ISMI Manufacturing Technology Program Newsletter
June 2011

ISMI's Manufacturing Technology Program Newsletter provides you with highlights from ISMI's Manufacturing Technology Program, including upcoming events and meetings as well as the latest news articles and trends in the semiconductor industry.

ISMI Manufacturing Technology Program Highlights

For additional information on ISMI's programs and membership opportunities, please visit http://ismi.sematech.org or send an e-mail to info@ismi.sematech.org.

Fab Operations

  • During June at the SEMATECH Symposium Japan 2011, two regional ISMI workshops were held focusing on sharing current best practices to better prepare for managing supply chain interruptions and handling the power supply reduction caused by the earthquake and tsunami. Each workshop featured three keynote speakers giving a global perspective of supply chain and power supply issues, respectively.
  • The Facilities Council distributed results of a June survey on etch vacuum pump exhaust piping.  Participating forum member companies may contact ISMI for survey results.
  • At the June Yield Council meeting members shared best practice presentation on the integration of AEC/APC into overall yield improvement strategy, wafer edge yield impact, the feedback loop between end-of-line and in-line metrology, and sampling for low and high mix.  Supplier presentations were by PDF Solutions, Synopsys, DCG Systems, and Sensor Analytics. Participating forum member companies may contact ISMI for presentations.                
  • The Chemical Vapor Deposition Equipment Productivity Forum held in May featured equipment sharing sessions led by IBM, National, Micron, Panasonic, GlobalFoundries, HP, and Intel. Applied Materials and Novellus presented on their equipment, and a workshop examined preventive maintenance and particle performance of the participating member companies' shallow trench isolation processes and tools. A tutorial on the possible effects of plasma damage on device performance, reliability, and yields was also included. Of the 76 productivity improvement solutions discussed, the top three will be communicated to members at other Equipment Productivity Forums held later this year

Procurement and Logistics

  • The recent Critical Materials Council Meeting in May included an expert presentation, "Democratic Republic of Congo Conflict Minerals: Electronic Industry Citizenship Coalition/Global e-Sustainability Initiative Approach to Responsible Sourcing" and three sputtering target supplier presentations by Air Products, Nikko Metals, and Tosoh SMD as well as two sub-suppliers/smelters of tantalum, HC Starck and Ulba (Kz). Members shared best practice presentations on Cost Structure Analysis at Supplier and Metric for Procurement Effectiveness as well as 10 roundtable discussion topics including the rare earth metal supply risk and the impact of the Japan earthquake on the supply chain. Participating forum member companies may contact ISMI for presentations.
  • The Semiconductor Logistics Forum completed a May survey on the business process and selected performance metrics for how companies add new Vendor Managed Inventory (VMI) customers. The survey covered business-to-business communications, the number of VMI customers, and execution strategy, as well as the length of time it takes to implement the various stages of the process. Participating forum member companies may contact ISMI for survey results.

Test, Assembly and Package

  • In June, ISMI hosted the 2Q meeting of the Assembly & Packaging (A&P) Council in conjunction with the Electronic Components and Technology Conference in Orlando, FL. Highlights included three member shares on packaging roadmaps addressing server/high performance, mobile applications, and power devices; a roundtable discussion of 11 technical topics; and interaction with three expert presenters, including Bill Bottoms, the ITRS A&P International Technology Working Group chair, Applied Materials' Sesh Ramaswami on 3D through-silicon via (TSV) process options and challenges, and NEXX Systems' Rezwan Lateef on TSV electrodeposition capability. Participating forum member companies may contact ISMI for presentations.
  • In May, the Assembly and Packaging Council completed a comprehensive survey designed in conjunction with ISMI's ESH Technology Center Lead-free project on the challenges of implementing lead-free solder balls for flip chip products. The survey collected feedback from technologists on concerns related to a variety of reliability issues: delamination, shear stress, manufacturing and equipment, and electromigration. Participating forum member companies may contact ISMI for survey results.

ISMI Industry Resources and Events

For additional information on ISMI's industry resources and events, please visit http://ismi.sematech.org or send an e-mail to info@ismi.sematech.org.

Recently Released ISMI Industry Resources

Version 1.1 of the ISMI Equipment Data Acquisition Metadata Conformance Analyzer was released in June. The Metadata Conformance Analyzer (MCA) tool is the only available automated means to check for conformance of equipment metadata to applicable portions of the SEMI standards and ISMI guidelines.  The supported equipment data acquisition of Interface A software standards include SEMI E30, E40, E87, E90, E94, E116, and E157.  http://www.ismi.sematech.org/emanufacturing/mca/

Upcoming ISMI Industry Events

SEMATECH Symposium Taiwan 2011 is planned for September 13 at the Sheraton Hsinchu in Taiwan. The program will include SEMATECH senior executives and managers presenting technical updates and examples of how SEMATECH's model for consortia R&D is accelerating technology innovation and manufacturing productivity worldwide.

ISMI Member Publications and Meetings

To retrieve the confidential publications and register for member meetings, you will need an account on the SEMATECH Member Company web site. To log-on to member website or open an account go to https://www.sematech.org/

Recent ISMI Member Publications and Applications

  • Manufacturing Capabilities Program Advisory Group - Meeting Minutes and Presentations, June 2011 - Documents members review of the status of the current projects, the member company proposals for 2012 activity, the program's 5-year technical roadmap/plan, and proposals for future leading edge content in ISMI.
  • Wet Chemicals Supply Chain Report 2011 - Techcet Report, May 2011 - This report focuses on the market and supply chain issues surrounding basic wet chemicals as used in the fabrication of semiconductor devices. Market statistics and supply chain concerns are provided in addition to business trends. The family of chemicals covered in this report includes acids and bases and associated mixtures, as well as commonly used organic solvents, i.e. isopropyl alcohol (IPA).

Upcoming ISMI Member Meetings        

3Q 2011 Failure Analysis Council Meeting
17-18 Aug 2011
Intel, Chandler, Arizona, USA

This is a regularly scheduled face-to-face meeting of the ISMI Failure Analysis Council.    
       

Ion Implant Equipment Productivity Forum
23-25 Aug 2011           
Boston, Massachusetts, USA

This forum brings together ISMI member company engineers, original equipment manufacturers, alternate parts and service suppliers, and recognized industry experts to drive improvements on 150–300 mm installed base process equipment. Equipment focus includes Varian, Axcelis, SEN, Nissin, Epion, and AIBT. Technical discussion topics include metric benchmarking, beam tuning issues and success stories, consumables and spares lifetime improvement, first time right software upgrades, maintenance best known methods, and ultra-shallow junction anneal issues.
 

Industrial Engineering Workshop
13 Aug 2011
Lake Placid, New York, USA

This is a new workshop specifically to draw the interest of Fab Industrial Engineers and IE Managers. The workshop will cover tactical factory and WIP management as well as strategic planning and modeling.
 

3Q 2011 Manufacturing Methods Council Meeting
12-14 Sep 2011 
Newburg, New York

The 3Q Manufacturing Methods Council meeting will bring fab managers together to work on solutions for improving equipment productivity.   The meeting will deliver factory-wide best practices, maintenance strategies, methodologies to eliminate equipment "waste time", bottleneck equipment management methods, and specific equipment improvement success stories.
 

Metrology Equipment Productivity Forum
13-15 Sep 2011
Saratoga Springs, New York

This forum brings together ISMI member company managers/engineers, original equipment manufacturers and alternate parts and service suppliers to drive improvements on installed base metrology equipment. Equipment focus includes KLA-Tencor (KLA 2xxx, Puma, AIT, SPx, 64xx), Applied Materials (SEMVision, Verity, ComPLUS) and Hitachi (CD & DR-SEM). Technical discussion topics include spares (CoO, quality, availability), services (CoO, FSE skills), level 3 training and tool matching.
 

Wet Process Equipment Productivity Forum
27-29 Sep 2011
Albany, New York, USA

This forum brings together ISMI member company engineers, original equipment manufacturers, alternate parts and service suppliers, and recognized industry experts to drive improvements on 150–300 mm installed base process equipment. Equipment focus includes Applied Materials (Semitool), Akrion, Lam (SEZ), FSI, DNS, SSEC, Novellus, and CFM . Technical discussion topics include best practices for spray solvent defectivity, IPA drying, ozone defectivity, chemical flow monitoring, filter lifetime enhancement and bath lifetime extension and CMP plating.

Industry Trends

For additional information from SEMATECH and ISMI on the semiconductor industry and trends, please contact our Industry Analyst, Marcus Lentz.

Semi market softening?

There seems to be somewhat of a "cooling off'" happening in semiconductor capacity additions. The fab tool boo-to-bill ratio (which is tracked on a monthly basis by SEMI) has declined for the second month in a row during the month of June. Market analysts are still not sure if this is a trend which will continue into the 2H 2012 or just a mid-year blip. We will have to continue to monitor and see if this foretells an overall softening in the semiconductor market in the next 6-12 months.

Fab tool book-to-bill slipping (source: EETimes)

Industry Manufacturing News

The material in these links may be protected by U.S. and international copyright law.

Intel boosts capex, eyeing 7nm

(source: EDN)

Applied, ASMI kickoff Hi-k Cluster Tools

(source: Semiconductor Manufacturing & Design Community)

EUV Source Suppliers playing catch-up

(source: IEEE Spectrum)

Gigaphoton improves EUV debris mitigation tech

(source: ElectroIQ)

GLOBALFOUNDRIES' new fabs in NY and Dresden ready for equipment

(source: GLOBALFOUNDRIES)

450mm Wafer changes to comprehend

(source: ElectroIQ)

 

For more information on ISMI engagement and membership opportunities, please contact Jim Ammenheuser at jim.ammenheuser@ismi.sematech.org.