Enhancing the semiconductor fab layout process

With the dramatically increasing cost of building semiconductor facilities, all aspects of factory design and operation must be evaluated to search for cost reduction opportunities. Enhancing the factory layout process using advanced software tools may be one of those opportunities. SEMATECH´s future factory design group is evaluating new software products that attempt to increase the productivity and effectiveness of the layout task and thus increase the value of the factory layout. This article focuses on Texas Instruments´ findings as a part of SEMATECH´s software beta test. This paper explores new semiconductor fab layout software technology and demonstrates the layout productivity gains and value added to the final layout when it was exercised by Texas Instruments newest 200 mm fab. Additionally, semiconductor layout methodology, metrics, and inherit difficulties are discussed. Emphasis is placed on the software´s ability to integrate quantitative and qualitative inputs into the layout process, and provide real time feedback to diverse groups of layout users, dramatically increasing the involvement of the customer and thus the value of the final layout, while decreasing the cycle time in generating an optimized layout. Reference is made to the potential added value to the actual manufacturing operation and process. Extendibility of the layout drawings to aid in the operation and future planning of the fab are discussed