Directions for Semiconductor Wafer-fabrication for Twenty First Century

Research work carried out in the last decade on the Microelectronics Manufacturing Science and Technology (MMST) program sought to address a need for increased flexibility in IC manufacturing through single-wafer processing, with in-situ sensors and real-time process/factory control has lead to a successful demonstration of a novel approach to IC manufacturing based on flexible process. To make it possible for modern industry to utilize MMST program, one can make use of programmable process-tool with technology of computer-aided design (T-CAD) and Process Synthesis. Computer-Integrated Manufacturing (CIM) links equipment, people, and products in a manufacturing facility. Today’s manufacturing requires “agility” the ability to thrive in a continuously changing, unpredictable environment [1], which can be achieved by using advanced monolithic CIM systems. This article presents an overview of strategies employed in the MMST program to build a flexible, distributed, CIM system-framework, with applications that exploit new hardware, process-technologies, and Process-Synthesis for agile and cost-effective wafer fabrication. PROCESS-SYNTHESIS FRAMEWORK (PSF) The Microelectronics Science and Technology (MMST) approach has successfully demonstrated a novel approach to IC manufacturing, based on flexible process equipment [2]. The next step is to make it possible for modern industry to make use of these developments, applying “Process Synthesis”, making use of programmable process-tools with technology of computer-aided designs (T-CAD) and processmodels, within a framework called “Process Synthesis”. * Institute of Business Administration and Technology, Islamabad. This will allow designers to prepare a manufacturing process-flow and to produce an IC in which performance, reliability, manufacturability, life-cycle cost, and cycle-ti me have been optimized. The architecture is shown in Figure-1, as envisaged for semiconductor manufacturing facility of the future. The most important part is the tight integration of a virtual (simulated) factory and a programmable production-facility. The actual production-line would follow the MMST model, with flexible, microprocessorequipped process-tools, linked to a host-computerintegrated manufacturing (CIM) computer, which would generate an optimized use of equipment for each device. The first step is to create a PSF, so as to simulate and optimize a virtual product from a design. A PSF might include the following: • Integrated process and equipment models for