows Driver Model, VxWorks, Tornado for VxWorks, 8 and 16-bit Assembler

List of Devices
The following list will give you an idea of the kinds of equipment we have worked on.
Frame grabbers, USB devices, Precision stages, Laboratory instrumentation, Robots, Scanning electron microscopes, Stepper motor devices, Proprietary networks, Embedded systems and many more.