EXECUTIVE OVERVIEW

To help meet next-generation factory (NGF) challenges, ISMI has been tasked by its member companies to explore ways in which improvement in cycle time and cost reductions can achieve targets of 50% and 30%, respectively, by 2012. This paper describes ISMI's NGF Program activities that are focused to achieve these goals.

To remain profitable, the member companies of International SEMATECH Manufacturing Initiative (ISMI) must simultaneously increase product performance while reducing the cost of manufacturing operations. Alliances to share the increasing financial burden have been effective for addressing technology development, but have been less effective in reducing manufacturing cost escalation.

The largest single cost for a semiconductor factory is the depreciation of capital equipment. Equipment utilization remains almost unchanged over the last several years and ranges from ~40-70%. For this reason, ISMI's efforts will initially focus on improving equipment utilization, availability, and predictability. Member collaboration throughout the industry supply chain will be needed to create a costeff ective NGF implementation.

ISMI's efforts will be guided by the Detractors List and 19-Point Guidelines developed to identify and propose solutions for the major sources of inefficiency and waste in the factory. The current NGF projects have been prioritized in terms of both immediate needs and long-term returns.

NGF program overview

To enable the vision for an NGF, ISMI created a program that strategically foresees opportunities in equipment productivity and within the factory environment. It is expected that factory systems such as automated material handling systems (AMHS), decision-making capabilities, and manufacturing rules for dispatching and cascading will become the limiting factor for further productivity improvements. This program is not only intended to improve the productivity of future 300mm factories; it will build the bridge to 450mm factories, and provide retrofitable solutions, independent of wafer size.

The projects developed by the NGF program comprise five main categories. The Next Generation Realization Project serves as steering and coordinating body and is defining the strategy of the program and collaboration with all other industry resources. The project entitled Factory for Small Lot Size (SLS) defines the elements necessary to deploy smaller lot sizes in a next-generation factory. This project also uses factory simulation modeling to estimate the effect of small lot sizes on cycle time and cost to determine the most effective contributors. The Equipment Data Acquisition (EDA) and Equipment Data Quality (EDQ) projects focus on improving data collection from production tools, data quality, and lead the effort for more rigorous standardization. All projects depend on equipment data and these two projects are building the basis for success of the NGF program.

Equipment Chamber Matching (ECM), Predictive and Preventative Maintenance (PPM), and Enhanced Equipment Quality Assurance (EEQA) projects strive to improve not only equipment availability but also equipment predictability. And lastly, The Virtual Metrology (VM) project develops methods and algorithms to predict metrology measurement results based on current known data and equipment behavior. This will reduce the need for measurements and lead to less disruption of the manufacturing flow and decrease cycle time, as well...