Characterizing the Operating Curve — how can semiconductor fabs grade themselves?

Profitability in semiconductor manufacturing may depend on how successful a fab is able to set and meet throughput and cycle-time goals and on its ability to interactively manage the trade-off between these two KPI to maximize its utility. The operating curve (OC) is a popular tool to address this issue and it can be constructed using simulation or queuing analysis. However in order to drive improvements and to properly grade fabs to what they deserve, we need to understand the OC framework. We used interviews with experts, literature and queuing analysis to establish the OC framework. After adoption by our fab, we are able to see solid attainment of cycle-time and throughput goals and we are using it to drive continuous improvements.