Instrumentation To overcome current difficulty of absolute period control in the EUV multilayer fabrication by sputtering, we have developed an automatic null ellipsometer as a sputtering rate monitor having high enough picometer thickness sensitivity enabling accurate monitoring of the nm period multilayer fabrication [1]. Figure 1 shows schematic drawing of the ellipsometer installed as the s...

Wafer fabrication is a complex and lengthy process that involves hundreds of process steps with monitoring numerous process parameters at the same time for yield enhancement. Big data is automatically collected during manufacturing processes in modern wafer fabrication facility. Thus, potential useful information can be extracted from big data to enhance decision quality and enhance operational...

%& making units (DMUs) in multiple input, multiple output situations. In the original formulation, and in the vast literature that followed, the assumption was that all members of the input bundle affected the output bundle. { $ # $ + ! 7 # $ resources (e.g., packaging labor) will not affect products that do not pass through that department. For this # %& $ $ ! % fabrication plants using the me...

An inertial vibration scavenging micro-generator is described which is suitable for biomedical applications. MEMS fabrication techniques have been used to construct a variable capacitor having one moving plate on which a proof mass is attached. Energy is extracted when the plates separate at constant charge. This device is non-resonant, so can operate over a wide range of excitation frequencies...

Most studies employing Petri nets in semiconductor manufacturing model only one specific area (e.g. etching) in detail, and model the rest of the manufacturing process e.g. by abstract inpuVoutput behaviour. In our study, we show the feasibility of using Petri nets for modeling the complete production process. We use the first set of test data provided by the MASMLAB, Arizona State University. ...

Many modern manufacturing plants deal with large scale multidimensional data that are daily collected from hundreds of operational units in a production line. Wafer fabrication in the semiconductor industry is probably one of the most complex manufacturing processes. Maintaining high yields through the statistical process control as a sole monitoring method is obviously inefficient in such high...

We present a design methodology towards minimum-area maximum-performance designs in sub-/ near-threshold operation. Our methodology is based on a new metric called performance-per-area. Unlike conventional gate sizing, we use forward body biasing at synthesis time to render faster, smaller and more energy-efficient circuits. Our theory introduces body biasing into delay and energy models in the...

This paper presents a review and evaluation of a number of strategies for the control of batch queueing processes in the semiconductor manufacturing industry. Special attention is paid to policies that include real-time information about the state of the manufacturing facility, particularly the expected timing of future arrivals. The studies evaluated highlight the potential benefits that might...

In this paper we present a new method for self-localization on wafers using geometric hashing. The proposed technique is robust to image changes induced by process variations, as opposed to the traditional, correlation based methods. Moreover, it eliminates the need in training on reference patterns. Two enhancements are introduced to the basic geometric hashing scheme improving its performance...

Supply chain planning is critical in semiconductor manufacturing with its expensive production facilities, expensive inventory and usually expensive logistics. Simulation provides a powerful technique to study supply chain dynamics and evaluate options for supply chain planning and control. However, detailed simulation models of semiconductor supply chain can be computationally quite intensive....