The latest news and information on semiconductor yield management, including process control, reliability, defect detection and design for manufacturing.
TI Blitzes to Improve Fab Productivity David Lammers, News Editor - 10/29/2008
Texas Instruments Inc. has used rapid improvement events, or kaizen blitzes, to sharply improve productivity at the DFAB in Dallas. TI also incorporated a “5S” program to “get the junk out,” fab manager Steve James said in a keynote speech at the ISMI Symposium on Manufacturing Effectiveness. Other speakers at the annual symposium detailed the importance of preventive maintenance techniques. More
ISMI Outlines 450 mm Wafer, NGF Roadmaps David Lammers, News Editor - 10/27/2008
ISMI managers described progress at the 450 mm wafer Interoperability Test Bed, and described the Phase 2 roadmap at last week’s ISMI Symposium on Manufacturing Effectiveness. Also, the Next Generation Factory program at ISMI is continuing work on cycle time improvements for existing and greenfield 300 mm wafer fabs, including support for 12-wafer lots.
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Despite Losses, Toshiba to Continue Aggressive Investments David Lammers, News Editor - 10/22/2008
In a keynote speech at the ISMI Manufacturing Symposium, Toshiba executive Masakazu Kakumu said the company plans to invest $10B in its chip operations over 2008-2010. He outlined a series of wafer processing throughput improvements to double investment efficiency at the company’s wafer fabs.
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Yield Learning Flow Provides Faster Production Ramp Dave Macemon, Mentor Graphics, Wilsonville, Ore. - 10/01/2008 Today’s yield management challenges require a statistical analysis tool that visualizes, drills down, and identifies observable and hidden yield-limiting defects with greater accuracy and more quickly than before. More
SoftJin Rolls Out Mask Defect Analysis Tool Staff - 09/25/2008
SoftJin Technologies said it has developed a mask defect analysis tool that initially supports the Applied Materials Aera2 mask inspection system. The Bangalore, India-based company said the NxDAT tool correlates defect data on reticles with design layout data.
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Concentration Sensors Curb Rising CoO Ron Chiarello, Jetalon Solutions Inc., Pleasant Hill, Calif., www.jetalon.com, Noritsugu Ishida, Swagelok Co., Solon, Ohio - 09/01/2008 In situ, real-time concentration monitoring will be vital to the industry's move to 65 nm CDs and below to address the need for increased yield and reduced waste.More
Carl Zeiss SMT to Acquire Israeli Start-Up Pixer Technology Staff - 08/07/2008
Carl Zeiss SMT is acquiring Pixer Technology Ltd., a 30-person company that offers photomask yield enhancement systems. Pixer uses short-pulse lasers to insert pixels into the reticle substrate to improve the uniformity of CDs on the mask.
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Handling Variability in Future Devices Terence B. Hook, IBM Semiconductor Research and Development Center, Essex Junction, Vt. - 08/01/2008
Key themes of the International Conference on Integrated Circuit Design and Technology (ICICDT) included the impact of transistor variability, alternative device structures and technology optimization in design and manufacturing.
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Yield Learning Flow Provides Faster Production Ramp Dave Macemon, Mentor Graphics, Wilsonville, Ore., 10/01/2008 Today’s yield management challenges require a statistical analysis tool that visualizes, drills down, and identifies observable and hidden yield-limiting defects with greater accuracy and more quickly than before. ...
Concentration Sensors Curb Rising CoO Ron Chiarello, Jetalon Solutions Inc., Pleasant Hill, Calif., www.jetalon.com, Noritsugu Ishida, Swagelok Co., Solon, Ohio, 09/01/2008 In situ, real-time concentration monitoring will be vital to the industry's move to 65 nm CDs and below to address the need for increased yield and reduced waste....
Handling Variability in Future Devices Terence B. Hook, IBM Semiconductor Research and Development Center, Essex Junction, Vt., 08/01/2008
Key themes of the International Conference on Integrated Circuit Design and Technology (ICICDT) included the impact of transistor variability, alternative device structures and technology optimization in design and manufacturing....
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