Taiwan Quake May Lead to New Industry Preparedness

Stanley T. Myers, President Semiconductor Equipment and Materials International (SEMI) -- Semiconductor International, 11/1/1999

It happens that much of the world's semiconductor manufacturing is done in earthquake-prone locations, so we need to explore what lessons we can learn from major seismic disasters such as the 7.6 shocker that hit Taiwan in September. Within days after the quake, SEMI dispatched a team of experts in seismic and environmental health and safety (EHS) assessment to Taiwan to survey and document the impact. SEMI organized and funded the investigation to identify and report on design practices that protected structures, equipment and product, as well as designs that failed to protect against the earthquake. The team was led by Stacy Bartoletti, P.E., an associate with Degenkolb Engineers, and Brian Sherin, CSP, managing principal of Environmental and Occupational Risk Management Inc. (EORM). Both companies are SEMI members. Their daily reports are posted on the SEMI Web site (http://www.semi.org/), where their summary report also will appear.

Early indications were that asset damage to facilities and equipment would represent only about 10% of the total loss caused by business interruption. The overall initial impact on the industry was reported to be about $390M, but it was estimated that this loss increased by $9.4M each day without power. The Taiwan industry was fortunate in that it escaped severe damage to its capital assets. While power outages may result in several weeks of business interruptions, loss of critical equipment or facilities could result in shutdowns of months or years.

The SEMI team's findings were fascinating and are likely to add value to SEMI's on-going effort to develop worldwide guidelines for fabs in active seismic areas. In some cases, such guidelines already exist but had not been followed properly or were not observed at all. A good example is in the area of seismic anchoring. Since 1991, SEMI has published safety guidelines that call for equipment manufacturers to identify seismic tie-down locations on process equipment. Unfortunately, the SEMI team found actual implementation of seismic anchoring to be spotty. The newer fabs had equipment with better anchorage, but it wasn't consistent with, nor in many cases in accordance with, sound structural/ mechanical engineering design. Many of the fabs visited had experienced alignment problems on steppers. Another weak link apparently is the quartz tubes inside diffusion furnaces, specifically vertical diffusion furnaces, which are very tall (3 meters or more).

Over time, we expect the findings from this investigation can lead to new facility guidelines and even new equipment procedures to counteract some of the problems. We hope it also will inspire fab managers in seismically active areas to adhere to the existing guidelines.

Global assessment focuses on Roadmap's economic implications

Even as IC industry leaders are finalizing revisions to the International Technology Roadmap for Semiconductors -- scheduled for release at the end of this month, just prior to SEMICON Japan -- an organized effort already is underway to assess its economic implications for the equipment and materials industry. Leaders of organizations representing suppliers to the global semiconductor industry agreed at a meeting during SEMICON Taiwan to proceed with the coordinated assessment. This will focus primarily on the impact of the increased research and development needed to meet the technology acceleration the new Roadmap is expected to indicate.

Executives of SEMI, the Semiconductor Equipment Association of Japan (SEAJ) and SEMI/SEMATECH reported that the boards of their respective organizations have approved the effort. Participants at the meeting agreed as a first step to develop a process for identifying the technical areas to be addressed and a framework for reporting findings to the industry. The regional associations will identify critical technologies for study, and SEMI will coordinate the activities worldwide.

James Greed, a SEMI board member and former SEMI chairman, has agreed to serve as the coordinating director of this project following his pending retirement from VLSI Standards Inc.

Asyst team honored with SEMI award

Congratulations to Dr. Mihir Parikh, chairman and chief executive officer of Asyst Technologies Inc., and Anthony C. Bonora, Asyst's chief technology officer, on receiving the SEMI Award for North America for their pioneering work and outstanding contribution to semiconductor manufacturing technology. Parikh and Bonora led a team that developed key technologies that have revolutionized cleanroom-manufacturing practices. Their personal contributions include the development and advancements of Standard Mechanical Interface (SMIF) Pods, robotic cassette transfer mechanisms, automated lot tracking systems and equipment mini-environments.