• IE interfaces
• /
• v.12 no.3
• /
• pp.437-447
• /
• 1999

Modeling and system development for the fabrication process in the semiconductor manufacturing is presented in this paper. Maximization of wafer production can be achieved by the wafer flow balance under high utilization of bottleneck machines. Relatively simpler model is developed for the fabrication line by considering main characteristics of logistics. Simulation system is developed to evaluate the line performance such as balance rate, utilization, WIP amount and wafer production. Scheduling rules and input rules are suggested, and tested on the simulation system. We have shown that there exists good combination of scheduling and input rules.

• IE interfaces
• /
• v.16 no.3
• /
• pp.344-351
• /
• 2003

Critical dimension is one of the most important characteristics of up-to-date integrated circuit devices. Hence, critical dimension control in a semiconductor wafer fabrication process is inevitable in order to achieve optimum device yield as well as electrically specified functions. Currently, in complex semiconductor wafer fabrication processes, statistical methodologies such as Shewhart-type control charts become crucial tools for practitioners. Meanwhile, given a critical dimension sampling plan, the analysis of variance technique can be more effective to investigating critical dimension variation, especially for on-chip and on-wafer variation. In this paper, relating to a typical sampling plan, linear statistical models are presented for the analysis of critical dimension variation. A case study is illustrated regarding a semiconductor wafer fabrication process.

• Journal of Korean Society of Industrial and Systems Engineering
• /
• v.39 no.1
• /
• pp.73-80
• /
• 2016

This study focuses on the formation of input release lots in a semiconductor wafer fabrication facility. After the order-lot pegging process assigns lots in the fab to orders and calculates the required quantity of wafers for each product type to meet customers' orders, the decisions on the formation of input release lots should be made to minimize the production costs of the release lots. Since the number of lots being processed in the wafer fab directly is related to the productivity of the wafer fab, the input lot formation is crucial process to reduce the production costs as well as to improve the efficiency of the wafer fab. Here, the input lot formation occurs before every shift begins in the semiconductor wafer fab. When input quantities (of wafers) for product types are given from results of the order-lot pegging process, lots to be released into the wafer fab should be formed satisfying the lot size requirements. Here, the production cost of a homogeneous lot of the same type of product is less than that of a heterogeneous lot that will be split into the number of lots according to their product types after passing the branch point during the wafer fabrication process. Also, more production cost occurs if a lot becomes more heterogeneous. We developed a multi-dimensional dynamic programming algorithm for the input lot formation problem and showed how to apply the algorithm to solve the problem optimally with an example problem instance. It is necessary to reduce the number of states at each stage in the DP algorithm for practical use. Also, we can apply the proposed DP algorithm together with lot release rules such as CONWIP and UNIFORM.

• Proceedings of the Materials Research Society of Korea Conference
• /
• 2010.05a
• /
• pp.27.2-27.2
• /
• 2010

In recent years, there is a strong requirement of low cost, stable microelectro mechanical systems (MEMS) for resonators, microswitches and sensors. Most of these devices consist of freely suspended microcantilevers, which are usually made by the etching of some sacrificial materials. Herein, we have attempted to use Si nanowires, inherited from the parent Si wafer, as a sacrificial material due to its porosity, low cost and ease of fabrication. Prior to the fabrication of the Si nanowires silver nanoparticles were continuously formed on the surface of Si wafer. Vertically aligned Si nanowires were fabricated from the parent Si wafers by aqueous chemical route at $50^{\circ}C$. Afterwards, the morphological and structural characteristics of the Si nanowires were investigated. The morphology of nanowires was strongly modulated by the resistivity of the parent wafer. The 3-step etching of nanowires in diluted KOH solution was carried out at room temperature in order to control the fast etching. A layer of $Si_3N_4$ (300 nm) was used for the selective fabrication of nanowires. Finally, a freely suspended bridge of zinc oxide (ZnO) was fabricated after the removal of nanowires from the parent wafer. At present, we believe that this technique may provide a platform for the inexpensive fabrication of futuristic MEMS.

• Journal of Korean Institute of Industrial Engineers
• /
• v.35 no.4
• /
• pp.266-279
• /
• 2009

This paper focuses on the problem of scheduling wafer lots with limited waiting times between pairs of consecutive operations in a semiconductor wafer fabrication facility. For the problem of minimizing total tardiness of orders, we develop a priority rule based scheduling method in which a scheduling decision for an operation is made based on the states of workstations for the operation and its successor or predecessor operation. To evaluate performance of the suggested scheduling method, we perform simulation experiments using real factory data as well as randomly generated data sets. Results of the simulation experiments show that the suggested method performs better than a method suggested in other research and the one that has been used in practice.

• Journal of Intelligence and Information Systems
• /
• v.9 no.1
• /
• pp.157-177
• /
• 2003

This paper presents a comprehensive and successful application of data mining methodologies to improve and predict wafer yield in a semiconductor wafer fabrication system. As the wafer fabrication process is getting more complex and the volume of technological data gathered continues to be vast, it is difficult to analyze the cause of yield deterioration effectively by means of statistical or heuristic approaches. To begin with this paper applies a clustering method to automatically identify AUF (Area Uniform Failure) phenomenon from data instead of naked eye that bad chips occurs in a specific area of wafer. Next, sequential pattern analysis and classification methods are applied to and out machines and parameters that are cause of low yield, respectively. Furthermore, radial bases function method is used to predict yield of wafers that are in process. Finally, this paper demonstrates an information system, Y2R-PLUS (Yield Rapid Ramp-up, Prediction, analysis & Up Support), that is developed in order to analyze and predict wafer yield in a korea semiconductor manufacturer.

• Proceedings of the KIEE Conference
• /
• 2007.11a
• /
• pp.148-149
• /
• 2007

We present the design and fabrication prcoess of a two-axis tilting micromirror device driven by the electrostatic vertical comb actuator. A high aspect-ratio comb actuator is fabricated by multiple DRIE process in order to achieve large scan angle. The proposed fabrication process enables a mirror to be fabricated on the wafer-scale. By bonding a double-side polished (DSP) wafer and a silicon-on-insulator (SOI) wafer together, all actuators on the wafer are completely hidden under the reflectors. Nickel lines are embedded on a Pyrex wafer for the electrical access to numerous electrodes of mirrors. An anodic bonding step is implemented to contact electrical lines with ail electrodes on the wafer at a time. The mechanical angle of a fabricated mirror has been measured to be 1.9 degree and 1.6 degree, respectively, in the two orthogonal axes under driving voltages of 100 V. Also, a $8{\times}8$ array of micromirrors with high fill-factor of 70 % is fabricated by the same fabrication process.

• 제어로봇시스템학회:학술대회논문집
• /
• 1988.10a
• /
• pp.401-406
• /
• 1988

Various types and huge volume of information such as process instructions, work-in process and parametric data are created in a wafer fabrication process and should be provided to personnels inside or outside the facility. This article describes design criteria and functional description on the information system for small-scale wafer fabrication process to accomplish paperless fab and to support efficient fab management.

• Korean Journal of Materials Research
• /
• v.15 no.9
• /
• pp.613-619
• /
• 2005

The ever increasing popularity and acceptance in the market place of portable systems, such as cell phones, PDA, notebook PC, etc., are fueling effects in further miniaturizing and lowering power consumption in these systems. The dynamic power consumption due to the CPU activities and the static power consumption due to leakage currents are two major sources of power consumption. Smaller devices and a lower de voltage lead to reducing the power requirement, while better insulation and isolation of devices lead to reducing leakage currents. All these can be harnessed in the SOI (silicon-on-insulator) technology. In this study, the key aspects of the SOI technology, mainly device electrical properties and device processing steps, are briefly reviewed. The interesting materials issues, such as SOI structure formation and SOI wafer fabrication methods, are then surveyed. In particular, the recent technological innovations in two major SOI wafer fabrication methods, namely wafer bonding and SIMOX, are explored and compared in depth. The results of the study are nixed in that, although the quality of the SOI structures has shown great improvements, the processing steps are still found to be too complex. Between the two methods, no clear winner has yet emerged in terms of the product quality and cost considerations.

• Proceedings of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers Conference
• /
• 2001.07a
• /
• pp.874-877
• /
• 2001

SOI(Silicon-On-Insulator) technology is proposed as an alternative to bulk silicon for MEMS(Micro Electro Mechanical System) manufacturing. In this paper, we fabricated the SOI wafer with uniform active layer thickness by silicon direct bonding and mechanical polishing processes. Specially-designed electrostatic bonding system is introduced which is available for vacuum packaging and silicon-glass wafer bonding for SOG(Silicon On Glass) wafer. We demonstrated thermopile sensor and RF resonator using the SOI wafer, which has the merits of simple process and uniform membrane fabrication.