ISMI Studying Common Equipment Platform
David Lammers, News Editor -- Semiconductor International, 10/29/2007 7:07:00 AM
A common platform that would standardize the interfaces between the equipment mainframe and the process chambers is being considered as a means of reducing duplication and costs. The platform would particularly apply to vacuum-enhanced tools such as thin-film deposition, sputtering and etching systems, said Frank Robertson, manager of the external programs department at Intel Corp. (Santa Clara, Calif.).
Speaking at the ISMI Symposium on Manufacturing Effectiveness, Robertson described the platform as a reference design that would allow equipment vendors to concentrate on their core deposition expertise within the chamber, which he said is where each company seeks to differentiate itself from its competitors.
The platform is being discussed within the ISMI membership as part of its Next Generation Factory (NGF) program to improve fab productivity at both 300 mm and future 450 mm fabs.
The platform would include a standardized front end, including wafer handling, load ports, control systems and vacuum pumps, as well as, perhaps, the gas panel I/O design. The approach would free equipment suppliers from developing a central handler within the platform, and would reduce the cost of maintenance considerably, he said.
Currently, “the disparate platforms result in spare parts and other forms of duplication. This would eliminate the variables, and provide more standardized hardware,” Robertson said.
“A number of the suppliers are interested,” Robertson said, particularly among smaller companies. Asked if Applied Materials Inc. (Santa Clara, Calif.) and other large companies were likely to support the project, given their well established multi-chamber mainframes, Robertson said equipment companies with their own platforms “may want to become standard-platform compliant in order to capture business. Not all the suppliers are interested, but we believe we can get a fair number of the equipment guys on board,” he said, adding, “Intel is interested.”
The common platform is “still at the definition stage,” with ISMI soliciting input from its membership, which includes 16 IC manufacturers. He said the current proposal is “a place holder” that needs refinement, with the concept on the ISMI’s 2008 NGF program agenda.
Brad Van Eck, the fab productivity program manager at ISMI, said the common platform builds upon work done within the SEMI’s standards organization.
“SEMI had its BOLTS standards initiative a few years ago. The standards were written, but never caught on, and died a business death,” Van Eck said. Interest remains in having a standard wafer handling system, including how the handler robot hands off the wafer to the chamber. “Duplication of effort is not the most efficient way to go.”
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| Tom Abell, 450 mm program manager at ISMI |
ISMI plans to build a wafer-handling test bed for 450 mm wafer-handling equipment next year, which may be located within the Advanced Technology Development Facility (ATDF) in Austin, Texas.
Work on the wafer-handling and wafer-transport interfaces within the test bed also could apply to the common platform study, Abell said.
