Productivity, Cycle Time, 450 mm
Masayuki Tomoyasu, SEMI Suppliers’ Productivity Working Group -- Semiconductor International, 7/19/2007
The exciting and dynamic industry that we work in has changed dramatically in the past decades. It has moved from supplying advanced technology to the defense industry to corporate IT clients to global consumer-driven products. At the same time, industry growth has moderated from an explosive 15-18% annual growth rate to ~5-6%, while the breadth of semiconductor products and variants has expanded.
This change in climate is driving our industry to make changes in the way we approach manufacturing. Consumers quickly alter their perception of the best product, and their changing tastes require a rapidly changing product mix — fabs must be agile to respond. Semiconductor manufacturers are seeking ways to improve the performance of fabs by reducing cycle time.
Fortunately, recent analysis shows that there are clear improvements to be made in cycle time by moving to single-wafer processing and smaller lot sizes. Industry analysis shows this improvement can be substantial (2-4×), depending on a chipmaker’s product mix. However, this does not come free. New automated material handling system (AMHS) techniques may be needed, which suggests new architectures for next-generation 300 mm fabs.
As industry growth has slowed, growth in R&D budgets have been curtailed. Therefore, selection of R&D initiatives must be done carefully, and “blind alleys” that were encountered in the past have to be avoided. Only the highest-return and lowest-risk R&D projects can be funded.
Knowing where to invest R&D dollars was an easy question to answer. Technology evolution reduces manufacturing cost and fuels the high growth rate of the industry. It is still the biggest lever the industry has in improving productivity.
Recent industry sentiment shows that continuing to improve on the existing and future 300 mm base has tremendous payoff for the industry. Winners will place their bets on the continued 300 mm technology evolution with improved factory agility and “smart” tools with reduced variability, while avoiding a premature, high-risk adventure into a larger wafer size anytime soon.
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