Top Fabs of 2000

IBM's Burlington, Vt., fab manufactures ASICs, CMOS, BiCMOS and SOI logic, analog, mixed-signal, microprocessors, SRAMs, DRAMs and SiGe high-frequency logic, as well as providing foundry services for design, masks and wafer fabrication. Currently, it is running 180 nm copper dual-damascene processes for CMOS logic, SRAM and SiGe devices, with a 150 nm process starting. Silicon on insulator (SOI) logic has a 200 nm process in production.

In the last 20 years, the manufacturing area has increased from 286,000 ft² to 421,000 ft². More than 60% of its tools reside in its 250,000 ft² of Class 1000 space, along with Class 0.1 (ISO Class 1-2) workstation minienvironments. Another 125,000 ft² of the manufacturing area is Class 10, housing more than 30% of the fab's tools. The remainder of the fab's tools are dedicated to older-generation technologies, 0.5 to 1.0 µm.

With all the tools and processes running, the facility requires, and has, a world-class logistics and control system. Its enhanced technology support system (ETSS) provides statistical process control of more than 60,000 tool, process and product parameters. The manufacturing control system (MCS) manages process flows across both buildings of the fab, and the logistics management system (LMS) provides control over technologies and products with constantly changing priorities.

3. Photo cluster tool at IBM Burlington.

The yield management system, in addition to SPC capabilities, includes integrated data systems and real-time process control. The facility has specialized feedback and feedforward systems in place to control wafer state parameters, and a significant number of tools operate with real-time control sensors and multivariate statistical analysis capability. These systems allow the identification and analysis of process anomalies that can go undetected by standard monitoring alarm schemes.

As mentioned above, the facility has an on-site mask manufacturing operation, which produces chrome on glass and phase shift masks for 180, 150 and 130 nm technologies.

The facility has aggressively reduced emissions and hazardous waste generation throughout its history, while growing in size and continuing to increase production. Continuous process improvements, treatment system optimization and the elimination of various chemicals have brought current emission to less than 5% of that allowed by law. IBM has been recognized for its work in developing optimized C₂F₆ and dilute NF₃ cleaning processes for CVD chambers.

TSMC Fab 5

Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Corp.(TSMC, Hsinchu, Taiwan) started as a foundry, licensing technology from Philips. Today, the company develops technology on the leading edge. It provides foundry services for advanced logic, SRAM and DRAM using 0.35 µm, 0.25 µm and 180 nm (0.18 µm) technologies. The company offers copper technology as an option for its 180 nm process and recently announced its 150 nm capability. Fab 5 was established in mid-1997 and began volume production in early 1998 with 0.35 µm logic products.

In the past few years, the facility has advanced one to two major technology generations per year, offering 0.35 and 0.30 µm technologies in 1998, 0.25 and 0.22 µm technologies in 1999, and 180 and 150 nm technologies this year. TSMC has started working with designers and EDA vendors on designs that use its 130 nm technology — a strong indication that is not far from being offered as well.

Fab 5 boasts an aggressive ability to ramp from pilot to high-volume production and expand capacity to meet demand. It has demonstrated transition from pilot to full-flow production within two months, and capacity expansion to 40,000 wafer starts per month.

2. Inspection at TSMC’s Fab 5.

The facility has 87,000 ft² of manufacturing area in a Class 100 ballroom configuration, with Class 0.1 SMIF minienvironments. This configuration is built on two floors of equal size.

Employees at the facility have also demonstrated an ability to handle adversity. After the earthquake in September 1999, Fab 5 returned to 90% of normal production within two weeks. The effort to return to full production included complete overhaul and recalibration of all lithography equipment.

Fab 5 has received recognition for its fire safety and energy conservation efforts. According to TSMC, energy conservation strategies alone save more than US $5 M in operating costs and reduce CO₂ emissions by ~44,000 tons. The facility observes UBC, FM and NFPA codes to design and install all systems, and it has been awarded a AAA fire safety rating from Cigna Insurance. According to TSMC, Fab 5 is the first fab to receive this rating. The company also promotes OHSAS 18001 and expects certification later this year. It currently recycles 70% of its wastewater.

Semiconductor 300

Semiconductor 300 (Dresden, Germany) is a joint venture of Motorola Semiconductor Products (Austin, Texas) and Infineon (Munich, Germany), and as the name implies, it manufactures semiconductor devices on 300 mm wafers. It is the first fab to produce a product on 300 mm wafers, namely 64 Mb DRAMs using 250 nm technology. The fab also is producing 128 and 256 Mb DRAMs, and is developing sub-200 nm technologies. The cleanroom has a ballroom design that supports Class 1 specifications. The total area is 5,000 m² (53,820 ft²), though only 1,800 m² (19,375 ft²) of it is currently in use.

The facility was established in February 1998, and production qualification was accomplished 18 months later. The company claims new product introduction cycles of less than eight months. These are fairly aggressive accomplishments by any measure; that they were accomplished with 300 mm technology makes them outstanding.

The facility was the first in the world to install and test 300 mm automated material handling systems, and eventually will eliminate all manual material handling. Among its many challenges, wafer handling was and is the fab's largest.

Because the tool set is new, SC300 established a tool report card (TRC) system to identify deficiencies in cost of ownership, automation and process capability, and a tool readiness (TR) system to document and communicate development risks for the equipment. The company worked closely with suppliers to identify and resolve many potential tool problems. •