John E.J. Schmitz, Chief Operating Officer, Manufacturing Technology, International SEMATECH Manufacturing Initiative, Austin, Texas, USA

ABSTRACT

This article discusses the escalating costs associated with manufacturing advanced electronic circuits. Emanufacturing will have to play a much larger role in this manufacturing if the requirements are to be met on schedule. It is concluded that all players in semiconductor manufacturing will have to adopt this approach if they are to remain competitive. 

Bill McClean, President IC Insights, Inc, Scottsdale, AZ, USA

ABSTRACT

Figure 1 provides worldwide capital spending trends from 1995 through 2003 and a forecast for 2004 through 2008. As shown, semiconductor industry capital spending is not expected to exceed 2000's level until the peak of the next IC industry cycle in 2008! When looking at the per cent change line in Figure 1, it is evident that IC insights believes that the historically volatile trends in capital spending outlays will continue through 2008. 

Thomas J. Sonderman, Advanced Micro Devices, Austin, TX, USA

ABSTRACT

The demands on semiconductor manufacturers have never been greater than they are today. Companies are challenged to meet market demand by delivering increasingly sophisticated products in high volume, on time and more cost-effectively than ever before. The economy of scale makes a conversion to 300-mm wafers ultimately beneficial, but there is an inherent risk associated with the transition. With the value of each 300-mm wafer more than double that of 200-mm wafers, 300-mm manufacturing demands a level of process improvement that effectively keeps costs low while maximizing the value of each wafer.

Jennifer K. Robinson, FabTime, Inc.

ABSTRACT

FabTime is focused on improving wafer-fab cycle times through consulting, training, and our webbased digital dashboard software. For the past two years, we have conducted an informal survey of the roadblocks to great fab cycle-time performance. To date, the top response has been "equipment downtime". In this article, we discuss several best practices for improving fab cycle time by focusing on tool uptime. 

R. Sturm & K. Reddig, Fraunhofer Institute Manufacturing Engineering and Automation Stuttgart, Germany. D. Glüer, Advanced Micro Devices Saxony LLC & Co. KG, Dresden, Germany

ABSTRACT

Planning and operating automated material handling systems (AMHS) for microelectronics and semiconductor manufacturing have become increasingly important for modern high-volume production lines. As a service system for the manufacturing process, reliable material supply to the process equipment is mandatory, and the scope of operating an AMHS is on the prompt. 

James Moyne, Brooks Automation, Inc.

ABSTRACT

Advanced process control (APC) capabilities such as "run-to-run control" are now required components of lithography system solutions. Unfortunately these control solutions, usually targeting overlay and CD control, have generally been developed from the ground up with non-standard APC automation strategies. 

John Ferguson, Mentor Graphics, OR, USA

ABSTRACT

As designs grow more complex, process technologies become smaller and geometry counts increase, the work required to achieve acceptable yield becomes increasingly demanding and difficult. Underlying this issue is the need to maximize yield without
increasing manufacturing costs. Because of uncertainty of yield, companies are reluctant to manufacture at smaller process
technologies, such as 90 nm. Most are still manufacturing at 180 nm, where yield and cost is relatively predictable and controllable. As
companies ramp up to 130 nm and smaller, the need for managing yield issues is greater than ever. It is essential to have enough yield issue information to make a business decision about what is a cost-effective solution.

Trey Brown, GE Global Electronics Solutions

ABSTRACT 

The semiconductor industry is one of the most capital-intensive industries in the world and in today’s economic environment manufacturers are in a cautious mode looking for ways to mitigate some of their costs while making prudent decisions for the future. Consequently, leading manufacturers are now evaluating their long-term equipment strategy and entertaining an array of options that include leasing capital equipment, purchasing used equipment and remarketing equipment they no longer need. This article will discuss the three stages of Equipment Lifecycle Management for the semiconductor industry – acquiring equipment by lease or purchase, optimizing it, and finally remarketing the equipment when it is no longer needed. A comprehensive Equipment Lifecycle Management approach recognizes the reality that there will never be a ‘final’ optimal end result from even the most
thorough capital equipment evaluation and selection procedure. In reality, it is a continuous dynamic tension between rapidly changing technologies, shorter product cycles, longer lasting equipment values and the need to carefully manage financial resources. Only a unified Equipment Lifecycle Management process that encompasses all key activities, ranging from acquisition to optimization through disposition, will enable companies to stay on top of their constantly changing capital equipment needs.

Mark Osborne, Editor-in-chief, Semiconductor Fabtech

With our work on tracking 300mm activity, primarily from the construction to first silicon perspective, we discovered a trend that has yet to receive any real attention from the semiconductor industry media and analysts. The majority of 300mm fabs have not been able to ramp wafer production anywhere comparable to that experienced with 200mm fabs. We investigate the key reasons for the slow ramp rates and provide an insight into the challenges facing 300mm fabs in ramping successfully.