By Jay Duncombe, Intersil; Eric Madera, Linear Technologies; John Brooks, Daniel Cicero, Dr. Steven Hatch, Brian Jenkins, Kevin Olson and Barry Carroll, Nalco Company

ABSTRACT

Cooling towers play a critical role in the microelectronics industry.  Their support of the HVAC (heating, ventilating and air-conditioning) systems and ultimately the Process Cooling Water (PCW) system is necessary to maintain a consistent manufacturing environment.  Loss of this cooling capacity means fab shutdown and production loss.

Microelectronics manufacturing facilities are often located in regions where water is expensive, of less-than-optimum quality, or both.  Conversely, the microelectronics manufacturing process requires large quantities of process water.  Many of the rejected process streams are of sufficient quality to be used in the cooling tower as part of an overall water re-use strategy. The challenge resides in the development and implementation of that strategy, incorporating robust risk mitigation to protect the fab's high value production process and HVAC equipment.

A new cooling water control technology is in use at several fabs as part of their water re-use strategy.  This paper describes the common challenges, pros and cons of different solutions, and how this new technology has been deployed at two microelectronics fabs.  Case studies detailing before and after examples, ROI and performance data are presented. 

Steffen Weiser, IBM - Plant Location International (PLI)

ABSTRACT

Globalization in the last couple of decades has led to an unprecedented geographical expansion of economic activity, including a significant shift of (production-related) activities towards developing countries. Although developing countries can be attractive as low cost operating platforms and potential future markets, companies have to be aware of certain pitfalls when expanding into these countries. 

James Beasley, ISMI, USA

ABSTRACT

"Green manufacturing" has become one of the most popular slogans in the semiconductor world, but its use often pertains to specific processes and products.  While commendable, these green products and processes are merely part of a more global vision that the industry must adopt to inculcate environmental manufacturing into current and new chip factories.  The Green Fab - an integrated system of specially engineered tools, methods, products and supporting technologies - must become the industry's ultimate environmental goal.  In this article, we define the Green Fab design; identify its drivers and benefits; survey the current state of Green Fab design; and introduce ISMI's Green Fab Initiative, an effort to extend environmental best practices and standards throughout the industry. 

Allan D. Chasey, PhD, PE, Del E. Webb School of Construction, Arizona State University

ABSTRACT

Semiconductor manufacturing equipment is designed to meet the highly complex challenges of today's semiconductor market. The focus historically has been on the process capability of the tool. Even though the requirements for the production equipment drive facility design, the impact of the equipment on facility costs is not usually considered in the cost of the process equipment. This paper explores how semiconductor manufacturing equipment can be designed to be more compatible with the facility and infrastructure support systems. By looking at some previously ignored semiconductor manufacturing equipment requirements, which ultimately impacted the facility and drove additional facility costs, some ideas will be outlined on how the interface with the facility and infrastructure systems can be made more effectively. 

Kandi Collier, Intel Corporation, USA, Don Yeamen, M+W Zander, USA, Nick de Vries, Applied Materials, USA, Arnold Canales, Kinetics, USA, Dr Allan Chasey, Arizona State University, USA

ABSTRACT

The International Technology Roadmap for Semiconductors (ITRS) has defined several difficult challenges that will face the semiconductor industry over the next 10 to 15 years. As part of the challenge, the industry continues to demand facilities that are increasingly reliable, less expensive, faster to build and come on-line more quickly. At the same time, process equipment requirements, ESH compliance and factory operating flexibility continue to drive increased facility capital and operating costs. Process equipment installation time and costs continue to be driven higher by more gas, chemical and utility points of connection and ESH compliance requirements. As the industry develops new processes and process tools, design and construction firms will be challenged to continue to reduce the time to ramp factories to their full operating capacity. 

Julian A. Montoya, Intel Corporation, Hillsboro, Oregon, USA & Vincent Esqueda, Intel Corporation, Phoenix, Arizona, USA

ABSTRACT

As semiconductor devices shrink in size to accommodate Moore's Law, the need for high-resolution beam-based metrology and beam-based writing equipment increases, and the dependence of such equipment for process development and process validation becomes more critical. For the purposes of this discussion, beambased metrology and writing equipment will be defined as equipment that utilizes an electron beam to perform its intended function.  

Hal Amick, Vice President, Colin Gordon & Associates, San Bruno, CA, USA

ABSTRACT

Nanotechnology research is the newest entry into the dynamic field of advanced technology. The buildings required to carry out this work may be dramatically different from those used for other areas of advanced technology. Virtually all of these facilities impose stringent environmental criteria upon the workplace, in such areas as vibration, temperature control, fume exhaust, and electromagnetic interference. 

Michael Willford, Arup, London, UK, & Caroline Field, Arup, San Francisco, USA

ABSTRACT

The development of sophisticated semiconductor technologies requires ultralow vibration research and production environments. Human footfall is a significant source of vibration, and if its effects are not assessed accurately during the design of a  facility, the workspaces may be rendered unusable for sensitive equipment. In view of the importance of achieving an adequately low vibration environment in modern facilities it is perhaps surprising that the design methods employed by most structural and vibration engineers comprise very simple and semiempirical hand calculations based on research available in the 1970s. 

Tim Kent & John Paul McKeown, Reactec, Edinburgh, Scotland

ABSTRACT

The ongoing process of miniaturisation brings the industry into contact with new requirements for vibration management. This article looks at the fundamental changes these issues will have on the industry, and suggests that the effects will be widespread. Not least, vibrations may bring about - and may even lead - new relationships between OEMs (Original Equipment Manufacturers) and IDMs (Integrated Device Manufacturers). Vibration solutions will require ever greater understanding of the underlying causes of vibration and effective means of reducing them. 

Hal Amick, Ph.D., P.E., Colin Gordon & Associates, San Bruno, CA, USA

ABSTRACT

Vibration has long been recognized as a contaminant in a fab. This article presents one possible approach for using the building itself to mitigate vibrations. Concrete is the structural material of choice for the vibration-sensitive areas in a fab, via waffle slabs or concrete two-way grillages. Some benefits arise from altering the vibration damping characteristics of the concrete itself. A recent research project examined various options for concrete damping modification, finding that the use of a particular family of admixtures was the most straightforward approach. We will look at damping itself and the role it can play in vibration control. 

ABSTRACT

Semiconductor factory design methodology must apply a systems approach to build a cost-effective solution. The use of industrial engineering analytical approaches, computerized analysis and intelligent CAD tools in a collaborative environment can assist in the risk reduction of designing a new type fab. Industrial engineers working with the customer and various disciplines can create a new concept that allows complete confidence in the final design.

J. W. Epton, BOC Edwards

ABSTRACT

Numerous steps in the semiconductor manufacturing process require deposition of materials onto a substrate by utilisation of physical vapor deposition (PVD) or chemical vapor deposition (CVD) techniques. During these steps, the internal surfaces of the process chamber retain some of the deposits, resulting in particles that cause defects. Recent development in metal and dielectric chamber surface coatings have reduced the flaking of deposited materials, minimising particle counts and improving process performance. 

N. Van Hoornick, K. Van den Broeck, J. Van Hoeymissen & M. Heyns, IMEC, Heverlee, Belgium, W. Riedel & C. Braun, M+W Zander, Stuttgart, Germany

ABSTRACT

This article describes a life-cycle cost model that takes the complex interaction between activities in IC facilities within a fab into account. In addition, the model provides all necessary outputs for environmental impact modelling such as gaseous emissions, concentrations of wastewater compounds, etc. 

Yeong Ruey Shiue, GSMC, Shanghai, People's Republic of China & Stephen M. Malmros AIA, IDC, Shanghai,Peoples Republic of China

ABSTRACT

A microelectronics manufacturing facility developed by Grace Semiconductor Manufacturing Corporation (GSMC) in Shanghai has been closely watched as a watershed project in China's technology evolution. The project has justifiably become a dramatic symbol of China's emergence as a dynamic hub of microelectronics manufacturing. The GSMC project team creatively combined aesthetic appeal, design and construction ingenuity, design/build systems packaging, and a unique degree of cultural sensitivity and adaptation to local conditions to achieve success on this landmark project. Significantly, this project was accomplished with an eclectic international team that shared a common commitment to meet the high quality standards expected by GSMC. 

Mark Osborne, Editor-in-Chief, Semiconductor Fabtech

ABSTRACT

This is the first article in a series that will look at the many facets that make up the design, construction and cleanroom installation aspects of the state-of-the-art 300mm fab. The focus will be on initiatives that help to control the rising costs and maximise the return on investment (ROI). We start the series where all fabs must start, on the drawing board or as we have today the CAD computer screen. Here we interview one of the most experienced and creative fab architects in the world today with no less than 20 fabs to his name. We asked Dr. Alfonso Mercurio President of A.M. Architetti S.r.l, part of the AMA Group, to reveal the often forgotten or underestimated importance of design in fabs of today. 

Dr. Martin Weltzer, Siemens Industrial Building Consultants GmbH & Co. OHG, Munich, Germany

ABSTRACT

The article describes the SC300 ultrapure water (UPW) plant as an example how the project objective was realized and includes information about design aspects, water quality specification and vendor selection criteria's. The UPW plant is one of the key elements of the production facility. Beside the cost aspects the plant has to meet stringent quality specifications to secure the wafer yield. Based on a calculated cost target, which was derived from Infineon's 300mm business plan and the experiences gained from earlier 200 mm Fabs, the UPW expert team developed different technical concepts and they investigated the resulting investment and operating costs. 

Ed Guttes, Fiona Lee & Monty Stranski, IDC, Portland, OR, USA

ABSTRACT

The goal of a Fab plant designer is to maximise cost effectiveness of the plant area to the technology to be used. This is a complex issue with a high degree of uncertainty when future requirements are brought into the evaluation. A graphical analysis based on wafer throughput and other relevant factors is shown to produce an optimum range of values upon which the Fab Designer can base his new development with some confidence. 

Victor Neuman, Alpha Tech, Inc., San Francisco, CA, USA

ABSTRACT

This article outlines the current difficulties with electrical power being experienced by semiconductor manufacturers in northern California. Cogeneration and on-site power generation are seen as possible solutions to these problems. In addition, cogeneration can reduce emissions of harmful globalwarming gases, e.g. CO2, and several examples are presented.