Real Men/Women Do Have Fabs

Laura Peters, Editor-in-Chief -- Semiconductor International, 4/30/2008 7:54:00 AM

Following on the now-famous line from Jerry Sanders, “Real men have fabs,” Tom Sonderman, vice president of manufacturing technology at Advanced Micro Devices (AMD, Sunnyvale, Calif.), declared at yesterday’s SEMI Strategic Business Conference (Napa Valley, Calif.) that “real men and women do have fabs.” However, AMD is increasingly relying on partners, including IBM (East Fishkill, N.Y.) and Chartered Semiconductor Manufacturing (Singapore). In East Fishkill, IBM is providing the R&D to bring the baseline technologies directly into production so that AMD does not have to run a separate pilot line. This collaborative program for device integration and process qualification allows low-defect densities to be immediately achieved, so faster yield ramps of its 45 nm technology in the first half of 2008 will be possible (Fig. 1).

Sonderman commented on some specific process technologies. “Double patterning is counterintuitive to lean thinking. AMD is reportedly the first microprocessor vendor to ramp immersion lithography in a fab, which is occurring in Dresden. AMD does have what it is calling a 'gate-first' high-k/metal gate option for 45 nm, but it will be offered on the second generation of 45 nm technology. We were able to achieve the performance targets without implementing high-k/metal gate, so we will introduce it when it is appropriate,” Sonderman said. He noted that, in the fab, AMD makes continuous improvements to the transistor.

AMD heavily invests in all aspects of lean manufacturing, including new scheduling programs, one of which will be implemented in New York in the near future. From February 2005 to November 2007, the Dresden fabs were able to dramatically increase wafer starts and labor productivity and reduce cycle time and processed wafer cost (Fig. 2). “Even with the results we’re getting, we think we’re only scratching the surface,” Sonderman said. He talked about the Next Generation Factory (NGF), also called 300mmPrime, and some of the targets for that program. “A lot can be gained by optimizing batch size and better scheduling. Equipment should be more flexible and predictable.” He said the “nirvana” of cycle time is 1 day per mask layer, but with optimized batch sizes, scheduling and next-generation material transport, AMD believes <0.7 day per mask layer is possible.

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Actually, it is Sanders.....
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I believe the name you referred to ....
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